"Wait so how do we play this game?" I asked. Ki Swan rolled her eyes at me. "'We' don't play it Brian. It's only single player. Ted will play it, and you will afterwards. We need refreshments. I'll be right back!" Ki walked out of my room, leaving Ted Wong and I to play her new game. "She still didn't tell us how to play the game..." I grumbled. "I brought extra controllers for nothing."
Ted nearly jumps thought the ceiling. "Holy shit dude! I'm one of the playable characters! Look look look!" Ted was as energetic and crazy as ever. I peered closer at the screen. Wow! Ted was right! There was a miniature, pixelated Ted that you could play as. So was Ki! "Dude!" said Ted, "you're here too! Look! Brian Doheny! I see why you go by BrianD." There I was. It looked like a finalized version of High School: The Video Game. It looked pretty damn good. Then I saw the 4th character.
My stomach tossed, turned, and flipped upside down. I looked over at Ted, trying to fake a smile. He seemed to buy it for a second. But when he looked at the screen and saw Jenny's character, he knew what I was feeling. "Oh," he said. "It's -" "Jenny." I cut him off. Angrily, I went on. "Jenny Matrix: former JV and Varsity captain of the VGHS FPS team, ex-girlfriend, and now sniper of the Paris Panthers. She's in the game too." I paused. "It looks like Ki didn't change any parts of the game, other than fine-tuning it." I stared at the floor, wishing that it was all just a dream. I shut my eyes. There was a long silence.
"I love you." I heard a voice. Opening my eyes, I saw I was sitting in one of the chairs in the Grand Theft Auditorium. "I love you." There it is again! Who said that? I stood up. Cheering started all around. Looking up, I saw Ashley and Shane Barnstormer. New Law is standing next to the them. The Barnstormer brothers are crying. New Law walks backwards off the stage. I look to my right. Ted and Ki? What the hell is going on? "We won!" Huh? I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around. "Jenny!?" I said in sheer shock. "What the-" "We saved the school! We saved VGHS!" She hugged me and then everything disappeared. I saw nothing. Just blackness. Where am I? I yell. "What is this? Where am I!?" Then the voice comes again. "Thank you...for everything." Jenny!?
"I have pop!" We heard Ki call from the hallway. I opened my eyes. I was in my room. Ted was next to me. We were about to play Ki's new game. Jenny was still gone. The title screen said High School: The Video Game. "Not a dream," I laughed halfheartedly. Ki came into the room. I looked at her and tried to fake a smile. Ki looked at me, suspecting something, but smiled and sat down to start explaining what she did to finish the game. I looked over at Ted. He was looking back at me. Ki may not know exactly what I feel. But I was pretty sure Ted could tell. He patted me on the shoulder and said with a smile, "let's play! I'm going first!"
"Ki, this game is great! You managed to fix all the bugs from when it was in beta." Ted was beaming. He couldn't put the controller down. I smiled, glad that my friends were having a good time. "Thank you...for everything." I kept hearing Jenny say that over and over. It was stuck in my head, like a bad dream. Except it was the harsh reality.
I looked out the window. I saw Jenny! She was standing in the front yard, on the sidewalk. It looked like she was talking. I couldn't hear her at all, but I understood a little bit from reading her lips. She mouthed, "I love you." I shut my eyes and prayed that when I open them, Jenny will still be standing there. "I love you." I said it out loud. I opened my eyes. Nothing.
I turned back around to see Ki and Ted staring back at me, frowns on their faces. "What? What is it?" I asked. Before they could respond I heard something. "And we are back with Jenny Matrix, who is starting for the Paris Panthers in today's match against the London Leopards. Jenny, how do you feel? Are you nervous at all?" It was PwnZone. Shotbot was doing a prematch interview with her. With Jenny. We were all silent. "Of coarse! I mean, yeah I'm nervous, but I'm also excited. I'm so thankful and happy to be able to start for the team. This is such an amazing opportunity and I hope I can live up to the expectations." Jenny looked more than nervous; she looked petrified. But her eyes showed something else. They blazed with passion, fury, and confidence.
Shotbot continued with the questions. "Now Jenny, since this is your first start on the pro circuit, do you have anyone you want to thank? Anybody that really helped get you here?" Jenny's eyes changed. The confidence disappeared. Fury, gone. The passion was still there but it was very different.
