Tournament Trouble

by Sylv Chiang

  “You owe Dev big time, dude.” When I don’t say anything, Hugh adds, “I think he’s still in shock.”

  I stare at those papers. I think about how Cali called me a mama’s boy. It’s true—part of me was relieved when the lie at the comic store didn’t work. I don’t like the idea of going behind my mom’s back.

  But I have another side—my Kaigo side. And he’s showing Mama’s Boy who’s boss.

  Kaigo reminds Mama’s Boy how awesome it felt to beat Kn1ght_Rage.

  Jab to the head.

  He tells him it will be even more awesome to beat Kn1ght_Rage in person.

  Uppercut.

  He says I can’t let my friends down.

  Flying sidekick.

  Plus, I already play Cross Ups behind mom’s back, what’s one more lie?

  Sucker punch.

  This battle in my head drowns out everything around me for the entire math class. When the bell rings, I get up to go.

  “Where are you going, dude?” Hugh asks. “We have to stay, remember?”

  I look around at the rest of the class filing out the door, talking and laughing. Then I notice Ty and Flash sitting at their desks too.

  When all the other students are gone, Mr. Efram closes the classroom door and positions himself between our two groups.

  “Gentlemen . . .” He leans on a desk and rests his hands on his stomach. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that there is some tension between you.” He looks at each of us sternly. “Any comments?”

  I look at my desk. My mind screams at Hugh to keep his mouth shut.

  After a pause long enough to upgrade my gaming system, Mr. Efram pulls out last week’s assignment.

  “You see, boys, as I was showing Tyrell and Will last week, your two assignments are almost identical.” He points from one paper to the other. “Except that this one says ‘a cube has six faces’ while the other says ‘a cub has six feces.’”

  Flash and Ty look at each other blankly.

  Next to me, Devesh’s body shakes. Hugh’s lips press together tightly to keep from smiling. Fortunately, I’m not in the mood to laugh.

  Mr. Efram continues. “It seems clear to me that there is some copying going on. There is also some obvious discord between you all. So, what are we going to do about it?”

  Silence.

  “Okay, if you don’t have any ideas, I have one.”

  More silence.

  “I can tell you are all eager to hear it.” He smirks. “Since you three”—he circles his right hand to indicate me, Devesh, and Hugh—“find this class easy, I’m going to give you a challenge. You will tutor Will and Tyrell here.” He tips his hand to indicate the other boys.

  A loud groan from Hugh and a collective “Nooooo” from Flash and Ty break the silence.

  “Listen. I’m sure once you guys get to know each other better, you’ll find that you have more in common than you thought. And by working on math, you’ll be productive at the same time. Your first session is tomorrow after school. I’ll meet the five of you here.” Mr. Efram gets up and walks to the door. “Don’t be late.”

  Chapter 11

  BAM! I smash open the front door and drop my bag on the way down the hall. The controller is in my hand within seconds.

  I find some noob online and start smashing him up. Man, I want to go to T3 so badly now. At least then there would be one good thing in my life. Why should I feel guilty about going? It wasn’t me who lied to sign up; it was Devesh.

  Kaigo’s going ham on the screen. He smashes his opponent’s head into the ground over and over. Crack! Crack! Crack! I’m starting to feel a bit better.

  Click, click . . . that sound did not come from the game. What is my mom doing home so early? I bolt into shutdown mode. Where’s the remote? I throw the couch cushions up in a panic. Then I spy it at the other end of the couch and lunge. Too late.

  “Er zi! What are you doing?”

  I’m sprawled on my stomach like Superman, the fingers of my right hand just inches from the remote. I keep my head down.

  “Why are you playing this? I said no fighting.”

  I don’t move. With my face squished into the couch cushions, I can hardly breathe.

  I hear Mom’s purse clatter on the ground and feel her sit down by my feet. “Er zi, you are not supposed to play games like this.”

  The need for oxygen makes me pick up my head. Even though there’s no point, I grab the remote and stare at it. It’s vibrating like a volcano about to erupt because my fingers are tapping it so fast.

