The four-on-four version of the game was hectic at first, but even with the layer of complexity it was still enjoyable. But I thought there was a little too much action on the screen. Darren, Wyatt, and I tried one-on-one dueling and occasionally playing opponent musical chairs, but Amaya's approach differed.

Amaya would join one of us briefly and land a few attacks on our focused opponent, and then she would go back to the player she was neglecting to beat up. She was expertly able to find pockets of opportunity to strike other opponents while still dodging and backing out of the fray.

"You guys are playing too much man-to-man,” Amaya coached. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but it seems like you guys are wired to play one-on-one, which is a good thing. But this style is a little different in regards to pacing and strategy. One of the things I look for is if my opponent is charging at me with an attack and I dodge and lead them away from the action, I can cut in and help you with a little two-on-one. Defense is key above all else in this format, or at least that's how we won on Dayzees's team so frequently."

Darren, Wyatt, and I stared at her as if she were about to lead us into battle. Part of me expected her to raise a flag and a sword and then unleash a war cry.

I raised my hand like I was back in the classroom.

Amaya laughed, and she was now smiling. Her expression flipped like a light switch. "You don't have to raise your hand, Gordie. Speak your mind!”

"Is that all we were doing wrong? Or do you have other notes?"

Amaya’s grin widened. "I mean, of course, I have a ton of notes, and don't think I'm judging you guys because I'm not, but I can just see things I would do differently if I was playing, if that makes sense? Who's to say they are better strategies, though?"

"Me," Wyatt said. "I'm saying that your strategies are better than ours. Have you seen your record of success?"

Amaya blushed and lowered her head a little. Her war captain persona had completely disappeared. “Well, I’m glad you guys think so. If you'd like, I could watch some of you play one-on-one and maybe give you some tips on how you could play a little better? Or, I don't mean it as an insult because the three of you are outstanding players, but you know what I mean? Right?"

"Yes, I know what you mean," I said, looking at Darren and Wyatt, who nodded, but I felt something was amiss since they weren’t smiling. "Maybe we can do it another time? We've been here taking up your entire day. We can head out soon so you can enjoy your weekend."

Amaya shrugged. "You guys aren't bothering me. I originally told you I was swamped today, but that was just in case brunch went horribly wrong and I could have an out."

The three of us paused then cracked up. It seemed to lighten up the mood just a little bit. Darren and Wyatt were still stonefaced, but my excitement was pumping.

I have an idea!

"Would y'all wanna get a pizza?" I asked.

"I love pizza!" Amaya beamed.

Darren and Wyatt were now smiling, and they nodded.

"Sounds good to me, Gordeño," Wyatt said.

It was a perfect day for me. I made a new friend who happened to be a celebrity at the game that I loved. We capped it off with a pizza which was a meal filled with laughs and smiles as we got to know each other better.

Time felt like it was moving by pretty quickly. Four weeks later, the Miami tournament arrived, and I couldn't believe it, but Dayzees acquired a new member, someone I actually knew, KitCats. Which made my head spin. I tried to convince myself that it was a good thing that he selected him as his new team member. That meant I was ever so closer, but seeing KitCats on stage playing instead of me made my blood boil. Never before have I wanted a team to lose so badly, but of course, they won the tournament thanks to Dayzees' leadership.

Wyatt threw his crumpled-up napkin at the TV. "He's such a douche."

The four of us had just finished eating a smorgasbord of Chinese food.

"I hate this, I didn't think I would get so into this, but I was rooting so hard for 75K and his team in the finals. How awesome would that have been?" Darren said.

Darren, Wyatt, Amaya, and I were all at Amaya's apartment on Saturday night, watching the Miami tournament happen on a live stream. All of us hung our heads in defeat, except for Amaya. She was watching their celebration without an expression on her face.

Dayzees held his fist up proudly in the air no smile. His other three teammates linked their arms together. KitCats looked like he was about to cry, but the other two guys just had the biggest smiles. Amaya was stoic.

"I bet you any amount of money. Dayzees will pay all three of those guys less now that I'm no longer there.” Amaya shook her head like a nervous twitch. "Especially that new guy, I wonder how much he's going to get paid out."

"Do you know much about the new guy? KitCats?" Darren asked.

"He did pretty well at the Chicago tournament, and he was even at the Las Vegas invitational during the winter. He's in the scene. He was the first player to die in every match, leaving Dayzees, Jacob, and Benjamin to miraculously grind out a victory. So he's not amazing, but he can hold his own against the top players.” Amaya's head shook like a twitch. "I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if he cuts the new guy for next year's tournament. If I know Dayzees like I know Dayzees, that jackass will always be scouting for talent at tournaments. I wonder if he will do the doubles tournament for the New York major this summer."

