Gamer Girl (17 page)

But sadly, my
dashing knight in shining armor was nowhere to be found. A wave of
disappointment washed over me. Where was he? What was he up to? Stuck
doing homework? Eating a late dinner with his family? Or was he out

162

and about,
hanging with his friends ... or worse, with another girl?

The idea made
my stomach twist into a knot. I hadn't really given much thought to
the fact that Sir Leo could very well have a girlfriend. Sure, he
never mentioned one, but then again, we didn't talk all that much
about our personal lives. In fact, I had no reason to believe he
wasn't totally hooking up with some hot, popular chick in real life.
A cheerleader, maybe. Or the student body president. Some blond bimbo
who didn't understand him at all. She didn't know his secret love for
role-playing or comic books. She didn't know the sweet, sensitive
soul, well hidden behind the mask he wore to school. She didn't know
the real Sir Leo, the boy grappling with who he was and who he wanted
to be.

And yet, she
had him.

I thunked my
head against my desktop, completely depressed. I tried to remind
myself that I was projecting. That this hypothetical girlfriend
likely didn't even exist. After all, Sir Leo had talked about meeting
me in real life and he certainly didn't seem the type who would cheat
on his girlfriend. More than likely he was single. For now. Who knew?
He could, right at this very moment, be sharing a first kiss with a
girl he just met. A girl he would end up falling in love with. He'd
start doing everything she wanted to do, which of course meant giving
up video games, since she'd be jealous of every moment he spent away
from her.

They'd end up
getting married and having children and

163

they'd throw
lavish parties where, after a few beers, he'd bring up his old days
as a closeted, comic book-loving geek who played video games. And his
friends--stockbrokers and lawyers, of course--would all laugh and
laugh and relentlessly tease him, but all in good fun. And maybe he'd
remember, as the subject changed back to sports, the girl he used to
play with. The one who sat beside him on a virtual mountaintop,
watching the sunset with him as he bared his soul. But of course he
wouldn't bring her up because his wife would get annoyed and grumpy
and he really didn't want to deal with that. So he'd jump into the
sports conversation and forget all about Allora all over again.

Argh. I had to
stop. I'd drive myself insane. If I wasn't already there.

If only I could
meet him. I mean, who knew? We could turn out to have nothing in
common. No chemistry. No sparks. The bond we shared online could be
completely virtual and not hold up in the real world. It would, at
least, break the spell he had over me and help me come to terms with
the fact that Sir Leo was just another guy and not someone crazy
special with magical powers to melt my heart. The angsty pain of
unrequited love would fade and we could simply remain good friends
who liked to play video games together.

Easier said
than done.

Forcing it out
of my mind, I glanced over at my sister, sound asleep on my bed. She
looked like a little blond cherub, her thumb stuck securely in her
mouth. As annoying

164

as she could be
at times, she really was a cute kid. And a good sister, too--risking
Mom's wrath by not selling me out. Maybe there was hope for her yet.

I walked over
and sat on the side of the bed, brushing a strand of hair from her
face, and leaned down to kiss her on the top of her head.

Then I went
downstairs to apologize to Grandma.

165

CHAPTER 16

THURSDAY AT
school, I came across Black Raven, rummaging through her locker, iPod
headphones stuck in her multiple-pierced ears. I started to approach
her, hut then hung back, unsure. Would she be okay with my talking to
her outside the manga club? Or would someone like me be bad for her
rep?

I considered
turning around and walking the other direction, but before I could
make a move, she looked over and saw me. She grinned and pulled her
headphones out of her ears, wrapping the cord around her neck to hold
them in place. "Maddy!" she cried. "What's up, girl?"

I let out a
breath, relieved, then scolded myself for being so paranoid. Of
course she'd want to talk to
me.
It would be
the Haters
she'd deem unworthy of her time.

"Hey,
Blackie," I greeted. "Um, you don't mind if I call you
Blackie, do you? What are you up to?"

