Amaya and Jerry were still closing up the signature table setup, but they gave us a moment to regroup and get ready. It was strange to be in the empty game shop after it was filled like a stadium just a couple hours ago. I sat at one of the chairs in the third row. Darren and Wyatt shuffled the other chairs to form a circle close to me.

Wyatt patted my knee. “Y’alright, dude?”

I nodded, but my head was still hanging so low my neck was strained.

“So, I didn’t want to tell you guys this unless I had to, but I just wanted to bring it up...” Wyatt looked at Darren and me.

“Yeah?” Darren said.

“I put some booze in Darren’s trunk. I brought it just in case, you know, break glass in an emergency situation. I feel like we’re there, ya’ know? We’re about to go toe to toe with Amaya. We have to play at our absolute best, and I’m willing to—“

“Wyatt,” I croaked, “please, please don’t. Maybe if I was in a different mood, I might say that we can’t afford to lose at any cost, but dude, you won the tournament sober, and she’s giving us a break here. I don’t want to try and cheat her.”

“It’s not really cheating, the way I see it—“

“Wyatt. It’s morally questionable, so we’re just not going to do it. Please, for the love that you have for Darren and me, no booze. This will be a fair, clean match.”

Darren nodded and gave Wyatt a stern look.

“Alright, sounds good to me.”

“What if Amaya is not impressed with either of us, but she chooses Wyatt to be on her team?” I asked.

Darren gave me an insulted look. “What do you mean? That would be awesome. Yeah, of course, it would be ideal if we were a packaged deal, but we have to accept we might not be, and if she chooses Wyatt, or hell, even one of us, we should be proud no matter what, and we’ll support that. At least, that’s my take.”

I nodded. Even though Darren was only a few years older than me, and we weren’t related, I looked up to his wisdom. Our maturity levels felt similar, but there was something a little more he had that I didn’t. Maybe it was the few years of an age difference, and if I was in his shoes at 19, I’d be saying the same thing.

Could you imagine playing this game as a career? Could you imagine being one of the leading personalities that all the fans fawn over?

Waiting in there felt like the doctor’s office, impending doom. I was half expecting someone to call one of our names. After a few minutes of silence, I almost forgot what we were doing there.

“Gordie? How you feelin’, buddy?” Darren asked.

I nodded. “I’m good.”

“You sound back to normal,” Wyatt said.

“I think I’m ready for an ass-kicking of a lifetime,” I said, looking at them with a smile.

“Maybe that’s your plan, but I’m gonna take a few games from ‘er.” Wyatt laughed.

“You got this, Gordie, just be you.”

I slapped my my kneecaps and pushed myself out of the chair. I strutted to the other side with my back straight and upright posture. Amaya and Jerry were still sitting at the table casually talking, they seemed to be finished.

“Alright, we’re ready for you,” I said.

Amaya smiled and stood up, but then she looked concerned. “Oh, I just realized I didn’t bring a controller. Let me buy one real quick. I’ll meet you in the other room.”

Jerry walked me back to the other side. “You guys will be playing on this TV.”

“Let’s do the project, if that’s okay?” I blurted. “I understand if it’s a lot of work to do or something, but it will help with the epic feel of this, you know? It’s not every day you have the honor of playing a top eight-player,” I said. My mind was grasping at superstition. Wyatt just won the tournament playing on the projector. Maybe if he played on it again, he’d win just like before in another crucial moment.

“You bet. Just give me a few moments to get everything ready,” Jerry said.

Wyatt, Darren, and I watched Jerry pull down the projector, turn it on, and boot the system. Without even thinking, I plugged in the controller and sat down first.

“You’re going up against Amaya first, are ya?” Darren grinned.

“Oh, I uh, didn’t realize—“

“It’s okay. If you want to play her first, I don’t mind. It might be a good idea to save Wyatt for last anyway,” Darren looked at Wyatt, “what do you think?”

“Sure, whatever you guys think,” Wyatt said.

“I’ll go first. Then Darren, then Wyatt.”

They all agreed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amaya approaching. The three of us were staring at her while Jerry turned down the volume (it was still blasting from earlier). Amaya sat next to me, and my leg started bouncing a million miles a minute.

“There’s nothing like the feeling of a fresh ENController.” Amaya pried open the package, and out popped an optic white controller.

“Yeah, they’re pretty great, aren’t they?” I blurted awkwardly.

