“There’s one option,” I said without thinking. As usual, my brain took the task, processed it and came up with a solution, forgetting that I was still angry at my girlfriend.
“What?” Tissa moved toward me in excitement.
“If you jump to Kharinza, we could take you into the desert from there, group up with you. Killing any mob would give you at least ten levels. But that’ll invite questions that you can’t answer without telling your friends about us.”
Tissa clasped her hands at her chest and begged:
“Alex, come on, please! It would be sooo easy for you! You’ll help out, won’t you?”
“No.” I shook my head, not revealing the true reasons for my refusal. It would be hard to do her that favor from the Nether. “Forget it.”
“But you won’t mind if one of the boys helps me out?”
“Yes, I will. When do you plan to leave the clan?”
“After my birthday…” Tissa thought for a moment. I was sure she was already thinking about how to comince Malik or Ed to help. “Alright, let’s go, everyone’s waiting for us.”
Tissa took me by the hand, just like before, and led me into the lounge. Naively failing to see her trick, I let her hold my hand and caught a few interested and sometimes jealous glances. Not from Rita, to my surprise. Oveiweight was busy sweet-talking Ed. They were nestled in a corner by the window, whispering something.
Noticing us, Liam excused himself, cutting one of his stories short. He gave Tissa a loud kiss on the lips, looked at me triumphantly and spoke in displeasure:
“You took your time. A word, Alex? Tissa, my dear, would you mind if I had a little chat with your ex?”
That last word was still more proof that our ‘break’ was actually a breakup. Tissa didn’t object. I felt even more sure that Liam’s appearance was no accident. He was here to… to what? Recruit me? Convince me to collaborate? Relay a message to Hinterleaf? I needed to know the reason, in any case. I agreed to talk to him.
“Alone, if you don’t mind, Alex,” Liam asked, a mask of false goodwill frozen on his face.
His tone was friendly, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“No problem.”
I went back to my room, this time with Liam. I saw an alarmed glance from Piper along the way. Looking back, I saw Karina rushing to Tissa. No doubt she wanted to figure out what was up with me and whether she had any chances.
The robot cleaner busily moved back and forth, filling itself with empty cans that cracked as it crushed them in its internal press. AT was jumping around nearby in dog form. He copied the mood of those around him, and his behavior showed that the people were in the mood to part}.
Liam pulled the door to, sprayed a dose of Accelerator into his mouth and spoke:
“Listen. I know there was something between you and Tissa. But I want you to be a man and leave her alone. Why are you so hung up on her?”
“What? We never officially split up, Liam! We were just talking…”
“Don’t lie. You could have talked in the lounge. You know what? You should find the courage to admit to yourself that she’s out of your league. Have you seen where you live? It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a cesspit as bad as your district. And this?” He waved a hand at my room. “You call this a home? It’s a stable! Melissa has a bright future. She’s going to be a star. She’s way out of your league! Your ceiling is category F. Your win in the Junior Arena means nothing. You wasted your chance. None of the top players recruited you, and I saw you beg to be taken in! Pathetic.”
His onslaught stunned me. I would have sworn he wanted to talk about anything else, anything but Tissa. Did he not even know that I was a Threat…? But… Nether, I really was tied up in grown-up intrigues! I was actually planning to have a break from Dis, recover from my year in the Nether, relax with my friends, finally. I didn’t want to hear insults! It seemed Liam in particular had lost the plot. Either it was the effect of that narcotic of his, or it was his eyes filling with blood out of jealousy, or he was angry that our party messed with his plans for a romantic weekend with Tissa.
“Listen, Liam,” I said as calmly as I could. “Yeah, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I’m just an ordinary schoolkid. Just like Tissa. In case you didn’t know, she and I have been studying together since middle school.”
“Sometimes you find pearls in pig shit.”
“I don’t know as much about pig shit as you…”
“Watch your mouth!”
“…but I agree with you there. Tissa is a beautiful girl. She deserves more.”
“That’s for sure,” the boy snorted. “You could have remembered that when you invited her to this shithole.”
“I’d promised Hairo to keep hold of myself, but I swear, in that moment, it was harder than my year in the Nether. My fists clenched and I imagined myself slamming them into that perfect face. The only thing that stopped me was remembering the punishment; throwing the first punch at a higher-category citizen meant a one-way ticket to Cali Bottom.
“Listen, Liam…” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t invite Tissa. Or you! I had no idea she was coming. My friends told me literally right before the party started. And I had no plans
