Tournament Trouble

by Sylv Chiang

  “I’m not sure that was a good idea. He seemed pretty pissed.”

  “So what? I’m pissed too. Everything you said is true.”

  “What if you just go with them? It’s only for a few months, until your mom comes home.”

  Cali shakes her head. “Last night at dinner my dad said they’re making their office into my bedroom. I can paint it whatever color I want.”

  “Okay . . . What color did you pick?”

  “Don’t you get it? They’re changing their whole house around for me. People don’t do that if someone is just visiting. I don’t think my mom’s telling me the truth. This move is permanent.”

  “So, you need to talk to your mom.”

  “Yeah. I wish I could see her before we leave. I’d ask her straight up. She wouldn’t be able to look me in the eyes and lie.”

  “Then let’s go to the hospital.”

  “What’s the point? They’ll all be there before us, and I won’t get to talk to her alone.”

  “They’re stopping at Aliyah and Evy’s places first.” I look at my watch. “Wait here. I have an idea.” I rush into the house. Man, I hope Melanie wakes up in a good mood.

  Chapter 21

  Ten minutes later, Roy pulls up in his little gray hatchback. I introduce him to Cali.

  “Thanks for coming so fast.” I climb into the back seat.

  “No problem. I told you I’d give you a ride to the tournament.”

  “Actually, we need you to take us to the hospital—”

  Cali cuts me off. “Oh my God—the tournament! Jaden, you’re going to miss it!”

  “It’s okay, there’s lots of time. Let’s get you to your mom first.”

  “Don’t you play at eleven?”

  “I’ll make it,” I say. It’s a long shot, but I grabbed the bag with my controller on the way out the door, just in case.

  Cali’s not buying my fake confidence. “It’s already ten fifteen.”

  Roy looks back at us, his face scrunched up. “So where am I going?”

  “Tournament.”

  “Hospital,” I say forcefully, over top of Cali.

  “Okay, hospital then tournament. Buckle up.”

  Me and Cali don’t talk on the ride to the hospital—we’re too busy hanging on to our seats. Although he never goes over the speed limit, Roy also doesn’t slow down when making turns. It’s like we’re in one of those kart-racing games. I keep waiting for the wheels on one side of the car to lift off the ground when we go around a bend.

  “You’re lucky,” Roy calls over his shoulder. “I won’t have this car much longer. I just got accepted to college. I’ll be putting this baby up on Craigslist next week to pay for tuition.”

  “Congrats,” I answer through clenched teeth as we take another corner at warp speed.

  At 10:26 a.m. the car screeches to a stop in the round driveway by the main entrance to the hospital. Me and Cali get out of opposite doors.

  “What are you doing? Go to the tournament.”

  “Are you sure? I’ll come in with you if you want.”

  Cali looks at her watch. “No. If you go now you might still make it in time.”

  “Alright. Good luck.”

  “You too.”

  I get into the passenger seat this time. Roy hits the gas and we’re off like it’s a time trial—we really are racing against the clock.

  “Which way?” he asks at the exit.

  “Turn right. Take the highway.”

  Roy whips the car onto the main street, and I spy a familiar blue car turning into the hospital parking lot.

  “Oh no. That’s them.”

  “Who?”

  “We have to go back so I can stall them.” I quickly explain the situation, and Roy pulls a kart-driving stunt that spins the car around so fast I’m dizzy. Before I know it, we’re back in the circular drive.

  “So, your mom’s in that blue car? How are you going to explain why you’re in my car?”

  Oh crap! If this was a kart-racing game, I’d have a bomb to throw out and cause a distraction, but I’ve got nothing, not even banana peels for them to slip on. “Let me out here by the doors. Hopefully she won’t see you.”

  I jump out of the car and run through the main doors and across the lobby to the elevator. Wait, I don’t even know what floor to go to. I spin around, searching for a solution.

  The information desk.

