Asa Jennings was much like a ghost.

Asa Walker, however, got plenty of results online. Texan math miracle. Teen wins local competition thrice in a row. Unbeatable champion.

The name change from Walker to Jennings was weird to say the least. Why would he want to switch surnames? Why not live with his parents?

It probably wasn't because he had the best relationship with his folks, and it was strangely suiting. People like him hardly ever seem to come from 'normal' backgrounds.

I decided not to tell my friends about my discovery because there was really no point. Randall wouldn't care. Landon would accidentally blurt it out to others, probably in the worst possible place. Camilla would disapprove of me telling someone's secret even if we were technically lunch break friends and Asa was the stranger sitting at our table.

Still sitting at our table. The deal, apparently, wasn't off.

While we were all initially weirded out by Asa and his presence at the lunch table, gradually we adjusted. Landon had started shouting his mind again, spraying food in his enthusiasm. Randall sneered at him for it.

All week long, Asa ignored our geek-talk about that new game Double Singularity, ate his lunch, and got up the moment the bell rang.

On Friday Landon had the nerve (or perhaps it were the faulty fear receptors in his brain), to ask Asa to come to the game store with us on Saturday for a copy of Double Singularity.

When I entered the store together with Landon on Saturday, I didn't expect Asa to show up. To be honest, I didn't want him to show.

Asa probably already thought I was a loser with the way I'd pathetically gave him money to keep people off my back. I really, really didn't want to add to that image even more by having him watch me fail epically at the store's trial version of Double Singularity.

There were already plenty of people from school present for the opening sale of the game, watching me suck. I heard Rolf laugh at me every time I did something dumb in-game.

"You suck!" another guy called out when I purposely missed a direct shot on Landon's character.

I had to suck because nobody in real life knew I was good.

The stats on my fake accounts, which I used to play with Landon and sometimes Randall, were pretty awful. Purposely playing games bad was harder than you'd think it was, so I ended up saying 'no' to them often, leading them to believe I was mostly a watcher and not a player.

Landon was very much into our one vs. one match. His tongue darted out of his mouth in concentration as he made error after error. I could've easily countered every move he made but didn't, allowing him to sneak up on my robot character.

"Hah!" Landon called out victoriously when he managed to kill me yet again.

"Oh, for God's sake! Stop falling for the same thing over and over!" a vaguely familiar female voice complained from somewhere in the crowd of onlookers. I heard her through Rolf and his friends calling me dumbass, waste of space, and worse.

I ignored everyone's comments, allowing Landon to ambush me on the bridge of the spaceship and kill me one final time, ending the match 0 to 3. And I'd just sentenced myself to Landon looking way too pleased with himself and humble bragging for the rest of the week.

"Good game, man," Landon told me, patting my back as we stepped away from the console to give others a chance to play.

Rolf purposely slammed into my shoulder as he passed me and took my place at the screen.

Someone scoffed on my right. "Gabriel, what were you doing? You could've easily won."

I automatically turned at the mentioning of my name, and found myself face to face with none other than Asa's cousin, Cindy. The Blizzcon fan - it wasn't that much of a stretch that she'd be here, too, but I still tensed up.

If she was here, that could mean--

Asa wasn't far behind, standing behind Cindy with crossed arms. Shit, had he seen me play?

Cindy narrowed her eyes at me. "Why did you ignore that other guy camping on the bridge when you knew he was there? I saw you use the observatory to find him but you walked into his line of fire anyway."

I made myself laugh. "Oh, I must've missed that," I lied, trying to save myself. "I didn't see him there."

Cindy titled her head to the side and blinked. "And why did you never use your best weapons?"

"I didn't?" I asked, playing dumb. "Oh. Didn't know that either. I'm not that good at games, anyway."

Cindy didn't look like she believed me. Asa stared at me too, and I felt my cheeks redden. Luckily, I could always count on Landon to be totally oblivious to subtext or moods, and to take over the conversation.

"You're a fan of Double Singularity too, then?" Landon asked Cindy.

Cindy smiled widely and nodded. "Yup! Been following the developments since 2016 when the game was first announced."

"Me too! I--"

I didn't stick around longer. I grabbed the opportunity to slip away while Landon was nicely hogging Cindy and Asa's attention. Or, so I thought.

I made it outside, pushing through the spectator crowd. I found a nice, quiet spot next to the store, took out my phone, and that's when it all went downhill fast.

A shadow fell over the screen of my phone. Asa had somehow managed to sneak up on me, scrutinising my face while I nearly let out a most unmanly yelp at his sudden proximity.

"H-hey Asa," I greeted him, taking a step away from him.

Asa's deep blue eyes continued to drill holes into mine. "Where did you get the money?"

"Huh?"

"The money you pay me with."

"I," I sputtered, looking away. "I have a job on the side?"

"What's your job?" Asa asked.

"I, uh, store?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Asa suddenly stepped forward and snatched my phone out of my hands before I could even react.

"H-hey," I weakly protested.

Asa looked down at the screen, scrolling through my apps with one finger while I was near palpitating.

"That's private. Give that back!" I protested again, without moving a muscle.

Asa looked up at me with narrowed eyes.

"Uh, I mean, can I have that, please? I-if you're done."

Much to my surprise, Asa did offer my phone back. I only stared at it for a few seconds first, making sure it wasn't some kind of trap, before taking it back.

With one glance at my screen, I realised Asa had opened my Youtube, showing my followers count, my screen name, channel information, everything. I'd been exposed. After years of meticulously keeping everything about my gaming channel to myself, all it took was Asa stealing my phone.

My skin crawled and jittered with nerves.

"If you're this good," Asa said. "Then what are you doing, hiding? Letting others pick on you?"

I hung my head, suddenly finding the concrete below me very interesting. It was my turn to stay quiet and not answer to the question for a change.

After what felt like an eternity, Asa finally gave up. His sneakers left my field of vision and I breathed out shakily through my mouth.

"Hiding?" I murmured to myself. "That's rich coming from you, Asa Walker."

Dedicated to @Spotlight_ for making me this cute banner. :D