“You can pick all of the stages. I’m not going to bullshit around with a secondary main. I will give it my all with my best character for every match.” Amaya took a drink of water and glanced at Wyatt and Darren, directly behind us. “Unless one of your main’s style creates an advantage, then I might have to reconsider.”

“I’m going to play as my main as well,” I said, selecting Golden-Bow.

Amaya selected Star-Power, a cyborg with two arm cannons, just like Solar-Flame except Star-Power could shoot out explosives and she had a blackhole maneuver as her finisher.

For the stage, I picked The Star’s Edge.

“I’ll have home field advantage.” Amaya smirked.

3…

2…

1…

As soon as the match started, my leg stopped moving. I was transported to a different mindset. The controller felt like another extension of my body; I played at full concentration and gave everything I had. Raining down golden arrows and deftly dodged almost every attack.

But it still wasn’t enough.

“Good game,” Amaya said robotically, even though I lost.

I selected Star’s Edge again since our match was so close. I thought maybe the pendulum would swing in my direction this time. It was another beautiful, high-level playing match where we landed extraordinary multi-hit combos and managed defensive retaliations when we needed them. The pendulum was practically swinging in the center, showing no preference to either of us, but eventually, the pendulum chose.

“Wow, that was a really close game. You really had me on my toes there for a second. Gotta say, I’m impressed,” Amaya said.

Her words barely meant anything to me since my head felt so fuzzy. I was having a hard time comprehending anything outside of Elite Crushers.

“Yeah, good games,” I uttered, unplugging my controller and taking a seat next to Wyatt as Darren stood up and went next.

“Hi, we didn’t introduce ourselves to you properly earlier, but my name is Darren. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Darren shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Darren. As I’m sure you already know, I’m Amaya.”

He sat down and selected Aqua-Axe and Amaya remained as Star-Power. Their match was equally as exciting, if not more. Again, there was no precise determination on who was the clear-cut better player until the end came near. Amaya ripped off a brutal eight-hit combo and sent Aqua-Axe into a blackhole.

“You’re good at stealing the game just at the right moment,” Darren said.

“Thanks.” Amaya chuckled.

Their next game started, and Wyatt, Jerry, and I watched on the edge of our seats. All of our jaws dropped, even Amaya and Darren. Amaya had a slip of the hand, and Darren capitalized as Aqua-Axe swung its mighty liquid blade through Star-Power’s chest.

“VICTORY, AQUA-AXE,” the game announced.

Wyatt and I let out a ginormous cheer throughout the store. Darren started laughing hysterically. The two of us each gave him a high five.

“You got this, baby!” Wyatt screamed.

“You’re unbelievable!” I shouted.

“Yeah yeah, let’s get back to the next match,” Amaya said with the slightest bit of irritation. I was impressed she didn’t mention her hand slip, I certainly would’ve been crying about it.

For game three in their duel, Amaya was fiercely determined. She set the tone right away with an impressive fifteen-hit combo, quick explosions from the arm cannons. Darren struggled to close the gap, but the rest of the match was surprisingly even. Then towards the end, Amaya blasted Aqua-Axe into another blackhole.

“You’re pretty good, Darren. You and Gordie both are no slouches. Come on, who’s next? Let’s see what you’re made of,” Amaya said.

Wyatt slid over to the seat. “Yo. I’m Wyatt. Nice to meet you,” he said with his signature hazy spaciness.

Amaya giggled to herself. “Nice to meet you, Wyatt. I’m Amaya.”

“How did you play with that douche, Dayzees, for so long? He’s such a douche,” Wyatt said.

Amaya was caught off guard, and her jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh,” she said and paused.

I was ready to tear off Wyatt’s head and scream at him, but then the most amazing thing happened. Amaya cackled.

Darren bit his lip, and I dropped my jaw.

“He’s been in my line of sight this whole time. There’s no way he’s drunk. What’s he doing asking a question like that?” Darren whispered to me.

I shrugged. “At least she thought it was funny.”

Darren slapped Wyatt on the neck, but Amaya didn’t even notice because she was still laughing so hard.

“Ow! Why’d you smack me?” Wyatt said.

“What the hell are you thinking asking a question like that? Do you ever go out in public? Geeze-oh-man.” Darren sighed.

Finally, Amaya’s laughter calmed down. “Sorry, that was just a hilarious question I wasn’t expecting. To be honest, I don’t want to get all into it. Let’s just play the game, if that’s alright?”