  “This game is so violent.”

  “It’s not so bad, Mom.” My voice is barely more than a whisper.

  “Not so bad? That guy was hitting the other guy’s head on the ground. Blood was spraying everywhere!”

  I bite my lip and take a deep breath in through my nose. My mother is doing the same. It’s the angry bull.

  On screen, Kaigo is getting his butt kicked.

  “You know, if you do that in real life, someone will die.”

  The remote explodes out of my hands, and with it come the words. “I wouldn’t do that in real life, Mom! It’s just a game! Why do you have to make such a big deal out of it?” I walk over and jab the power button on the TV.

  The room is silent. I have never yelled at my mother before. I turn to her with my head down and look at her from under my eyebrows.

  She looks like I just sucker punched her. I look away.

  Her response comes after a long pause. “See how you act to your mother? You think it has no effect on you to beat up people like that? You don’t know what violence can do to people. Do you want to turn out like my brother?”

  I wonder if she is crying, but I can’t bring myself to look at her again.

  “Go to your room.”

  It’s after midnight and I’m staring at the fake stars on my ceiling because I can’t sleep. When I got to my room this afternoon I was so mad I punched the wall. Hard. The knuckles of my right hand still ache. Sad part is, I didn’t even put a dent in the wall.

  I can’t stop thinking about what Mom said. Maybe beating people up on the screen is making me more violent. Why else would I take a swing at the wall?

  And what the heck did my uncle do? Am I really like him?

  My stomach growls. I didn’t eat much dinner because I wanted to get away from Mom as fast as possible. I roll out of bed and head downstairs.

  The light is on in the kitchen and my eyes are still adjusting when I hear, “Hey.”

  Cali’s sitting at the table with a glass of milk. Her pink pajamas are covered with silver hearts and her knees are pulled up to her chest.

  “What’re you doing up?” I ask.

  “Couldn’t sleep.”

  “I guess a mattress on the floor isn’t so comfortable.”

  “No, it’s fine. I just couldn’t stop thinking.”

  I sputter, “Oh . . . yeah.” I’m such a loser. Obviously Cali has bigger problems than I do. I pour myself a glass of milk, add several squirts of chocolate syrup, and stir, all using my left hand.

  “My mom taught me this game to help me relax and fall asleep. You think of a topic, like ‘boy names,’ and then you go through the alphabet and say one that starts with each letter. Like Andrew, Bill, Carlos . . . It always works, and I fall asleep before the letter Z. But tonight I did it with movies, TV shows, songs . . . I think I went through the alphabet at least ten times. I finally gave up and came down here.”

  “Wow, that sucks.”

  “I miss my mom.” Her voice is a whisper.

  “Isn’t she coming home soon?”

  “The nurse said maybe on the weekend.”

  “So that’s good, right?”

  “I guess. It’s just . . . I miss having her around. She’s the one I talk to about all my prob
lems . . .”

  I sit down across from her. I want to say, You can talk to me, but that sounds weird, like something someone would say in a movie.

  We sip our milk in silence. Cali’s reflection in the dark window looks older, like her adult self is sitting next to her.

  “So I hear you got grounded.”

  “Melanie?”

  “Actually, I overheard your parents talking about it.”

  “Yeah, my mom flipped. Then I flipped. It was bad.” I walk over to the cupboard for some cookies. “What’d they say?”

  “Your mom was pretty mad. Your dad said it’s normal for boys to play those kinds of games. Why does everyone always say that? Girls play too.”

  I bring the bag to the table, open it, and awkwardly pull out three cookies with my left hand. “Dad stuck up for me? Cool.” I shove a cookie in my mouth and then remember my manners. “Wam sum?” I point to the bag.

  She takes one and nibbles. “Sorry. It’s kind of my fault your mom got home so early. She changed her work schedule so she could drop me at the hospital. Sounds like you’re going to be under surveillance 24/7.”

