I set my phone down and looked up at the ceiling. I was in a state of total disbelief. The mountain in the doubles tournament would be a lot easier to climb. Dayzees still had a solid team for Miami, but he was never going to be guaranteed victory again without Amaya.

Darren, Wyatt, and I had a chance.

I spent the next hour at my computer typing up what I wanted to say to Darren and Wyatt. I kept rewriting things, not wanting to sound too overwhelming or too emotional, but it was impossible. The tournament threw me into a whirlwind, and I felt that they deserved an open and honest message.

Hey, Darren and Wyatt. I can't tell you how sorry I am about what happened yesterday. As you guys know, this silly video game and tournament means a lot to me because it was the pastime I shared with my brother. He was good enough to play at such a high level competitively, but he was never given the chance he rightfully deserved. Both of you guys are my two closest friends, and I am so thankful that you love the game as much as I do. To have you guys join the tournament was so exciting for me, and it meant a lot. I feel like I had my expectations set too high. At the end of the day yesterday, I'm going, to be honest, I was disappointed in both of you. To Darren for shoving Dayzees and letting him get in your head, and Wyatt for making a troublesome decision without consulting Darren or me. Then I realized that I was also to blame because I missed my match. So I got to thinking more and more, and it made me want to apologize to you both the right way. Sorry if I was a dick. My hopes were up so high after seeing how well we were all doing, and then I felt crushed after it was all taken away from us. Throw that in there with thoughts of my brother, and you have a recipe for emotional disaster… which is why I didn't want to hang out with you after the tournament. But I'm not going to let that happen again or let it affect my friendship with either of you guys. Whether we win or lose a silly tournament, you are still my friends, and dammit, I love you both. I hope neither of you are mad at me, and we can always talk about it more in person if you want. Let's hang out soon, yeah?

After I sent the message, I paced around in my room nervously. I even watched some of the highlights from yesterday's singles tournament. Although I had a hard time concentrating on the videos because all I could think about was how Darren or Wyatt would respond.

My phone vibrated. It was a message from Darren.

Gordie!!! I appreciate the apology. I love you too, dude. I can't speak for Wyatt, but I will definitely be at the next tournament with you by my side. Don't worry. My skin will be thicker, and they can make all the mom jokes at me as they please because I won’t care. It’s a cheesy saying, but it's damn true, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Even though I didn't expect anything less, I still breathed a sigh of relief. Who knew when Wyatt would respond, but I felt worse about how I behaved in front of Wyatt. I didn't expect a response soon, though.

My phone vibrated. Speak of the devil, or think of the devil, I guess?

Gord-wardo, it's all water under the bridge. Love you too man. We're looking ahead from here on out. Come over next weekend if you guys are free!

The week breezed by. School was alright, still only got B's and C's, but neither of my parents seemed to care much. Which bothered me a little bit, but the way I figured, I did the work for myself. I didn't have to please anyone else.

The group chat went back to its regular picture sharing of jokes and memes. On Thursday, though, Wyatt messaged the group with a peculiar text.

YO! GUYS! I have a surprise for both of you! But don't get too excited. Just know that I have something to show both of you when we hang out next.

My curiosity was piqued, and so was Darren's, for he was the one who messaged us next. Let's hang out this weekend at my place. Wyatt, you haven't stayed the night at my house in a while. You should come on over. Can you bring the surprise with you?

I messaged the group saying, I'm down to come over! Yeah, Wyatt, I'm interested in hearing about what you have because I have a surprise of my own! (Yes, it can be brought over to your house)

Wyatt responded promptly, Woo! Gordie! It will be like a surprise party! I can bring the surprise with me, yes! I will see you guys on Friday then?

Darren and I worked on Friday, but we went to his house afterward. I was worried that work might be awkward with Linda, but my shift on Friday went smoothly. We exchanged our awkward hellos and pretended like nothing ever happened. It was also the first time I had seen Darren since Saturday, which had felt like eons ago.

The two of us took our breaks together and caught up on the blandness of our weeks. We talked for a little bit about the winner of the doubles tournament, which turned out to be Smith and his partner RaunchDressing (which we both found to be an enjoyable gamer name). Then we chatted about what we thought happened with Dayzees and Amaya.

