Extra Ordinary

7.

Cindy was easy to teach. Not especially good at the games we played, but she was sharp and analytical, and she listened well to instructions. Because of that, it was easy to crank her up a few ranks on the Double Singularity ladder in one afternoon. 

Even I had to admit that, despite everything, it brought a certain sense of satisfaction: watching Cindy get what I was saying and putting it into practice. 

That was the good part. 

The bad part was going to school sleep deprived on Monday due to having to stream late into the night, followed by wasting even more precious sleeping time mulling about Asa.

What was I getting into, involving myself with Asa Jennings, Walker, whatever? Asa, the apparently ex-military research guy who helped design the deadly weapons his cousin and I only used in video games. 

Everyone in school thought Asa was badass, but this was beyond being the 'coolest kid' in school, whooping the quarterback's ass, and having rumours flying around that he could already beat up grown men at age ten. This was out of my league, and I wasn't sure if I needed protection against Rolf that badly.

Rolf was a high school bully and a pain in the ass, sure. But  Asa... I didn't know what Asa was or what he did, but it was definitely scarier than a high school bully. Landon and Randall were right: I might've made a mistake getting involved with Asa.

Unfortunately, I had a creeping suspicion it was too late to break ties and get out. 

After school ended and I fired up my computer, I noticed Cindy had added me as friend - on every platform I was on. She had a pink unicorn avatar, Cinderella with a bunch of numbers after it as a screen name, and absolutely no idea how much trouble she was going to get me in. 

I bit my nails, before pressing accept. It was inevitable I did anyway, if I wanted to avoid double beatings from now on. 

And, the backlash was immediate. A chat window popped up.

Chip: who's the new person? 

Lore: Cinderella

Lore: what. 

Marius: is she your gf? lemme add her too

I cringed, rubbing my temples before replying. 

extra_ordinary: no! dude, she's like 10 and not my gf leave her alone

Another chat popped up on my screen.

Cinderalla21223: uh, who are these people adding me?

extra_ordinary: just decline their requests, please

I could only hope and pray to all the video gaming Gods that Cindy listened to me. I had to keep her away from those guys, and many others, at all costs. If they made as much as one rude remark (and they would - they were rude, sarcastic people) and Cindy told Asa, he'd come to me and blame me for it. 

Chip: a 10 y/o girlfriend? 

Chip sent an image of a brown bear, also known as pedo-bear and I wrinkled my nose. 

extra_ordinary: ok gross dude. 

Next would be them shitting on my for playing with a 10 year old girl, because they couldn't think of any reason why I'd play with a 10 year old and I wasn't about to tell them why. 

I could make up some bullshit excuse, but instead I just muted them all for the time being. 

extra_ordinary: start a 1vs1, I'll observe how you play and give some tips, ok?