  I swallow. “Pretty much. I have to go straight to my mom’s diner after school for the next month. She did make an exception for math tutoring. So, basically, no freedom at all.”

  “At least I know where to find you.” Cali dunks her cookie into the milk.

  “Except for maybe Saturday.” I should shut up, but I don’t. “I haven’t decided for sure, but I might be telling my parents I have to do extra math tutoring.”

  “Okay . . . why?” She tilts her head and looks at me while dunking the rest of her cookie.

  “Devesh got me signed up. I’m still trying to work up the guts to go.”

  “Hmm. Interesting . . .”

  A light goes on upstairs, and Mom’s voice calls in a loud whisper, “Er zi? Are you down there? Go back to bed. You have school tomorrow.”

  I wish I knew how Cali was going to finish that sentence. Does she think I should go to the tournament or not? But the moment is gone. “Better go,” I whisper. “Don’t want to deal with the angry bull again.” I stuff one last cookie in my mouth and head upstairs.

  Chapter 12

  The next day after school, me, Devesh, and Hugh hesitate at the door to Mr. Efram’s classroom.

  “Come in, boys,” Mr. Efram calls from behind his desk. “Your friends aren’t here yet.”

  “Friends?” Hugh mouths, raising his eyebrows.

  We sit down at our usual desks. Devesh puts his head down and closes his eyes.

  I so do not want to be here. I’m tired. My hand hurts. I can’t take being around Ty and Flash right now.

  After a while Hugh asks, “If they don’t show up, can we go?”

  “I’m sure they’ll be here any minute, Hugh,” Mr. Efram says.

  As if on cue, Ty and Flash slink through the door.

  The teacher gets up and motions for them to sit down in the seats in front of us. Then he pulls up a chair next to me.

  “Great! We’re all here. I’d like you to start by taking a minute to think of something the other group doesn’t know about you.”

  Devesh whines, “Mr. E, what does this have to do with math?”

  “Why can’t we just do our homework and go home?” Ty says.

  “This activity will help you get to know each other better. It’s important for you guys to feel connected in order to work well together. So, who wants to go first?”

  The room goes silent, like someone pressed mute.

  “Okay, it was my idea, so I’ll get the ball rolling. One thing you probably don’t know about me is that I have a huge comic book collection.” Mr. Efram turns and looks at me expectantly.

  Why me? I shrug and try to act casual. Maybe he’ll skip me.

  No luck. He’s not backing off. But I can’t formulate a single sentence that answers his question. It’s like the comic store all over again.

  He nudges my elbow with his. “Come on, Jaden. The faster you all play along, the faster we’ll get to the math part.”

  The other boys are staring at me. I need to say something to make them stop. I open my mouth and what spills out is, “Uhhh . . . I’m going to be in a video game tournament on Saturday.”

  “Alright. See? I bet Tyrell and Will didn’t know about that. Now, Will, what can you tell us about yourself?”

  “I have a dog,” Flash answers.

  We continue around the group and discover that Devesh is wearing blue underwear, Hugh likes ketchup on everything, and Ty also has a dog.

  “Okay, that was great, boys!” Mr. Efram’s voice is full of fake enthusiasm. “Now let’s take a look at tonight’s homework, shall we?”

  We all pull out our books. After checking that everyone knows the assigned question numbers, Mr. Efram goes back to his desk.

  For the next half hour, we sound like an after-school special called How to Help Your Friends with Their Homework.

  Hugh: Let’s use the problem-solving steps.

  Devesh: Remember to be a user of USAR.

  Me: Step 1: Does everyone understand the question?

  Hugh: Step 2: Let’s strategize and make a plan.

  Devesh: Step 3: Time to attack the question.

  Me: Step 4: Don’t forget to reflect on the answer.

  Every once in a while, Mr. Efram calls from across the room with instructions like, “Make sure you don’t give them the answer, Hugh,” or, “What does Tyrell think is the next step?”

  When all the assigned questions are answered, we pack up and quietly exit the classroom.

