"Give me your hand."

Asa opened his palm and extended it to me. He raised his brows when I didn't immediately comply.

"M-my hand?" I repeated dumbly, darting a glance at our surroundings. We were out in the school hallway. Not exactly the most appropriate place for two guys to hold hands. Granted, we were late for class and almost everyone was gone, but still.

"Uh, okay."

I gingerly placed my hand in Asa's. He stared down at it, gently tracing and moving my fingers.

It kind of hurt when he put the pressure on, but the fact that Asa was holding me made it a bittersweet sensation, and that made me stay in place.

I didn't realise I was staring at Asa's face, until he suddenly looked up and caught me, making heat rush to my cheeks at our proximity. We hadn't been this close to each other since the gaming night.

"Nothing's broken," Asa stated, and I was distinctly aware of the fact that he was holding my hand, despite being done with his inspection.

I wasn't about to complain, but like many times before, I wondered what Asa was thinking right now. I wanted to know if he was also thinking about kissing me right now, but only refrained because someone could walk in any moment.

"How do you know it's not broken?" I asked, experimentally wiggling my fingers a little.

Unfortunately, that seemed to make Asa finally realise he was still touching me and he promptly let go. I cleared my throat, awkwardly shifting my weight from one leg to the other as Asa took a step back.

"If it was broken," he said, "I wouldn't be able to twist and squeeze without you yanking your hand away."

"Okay," I muttered. "That's good. If I went to a doctor they'd probably call home. I can't have that."

Another call home would definitely trigger my parents going to Rolf's parents, which I was exactly the situation I was trying to avoid with this whole tournament thing.

"Lets get some ice-packs anyway," Asa said, gesturing for me to follow him.

I hesitated for a moment, looking in the direction of the english classroom I was supposed to be in right now, then hurried after Asa.

"So, uh," I started, trying to make some conversation. "You seem to know a thing or two about first aid. Where did you learn?"

"The military," Asa vaguely replied, but at least he had replied.

I noticed that, slowly but certainly, he was telling me more things about himself which was a relief.

Him volunteering that information made me feel slightly less guilty about sneaking a peek at his psychologist's notes and knowing things he didn't personally tell me.

"Really? What kind of position?" I asked.

"Research."

"What kind?"

Asa's jaw clenched and I internally flinched. "That's classified."

"Oh, sorry."

Crap, I had clearly taken it a step too far. Asa crossed his arms, closing up entirely as we walked on.

"Uh, I'm not going to join this tournament with my main account," I blurted, changing the topic abruptly. "I think I'm going to join as myself - so I don't have to tell anyone about my stream."

Asa nodded. He didn't reply but the wrinkle between his brows vanished.

We arrived at the school nurse's station a few moments later, and I stopped in front of the door.

"What are you going to tell her?"

Asa shrugged. "Nothing," he said, before opening the door and sauntering in.

I didn't follow this time, not wanting the nurse to see me. I was a terrible liar. If she saw me and asked if something was wrong, I wouldn't be able to hide my bruised and battered hand from her. There was also a fifty percent chance I'd make things worse by stuttering and blabbering about Rolf.

Asa had no such problems. He returned, ice-pack in hand, literal seconds later.

"Wow, that was fast," I said, accepting the ice from him and pressing it against my hand. "What did you say to convince her to give it to you this fast? She's usually so nosy."

"I didn't say anything," Asa replied.

He started walking, and I jogged a few paces to catch up with him. "Wait, so you just... took it from the fridge?"

"Yes."

I snorted without any humour. "Alright then. Guess I shouldn't be surprised you get away with stuff like that."

Asa glanced at me.

"I mean," I automatically elaborated, "Even the star quarterback doesn't mess with you anymore after you fucked him up last summer. Why would the nurse? Must be nice. Having people be--"

Something in Asa's gaze made me stop smack in the middle of my sentence. Having people be afraid of you.

It didn't sound quite so nice spoken out loud, or rather, halfway spoken out loud. It sounded like a lonely existence.

Somehow, I'd never seen Asa as lonely; he was too cool for feelings like that. But now that he was standing in front of me with a faraway look in his eyes, I wasn't so sure.

What I was sure about, was that Asa knew what I'd meant to say, even if I didn't finish.

He looked down at me, an unreadable glint in his cobalt eyes. "Is that what you think I'm like?"

"No!" I immediately denied. "Well, I do think you're intimidating and nobody messes with you because of that but--" I trailed off, realising it was probably better to shut up.

Why did I feel like I'd already messed something up with my words? He'd remember this.

Asa opened his mouth like he was about to speak, then changed his mind. He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You'll win and nobody will mess with you either," he stated, with the kind of confidence I hoped to one day have in myself.

And just like that, Asa surprised me for the millionth time. He went to class and left me with a fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach and a confidence boost, which lasted exactly two hours - until I ran into Landon after math class.

"Dude, there's no way you're going to win," Landon hissed at me in the hallway. "Don't commit even more social suicide by going through with this. Just say you can't make it or something... Oh who am I kidding?"

Landon groaned. "Rolf's not going to let you take it back. And you'll lose your gaming PC, too. Christ, what a mess."

"How are you so convinced I'll lose my PC?"

I surprised both Landon and myself with my fierce and snappy reply. Landon's mouth hung open in an 'o' like a goldfish's, then took out his phone.

"Gabe, did you even look at the terms?" he said, shoving his phone under my nose. "Georgia's tournament starts in five freaking days and your position on the ladder isn't good enough for entry. Not even close. Even if you played day and night, it's doubtful they'll even let you compete."

"What!" I called out, snatching the phone from Landon and scrolling through the prerequisites.

Prerequisites that clearly stated I needed to be at least gold ranking. On my fake account, I was about a gazillion ranks below that. All the way at the bottom of the bottom.

"He set you up for this!" Landon spat, genuinely angry on my behalf. I appreciated it, if only he wouldn't spray his words all over me.

"Shit," I cursed. "Shit shit."

Landon's eyes were wide. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I..." What could I do?

"Play," I said weakly, already calculating how many hours of sleep I'd need to lose to get it done, and how to keep myself from getting caught playing at night by Mom. "Play a lot."

"But, Gabe." Landon paused, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "No, never mind, I really can't say this in a nice way, but I'm saying this with the best intentions, I promise."

Landon grabbed my shoulders and shook them. "You suck. Like, really badly. You're never going to make it, especially with your hand busted, too."

"I don't suck, okay?" I protested, prying Landon's hands off of my shoulders - and instantly regretting it as a stab of pain went through my own hand. "Just... trust me on that."

Landon shook his head. "Alright man," he replied, utterly unconvinced. "If you say so."

He lifted a hand and walked off.

I waited until Landon was gone, then buried my hands in my hair.

"It's okay. It'll be fine," I mumbled to myself. "You can make this work. You are extra ordinary, a good player. You got this."

And if I didn't?

Well, I didn't quite allow myself to think about that option yet, to avoid full blown panic.