Click. Beep, beep, beep.

"Damn it!" I hissed.

I threw my phone on my bed. Where the hell was Asa?

He'd promised he'd pick me up at nine, and it was now nine fifteen with no word from him. He didn't answer his phone, he didn't answer his messages, and if he wasn't here in fifteen more minutes I'd be too late to switch to the bus or an available Uber driver.

I really, really didn't need this kind of stress right now.

Maybe I should ask my parents-- no, I dismissed the idea quickly. If I wanted Mom or Dad to drive me, I'd first have to get into the discussion of why I wanted to go to a particular convention centre fifty miles away. After that, the accusations of 'couldn't you have mentioned this earlier?' would follow, and then, after all that shebang, I'd have a slight chance Dad was in a good mood and would drive.

More stress I didn't need.

Pacing through my room, I finally decided I was desperate enough to call Cindy.

She picked up almost right away.

"Hi, Gabe!" she greeted me cheerfully, giggling. "Are you ready? I'm already on the tournament page. Oh, I know it won't go live until two hours! But I can't wait!"

I had a feeling Cindy didn't know anything about Asa and my arrangement for today. That wasn't a good sign.

"Cindy, do you know where Asa is?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh..." Cindy abruptly lost her cheerfulness. "Yeah, he can't come to the phone. I'm sure he's cheering for you, though!"

"Cindy? Who are you talking to?" A male voice I vaguely recognised as Asa's uncle rang out in the background.

"No one!" Cindy hastily replied.

"Sorry, gotta go," she whispered to me, before ending the call.

Can't come to the phone? What was that supposed to mean? Was he not at home? Was he in his room with... with other problems?

I didn't want to get Cindy in trouble, so I stopped myself from calling again. Didn't have time to hesitate about it, either.

The bus wasn't going to wait for me and I had to run at this point to make it.

It really would've been the icing on the crap cake - watching the bus leave without me. Fortunately, that didn't happen and I made it it in time. Red-faced and sweaty, but in time.

The ride to Brown's Convention Centre, where the Double Singularity tournament would be held, went by in a blur. I was too busy worrying about not missing my stops and switching busses at the right time for anything else.

Asa was a constant worry in the back of my mind, but he had to remain there while I tried my damn hardest to not be even later and to find the right entrance for contestants.

I arrived with a dry throat and no water, and already halfway out of steam. The Brown building was buzzing with activity. Cars everywhere, big fences, people standing in line to get inside or moving around to get snacks from nearby stands, and security staff keeping a close eye on things. But nobody paid me, a sweating, confused-looking seventeen-year-old boy, any mind.

Nobody knew my face. Yet.

Soon that would be over.

I found the contestant entrance on the other side of the building, where there was more shade and way fewer people around.

"Hey," I greeted a stern-faced man guarding the door. "I'm here to join the, uh, competition? Am I in the right place?"

"Inside to your right you'll find the check-in," the man replied curtly, pointing at the double doors.

This was my last chance to bow out and run.

I was very aware of my last chance to escape while forcing my feet to carry me forward.

Turn back turn back turn back echoed in my head with each step, with each heartbeat reverberating in my ears.

It was harder to breathe the closer I got to the receptionist.

"Hello!" she already greeted me from a few feet away.

"Hi," I replied breathlessly, coming to a halt at her desk.

"I'm going to need your ticket, sir."

"Oh, yes, of course."

I fumbled with my phone. My connection was shit inside so it took a while to load images, and I realised again, I was so ill-prepared.

My throat was not just dry, but paper dry by now. I had to pee. I didn't bring food, and the bottle of water I had, I already finished in the bus. Before, I'd figured I'd buy it on the way to the convention centre with Asa. Suddenly, some tears stung behind my eyes, but I forced them back. Where the hell was Asa? Why was he ditching me after we felt so close yesterday?

No, I had to suck it up. I was on my own like always. Deal. With. It.

"Oh, here it is," I muttered when the image on my screen finally loaded. I presented it to the woman.

She scanned it, and then handed me a plastic bag, and some sort of badge with a cord. It had my name and rank in Double Singularity on it.

