Gamers World

Chapter 1: Annie

This is what happens when you’re sitting against the wall in your class, working on a project that’s meant to be done in partners, all by yourself. You get bored and start doodling. Then later when everyone is being called up to the front of the room to present what they discussed, my teacher will prepare to say my name, look at me with eyes of sympathy, and then as I shake my head vaguely he will return the gesture and go to the next person on the list.

I can see it now. No one in the class will be paying attention, and I’ll get away with not doing any work, again. Even though, my cheat sheet, as I call it, will still be waiting for anyone willing to come by and pick it up. My secret is start the school year off early, and get all of my work done a day before everyone else. Then I don’t have to pay attention in class, and I have the time to myself. I get some disapproving looks from my teachers but they know my system. Not to mention, I take the tests as scheduled and still ace them. Going to school is simply a learning opportunity so I can catch anything I may’ve missed in my notes (I never miss anything). All I want to do is doodle in my notebook like always. Maybe design another potential avatar for myself.

My mind drifted off to my newest MMO. Sword Challenge Online. I’d just gotten it about two weeks before and all I really wanted to do was level up my avatar. But unfortunately the game required that you really can’t go it alone. It kind of needed a team of at least two, and if I couldn’t even get a partner to discuss the French Revolution with, then I didn’t expect to get very far with someone in a video game. So I decided I was going to go solo for as long as I could and try my best. And in another game I was still working to one hundred percent it anyways. But that wasn’t going well because I was already stuck in a temple at the boss door without any healing potions or fairies because I’d used all of them. I had a lot on my plate, but I wasn’t particularly overwhelmed.

Anyways, class ended the way I thought it would. I finished my homework before anyone else started and slyly made my way to my locker which was coincidentally at the very end of the hall. I had just opened my lock when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and prepared to tell whoever had bothered me to go away, when suddenly I caught sight of the perpetrator.

He smiled at me. Hi!

I stood there with my mouth gaping. I didn’t have a response. Instead I just brushed my blue hair over my eyes and said Hello very quietly.

My name is Will Olsen! Two first names. What’s your name? He asked me brightly. He had long brown bangs and bright blue eyes. His nose and chin were kind of pointy, so he reminded me of an elf in one of my RPG’s. I was still shocked by him coming up to me so casually.

Um... I considered telling him my avatars name, but I thought that I’d seen him somewhere. Oh yeah, I thought plainly, he’s in all of my core classes. He was the new kid. I’d seen him a few times before, often surrounded by girls. But did he have to know my real name? I shrugged at the thought, and told him the name of my avatar. Arya, I answered finally. The guy narrowed his eyes at me.

Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise. You’re Arya! The best solo player on SCO! I had no idea you would be here! Or use your real name. At that he looked confused. On the contrary, I never used my real name for games, but I also didn’t expect to be recognized. Then suddenly I realized something about Will Olsen, his odd two first names.

He could be a valuable asset if he played SCO.

I forced a welcoming smile on my face and offered him my hand.

Will Olsen, I think this is going to be a wonderful...

I had to squeeze the word out of my throat.

Friendship.

Chapter 2: Doyle

This is what happens when all you want to do is sit outside and read a book instead of eat lunch. You get ganged up on by a ton of ninth grade girls. I can already see how it’ll play out.

She— she being the biggest and nastiest of the gang—will ask me what I’m reading and then without waiting for my answer, she’ll kick the book out of my hands while the rest of her friends join in on the fun. I’ll counter with a peaceful and nonviolent statement, which will be the same as it always has been.

Violence and cruelty may be non-negotiable to you in the way that it is an asset, but I see it simply as an unnecessary occupant of human nature.

The girls will proceed to crowd around me until the pages are torn from my (library) book, and then a solid purple bruise will appear above my left eye to top it off. I like to think that the emotional damage is simply the icing on the cake.

And yet...

This time it went differently.