"I mean, come on, they seem to be polar opposites personality-wise. Dayzees is this pretentious champ; Amaya is a modest and kindhearted person. They were destined to split up eventually," Darren said while devouring a bag of potato chips.

"I'm not denying that but I'd think with the opportunity to keep on making all of that money and win a guaranteed $250,000 from the Miami tournament every year, she'd stay. Hell, I'd stay, and I don't think I've hated anyone in my life except for Dayzees," I said.

Darren tilted his head from side to side while chomping on plain potato chips, looking off to the side, deep in thought. "What makes you think she earns $250,000 every year from the Miami tournament?"

"I just assumed—"

"You know what happens when you assume? You make an ASS out of U-and-ME."

I cocked my eyebrow incredulously. "What do you mean?"

Darren shrugged. "I don't know, man. Something ain't right with it, though, because I understand, that's a big paycheck to just give up suddenly. But there might be more to this situation that we don't know about. The team is actually assembled by Dayzees, so he is technically the captain. The money goes to him. What if he doesn't divide the money equally amongst his teammates?"

My jaw dropped, but I also laughed. "You've got to be kidding me, I know we think he's pure evil, but I don't think he'd do anything like that. Besides, I think that's against the rules. The money has to be divided up four ways."

"Yeah, I don't know about all that. I'd have to look into it myself, but something definitely happened, that's for sure.” Darren put the potato chip bag up to his face and poured it in his mouth. After he finished chewing, he looked back at me again. "So, any hint at what the surprise is?"

I grinned. "Sure, I started playing as a new character this week, and watch out, this fighter might be my main."

"Can't wait to see who it is. I also have a little surprise for you when you come over."

"Wow! We just have surprises all around, don't we? This should be an exciting night!" My voice was getting louder in the break room. "We should get a pizza or something to celebrate this eventful Friday."

"Don't worry, man, we'll get pizza.” Darren chuckled.

We left work, got in our cars, and drove to Darren's house. Going inside, I felt a little nervous. Something was different.

"Hey Darren, after all this time of being friends, I don't think I've ever come to your house on Friday night where all the lights were on. Everything alright?"

"It's part of the surprise.” Darren smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "Relax, Gordie."

"There's even a car in your driveway. Something is up.”

Turning the key to his door, we walked into the living room, and a woman was sitting on the couch and watching some popular show on a streaming service.

"Mom, this is my friend Gordie that you've heard so much about. Gordie, this is my mom," he introduced.

She sprang up from the couch and hopped over to me, shaking my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Gordie! Please call me Layla. I've heard nothing but great things about you. This is so exciting!" she said. I wouldn't describe her as yelling, but she definitely had a loud, high-energy voice. "The pizza will be delivered any minute, and Wyatt is hanging around in the gaming station."

"Yeah, he texted me saying he was here," Darren said.

"You know, he's had a rough day with his parents.” She looked at me and gave an eye roll. "It's mostly his dad. He can be a hard guy to be around!" she yelled in a whisper. "So! Wyatt called me to chat, and then he asked me to pick him up from the station since you guys were hanging out later, so I said sure!"

"I think he should've taken a cab. Don't enable his laziness," Darren said. His mom hit him on his shoulder.

"Oh please! Wyatt is a good kid. He's also very talented. He just seems to be going through a lot right now. It's hard making life decisions that pave the way for your future. Sometimes we're just wrong with what we think we want." In such a brief conversation with his mom, that last sentence hit me with more wisdom than I expected. "Anyways! Don’t let me ramble. I'll let you boys know when the pizza is here, I'm sure you both had a long day at work, so relax and make yourself at home! Gordie, a pleasure to finally meet you," she said, smiling, and it was so contagious I smiled back.

"Likewise," I said.

Darren shepherded me to his gaming room, where Wyatt was already playing Elite Crushers. There were two empty beer cans on an ottoman in front of him, with a full one on the sofa's end table. Wyatt greeted us with a voracious burp.

"Gee-zus, man! My mom will think a gun shot off!"