Wyatt, Darren, and I dropped our jaws. We regularly saw Amaya on the weekends (Amaya let us stay over, and we slept in the trophy room. Darren and I borrowed two of Amaya's sleeping bags. Wyatt was the lucky one who got to sleep on the twin bed every time we stayed the night. When I tried arguing with him, he'd say: 'Unless you guys want me to sleep naked in a sleeping bag and risk the chance of Amaya seeing that, I need to sleep on the twin bed.' You can bet that Darren and I rolled our eyes so hard they almost popped out of our skulls.) usually on Saturday night, and that was it, but she was pretty proper with her language. It was the first time we heard her swear.

Then she turned off the TV.

"Wait, what about his victory speech?" Darren asked.

Amaya shrugged. "What about it? Did you really want to see what he had to say?"

Darren nodded awkwardly as if it was also a head shake, but it was a full-body shrugging motion. "Well, kinda, yeah, I'm sure he'll say something that will give me more reasons to hate him, which is always fun. It's fun to love to hate someone like him, y'know?"

Amaya rolled her eyes and turned the TV back on.

Dayzees was standing beside the host of the major tournament’s emcee. His name was Tommy Gotobed (everyone pronounced it like, go-to-bed, but he insisted it was pronounced like gotta’-bed, and he said it faster than a gunshot). Confetti of all colors was falling down like snow on the stage, and Tommy put his hand on Dayzees's shoulder.

"For an unprecedented 3rd year in a row! The world champion, modern-day legend, and captain of team Dayzees, you have won what some people call the greatest prize in all of Elite Crushers. How do you feel about winning your third consecutive time?"

Tommy handed Dayzees the microphone. Dayzees was about to start talking, but he stopped to let the crowd cheer and chant his name. He stared at them with a mischievous grin with one eyebrow cocked up, nodding along. "First and foremost, I wanted to thank Amaya for no longer dragging down our team—"

The TV was turned off immediately. She got out of her chair and put the plates in the dishwasher and the food in the fridge. Darren, Wyatt, and I stopped and stared at the black TV screen as if we heard a crackling blast of thunder.

"We should really help her out with cleaning up everything," Wyatt uttered, and he stood up and walked over to support her in the fight to keep things neat and orderly. Darren and I trickled in to help as well.

We all chipped in to help put things away, so it didn't take us very long. The sink running was the only noise heard in her house. It felt awkward and strange because it was rare that Darren and Wyatt both had no joking manner about them. All of us were tense. We had never seen Amaya like that. I imagine they would have similar expressions if they were at a funeral.

"It's okay. You guys don't have to help me," Amaya uttered. She was standing at the sink, and we were crowding the kitchen.

"You sure?" Wyatt asked.

"Please, guys, give me some space for a moment."

The three of us walked back to the dining table and sat down. Neither of us said a word to each other, and then Amaya came walking out.

"I'm really sorry for my behavior."

"No need to be sorry, what are you talking about?” Darren said.

Amaya shook her head and raised her voice, "I'm just so pissed off that he could say something like that. It's weird, and deep down, I know he doesn't mean it, but my anxiety is spiking! How am I supposed to feel comfortable going to New York City now for the next stupid tournament? I would love nothing more than to beat Dayzees in the singles tournament. But I don't know if I can with all of this extra attention drawn to me. I don't know if I want to. I'm sitting in my house, and my mind feels detached from my body, and I feel nauseous."

"Is he aware of your anxiety?" Darren asked the question on my mind, but I was too afraid to interrupt. "Have you told him before about how playing large scale—"

"Yes, he knows, and he's very aware that I get anxious and how it can get debilitating sometimes."

"I know it probably won't make you feel any better, but keep that in mind. Maybe Dayzees said that to make you more anxious. Looking at the situation, I think he's afraid," Darren spoke so softly it was almost like a whisper.

"What do you mean he's afraid?"

"The first thing Dayzees said when he won this tournament was about you. You're still in his head. I think he's afraid that you'll beat him, that he’ll no longer be the number one player."

Wyatt and I nodded.

Amaya wiped her forehead. "That was just so shitty. I'm just so pissed off!” Her eyes started to brim, and her voice grew thick, "I'm sorry, guys, but I'm gonna call it a night. You're welcome to stay if you want. Play EC, do whatever you want. I don't care."

Amaya trudged off to her room. Darren, Wyatt, and I discussed it, and we decided to stay. We felt that it would be better to be there if Amaya needed to talk or just wanted to take her mind off things.