Because I'm a Girl

Chapter 9

I stood at the door of the classroom the Gamers Club was held in and I waited for one of the members to notice me. They were all sitting on chairs in front of a tv, watching as four of the members played Super Smash Brothers. Josh was there, sitting on a desk behind all the other members, his eyes on the screen.

Eventually, Ben noticed me. His eyes flew wide at the sight of me and he reddened, seeming embarrassed. I gave him a smug look and watched as Jerry followed his stare and looked at me. At the sight of me, he looked uneasy.

"Hi," Jerry said. "Um... What can we do for you?"

"I'm not here to bother you, I'm just here for Josh," I said.

I looked over at Josh and watched as he stared at me, his eyebrows furrowed. Smiling at him, I walked over to where he sat and climbed onto the desk next to his. Sitting next to him, I noticed everyone's eyes were on me.

"You guys can keep playing," I said. "Don't worry about me."

The players hesitated, seeming uncomfortable, but they then went back to playing their game. Jerry gave me a look, questioning what I was doing, but his attention then went back to the screen. When everyone no longer stared at me, I looked at Josh.

"What are you doing here?" Josh asked. "I said you can show me the issues girls face, but I didn't say we were going to become best friends or something. Hanging out wasn't part of the plan."

"How else am I suppose to show you the issues girls face?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You... Why here? What can you show me here?"

"You'll see."

My eyes went to the tv that was placed on top of a desk in front of the blackboard. I watched as one of the players got creamed by another player, and then the rest lamely tried to beat each other. None of them seemed to have any tactics. They didn't seem to have any plan, which left me cringing. There was more to video games than spamming a bunch of buttons.

When Tony, one of the members, won the match, Jerry took the controllers from everyone who was playing. He set them on the desk beneath the tv, and then turned to face everyone, a serious expression on his face.

"Okay, we'll start the meeting," Jerry said. "A few months from now is the Gamers Tournament. Only some of us can go, so I think the best offensive players should. We need to use brute force, so everyone who's strong point is offence raise you hand."

I watched as most of the members raised their hands. Josh didn't, surprsing me, but I barely noticed that as I frowned. Brute force wsn't the way to go when playing video games, which left me speaking up.

"You shouldn't only have offensive players," I said. "Defence is just as important as offence. You need someone to watch your backs. You also need someone with strong tactic who can help you come up with a plan on what's the smartest way to win."

Jerry glanced at me, but he continued on speaking, "Okay, since most of us are offensive players we'll have a tournament between us to see who the best five players are. When that's settled, we'll practice weekly."

My eyes narrowed at Jerry who wouldn't dare look at me. Huffing, I knew I should have expected him and everyone to ignore me, but their reactions still bothered me.

"See," I whispered to Josh. "When you're a girl, no one takes you seriously. They'll ignore you, even when you have a good point."

Josh didn't react to my words, which left me deflating. But then he nodded, leaving my eyes widening. A small smile reached my lips and I shook my head, realizing how sad my situation was. Having Josh acknowledge me was what I called progress, which made me wonder how long it would take to get him to join my club.

"I heard you," Ben said, looking back at me. "We didn't listen to you because you can't play video games. How can we take you seriously when you're not good at video games?"

"What makes you think I'm not good at video games?" I shot back.

Ben blushed and looked away, unable to give me a response. Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes because I knew the reason. I had always known why people assumed I couldn't play video games.

"You assumed I'm not good at video games becaus I'm a girl," I said. "Let me prove you wrong."

A few members of the club snickered and I shot them dirty looks. Ben wouldn't respond, so I then gave him a dirty look.

"Are you scared?" I asked.

Ben went red and then shook his head. I smirked at that, knowing I would cream him.

"Let's play Call of Duty, you versus me," I said. "Quick scoping."

"Fine," Ben mumbled, turning to face the screen.

I looked at Jerry who seemed uncomfortable, but he then went to turn on the PS3. He went to Call of Duty, Blackops 2, and I smirked. It was my favourite Call of Duty and I grew confident that I would prove to everyone I could play video games. I was ready to make them regret not letting me join.

Jerry walked up to Ben and gave him a controller, and I rolled my eyes when I heard him say winning will be easy. He then walked over to me and gave me another controller, his eyes unable to meet mine. I fought off the urge to shoot him a look as my eyes went to the screen in front of us.

Ben chose Nuketown and soon, the match began. I chose my favourite sniper and began to sneak around the map that consisted of two houses on either side of the map with a street separating them. On the street was a bus and two cars, and I knew I had to use them to my advantage.

Moving along the house, I chose to stay close to the walls, using them as a barrier. I heard Ben's footsteps as he seemed to be running and before I knew it, he appeared before me. My reflexes I had gained from years of playing video games beat him however, and I shot him before he could react. He died and I smirked when everyone's jaw dropped.

Glancing at Ben, I watched him reddened when I kept killing him. Time went by and he hadn't gotten one kill, which left me feeling smug. Call of Duty was my game and no one was ever able to beat me. Pride welled up within me when the match finished and I won with twenty kills. Ben had none.

"Damn," Tony said, breaking the silence that surrounded us. "She creamed you."

Ben was bright red and I shot him a look when he looked over at me. Embarrassment washed over him and he looked away quickly, leaving me smiling.

"See, I can play video games," I said. "Being a girl doesn't mean anything."

No one listened to me, but I didn't care. Their eyes were on the screen and my score showed them that girls could play video games. They could beat guys at it, too. Showing them what they lost was good enough for me.

"Not bad," Josh mumbled next to me, causing me to whip my head to look at him.

Josh's eyes were on the screen and he seemed impressed, leaving me smiling. Hearing Josh say something postiive about me, even if it wasn't much, left me feeling prouder than I had ever felt. Smiling wider, all my bitterness about the Gamers Club rejecting me vanished.