She laughed.
"No, I don't mind. Some of my other friends do, too. Black Raven
is a bit of a mouthful. Just as long as you

166

don't call me
Treena, we're golden." She closed her locker. "As for what
I'm up to, I'm trying to survive the day so I can evacuate the
premises and head downtown after school." She tossed her book
bag over one shoulder. "Not that this lame city has a real
downtown."

"Yeah,"
I said. "I know what you mean. I moved here from Boston and it's
so different from what I'm used to."

Black Raven
looked at me with something that actually resembled respect. "Dude,"
she cried. "You lived in Boston? I'm so freaking jealous."

"Yeah, I
miss it a lot. Especially my old school. This place isn't exactly . .
. diverse."

"Yeah, the
Killer Clones can be a bit much to take here," she said,
gesturing to two students walking down the hall in identical T-shirts
and khaki pants. They glared at her and she cheerfully gave them the
finger.

I giggled. She
was so cool. Confident in who she was. Not afraid to stand up to
anyone. I bet the Haters didn't mess with her. I bet they didn't
dare.

Which made her
a perfect potential friend, I realized. Maybe I should ask her if she
wanted to hang after school. I wouldn't mind joining her
downtown--even if it was kind of lame.

Then again,
a nagging voice in the back of my head pestered,just
because she's
okay with talking to you in the halls doesn't mean she'll suddenly
want to be BFFs. In fact, she's probably just humoring you 'cause
you're president of the manga club or something.

No. I shook my
head. I had to stop this. Just because Billy

167

considered me a
social leper didn't mean everyone did. And if I never took a chance,
I was certain to be alone forever.

"So you're
going downtown after school?" I asked.

She rolled her
eyes. "Unfortunately," she said. "As there's zero
entertainment in this godforsaken town."

"Well,
they do have Mel's Comics. They have a great manga selection," I
reminded her. "If you wanted, I could tag along and we could see
what's new."

I held my
breath, waiting for the pause, the look of guilt, the internal debate
on how she would squirm out of the proposal. Make some excuse as to
why we couldn't hang out to hide the fact that she just didn't want
to hang out with me.

But it never
came.

Instead she
nodded without hesitation, her green, almost catlike eyes shining.
"Great idea," she said, "Want to meet me out in front
of the school at the end of last period?"

"Sure.
Sounds perfect. See you then." I gave her a small wave, then
headed to my next class, forcing myself not to skip down the hallways
like a first grader. For the first time since I'd come to this stupid
school, I had actual social plans. I felt like bursting into song.

After an
eternity of lectures, experiments, and pop quizzes, the final bell
rang and the inmates were allowed to flee the jail. After stashing my
books in my locker, I headed outside and found Black Raven sitting on
the brick wall by the buses with a couple other kids. She saw me and
waved me over.

168

"Hey,
guys, this is my friend Maddy," she introduced me. "She
draws the most amazing manga you've ever seen."

"Hi,"
I said, feeling myself blush. Friend. She called me friend. Sure, she
might have been using the term loosely, but I'd take it anyway.

"Hey,
Maddy," greeted a tall skinny skateboarder. He brushed his long
stringy hair from his face. "How's it hanging?"

"Nice to
meet you," said the pretty girl to his left. She wore a long
flowing skirt and had flowers tucked into her pixie-cut blond hair.
"I'm Amy and this is Trent. Blackie's been telling us all about
your art."

I beamed.

"Yeah,"
added Trent. "We'd love to check it out."

Black Raven
hopped off the wall. "No, no, not now, kiddies," she said.
"There's no time for show-and-tell. Maddy and I have
uber-important plans we must attend to."

"Oh,
fine," Trent mocked. "Offer her up, then steal her away
again. Deprive us of the one shred of cultural relevance we might
have gotten out of the school day."

"Why don't
you come by our table at lunch tomorrow?" Amy suggested. "You
can show us your manga then. We eat at the far left quadrant."

"Great. I
definitely will," I said, trying to sound cool and not overly
excited at the first offer of non-solo lunch since I'd gotten to this
stupid school.

"Okay,
okay already. She'll come to lunch. Jeez, you guys

169

are so
demanding," Black Raven mocked. "Okay, we're out. Catch ya
tomorrow."