  I dash over and ask the elderly lady behind the counter for Mrs. Chen’s room number. She pats her blue volunteer vest and then her head. “Now, where did I put my glasses?”

  “They’re on the desk there.” I point with a fidgety finger.

  “Oh! Thank you. Now, what was the name again?”

  “Chen.”

  “Chen? How do you spell that?”

  I try to sound patient as I spell it out. She slowly one-fingers it into the computer and, after a long pause, tells me the room is number 602.

  I run for the elevator and get there just as the doors slide shut. I’m frantically pressing the up button when Mom, Cali’s father, and Marnie come through the doors from the parking lot.

  “Er zi, what are you doing here?”

  “I found Cali. I brought her here to talk to her mom before she leaves.” I look at Cali’s father. “I know you’re in a rush, but can you please give them some time alone?”

  Marnie reaches into her pocket for a tissue and dabs her eyes. “Oh gosh. Of course we can give her time. Right, Richard?”

  The elevator doors open and all four of us get in. There’s silence until it stops on the sixth floor. We get out and follow my mom.

  She speaks brusquely in Mandarin. “What do you mean you brought her here? How did you get here so fast?”

  “A friend gave us a ride.” That’s not a lie.

  “What friend of yours can drive?”

  I pretend not to hear the question.

  We pass room 602 and see Cali sitting on a chair by the bed. I catch her eye and continue to the waiting room next door. We all settle onto vinyl couches under framed paintings of farms in winter.

  Marnie sniffs and dabs her eyes again. “How did we not think to check if she wanted to say good-bye to her mom? Oh . . . I’m not going to be a very good mother, am I?”

  “Of course you are.” Mr. Chen pats Marnie on the arm.

  These guys are too weird. I try to bite my tongue, but after exploding at Mr. Chen on the porch I’m kind of on a roll. “Cali has a mom,” I mumble. “You’re not going to be her mother. Ever.”

  Beside me, my mom stiffens.

  “Oh, I know that dear.” Marnie is still dabbing her eyes. “But I am going to be a mom soon.” She pats her stomach.

  Seriously?

  “Oh, uh, congratulation,” Mom sputters.

  “Thank you. I’m really excited.” Marnie points to Cali’s father. “This one is so calm about it because he’s done it all before.”

  Mom’s angry-bull breath tells me she’s thinking the same thing I am: Only the first few years. Then he took off.

  I look at my watch: 10:43 a.m. I accomplished my mission. How can I get back to Roy and drive to the tournament without answering Mom’s question? She will definitely want to know how I got Roy’s number.

  Cali rushes into the waiting room and straight to me. “What are you doing here? You’re never going to make it on time. Go!”

  “Oh, the tournament. I forgot.” Mom stands up and looks at her watch. “I have no car. I can’t take you.”

  Cali looks at me. I shake my head slightly to keep her quiet.

  Her father interrupts. “Cali. What were you thinking, taking off this morning? This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable.”

  Marnie puts a hand on Mr. Chen’s shoulder to quiet him. Then she looks at Cali. “Honey,
are you okay?”

  “Yeah, what did your mom say?” I ask.

  “She . . . uh . . .” Cali looks around at everyone in the waiting room, then speaks to me. “She just doesn’t know for sure.” She presses her lips together, and her voice goes to a higher pitch. “She thinks it’ll be too hard for me to take care of her and go to school. That’s why she called my dad. So I can get used to living with him, in case . . .”

  “You were right then?”

  Cali nods.

  “What do you mean?” Mom asks.

  “Cali isn’t just going to Montreal for a little while. She’s going to be staying there. Maybe forever.”

  Cali looks at her father. “Jaden’s going to miss the most important event of his life if he doesn’t leave, like, right now. Dad, can you please drive him to the tournament?”

  “What? No, Cali, I think I should talk to your mother—”

  Marnie interjects. “Richard, Jaden is Cali’s friend, and he’s been taking care of her. We should take him.”

  “It’s okay. I can take him.”

