My mouth fell open. “How can you even—”
The dial tone answered.
Argh.
I chucked my phone across the room. It smacked the wall and tumbled to the floor. How the hell was this happening? Every time I picked up the phone or turned around, somehow things got worse.
I felt Derek staring at me for a minute, before he got off his treadmill and left the room. I didn’t even ask him where he was going, and at that point, I didn’t care. God, I needed to pound on something. I marched straight for the punching bags and just started ramming into one with my fists. Fucking sponsors. Fucking VGL. Stupid, fucking life, and everything in it.
I wrapped one arm around the bag, bringing it to me, and assaulted it with my right. I pounded the bag so rapidly, my movements practically blurred. My arm screamed, and my lungs burned, but I kept punching, harder and harder, until I physically collapsed and hugged the bag for support.
“Wanna fight something that punches back?”
I followed the tough, feminine voice to Lily, standing beside me. She nodded at the bag.
“You do realize you can’t kill something that’s not alive, right?”
I released the bag and backed away a few steps, knees still wobbling with exertion. Heavy breaths panted through my mouth while beads of sweat gathered around my hairline.
“It’s not going to make me feel better,” I said.
“Yes it will.” She started walking across the training room. “Get on the mats.”
I met her on the mats, and we squared off.
I moved first, throwing a punch. Too weak, too slow. Lily slipped under my arm and swept her foot under both of mine, sending me face-first into the mats. She followed me down, locking my arm against my back. Then she twisted my wrist. I yelped.
“Couldn’t quite hear you there,” she said. “But that sounded like a tap out.”
“Fuck you.”
She twisted harder. I yelped again, writhing beneath her.
“What’s that?”
I tapped out.
We faced off again. She pinned me twice more.
Now I was pissed, and strangely, more focused. I took up a stance and waited for her to attack first. She did, striking at my face with both hands. I blocked both blows and wrapped my arms around hers. We locked up. It became less of a practice fight and more of a grappling match.
She kicked at my knees, trying to knock me off balance. I held my weight low and quickly found a pattern in her movements. She lifted one leg again to kick, and I promptly attacked her other. She went down. I followed through, my weight on top of hers, and locked her in a choke hold. She gasped and clawed at my arm.
“What’s that?” I shouted, mimicking her tone from earlier. “It sounded like a tap out.”
She swore at me, and I pulled my arm tighter around her neck.
She tapped out.
I let go and collapsed on the mat beside her. We both lay on our backs, gasping for air, feeling the bruises blossoming from head to toe.
“How did you know I needed that?” I asked her.
“Because I did, too.” She glanced across the training room at Hannah on the treadmill, and her eyes went soft. After a minute, she cleared her throat and looked back at me. “Well, you already know why I needed to fight, but what are you so upset about?”
I relived the phone call from our sponsor and dropped my head into my hands. “We might have to drop out of the tournament.”
Lily froze for a minute, then leaned toward me. “Why?”
I glanced around at the others in the room and lowered my voice.
“I might have to pay the sponsors back.”
Her eyes bulged. “What?”
“The agreement with them was for the RAGE tournaments, not the all-stars. I didn’t realize that it mattered. I thought they were just our sponsors, period.”
“We’ve been in the all-star tournament for weeks, and they never said anything until now?”
“It didn’t look like we’d lose until now. We’re barely scraping by, and that’s not how they want their brands represented. They want to see us dominating, not barely surviving.”
She snorted. “Typical. If we were doing well, it wouldn’t be a problem. But because we’re struggling, suddenly, they’re not really our sponsors.”
“And if that happens, if they really demand their money back, I can’t afford to pay the trainers, or Dr. Renner, or anything else. We’re finished.” I held up my fingers and pinched the smallest space between my thumb and index finger. “We’re this close to being done. We’re hanging on by a thread.”
Lily went quiet for a minute. “Is there another way you could make money?”
I considered it. “At the club the other night, the owner offered to pay us to make appearances there.”
Lily glanced around the room. “Well, I think the team would be willing to do it if it keeps us together.”
“I know. I was just hoping to avoid that.” I glanced at Rooke. The last thing he needed right now was to be surrounded by drugs and alcohol every single night. “I don’t want you guys to have to do that. I want you to be your own people.”
“Is there anything else we could do?”
I brought a bottle of water to my mouth and paused, thinking it over.
“I don’t know,” I finally said, noting the exasperation in my own advice. I took a swig of the water. Lily watched me drink, eyed the bottle, and smirked to herself, as if she was the only one who understood some secret joke.
“You know that water you’re drinking,” she began.
“Yeah?” I asked, taking another swig.
“That’s where the family fortune came from. They were one of the first to start mining water from asteroids.”
I nearly choked and had to cough a few times to clear my throat. Holy shit. If that was true, then her family really was loaded.
