Extra Ordinary

22.

Asa Walker was in the school parking lot on Monday.

Worse: Asa was in the school parking lot on Monday, exiting his old Ford without a care in the world. 

He looked peachy-keen while he walked to the school building, like he hadn't ditched me at Brown's, nor ignored all my subsequent texts.

I was at a complete loss as to how I was supposed to approach Asa now. So, I didn't.   

Instead, I quietly fumed. Until the tenseness in my midriff caused a belly-ache before first period even started. 

Before first period even started, Rolf confronted me at my locker as well. He blocked my way, together with two of his friends. They loomed over me menacingly. Despite everything, I still tried to glance past Rolf and his friends to find Asa, but he wasn't there. 

"Where's my gaming PC?" Rolf hissed, getting way too close to me for comfort. 

I couldn't step away - my back was already against my locker and I was huddled in a corner. 

"I-I can't just bring it here to school," I stuttered in protest, which was a bad move. Talking back in any way only enraged Rolf. 

"You have it fixed by tomorrow, Gay-briel," he warned me in a low tone. The implicit 'or else' didn't need to be spoken out loud to be understood. 

The way he shoved me against the locker, knocking the wind out of my lungs, before leaving was hardly subtle either. 

I'd somehow have to find a way to sneak the PC out of my house without my parents noticing, and bike it over to Rolf's place tomorrow. After that? I didn't know. It's not like Mom wouldn't be in my room and notice the device was missing. 

There was lead in my shoes as I dragged myself from classroom to classroom. In every class, there were new people making fun of how the tournament went down or accusing me of buying extra ordinary's gamer account to compete and then failing miserably. 

When it was time to enter the cafeteria for lunch, I just couldn't do it - couldn't make my feet bring me to the table where Landon, Randall, Camilla, and worst: Asa could be waiting. 

I knew they'd tried to contact me, but I hadn't touched my phone. I didn't open any of my messages, too scared to be confronted with what was in them. 

I just wanted to go home, and before I knew it, I found myself outside the school building, crossing the parking lot to grab my bike and leave. 

That's when I saw him again. 

Asa Walker, leaning against the wall with a faraway expression. He clearly hadn't been planning to sit at my lunch table at all. He would've just left me to the bullies inside as well, and something broke. 

I abruptly changed direction, heading straight for Asa with balled fists. 

He looked up, nothing in his expression that hinted at surprise. In fact, there was nothing in his expression at all. He looked past me, rather than at me. 

"You got some nerve you know that? Being here at school and not showing up at Brown's. I counted on you driving me there and you just--" I nearly stumbled over my words in my anger, then my voice cracked and stopped working. 

Now there was a flicker of emotion in Asa's eyes. He still dodged my gaze. "Sorry I couldn't make it," he said. 

I waited for more, but Asa was quiet again. 

"Sorry doesn't cut it here, Asa. Fuck." I shook my head, pressing a hand to my forehead in frustration. "I lost my gaming PC." 

"What was I supposed to do about that?" Asa asked. Where I'd been progressively talking louder and faster, he was dead calm. "I couldn't have stopped it from happening. You can't count on me to win you video-games." 

My stomach rolled. I took a deep breath to fight down the nausea. "Maybe not. But what the hell were you doing? What's going on? Why didn't you show up?" 

Asa's shoulders raised and fell as he took a deep breath, but he didn't respond to my questions. 

I waited for what felt like a minute, before giving up. He wasn't going to talk to me. "So," I pressed out through clenched teeth, "I'm just not allowed to know anything about you then. Just shut up Gabriel and don't ask questions while I ditch you or use you whenever I please. Is that it, huh?" 

"You don't want to know everything about me, Gabe," Asa muttered. 

"You helped write drone algorithms meant to kill people."

I chuckled humourlessly, no longer caring about how Asa would react - whether he'd beat me up or get mad. And in my numbed, non-caring state, everything else came pouring out, too. 

"Is that the big secret? If so, you should pay better attention to where you keep your psych files. I've known that for a long time, and... frankly, I don't even care about that anymore. You quit for a reason. But I do care about being played like this." 

Asa was finally looking at me. His eyes were dark, fixated on mine like he desperately wanted to say something. But he kept his lips tightly pressed together. 

He wasn't giving me anything, and the trembling of my fists had spread to my entire arms.

"I never even wanted to go to a tournament before you," I spat. "And what do you know about how to get a normal life without bullies or attention, anyway?  You're like Extra Ordinary, but in real life. Always hiding and never explaining anything." 

I was quivering like a leaf in the wind. "Your aunt's right. I should've never bothered. You clearly can't do relationships. Or friendships." 

In a flash, Asa grabbed my collar, clenching the fabric tight and pulling it up so his knuckle pressed against my throat. This time, I was the one not meeting his gaze. I kept my eyes trained on his chin. My heart thudded dully in my chest.

"And then you 'fix' everything by intimidating people until they're scared of you if things don't go your way," I muttered. 

Slowly, Asa's hold on my collar loosened until I was able to take a step back. 

"I don't know what your problem is Asa, but leave me alone from now on."  

I turned to leave. I started walking and Asa didn't call after me. When I looked back over my shoulder after reaching my bike, he was gone. 

On the way home, I did what I should have done immediately after the tournament: put an end to Extra Ordinary. 

It was over. The gambit had failed, and it was time for me to admit it. With a few click, I closed all my accounts while cycling home. Just like that, a year of work was gone. And in a few weeks all my fans would've found a new streamer to follow. It was almost laughingly simple.

My disappearance didn't go unnoticed for now, however. The discord group with my online friends spiked in messages again. I didn't open the app. 

I'd forgotten to block Cindy's number, however, and she texted me a few minutes later. 

Cindy: Gabriel, why is your account gone? :(((( 

Me: Because I'm done. 

Me: I'm not going to teach you anymore either. If you want to know why, ask your cousin

I regretted the angry texts to Cindy immediately, but I'd already pressed send. I couldn't take it back, and I didn't have the energy to try and apologise. It was the truth, after all. I was done. Maybe I'd start over some day, but as of right now, I wanted nothing to do with Double Singularity or video games.