“Rivera! I should have known you’d be here today.”
I whirled around. To my shock (and, let’s face it, extreme annoyance), my soccer teammate Josh was standing behind me, regarding me as if I were dog poop he’d found under his shoe. His mop of curly blond hair hung in his eyes and he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt instead of his normal soccer attire. His T-shirt read IT’S OKAY IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME. I CAN’T FORCE YOU TO BE RIGHT. Which was so on-brand for Josh it wasn’t even funny.
I groaned. And this day just got better and better.
“We’re here for the beta test,” I told him, though I suppose that was pretty obvious. What I really wanted to ask him was why he was here. After all, this was about as much Josh’s scene as soccer was mine.
“We?” Josh raised an eyebrow, making a big show of looking around. “What, you and your invisible friend?” He laughed at his own dumb joke. Man, this guy was the worst.
“Yes, Josh. Me and my invisible friend. Mario. He’s a plumber and really good at video games.”
Josh snorted. “Yeah, well, you and Mario better bring your A game.” He gestured to the crowd. “It’s freaking geekapalooza around here today. Nerds flying in from around the world just to compete in this thing. Professional gamers and everything. What makes you think you… and Mario… have a chance?”
“What makes you think you do?” I shot back, surprising myself with my quick comeback.
“Oh!” He laughed as if I’d said the funniest thing ever. “I’m not competing. I’ve got way better things to do than nerd my day away in some random VR apocalypse. Real life, baby! That’s where it’s at!” He pounded his chest with his fist. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“Sure,” I said instead. “But… you’re here. Why are you here?” Maybe he had an older brother or sister competing? Maybe even his dad or his mom?
But Josh was no longer listening to me. He was glancing across the parking lot, a surprised look on his face. “Wait,” he said. “Is that your sister over there? You drag her into this thing, too?”
“I didn’t drag her,” I protested, following his gaze and spotting Lilli on approach. “She actually happens to like nerding her day away in random VR apocalypses from time to time.”
“But she’s… um…”
“She’s what?” I asked, confused. What was he trying to say?
He seemed to catch himself. “She’s on the soccer team.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I squinted at him, confused. What was he trying to imply? That sporty people couldn’t play video games? “How do you even know Lilli, anyway?”
Before he could answer, a man wearing an Appleby Games T-shirt walked up. He tapped Josh on the shoulder. “There you are!” he exclaimed. “Didn’t I tell you to stay inside? He wants to talk to you. Now.”
I frowned. The way the guy said “he” I could tell he meant someone important. Like, really important. Could it be Admiral Appleby himself? But why on earth would a legend like Admiral Appleby want to talk to a tool like Josh?
Josh’s face turned bright red. He scowled. “Yeah. Whatever. I’ll be right there.” He turned back to me. “Good luck, Rivera. You’re going to need it.”
And with that, he turned and walked away, escorted by the clipboard guy. I watched him go, feeling utterly confused. What was that about?
“And there he goes! Crown Prince of Appleby Games.”
I turned, surprised at the new voice. To my amazement, I realized Starr had rolled up next to me. She watched Josh being escorted away, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “He’s as obnoxious in real life as he is online, isn’t he?”
“Um… You mean Josh?”
“Oh. Yeah. I guess that’s his real-life name. Better known as Crash Zero, the most obnoxious kid on the internet and heir to the almighty throne.”
“Throne?” I asked, super confused now. Since when did Josh have a throne? “What are you talking about?”
Starr raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know? He seemed to know you. I just assumed…”
“We play soccer together. What does he have to do with this place?” I asked, feeling completely lost.
“Are you kidding? He’s Admiral Appleby’s grandson. And his only heir. All of this? It’ll all be his someday.” She waved a hand around the compound. “Of course he’ll probably burn it to the ground just for spite.”
I stared at her, flabbergasted. “Wow. I had no idea.” And here I thought the guy was just an annoying jock. Instead, he was an annoying jock with a video game empire.
Seriously, sometimes life was so unfair. There was already crazy competition here. And now—with Josh on the inside? There was no way he was going to let me win this. Not after the whole soccer thing.
We had lost before we’d even begun playing.
“And two ice-cold waters,” Lilli announced, handing a bottle to me. Then she turned to Starr and smiled. “Hi. I’m Lilli.”
Starr held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Lilli. I’m Felicia. Felicia Johnson. Though most people call me Starr.”
“I know who you are,” I confessed, shaking her hand after she shook Lilli’s. “I mean, I’ve seen your channel. Actually I subscribe. I love your Old School Saturday streams. Like when you did that run-through of the original Doom on nightmare mode. That was so amazing. And—”
Lilli snorted under her breath, and I blushed hard. Oh man, Ian. Could you sound more like a dork?
But Starr only smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “Most people don’t appreciate Old School Saturday.”
“Ian’s not like most people,” my sister teased.
“So I’ve heard,” Starr replied, giving me an overexaggerated wink.
I frowned, suddenly confused. “Wait, wh-what?” I stammered. “You’ve heard? What do you mean, you’ve heard?” How could this famous gamer have heard of me?
“Come on. Give me a little credit. You guys are practically legends. Well, in some circles, anyway. But don’t worry.” She grinned. “Your secret