  All eyes turn to the doorway.

  Chapter 22

  “Roy? What you doing here?” Mom blinks rapidly. “Everything okay?”

  “Everything’s fine, Mrs. Stiles. I drove Jaden and Cali here. I was waiting outside and looking at the clock and . . . well, if Jaden is going to compete we really need to get moving.”

  “Mom?”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Marnie looks at Cali. “You probably want to watch him play, right, sweetheart?”

  “Well, yeah, I’d love to”—she looks at her father—“if I could.”

  “We can leave this afternoon, right, Richard?”

  Cali’s father takes a deep breath. Marnie nods her head slowly. He sighs. “Go. But we’re leaving as soon as it’s over.”

  Cali gives her father a hug. Then she turns to Marnie and gives her a timid one too. “Thank you,” she says, more to Marnie than her father.

  The clock in Roy’s hatchback shows 10:55 a.m. by the time we are all buckled up. Roy’s driving style shifts significantly with my mom in the passenger seat. Instead of turning like he’s in a NASCAR race, he putt-putts along like he’s driving a golf cart.

  We’re never going to make it.

  “How you know Jaden need a ride to the hospital?”

  Roy ignores the question and steers the conversation in another direction. “I have good news and bad news to share with you, Mrs. Stiles.” She looks at him, and he takes it as a sign to continue. “The bad news is I’m going to have to cut back on my shifts at the diner this fall. The good news is I was accepted into the social service worker program I applied to.”

  “What is a social service worker?”

  “I want to be a youth counselor and run programs for teens who are having problems. If they have a safe place to hang out and someone to talk to they’re less likely to get involved with drugs and gangs.”

  Mom looks out the window and is quiet for a moment. Then she looks back at Roy and says, “This is a very important job. Melanie is lucky.”

  Roy’s wide eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror.

  Mom laughs. “You think I not know?”

  “Um, well, I . . .”

  “Oh, I know long time now. But girls don’t want to date a boy their mother like. So I think, better if Melanie not know I like you.”

  Roy pulls the car up in front of the hotel at 11:13 a.m. I jump out and sprint through the lobby, following the T3 signs with Cali right behind me.

  At the sign-in table I skid to a halt and, gasping for breath, say, “I’m Jaden Stiles. JStar. I’m late. Did I miss it?”

  “JStar? They were calling for you. Sorry, by not showing at the station you forfeited your first match.”

  “Oh no. Jaden, I’m so sorry,” Cali says.

  “Wait. Just the first match? I’m still in, right? The rules say it’s a double-elimination bracket.”

  “Right. That loss bumps you down to the loser bracket. Now if you lose any match you’re out.”

  Not quite the odds I had hoped for, but I’ll take it.

  The guy gives me some papers and a competitor’s pass attached to a yellow lanyard. I loop it around my neck and push open the conference room door.

  In the center of the huge room, rows of chairs face a large screen on one wall. This is where the highlighted battles are being projected and live-streamed for all to see. Along the other three walls are numbered stations, each set up with two chairs facing a monitor.

  The hype is unreal. It’s so crowded it’s hard to get through. Matches for several different games are underway, and spectators stop here and there to watch, blocking the flow of traffic. Every few seconds a crowd around a screen calls out a collective “Oh!” in reaction to a great hit. The air in the room is heavy from the heat of all the machines and smells a bit like a guys’ locker room.

  I grip the schedule in my left hand. It says my next match starts in fifteen minutes against someone with the gamertag WarpSpeed.

  “You okay?” Cali asks.

  “No. I’m freaking out. I don’t see anyone my age here. I didn’t know there would be so many OGs.”

  “OG? What’s that mean? Old guys?”

  “It stands for Original Generation. Some of these guys have been playing Cross Ups since it first came out.”

  “When was that?”