"The badge grants you access to all contestant areas," the woman explained. "The preliminaries are held on the second floor. Our staff will show you the way there. If get through the first rounds, you'll be moved to the stage on the ground level. Again, our staff will give you directions. You can also find all the information in the booklet -- it's in the plastic bag. Is everything clear?"

"Yeah, sure," I stammered, despite having missed about half of the information.

"Great!" The woman finally smiled. "Good luck, and have fun, extra ordinary!"

I forgot to respond for a second, too shocked at hearing my screen name come out of a stranger's mouth, to my face. I'd really have to get used to that.

"Uh, thank you."

Quickly moving on, I tried to calm my frazzling nerves by telling myself this reaction wasn't that bad. Maybe the woman didn't know much about gaming, but odds were she did know who I was and just wasn't making a big deal out of it. Maybe others wouldn't either.

I stepped into the elevator, pressing the button to the second floor as instructed.

I wasn't 'famous.' I was only a guy. Just, Gabriel.

Just, Gabriel, who got a gigantic camera shoved in his face the moment the elevator doors opened on the second floor and I stepped out.

"Extra ordinary arrived!" I heard a male voice calling from... somewhere. I was too disorientated to immediately make sense of the situation by the huge camera in my face.

"Extra ordinary! Welcome! Are you excited to be here in Brown's convention centre?" another man added. "Do you have anything to say to our viewers?"

Blinking rapidly, I made myself smile. I was extremely aware of the sweat on my forehead and the fact that I had to look like a deer in the headlights, but I had to push through. Damn it, I'd explicitly asked for no interviews.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, very, uh, excited to be here. I hope all you viewers at home have lots of fun watching our games. Thanks."

I didn't give the men more chances to ask questions, quickly pushing past the cameraman.

Honestly, I just wanted to find some water and settle down before the first matches, but I was getting no such peace.

The next confrontation was waiting for me in the food court.

I wouldn't have minded talking to some of the other contestants. Chip, Marius, and my other online friends were all from other countries and had no way of being here, but there'd been some usernames I recognised.

Rolf's, among others.

And Rolf was exactly the person standing in the way at the drinks stand while I tried to get my hands on some water.

The look on his face when he turned and saw me was priceless.

"You?" he gaped.

"Me," I replied, taking a step to the side.

Rolf can't cause a scene here. There's a camera. There are plenty of people around. There's security staff.

My hands still trembled as I reached for a bottle of water.

Rolf's eyes flickered to the badge around my neck and widened even further as he read my gamer tag.

"You're a fucking pro player?"

Not actually, no, I was an entertainer. Still, I tilted my chin up. "That's right."

The moment those words left my lips, I knew this meant everyone else in school would know, too. They'd see the awkward interview, or Rolf would tell them. There was absolutely no way back anymore. Extra_ordinary was outed, and I didn't know how to feel except surreal.

The feeling was mutual, apparently. Rolf also looked like he saw a ghost. "How?"

"I-It's easy to convince people who suck that you suck, too."

Holy crap, did that just come out of my mouth? That was almost a smooth line, if only I hadn't stuttered.

Since I was sure I wouldn't be able to reproduce such smoothness a second time, I was grateful a staff member of the tournament stepped onto the small stage in the lounge and turned the mic on.

"Listen up everyone!" he said. "The first round starts in about half an hour. Please keep an eye on one of the screens in the lounge or our website overview so you know when you're up, and at which computer you're expected. They're all labeled with numbers. If you can't find it or have other questions, ask a staff member."

The man smiled. "And otherwiseI'd like to say: have fun today and best of luck!"

Some people clapped for the guy's speech. Instead, I took my phone out, connected to the building's wifi, and navigated to the competition site. My first match wasn't against Rolf.

I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved, especially since I almost felt his cold stare prickling my back.

Okay, deep breaths.

I started walking.

Whatever would happen today, would happen.

On my way to my assigned computer, number 3, I tried to ban every negative thought out of my mind.

My parents.

People at school.

Rolf.

And finally, Asa Walker, who still hadn't even bothered to send me a short text message.