Lily tilted her head toward me, and a chunk of hair fell over her eye.
“Almost forty years ago,” she said, “my grandfather started a company to develop the technology. There were dozens of competing firms, but his was the first one to reach success in trial runs on Earth. Once the program actually launched, and production began, the company became an empire.”
I swallowed down another gulp and felt it gurgle in my stomach. I believed her, but it was still hard to process. If Hannah hadn’t told me that Lily had forsaken her family’s fortune and wanted nothing to do with them, I would have thought she might have been offering to help the team financially. Still, Lily had shared something with me. This was progress for her. For some reason, I felt like I should reciprocate.
I leaned toward her.
“You wanna know something?”
She nodded.
“I don’t have a fricking clue what I’m doing,” I admitted. Since she was sharing secrets, I thought I’d contribute. “With the team and everything. Not. A. Clue.”
Lily was quiet for a minute. “Familiar paths end at the edge of your comfort zone. So, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re already headed the right way.”
I sat half-up, propped up by my elbows, and peered down at her. Wise, insightful Lily. Her soul as endless as the midnight blue in her eyes. Still, this was a declaration deeper than I’d ever heard her say before, and Hannah had surprised me just the same a few weeks earlier. Had they stumbled across Rooke’s philosophy books when he’d moved into the house? Or maybe we were all just getting further and further away from our teenage years. Suddenly, our choices had consequences, partying wasn’t half as fun as it used to be, and adulthood had snuck up to whisper in our ears.
You have insurance and utility bills. You’re a grown-up now.
I sighed and slid back down to the mats.
“Yeah, but it’s you guys that I’m tugging along behind me.�
�
“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe in you.”
Everyone kept implying that, but for some reason, it just wouldn’t sink in.
“Thanks for the fight,” she added.
I shrugged. “Coming in here is better than plugging in and trying to escape in the virtual world.”
“I don’t think plugging in to escape is wrong once in a while.”
“Sure, games are fun, and that’s what they should be. But not as a way to escape from dealing with real life. Not every time shit gets tough.”
“That’s not fair,” she said. She sat up, and looked me dead in the eyes. “Sometimes you can’t control everything in your life. Sometimes people die, or someone you love leaves. The only thing that really heals something like that is time, and games can make that fucked-up, miserable time just a little more bearable.”
I sat up and swiveled to face her, so I could look her straight on.
“Look, I don’t want to get nosy, but are things that bad between you and Hannah?”
She was quiet for a few beats. “It’s just making me think that maybe we’re not right for each other. There were always a few things that bugged me about her.”
“Like how she flirts with men?” I asked.
Lily snorted. “Hannah would flirt with a statue. So, no. She doesn’t mean anything by it, and I know that.” She was quiet for a long time. So long, I didn’t think she’d say something more, until she did.
“Sometimes I feel like she doesn’t have any depth.”
This was the most Lily had opened up since I’d known her. I nodded for encouragement, didn’t say anything else, and just waited for her to continue.
“I know that sounds harsh,” she said, “but most of the time, it’s all clothes, shoes, and hair with her. I mean, I love that she’s girly and all. But sometimes it feels like there’s nothing else beyond the superficial.”
I had to stop my face from reacting to the irony in her statement. Instead, I laid it out for her as neutrally as I could. “I realize I’m not the best to give relationship advice, but did you ever think that maybe she’s holding back because you are, too?”
Her eyes flicked to mine, and her mouth opened slightly as if in shock. She hadn’t thought of that before, and as her gaze grew distant, I knew my words were sinking in. Finally, she blinked and looked to the ceiling.
“I don’t understand why the situation with my family is such a big deal to everyone. Sometimes, families have falling-outs. Just because they’re rich doesn’t make it any different.”
“You can’t see why it’s a big deal because to you it’s normal. And I don’t think Hannah’s upset about the money. She’s upset that you hid a big chunk of your life from her. Everyone else cares about the money, but Hannah cares about you. Doesn’t that alone make her less superficial?”
Lily sighed. “I suppose. I just don’t get why it’s a scandal. Does it really matter that much to most people?”
“Of course it does. To them, your family is the one percent, of the one percent, of the one percent. Most people would wonder why you don’t want a part of that.”
It was her turn to sit up and face me.
“Most people think money is important because they don’t have it. I had money. I had it handed to me. You know what I felt? Empty. So, I gave it up. Started a new life.”
“And now?”
“Now I get to spend my days doing the thing I love with the people I love,” she said. “That’s what I call the one percent.”
Damn.
“The people you love,” I repeated. “Does that include Hannah?”
She turned her gaze to the ceiling and shrugged.
“I know I told you this before,” I began, “but make sure it’s really the end. If the relationship is beyond repair, and you’re really happier apart, then go your separate ways. But once it’s over, that’s pretty hard to come back from. Don’t let her be the one that got away.”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Sounds like you’re not just talking about Hannah.”