"Oh god there are so many." She forced a laugh. "Dean Calhoun at VGHS, my mom for being an inspiration, Ace, the FPS professor at VGHS, all my friends at the school, like Ki, Ted, and..." She paused. She started to tear up a little. I slammed my eyes shut. Jenny please don't. Don't say me. "And Brian. He brought out the best in me when we played together. He probably helped me the most. And I won't ever forget him or what he did for me..." A tear streamed down her cheek. "I'm sorry, can we go to commercial for a second?"
Shotbot jumped in, but before he could say anything, Ki turned off the TV. She glanced over at me, with a half smile, half frown, and gave me a hug. "Hey I was watching that! Jenny gave us a shout out! That's awesome!" Ted didn't really understand. But when he looked at me, he gave a sad smile. I blinked, and felt water welling up in my eyes. I wiped my eyes, trying to fight back the tears. She's still mine...she still loves me. I looked over at Ted and forced a smile. They both hugged me. I laughed and lightly shoved them off. "Are we gonna watch the match?" I asked. "Heck yea!" Ted said with his usual smile.
We watched the prematch coverage for about an hour. Half of the news stories were about Jenny making her debut. The other half were about the captain of the Leopards. She was a big burly woman. She wasn't fat, but very intimidating and large. Her gamer tag was fRaGg£r.
"So, fRaGg£r," said Shotbot during her interview. "What do you think of Jenny Matrix making her debut against your team? She just left VGHS a couple of months ago so she may still be considered inexperienced as far as professional play goes." fRaGg£r looked at Shotbot, smirked then looked into the camera. In a thick, English accent she said, "Jenny Matrix is merely a flash in the pan. She may have talent, but no experience. The Leopards will crush her. We already know that we will win this match, but inflicting lasting damage to a member of a rival team is a massive bonus." fRaGg£r dropped the mic and walked off the stage, leaving Shotbot all by himself.
"Well that was a rather...interesting interview," said Ki. "There's no reason to worry about Jenny, right guys?" She looked over at Ted, who was hiding under the blanket on my bed. She could only see his eyes. "Are you kidding!?" He whimpered. "That chick looked like a fricking bear!" Ki rolled her eyes at her idiotic boyfriend. She glanced over at me. I didn't even realize that my mouth had hit the floor in disbelief. "That was a woman?" I asked. "She was bigger than Calhoun! And even scarier looking. I didn't even know that was possible." Ted and Ki laughed somewhat nervously.
Coverage continued. Shotbot interviewed every starting member from each team. There were only 10 minutes left before the match started. "Should we call Jenny? To wish her good luck?" Asked Ki, rather sheepishly. "Heck yea!" responded Ted, poking his head out from under the blanket. Every part of my body was saying no. Except my mouth. "Sure! I mean why not?" Dammit! Why'd I say that?! "Ok awesome!" said Ki happily. "So how should we do it? Should we say something individually? Like one at a time? Or should we all just say good luck or something. Or maybe -" I interrupted her. "How about we each say something and you can cut the videos together into one?" I just wanted to get it over with. "Ok!" said Ki, beaming.
"Who's gonna go first?" asked Ki. Ted jumped out from under the blanket. "Me, me, me, me!" he said. His head was about to explode with excitement. "Ok Ted. Hit the record button, hit the flip camera button, and just talk. Don't say something too stupid." She kissed him on the cheek and got out of the shot. Ted hit record on Ki's tablet.
"Hey Jenny! Good luck in your match today! I am so - wait why do I see the TV and not myself in the tablet?" Ki came up behind him and whispered in his ear. "You forgot to hit the flip camera button, Ted." She backed away, head in her hands. "There we go!" Ted continued. "Anyway, kill that fRaGg€r bitch!" He hit stop recording and handed it to Ki. She hit record and remembered to hit flip the camera. "Hi Jenny! Thanks for the shout out! Good luck!" she finished. Ted looked at her and asked, "Why didn't you say more?" "Short and sweet my dear Ted," she said patting him on the head. "Short and sweet." She handed the tablet to me. "You're up Brian."
I took the tablet from Ki's hand. I had no idea what I was going to say. I hit record and flipped the camera. "Hey Jenny," I said. I looked down for a few seconds. "I won't ever forget about you either," I looked back at the camera. Water started to well in my eyes. I kept going. "Go get 'em. Don't get too comfortable though, 'cause I'll be a pro by this time next year. Then you'll have some competition" I laughed and smiled at the camera. "...and thank you..." Tears fell on both sides of face. "...for everything. I'm so proud of you."