I ignore him as I narrow my eyes at Richie. “Rematch. Right now.” I snatch his controller off the sofa and slam it into his hands. “Choose your character. And we’re playing on Death Mode.” Which is the hardest mode you can play on.
He stares at me for a moment before chuckling. “Death Mode? Piece of cake, girl.”
Many kids watch us as we start the game. I once again choose the monkey with the pink bow—the only female character in the game because the developers are idiots—and we race toward the end of the level, grabbing as many bananas as we can for an added bonus.
My gaze is pasted on the screen as I concentrate super hard on the game. I feel like I’m carrying the weight of every female gamer out there. I know it doesn’t matter what these stupid boys think—for me, gaming is all about having fun and not for the competition or trying to prove anything to anyone—but I’m one of the only girls who’s an avid gamer at this school. I’ve got to take this one home for the girls.
When we’re about halfway through the level, I realize that I’m slightly ahead of Richie, and I even have more bananas than him. My heart shoots to my throat and my controller is wet from my sweaty palms, but I need to just focus on getting my little monkey to the finish line as fast as possible. All of the guys who are watching the game are rooting for Richie, of course. I try not to let it get to me, but it kind of sucks not to have anyone cheer me on. My friends would have hung out with me, but they’re spending time with their boyfriends. Which I’m completely cool with.
I’m just about to reach the end, and I’m still ahead of Richie! My heart hammers so strongly that I think it might burst through my chest. Just a little bit longer and I’ll prove once and for all that girls can very well whoop the boys’ butts—
At the last second, the burly-chested monkey zooms forward and reaches the end of the level, with my monkey literally a second behind.
“No,” I whisper, my hands frozen over my controller.
“Yeah!” The guys cheer and whoop like Richie just won a billion dollars.
“What did I say?” Richie gives me this cocky grin as he rolls his eyes. “Boys always beat girls. But good effort.” He pats the top of my head before guffawing and getting up from the sofa, the guys following behind and continuing to howl with laughter.
I dump my controller on the sofa as I throw my arms over my chest, glaring at the floor. I wassoclose. So darn close.
Ugh, why does it matter? Like I said before, I don’t need to prove anything to those jerks.
But it still stings.
“Are you done with the Xbox?” a voice asks.
I turn my head to the left and find Beckham standing there with his hand outstretched toward my controller. Leo stands behind him with Jasper…and Kylen.
Ice enters my bloodstream. Were he and his friends here the whole time? Did he see my epic fail?
Again, why do I care?
“You were a beast, Raven,” Kylen says with that sweet smile that used to melt my heart. “I remember how amazing you were at video games. Looks like you’ve still got it.”
“Clearly not.” I tear my gaze away from him and continue glaring at the floor, still not sure why I’m so upset about this whole thing.
“He cheated, though.”
My face snaps to his. “What?”
“Well, I guess it’s not exactly a cheat.” He lowers himself next to me, so close that his thigh brushes against mine. Once again, my heart rate spikes and my breathing is constricted. How is he sitting next to me right now? After how awkward things were at lunch today…
“There’s a combo you can do to give yourself a temporary boost,” he explains as he picks up Richie’s controller and loads a new level. “When you have exactly a hundred bananas, you press these two buttons, see?” He shows me. “But it only works if you have exactly one hundred bananas. That’s why he made sure not to go over a hundred.”
I gape at the screen. “How did I not know this?”
“You can turn off the boosts to make it more fair. The guy was a jerk for not telling you. Everyone knows you’re supposed to turn it off when you play PvP.” He disables the boosts and thengives me a shy smile that makes him look so cute my heart aches. “You want to play against Beck and me? Jasper’s a pro at this.”
He winks. “I’ve got you, partner.”
Leo frowns. “I guess I’ll go check out the pinball machine.” He walks off.
The pit in my stomach weighs heavily. The way Kylen is talking to me right now, it brings me back to all those days we spent together at camp, especially when we were all alone and had so much fun playing video games and talking about…well, everything.
It takes all I have to keep the tears at bay as I yank my gaze away from his. If he can talk to me so freely withoutfeelinganything, it’s obvious what we shared at camp meant nothing to him.
“Raven?” he asks.