Okay, that probably didn’t take a lot to figure out.
“How’s he doing?” she asked, referring to Rooke.
“He’s . . . working through it.”
“And how are you doing?”
I drew a deep breath. “I’m working through it.”
She took my hand and squeezed. I squeezed back.
“Thanks for the talk,” she said.
I pushed up to my feet. “You, too. But I’m not the one you should be talking to.”
“Speak for yourself,” she called out, as I started to walk away. I glanced over my shoulder and grinned.
“Touché.”
I continued to walk away, then I paused and turned back at her.
“Just a question.”
“Yeah?”
“Would your family be interested in sponsoring an eSports team?”
She showed me what her middle finger looked like, and I laughed. I started to walk away again when she called out to me.
“Kali?”
I turned back again.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but you look tired.”
As she said it, my shoulders sagged, and my eyelids felt heavy, but I smiled anyway.
“I don’t have time to be tired.”
“Kali?”
I turned around to find Derek standing behind me. His arms were crossed, and a stern expression masked his face. That couldn’t be good.
“I need to show you something.”
• • •
LIARS.
That’s what was painted on the wall next to the front gate of the house. I stood in front of it, arms crossed, blinking a few times.
“When did this happen?” I asked Derek. He shrugged.
“Recently, or we would have noticed before now.”
I tried to tell myself it wasn’t a big deal but couldn’t ignore the growing pang in my chest. If people weren’t afraid to come up to the house, what would they do next?
“There they are!”
I turned to find a group of hecklers rushing toward us. One of them pointed at me.
“Hey, Ling. Fuck any more Koreans lately?”
Derek’s eyes went wide. “Shit.”
He grabbed my arm and started backpedaling. We retreated into the confines of our property and slammed the gates closed just as the horde descended on us. Their limbs poked through the bars, and they banged against the gate like some undead mob.
Derek and I backed up several steps as the shouts continued.
“Have any other kids you don’t know about, Cooper?”
“Go back to the RAGE tournaments, Defiance. You were shit then, and you’re shit now.”
“Where’s that other bitch? The one that’s straight.”
I gritted my teeth and shouted back, “She’s not straight.”
“Kali,” Derek warned under his breath. “Do not engage.”
“Bullshit. She’s probably screwing the rest of K-Rig in there right now.”
Derek still held his grip around my arm. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it instinctively to protect me or to hold me back.
“The famous Kali Ling hides behind a gate,” some guy shouted. “If you’re really so tough, come kick my ass yourself.” He placed his hands behind his back. “Here, I’ll make it easy for you.”
I wasn’t falling for it and didn’t even take a step toward him, but Derek’s grip tightened on me anyhow.
Sadly, this was expected. You gain fame and money, and with it comes the haters. But I’d never experienced the backlash quite so directly. Last year, when Defiance was Clarence’s team, we were kept inside his facility and shielded from the hate. Playing games for the tabloids had still been a
big part of our jobs, but I’d never had to deal with anything like this before. Maybe the way Clarence had run things wasn’t as bad as I had thought. He had tried to spin the tension on the team, specifically between Rooke and myself, as some hot-and-cold romance for the media to gobble up. But by doing that—putting a good twist on a bad situation—maybe he’d protected us from stuff like this.
I shook my head. I never thought I’d find myself agreeing with Clarence.
“There’s more,” Derek said.
I pointed at the gates. “Of this?”
“No. Something else.”
Derek led me back inside the house to the pod room.
“What am I looking at?” I asked, as he tapped the screen behind my pod, bringing up the maintenance menu. He pointed at a window of data.
“There’s something going on here.”
Derek had taken programming in school before he left for a career as a pro gamer, so I knew he knew what he was talking about. I took a step toward the pod.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, these pods are designed to understand us. It’s like they’re . . . evolving.”
Evolving? Well, that explained how the practice matchups were getting harder.
“You mean, so it can challenge us inside the game.”
He stared at me for a while. “No. Not just inside the game. It’s learning everything it can about you. About all of us.”
Something cold slid through my stomach. “How can it do that?”
“By evaluating your physiological responses to different stimuli. If it presents you with a situation in the game, it monitors your breathing, increase in sweat—”
“Are you saying these pods aren’t safe?”
“In terms of virtual addiction, I think they’re fine.” He went quiet for a long time, and crossed his arms. “I think this is how the media is finding out everything about us.”
“Oh, Derek. Come on—”
“Think about it. Hannah hates stereotypes, so the media creates one about her. I grew up without a father, then it’s implied I got a girl pregnant on a one-night stand. Lily hates her family, and so—”
I held up a hand. “Okay, okay. Even if someone is accessing these pods to find out our dirty laundry, what are we going to do about it?”
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