The Badboy, the Catfish & Me

Ten

I was reading an article for my history class that afternoon when my mom walked into my room.

"How was your precalculus quiz?"

I froze. "G-good," I stammered. "I might've not done my best."

"Hmm. We can review any mistakes when the teacher hands it back," my mom encouraged, "so you can do better on the exam. Can't have you falling behind when they'll be tallying up for valedictorian soon."

"Okay...um...we voted for prom theme today, too," I said to change the subject.

"Ah." It was my mama's turn to stumble over her words. "Well, you know...I don't trust an environment like that."

"I know, but..." I bit her bottom lip. "I'd told everyone I wasn't going, but I did want to go. It's not the most Muslim thing to do, sure, but if I didn't miss any prayers because of it and didn't stay out too late, maybe it would be okay?" I pleaded.

"We can talk about it again later," Mama said. It wasn't a yes, but my shoulders relaxed—Mama was willing to listen. "I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

I watched her turn away before returning to the article on my phone. I wanted to finish all my homework before dinner to squeeze in an hour or two of CrusadEon Online afterward. While I knew the game was the reason I'd forgotten my quiz and may have done poorly on it—but was not playing going to increase that quiz grade? No, so there was no reason to punish myself by not playing. I just needed to take it as a lesson learned.

When I logged in that night, Valentino wasn't online. My shoulders slumped, but I stayed online to continue the game's storyline anyway.

I was so focused on the game that an hour or so in that I didn't notice the little notification at the top of my screen, indicating a friend had logged in until I saw it disappearing. I immediately went to check my diplomat list, and there he was.

Hey!!

[Hey

what's up]

Just questing

[Want me to help out?]

Yessssir

[Lol]

Hahaaa

[I'll be right there]

When his character arrived, I asked,

Do anything today?

[Eh

had a math quiz

Rip me]

I typed out a "me tooooo" but quickly thought better. I deleted it and instead replied with,

Ohh man

How'd you do??

[Probs not that good]

Happens to the best of us lol

[True that

the smartest kid in the class forgot too, so I'm not worried lol]

I gasped. Valentino just called me the smartest kid in class!

Wooww

[You know the best weapon for your class is a scimitar

Broadswords are better for templars]

Oh

Thnx