"Bye! Nice
to meet you," I cried as she grabbed me by the hand and yanked
me away.

I followed
Blackie down to the lower parking lot, forcing myself not to dance in
happiness.
Be cool, Maddy,
I told myself.
Don't blow it.

She reached
into her bag and pulled out her keys, then gestured to the bright
yellow Mini Cooper. "I'm obsessed with everything English,"
she explained. We got in and headed downtown. She reached down to
turn up the stereo and--to my delight--soon the car was filled with
the sounds of My Chemical Romance. We sang along with Gerard at the
top of our lungs the whole way there and I suddenly realized I didn't
have to worry about being cool. With someone like Black Raven I could
just be me. That was enough.

Downtown
consisted of one main street with cobblestone sidewalks and gas
streetlamps that were supposed to give the place a charming,
old-world look, reminiscent of colonial times. Most of the shops sold
antiques or touristy odds and ends--nothing that would appeal to
anyone under the age of sixty. Luckily, at the far end of the street,
a guy named Mel had taken over his grandma's old yarn store and
turned it into a comic book shop.

After chatting
with Mel himself for a few moments, we started skimming through the
racks, looking for new releases or rare finds, calling out to each
other when we spotted

170

something good.
Blackie made me purchase the first volume of
Chibi Vampire
and
I convinced her to give something non-fanged a try for once,
introducing her to my beloved
Dramacon
series.

"The
author of these--Svetlana Chmakova--is really amazing," I said,
handing her volumes one and two. "And the coolest thing is,
she's the VIP judge for that contest I told you about."

"Oh,
yeah." Blackie nodded, remembering. "What's the deal with
that, anyway?"

"Well, for
the first round of judging, I go to the Boston Public Library and
present my book to a panel of judges."

"In
person? Yikes."

"Yeah. And
I'm totally freaking out," I said. "I mean, especially
since Svetlana's going to be there. What if she doesn't like my
drawings or says they're totally amateur? She could be, like,
'Ohmigod, girl, you need to give up drawing and take up accounting
instead.'"

Black Raven
giggled. "Yeah, right," she said. "I doubt they're
allowed to say that. And besides, your drawings rock. I bet you'll
win, hands down."

I crossed my
fingers and held them up. She did the same.

"Okay, I'm
dying of thirst. Let's buy these bad boys and grab a snack at the
diner."

"Sounds
like a plan."

"Hey,
isn't that Matt Drewer over there?" Blackie asked, pointing down
the aisle to the Marvel section.

I followed her
finger. Sure enough, there was Matt, flip

171

ping through a
bin of comics. "Oh, yeah. We should say hi," I said,
heading down the aisle. After all, he was one of the few nice
students in Hannah Dustin High. "Hey, Matt," I greeted.

"Hey,
girls!" he said, looking happy to see us. "Guess we had the
same idea, huh? Whatcha buying?"

"Shojo."
Blackie held up her selections. "Maddy's trying to cure me of my
vampire addiction."

"And
Blackie's trying to get me addicted," I answered back, holding
up
Chibi Vampire.

"Very
nice," he said, giving me a thumbs-up. "I came here to find
Fullmetal Alchemist.
I really dug what we read during the
meeting." He grinned. "You may turn me into a manga fan
yet, Maddy."

I laughed
appreciatively. "Hey, we're going to grab some food. Want to
come?"

Matt shrugged.
"Sure. Why not?"

We paid for our
books and headed across the street to the local diner. It was a
fifties-themed place with records on the wall and photos of Elvis
everywhere. Each table had its own jukebox, but we quickly decided
none of the old-school selections were worth the quarter price tag.
We ordered sodas and then pulled out our purchases and spread them
out over the table.

"You're
really going to love
Chibi Vampire"
Black Raven told me.
"It's so good."

"And
you're going to love ..." I trailed off, my eyes catching sight
of Chad Murray, sitting in a booth at the far end of

172

the restaurant,
alone and reading, a cup of coffee sitting in front of him.