  “Like, before we were born.” I shrug my backpack off and deflate into a seat in the back row. Instead of feeling like Yuudai Sato, ready to battle anyone, I feel like a little kid at an NHL game watching the pros play. Man, I even have my parents with me. “This is going to be so embarrassing.”

  Cali sits down beside me. “Don’t worry. Just have fun. Hey, isn’t that Hugh?”

  I catch a glimpse of Hugh and wave him over. Then I lose sight of him as he makes his way through the crowd. When he finally gets to us, Devesh peeks out from behind him.

  “What? I thought you were grounded.”

  “I whined so much about missing the tournament that my dad gave in and let me go.”

  Hugh moves to block Devesh from talking to me. “Dude, where have you been? They called you so many times.”

  Devesh squishes past Hugh. “I almost pretended to be you and played your first match.”

  “But I wouldn’t let him. I knew you’d get here. Why are you so late?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  Devesh catches my I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it look and changes the subject. “Have you seen the controllers these guys have?” His eyes follow a competitor carrying a large plastic box with the Cross Ups logo across the top. “It looks like they ripped off the front of an arcade game.”

  “Yeah, those arcade sticks are bananas,” Hugh says.

  “Um . . . You guys are not helping.” Cali chops her hand back and forth in front of her throat. “I was just telling Jaden not to get stressed out.”

  “Oh yeah, J, you’re gonna do great,” Hugh says.

  “Thanks, Hughie. I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be an epic fail.”

  Chapter 23

  My opponent is already seated and staring at the screen when I get to the station. I put my bag on the chair and get out my game pad. It suddenly feels so tiny in my hands.

  WarpSpeed moves a bulky arcade stick from his lap and gets up to face me, hand outstretched. I’m surprised to recognize him as the Trekkie from the comic book store.

  “Hey, kid. Let’s see if you can boldly go where no one has gone before.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  The Trekkie sits back down and points to the console. “Engage.”

  I fumble to plug my controller in and sit down.

  Devesh puts his hands on my shoulders. “You can do it, Jaden. Just pretend you’re Yuudai
Sato. Be Yuudai.”

  “Shut up, dude. Remember what happened when you told him, ‘Be Joshua’? He doesn’t need to be anyone else. He’s freakin’ amazing.” Hugh pushes Devesh aside to stand next to me. He looks me in the eyes, all intense. “Just play like you always do.”

  Cali agrees. “You’ve got this.”

  I select Kaigo. My opponent choses Cantu and a calm comes over me. The matchup couldn’t get any better. It’ll be just like playing against Josh at home.

  As soon as the FIGHT sign flashes, I try my bread-and-butter combo, but my crouching light punch is blocked. The Trekkie jumps up for an overhead attack, kicking me in the face repeatedly.

  Click click click.

  As I take some damage, I hear WarpSpeed hitting the buttons on his controller. Man, that thing is loud. What a total giveaway. This guy likes to be in the air, and I know exactly when he’s going up.

  I stay upright now. When I hear the next series of rapid clicks I throw a flip kick and punish the Trekkie. Yeah, you can go up there, but you’re coming down hard.

  I try my favorite combo again and land it easily. I land six fireballs in a row and watch my opponent and his Health Meter melt. A final uppercut and the screen flashes K.O.

  I smile and take a second to look up. In the mirrors on the wall I see the reflection of the crowded room behind me. My friends are smiling, but it’s my mom’s reaction I really want to see. She looks confused, but not upset. Dad has arrived, and he’s pointing to the monitor, explaining what just happened.

  The rest of the match is easy. I listen for the sounds of my opponent hitting buttons for attacks and use that information to block or counterattack. My fireballs keep Cantu on the defense so her neck never divides into snakes. I use my Dragon Tail Super to swipe her right off the screen.

  “Fascinating.” The Trekkie raises an eyebrow, shakes my hand, and unplugs. “Live long and prosper, kid.”

  “Thanks.” I hope all my matches are like this.

  I turn around to face my parents.

  “You sure made quick work of that guy, son.”