“I remember my first crush was Tuxedo Mask,” Theo gushed at the anime screen. The four of them were all holed up in the living room, watching an episode of Sailor Moon Eniola didn’t recognize right away. Jay was still nowhere to be found and, to be honest,she was kind of glad.

Eniola wanted to kiss him. She really did. But it brought back memories she didn’t have the energy to unpack yet. Eniola had convinced herself that she was over Keone, but she didn’t know what was wrong. Memories were a huge bitch sometimes.

They had barely spoken since then, even though it was supposed to be a fun night, but she couldn’t help but feel bittersweet. Maybe it was a mistake to try to date a teammate again. It might work for Lucia and Theo, but not for her.

“He and Eren and Todoroki were vital parts in realizing I was in fact, not straight,” Theo admitted, eyes glued to the screen.

“My first was Sailor Moon,” Jay said, voice husky with morning coming out of the hallway, running a hand through his freshly damp hair. Suddenly, watching Sailor Moon was pretty interesting, even though Eniola still didn’t know what the plot was.

Eniola forced out a laugh. “Good morning,” Iris said to him.

“Morning everyone,” Jay greeted, taking a seat on the beanbag next to Eniola. She slightly coiled to the side. They met eyes with one another for a quick second, but Eniola tore her gaze away first, heart hammering.

“Good morning,” he told her, but she simply nodded. “What’s Wendy cooking? Something vegan again?”

“Yup,” Iris said. “Miso and green onion biscuits. They’re very delicious.”

“Okay,” Jay said, not fully convinced. “Whatever you say.”

“I’m going to convert him,” Iris whispered under her breath.

Eniola noticed Jay had not made a snarky comment on command. She quickly looked back at him, who was already looking at her.

“So, the finals,” he managed to say awkwardly to her.

“They’re tonight,” Eniola replied monotonously, avoiding his gaze.

“Breakfast is served,” Wendy announced to the team, and Eniola was happy for the distraction. She quickly rose from the beanbag, following everyone into the kitchen.

“Wait,” Jay called to her. She turned around to him. “Can I talk to you?”

“What?” she asked.

“You’re supposed to be moving today,” he said to her quietly. “What are you going to do?”

It relieved Eniola that he didn’t mention the almost-kiss. “I realize I need to make my own decisions and decide my future. I’m not leaving.”

“That’s—” he began. “Amazing. Because I want you to stay.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged.

“Can I talk about what happened last night?” Jay asked softly. “Did I do anything?”

“No,” she blurted. “It’s not about you.”

“Then why did you leave?” he asked. “You don’t have to tell me, but I want to know how you feel.”

“Because it reminded me of Keone,” Eniola admitted. “Especially from the arena.”

“I didn’t mean for it to end up that way,” Jay said. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Eniola said. “It just didn’t feel right to me.”

“How do I make it feel right then?” Jay asked, getting up and taking his hand in hers.

“I just want to wait and clear my head,” Eniola said.

“Okay,” Jay agreed. “I’ll wait.” They looked into each other’s eyes before Jay wrapped her in a hug. It felt nice to be embraced by him. Eniola didn’t know how long, but she was glad he wanted to wait.

“Are you guys coming?” They snapped out of their trance to see a surprised Lucia in the doorway. “Was I interrupting something?”

“No,” Eniola quickly said. “We were just heading to breakfast now. Vegans, go!”

“If I need to come back, I will,” she stumbled, pointing at the doorway.

“No, it’s fine,” Jay said and disappeared down the hallway.

“You were alone with Jay,” Lucia said. “Did you two talk about what happened last night?”

Eniola smiled a bit. “Yeah. He understood and I think we can be on good terms now.

“Whatever you two are to each other, I’m happy,” said Lucia happily. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks,” Eniola said softly. “I think we need to figure that out. What we are.”

“After the finals,” Lucia said sternly, then smiled again. “Don’t get hurt, okay? If he hurts you, me and Iris will jump him. It’s part of my moral obligation as a best friend to do so.” Eniola laughed at the threat.

The poppy theme of the Sailor Moon theme rang through the apartment. Someone was at their door. Who else unexpected would come today? Howie had already told them they were going to the finals. Did Inferno just drop back in again? Did Howie find out?