You know it’s not fair to pick on the kids that are smaller than you. The gang froze, and I laid there unable to look up through the haze that is my vision (did I mention one girl took my glasses?).

I could however get a glimpse of the girl standing a ways away. She had blue hair. Her ears had a small point to them, but it was nothing overly peculiar. She stood, not even looking in my direction, so I could only see the side of her face which was partially hidden by her hair. She had her hands in the pockets of her black jacket. She didn’t even have her eyes open. She looked like she genuinely didn’t care about the situation at hand.

When you’re as powerful as a high level Mage, why bother beating the low level enemies. It’s like wasting an arrow on a bat that isn’t in your way. Sure it’s just sitting there, harmless to you in your current position, and it will drop an item or two when you defeat it. A heart maybe. But it’s unnecessary. You can get both a heart and coin in a nearby pot or chest, so why defeat an enemy you’re not even bothered by? And even if you did need the item it dropped, you’re using a bow specifically because you’re too far away to use a sword. There’s no way you could get close enough to the item you’d just won as it disappeared. So it’s contradictory to simple logic to deal with the bat when you know the consequences of its demise.

Wow she was amazing.

Her infinite knowledge of the metaphorical aspects of a video game expressed that.

Yeah? the other girl sneered blandly, Well, I think this kid is just an unnecessary occupant of human nature! That got a round of chuckles from her friends. The girl with blue hair just stood there, still not looking my way. Then suddenly she opened her eyes and glanced at the gang. Her irises were gray, and they resembled crystals. She sighed.

Then you’re wasting arrows. Not to mention, you could both preserve that arrow and while doing so you are able to save it for a better cause. And also I’d like to note that your statement about occupying human nature is wrong. I gasped a little bit. Wrong? I was hardly ever wrong. How could she say that my dull repeated words were indeed false? The girl smiled. Because he’s not the occupant. You are. My eyes widened. Then suddenly the girl who’d been attacking me charged the blue-haired girl. She grabbed her by her shirt’s collar and pulled her upwards. The girl stared straight into the bully’s eyes and said:

Your breath stinks. Maybe you should do yourself and everyone else you grab by their shirt a favor and use a healing potion. It affects even the most severe cases such as yours.

Then without my even realizing it, a teacher had arrived and taken the bully and the rest of her gang to the principal’s office, where their fate would be left to the hands of the school administrator.

I laid there outside the cafeteria on the hot concrete. The blue-haired girl walked over to me. She offered me her hand to help me up. She hardly even looked me in the eye. Sorry I didn’t do something sooner. I’d just walked by and noticed. Anyways, I hope you feel better. And might I suggest the southwest corner of the school library, if you’re looking for peace and quiet. It’s secluded and not as accessible to bigger kids. But a small eighth grader like you could fit. Anyways, bye. Then as she started to walk away she caught sight of my book laying open on the ground. She froze mid-step. You play SCO? She asked me. I nodded, as I’d been reading the guidebook, trying to see if there was anything on a quest I’d been stuck on forever.

Yeah, I replied, my voice cracking high like a girl’s. The girl turned around suddenly and looked me clear in the eye. I was shocked to see her face-to-face. Her jaw was defined, and her pale cheeks were like marble.

I’m interested in recruiting players to form a group. My screen name is Arya if you take interest. You can call me that in real life too. What level are you, and what’s your screen name? I blinked for a second.

Doyle, I’m around level thirty five, I replied. Arya for the first time since she was taunting the gang, smiled at me brightly.

Awesome. We’ll play together some time, ‘okay? I nodded at her. Then she nodded and walked off without another word.

I thought about it for several minutes and realized something.

I had just met the best swordsman in Sword Challenge Online, and I was absolutely in love with her.

Chapter 3: Will Olsen

This is what happens when you’re born with amazingly bright blue eyes and wonderfully shiny brown hair the color of hazelnuts. All of the girls in school constantly confess their undying love