  “See you tomorrow. Same bat-time, same bat-place,” Mr. Efram calls after us with a chuckle.

  The five of us walk in silence. At the bottom of the stairwell, Ty and Flash block our path.

  “Don’t show up tomorrow,” Ty says.

  Devesh raises his monobrow. “Are you telling us what to do?”

  “I’m telling you what not to do. It’s easy. Don’t be there.” Ty crosses his arms.

  Flash runs his hands across the lightning streaks over his ears. “Just don’t come, okay? We’ve got a volleyball game after school tomorrow, but Mr. E says we have to be at tutoring. But if you guys aren’t there, there’s no tutoring and we can play.”

  “We’re not taking orders from you,” Hugh says.

  “It’s important, okay?” Flash whines. “Three guys on the team got chicken pox. If we don’t show, there won’t be enough players and the team has to forfeit.”

  “Uh-uh.” I shake my head. “Talk to Coach Lee or something. If we don’t show up, we’re going to be the ones in trouble.”

  “Coach sided with Mr. E,” Flash moans.

  “These guys don’t get it. They’ve never even played on a team.” Ty clenches his fists and bangs them together. His bright blue eyes stare at me. Then he turns them back to Flash. “Did you hear? Our pal Jaden is going to be in a video game tournament. What are you playing, Jaden? Virtual sports? Or do you even suck at those?”

  “I bet he’s playing Pokémon.”

  “Shut up,” Devesh says. “Why don’t you guys go home and play with your dogs.”

  “He’s not playing P-P-Pokémon.” Hugh’s glasses slide down his nose. “He’s playing Cross Ups IV, and he could beat you up any day.” His voice rises to a squeak on the word day.

  “Oh, he can beat me up any day?” Ty mocks Hugh’s high-pitched tone.

  I stare at Hugh.

  “I mean in Cross Ups,” Hugh mumbles.

  “What losers.” Flash laughs.

  Ty laughs too. “I know, right? I can beat you up in my video game,” he sings.

  “Whatever.” I push past Flash. “I’m going home.”

  Ty grabs my sleeve.

  “Let go of me, jerk.”<
br />
  Ty pulls me right up to his face—so close I can smell the tuna sandwich he had for lunch. “Or what? You gonna beat me up with your superpowers?”

  I bet my uncle wouldn’t have let idiots like Flash and Ty push him around. He was probably more like Kaigo. I wish this was Cross Ups and I could go super-combo crazy on these guys right now.

  The pain in my knuckles reminds me of my pathetic punch yesterday. Reality check: if I tried to throw a punch I’d probably whiff.

  Devesh pushes me hard to get me out of Ty’s grip. Then he puts his arm behind my back and steers me out the school doors. Hugh runs after us.

  “If you guys show up tomorrow, we’ll beat you so bad you won’t be able to play video games for a month.” Ty and Flash stand at the doors, chests puffed out, heads held high.

  Chapter 13

  I get to the diner around five o’clock and go straight to a booth in the back corner. The smell of the vinegar I love to pour over fries mixed with the grilling burgers from the kitchen makes my mouth water.

  I pull my math book out of my backpack and flip it open to the place where I shoved the tournament papers from Devesh. Even though I’ve already memorized the information, I unfold the pages and stare at them.

  A few minutes later, Roy comes over and sits across from me in the booth. He’s been waiting tables at the diner to earn money for college ever since he finished high school last year. Even though Mom says she doubts Roy will ever actually go to college, I know she appreciates his ability to keep even the crankiest customer happy. Still, Melanie hasn’t gotten up the nerve yet to tell our parents she’s dating Roy.

  “You haven’t been here in a while.” Roy slaps me on the shoulder with a dish towel. “What’s up?”

  “I’m grounded.”

  “No way. What’d you do?”

  “Got caught playing Cross Ups.”

  “Man, your mom is so strict. I guess she’s the same at home as she is here. At least she’s not making you work in the kitchen as punishment, eh?”

  “She wants me to focus on school.” I point to the math book on the table.