"Yoooooooooo," Wyatt greeted, then started to take a few slurps from the beer.

“VICTORY - RABID-SAVAGE,” the game announced.

"Dammit!" Wyatt yelled, then he looked over at us as if he fully realized we had come into the room. "What's up, Gordo and Big D?"

"Did you just lose to the computer?" Darren asked as we sat next to Wyatt.

"SURPRISE!" Wyatt hollered, and both of us jumped. "So after that whole article came out about Amaya and Dayzees, I started digging into what that whole game hack was about. You know, making the computers harder? But guess what? I found it, downloaded it, patched it to my game, and here it is before you! I brought it over! And they weren’t kidding, these computers are insane.”

Both of our jaws dropped. "So you're storing some contraband in Darren's house, huh?" I said.

"What's that mean?" Wyatt asked.

"Technically, it's illegal to own a game that has been modded, but I don't think anyone will find out," Darren said, shrugging his shoulders. "Personally, I'm really excited about it. I was curious too after reading the article. Hell, I even looked into it, but I couldn't find any leads. How did you get your hands on it?"

"A magician never reveals his tricks," Wyatt said with his trademarked hazy smile. "So ever since I came over, I've just been playing nonstop, and I have yet to win a single game. I've come close, but no cigar." Wyatt finished off the rest of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Well, now I have to get my hands on this and give it a shot. Finally, we can play against the computer. We could even practice doubles matches!" Darren exclaimed.

"You bet your keister, Big D. So, Gordie, this was my surprise. Darren's surprise was you meeting his mom for the first time ever. What did you bring to the table for this special hang sesh?" Wyatt asked, cracking open a fourth beer and taking a few gulps.

"I've started playing as a new character this week. Something I really wanted to try out on Sunday since I never really gave this option a chance. And I must say, I think I'm even better with this fighter than my other staples."

Wyatt's mouth dangled open. He burped. "You must be kidding. You're even better with a new main? Let's go, right now, you and me. I'm feelin' it. And then I'm beating the computer tonight. I'm just heatin' up."

I plugged the controller in and selected Obsidian-Golem. I wanted to see how much different Wyatt's ability was under the influence. He remained as Toxic-Javelin.

The match was over as soon as it started. I couldn't believe how much better Wyatt was at the game. Ordinarily, our matches would be close when we played, but he would always find a way to pull off a massive combo and run away with the lead. That wasn't the case this time, and I tried my hardest.

"I told you, Gordie, I'm just heatin' up!" Wyatt said. "Let's see that new secret weapon of yours."

Back at the character select screen, I chose Golden-Bow.

"Huh, interesting," Darren mused.

"This used to be my brother's main character. Through thick and thin, he could do some serious damage with Golden-Bow. This is the first week I've ever played as her, and I must say, she plays like a dream."

"Let's see it!" Wyatt shouted, finishing the rest of his beer.

This match had an entirely different feel. This time, I actually had a chance, landing combos that I couldn't have done with another character. Of course, Wyatt was still playing at such a high level that I couldn't keep up, but I could take away half of his health with a barrage of arrows, whereas before, I barely took away 10%. His headband became a darker shade of purple. In between attacks, he quickly wiped off the sweat from his hands.

“VICTORY - TOXIC-JAVELIN,” the game announced.

"You made me nervous right there, Gordie. That was pretty impressive," Wyatt said.

“Thanks.” Although I was a little embarrassed I lost.

"Move off the sticks, Wyatt. I want to get a piece of some Gordie action," Darren said, and Wyatt just gave him the controller and leaned back further into the couch.

Darren and I were usually half and half, but I'm sure if someone kept track of the all-time record, Darren would have the lead on me by a few games. He selected Aqua-Axe, and the two of us duked it out.

“VICTORY - GOLDEN-BOW!”

I beat Darren for the first time ever in a convincing fashion. There was no doubt who the better player was based on that match.

"You've got to be kidding. Let's go again," Darren said.

The second match yielded the same results. I destroyed him once more. I looked over at him, and his face grew red and his brow furrowed. He leaned closer to the TV.

"Let's do another!" he shouted.