“Someone is at your door,” Wendy reminded them. “Would you like to see?”

“A visitor?” Lucia questioned. “Who could that be?”

“I don’t know,” Eniola said. “Wendy, show us.” Wendy wheeled over to them, and her screen glowed to life and displayed the people waiting at her door.

Eniola’s heart almost sank to her ankles.

Her parents were both outside of the door, looking furious. A large banging came on the door, even though no one knocked anymore.

To conclude, she was screwed.

“Crap,” Lucia muttered under her breath. “Eniola, what do we do?”

“I don’t know,” she shouted. “I shouldn’t have lied. This is all my fault.”

“We can get you out the balcony,” Lucia said frantically. “Can you climb that far?”

“Open up,” her dad’s voice boomed from the end of the door. “Eniola, we know you are here!” She exchanged a worried look with Lucia and faced the door again.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

When the door slid open, her parents’ eyes went wide, and an abundance of screaming came at her. Eniola barely understood what they were saying. It all felt like white noise that was so loud yet quiet at the same time.

Her dad eventually cooled off, but still was like trailing smoke. “Pack up. You’re going home.”

“But—”

“Mr. and Mrs. Adeyemi,” Lucia began. “Please—”

“This is your fault!” her dad accused. “You’ve been nothing but a bad influence on her ever since you met. You are not a good friend for her.” Lucia stepped back as they met a tearful gaze.

“Pack your things,” her dad repeated. Humiliated, she walked back to their shared dorm, holding back a flood of tears.

She got into her room and let Wendy pack her things for her. Wendy gave her the bag, and she walked outside as her parents followed her with anger. When she got back, Iris had already packed the cooler, and her parents snatched it from her.

“Outside!” her dad yelled, and walked away from the dorms, into the sunlight. The dorms were practically empty, only hosting 2 more teams. They walked down the tubed hallways and rode down in an angry silence into the elevator.

They got outside the dorm where a sleek black autocar was waiting for them. They piled in, keeping in silence, and even the doors slammed dramatically. Eniola stared at the dorms, the place that housed her dreams, and now she was being detached. Her face was hot and so was her chest, and her heart began hammering in fear. They gave the car commands in their hoarse voices, and soon they were back on the road to San Francisco.

The car ride felt short and long at the same time. Before she knew it, they were back in front of their house. They all slipped out and went back into the house.

The automatic door opened for them, and despite only being away for ten days, the place felt worlds different. It was now stripped bare as they had taken everything for their move to New York. Eniola didn’t even feel right being here. She was supposed to come back a SCOPE champion, and she was so close but now so far. The door shut behind them, and finally, her parents met her gaze after a long, tension-built silence.

“What were you thinking?” her mom began yelling.

“I understand—”

“Lying about going to colleges, living in the same house with boys, playing that game we specifically instructed you not to?” her mom yelled. “Do you know the people who play those games? What do they look like? What do they do?

“Mom,” Eniola said, trying to cut through her anger.

“Shut up!” she snapped as tears filled Eniola’s eyes. “How long have you been sneaking out?”

She stayed silent, and shaky tears ran down her face.

“How long have you been sneaking out?” her mom yelled even louder.

“3 years,” she mumbled, and her mom’s eyes widened.

“This is what happens when you hang out with people like Lucia and start gaming,” her dad accused bitterly. “What do you do?”

“We play on a team and we compete,” she explained through tears. “We were in the finals, and we’d win money. Dad, this is important to me.”

“So should being a doctor,” he said, slamming the counter. “It’s because of these stupid games.”

“How did you guys find me?” Eniola hoarsely asked. Her mom pulled out her cell phone before opening and scrolling through it.

“A number messaged me. I was going to block it, but then I saw you playing a SCOPE game,” her mom explained, showing her a video of a SCOPE game, where Eniola’s lifelike avatar was clearly there. It then transitioned into some footage of Eniola walking around the SCOPE arena.

“Who sent it?” Eniola asked, shuddering.

“Do I know?” her mom yelled. Eniola had to take one clue. There was one person who wanted Rogue out of this competition. She didn’t even have to say the name to know who.

“We worked so hard to get you into NYU and you just threw it away?” Her dad said, pacing around angrily.