“Oh yeah, sure, whatever you want, I was just a little curious. Sorry for bringing it up,” Wyatt said, plugging in his controller and selecting Toxic-Javelin.

“No worries, it’s just a long story,” Amaya said.

Their match was a glorious classic. Amaya won the first, but it was anyone’s game. Wyatt won the second, and again it was too close to determine who was the better player. Then game three happened, which was a nail-biter, but it was what we all expected in the end. Amaya pulled away with the victory.

“Wow, either I’m having an off day, or you guys are terrific,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” I said. “You won each set.”

“That may be true, but our matches were very close, and then I played your other two friends, and they were able to steal a game from me. I’m used to winning flat out against people who aren’t professionals. I could put all three of you against the top eight, and I think one of you could steal a spot. What ranking did you say you guys were again?”

“Well, we’ve only ever done the Chicago tournament. And we’ve only done it all together once. Last time I finished in the top 64, Darren finished in the top 64, but Wyatt was able to make it to the top 32,” I said. “In fact, Darren was able to win a game off of Dayzees.”

Amaya arched her brow and then leaned her head towards Darren. “Wait, are you the one who shoved him? If I remember correctly, Dayzees only lost once in the entire tournament. That was you?”

Darren nodded, but frowned. “Yeah, but I’m not too proud of it and it’s my biggest regret in life. I let my anger get the better of me. I’m better now, though, I promise. He just said something that really struck a nerve that’s extremely sensitive for me. It will never happen again.”

“That certainly sounds like Dayzees. He loves to really cut people down as much as he can.” She turned to Wyatt. “And you lost twice that tournament? I’m surprised, but sometimes we have bad days. Tournaments can be pretty nerve-racking too.”

“Oh, yeah, I actually had a personal emergency come up, so I had to leave.” Wyatt shrugged. He looked at the ground and tapped his fingers at his leg.

“Wow, that’s too bad. I think you really could’ve made a good run there. There’s always the New York tournament.”

“Yeah, we’re not too sure about that yet,” I said quickly. “It’s just a little too expensive for us right now. We’re pretty young, and we don’t make a lot from our jobs. We went to the Chicago tournament because we live around here, I’m still in high school, and—“

“You’re still in high school? How old are you?” Amaya said, amazed.

“I’m definitely younger in my class, but I’m 16, and I’m going to be turning 17 in July,” I said.

“Yeah, I totally understand that, are all of you guys 16?” Amaya asked incredulously.

“Nope, I’m 20,” Darren said.

“And I’m 23. Darren and I are cousins.” Wyatt said.

Amaya giggled. “Good, I was worried there for a moment that I was playing with a bunch of kids, not that I see you as a child, Gordie, but you know what I mean.” She paused and smiled. “But, you guys are really impressive. Keep it up and I think you’ll have a future at this.”

My heart was exploding like a grand finale of fireworks on the Fourth of July. I felt a surge of confidence rise up from my chest. “That really means a lot.”

“Yeah,” Darren and Wyatt said at the same time.

There was just one last thing on my mind, we’d successfully hurdled the challenges from today, but now we had to close the deal.

“So, for the Miami tournament, might it, would it, do you see it at all possible that we might—“

Amaya nodded attentively, but she wasn’t smiling. “What about the Miami tournament? Just say it.”

“Can we join your team for the Miami tournament?” I asked.

Amaya laughed dryly. “Maybe. Sure. I don’t know.”

Her response felt like a chop to the throat. I didn’t know how to reply. Darren and Wyatt also looked at each other lost.

“I say that because you guys can join me next year, granted we’re in a similar situation.”

Neither of us was sure how to process the information.

“What about this year?” I asked. “Can we play with you, or do you have other plans like you already have a team?”

“Well, I have other plans, as in, I’m not going,” Amaya said.

The three of us shot glanced at each other.

“Why don’t I give you guys my number? I’d be happy to discuss everything with you all later if that sounds good?”

I looked at Darren and Wyatt, and we shrugged simultaneously. “Sounds good,” I said, but the way I finished the sentence, it almost sounded like a question.

Wyatt nudged me. “Pull out your phone and get her number, dude. You’re the captain of this ship.”

I laughed awkwardly in front of Amaya. A realization struck me like lightning because it was the first time a girl had given me their number. Although I didn’t view it as romantic, it was still a milestone. When she read off the digits of her phone number, time felt like it was molasses. I couldn’t believe that Darren, Wyatt, and I would be on Amaya’s team, even though we had to wait a year.