Eniola felt the unspoken words claw from her soul and into her throat, the years of silencing burbling through the surface of a volcano. Her hands clenched into fists and her jaw tightened.

“I don’t want to be a doctor!” she yelled. The words fell like a bomb exploding. Huge and loud, but silent and defeating. The whole place was silent.

“There, I said it!” Eniola yelled. “I never was passionate about it and I never wanted to do it. My entire life you’ve been telling me anything less is not good.”

“But you know what I am passionate about?” she continued as they grew furious. “I love gaming. I love SCOPE. It’s the one thing I actually want to put my heart and soul into and do with my life. Not being a doctor. And I know it’s a family tradition, but I don’t want to do it. I never did!”

Their faces were unreadable as Eniola tried to decipher them. A new boldness had surged through her.

“You are going to give up our family tradition, because of some stupid gaming?” her dad asked.

“It’s not stupid, and I don’t want to be a doctor!” she repeated. “Have you ever considered what I want to know before assuming I wanted to follow the family tradition?”

“You are just like your brother!” her mom accused. “He never knew what was good for him. He was lost and needed guidance.”

“All May couldn’t do was have children, and he liked designing,” she told them loudly. “All Olu wanted was for you guys to accept him and support him. What kind of parents turn on their son so quickly like that?”

“He didn’t know what was good for him,” her mom snapped. “And you better not defend him again.”

“What if I couldn’t have children?” she argued. “Would you disown me?”

“You are not May,” her dad yelled. “And now you are being brainwashed into not being a doctor by those people.”

“Those are my teammates,” she defended. “And they are my friends. I have an opportunity—please let me go back to Los Angeles!”

“No!” her dad snapped. “You’ve betrayed us enough.”

“I didn’t betray anyone,” she said. “I’m just following my passion!”

Her dad grunted angrily. “What will we tell our family and the people who trust us? That our daughter is a gamer?”

“That’s the point!” Eniola said. “You just care about impressing everybody so that you can have a doctor to live through. This whole doctor thing is just about bragging to other people that I’m a doctor.”

“Do you know what we have done for you?” the dad began. “We have come to this country, sacrificed so much so that you and your brothers could have better lives than we did. And you act ungrateful and throw it away.”

“I’m grateful,” she began but was cut off again.

“You disrespectful child!” he screamed, then went off yelling in Yoruba. If that happened, that meant Eniola had truly made things worse.

“Ọmọ alaibọwọ,” her mom hissed. Disrespectful child. “Bola, put the house on lockdown.”

“No!” she shouted, but it was too late. Metals boards slid down onto the doors and the windows, and the buttons to the front doors disappeared. They had never done that.

It seemed like they had run out of energy. “Go to your room. Bola has already packed your things. You will think about what you did.”

She got up and retreated to her room, wiping her tears that seemed to come down like a flood and breathing heavily chest heaving and breaths hitching and clawing in her throat. She darted up the steps before reaching her room and sank onto the bed, screaming into her pillow in a sad rage.

Eniola thought about everything she’d never see or do again. She’d never see Lucia, her best friend again, the one person she’d never want to be apart from. She’d never see Iris and her cheery demeanour. She’d never see Theo and quirkiness or be on his team again. She would never play SCOPE, one of the things she was passionate about. As long as she was with her parents, she’d never even think of it again.

And she’d never see Jay again. It seemed like they had a chance at looking at being together, but she was foolish to think her parents would allow her to date him.

Keone had left them first, and now she was doing the same thing as they came closer to their dream. She let out a wretched sob and clawed her hands through her bed.

“Eniola.” Bola’s voice filled the air. “My emotional receptors say that you are feeling immense bouts of sadness. May I provide some happiness-inducing help?”

“No, thank you, Bola,” she shooed. “Thanks anyway.” Bola wasn’t doing this; she was programmed to do it. She had no feelings or no heart. She was metal and wires made to be one AI.

Bola didn’t care. No one did.

“Can I speak to Lucia Vargas?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, but being on lockdown mode prevents you from any technological communication,” Bola said. “Only guardians of the house may take lockdown off.”

Worth a try.

And now Rogue couldn’t win or even compete. Paradox would take control of the SCOPEverse.

She spent the rest of the day crying and eventually cried herself to sleep.