I had never seen my Dad's face redder than it was when he exited our school principal's office.

He hadn't yelled at the staff. At least, as far as I knew. I hadn't heard him through the door, but he still looked like he could explode at any moment.

The principal, who followed my dad outside the office, seemed to realise that too.

"I'm glad we were able to sort things out, Mr. Hill," the principal tried, clasping his hands together.

There wasn't a trace of his usual smug attitude anywhere. I wished Dad had allowed me to join their conversation. I wanted to know what I could say to shut that man up, too. Just for future reference.

"Things will be sorted when Gabriel has his computer back and Rolf apologised to him," Dad replied curtly.

I cringed. "Dad, that's not necessary..." I said, already imagining how angry Rolf would be after being forced to say sorry.

Dad would have none of it. He didn't say anything but his chin was jutted out with quiet determination.

I would get the apology whether I wanted it or not.

"Of course Mr. Hill," the principal went along with everything Dad wanted. "Your son will have his computer back and an apology. But since this bet and outing your son took place outside of school grounds, you can arrange things with Rolf's parents from here on?"

"Yes, because if I waited for you to discipline your students, it'd never happen." Dad nodded, uttering the least sincere ever 'have a good day' before turning and leaving.

I quickly followed.

"Dad, do it outside of school," I pleaded. "I don't need a big scandal in here, okay?"

"We understand and we already made the call," Dad said, before sighing deeply. "Your mom and I understand," he corrected himself. "I don't know how that knobhead became principal. Anyway, Rolf's parents agreed on giving the computer back -- your mom and I are going there to get it back now."

They were going during school hours. That meant Rolf wouldn't find out what was going on until after school, if his parents hadn't already called him.

"Okay," I said, because it wasn't like I could do anything but agree. Dad's mind was made up.

He left me with nothing but a pat on the back and a gruff 'later.' No fatherly advice on how to handle getting Rolf in trouble at school. No guarantee I wasn't about to get beat up in some quiet hallway tomorrow.

Well, no guarantee if it wasn't for Asa, who had texted me he was waiting for me near the entrance.

"They're going to get my gaming PC back," I greeted Asa the moment I saw him sitting on the wall. I reached for my head and dug my fingers into my hair. "Fuck, they're going to get it back and I'm fucked, aren't I?"

Asa blinked in surprise at my outburst. Then he stood next to me and suddenly his arm was around my shoulder. His lips pressed to mine. In plain sight.

As he pulled back I stared at him, wide-eyed. My confusion was met with a gentle smile.

"You're not fucked. Because we'll tell everyone we're together. And I will tell people that if they as much as touch a hair on your head, they'll be sorry."

The school would believe it. I knew it was actually kind of funny if Asa threatened people, considering he was a caring person with a paper-thin rough exterior. But nobody else was in on that joke.

"You could get in trouble," I murmured.

"I think we already are, Gabe."

Asa's tone was light, playful. He pointed at the parking lot, where I caught a glimpse of my Mom's smile through the window of the moving car.

They saw us. Mom and Dad.

I opened and closed my mouth. "Well," I started dryly. "That's two people we don't have to tell anymore."

I started laughing, realising I didn't mind at all. A few moments later Asa joined me.

This would be the easy part, compared to forcibly coming out. I could already picture Landon, Camilla and Randall's reaction. Camilla probably already knew but wouldn't boast about it. She'd just tell us she was happy for us. Landon, on the other hand, would literally spray all over the place that he knew something was going on. Randall was either oblivious or not, but wouldn't care one way or another.

I tried not to think of Rolf and his friends' reaction for my own sanity, so, all in all it was not a bad score. I wasn't scared of anyone with Asa there beside me regardless. Not even of his aunt and uncle.

Asa seemed to have the same thoughts running through his mind.

"Cindy will be happy," he said with a thoughtful expression. "Perhaps even happier than she was when Double Singularity came out."

I smiled vaguely, but Asa mentioning video-games reminded me of something.

"Hey, if Mom and Dad get my PC back from Rolf I'll have two," I thought out loud. "Yours is a gift so I'll keep it... but I don't want to let either go to waste."

Asa tilted his head to the side. "What are you thinking?"

"How about I give my other one to Cindy?"

There was a moment of stunned silence from Asa's side. Then he smiled at me. "Then she will be even happier. But what about you?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask," I joked, averting my eyes.

Asa didn't reply. Instead, his arm left my shoulder and he reached for my phone in my pants pocket. I knew what he wanted me to do when he placed it in my hand with a determined expression. I just didn't know if I could. An icy-hot nervous sensation traveled from my chest to my fingertips.

"I'm not sure if I'll play there again, Asa."

"You could log on only to leave a message for your online friends?" Asa suggested, while I knew he full well knew that I also had Discord and could contact them there. If I dared.

I bit my lip. "I don't know what I'll find in there when I log on. Maybe Chip and the other guys aren't shitting all over me but..."

"Hey, you do realise you're going to have to play, Gabe." Asa teased, softly elbowing my ribs. "To pay my daily fifty dollar protection fee."

I snorted and gave Asa a once-over. "I'm paying just for the protection?"

"Yeah, everything else is free."

Asa placed his arm around my shoulder again and kissed my cheek. "But you miss it. The high level games."

"I do," I admitted out loud, finally dropping the facade of indifference because I knew I couldn't hide it from Asa. "I just..."

"I know."

Asa scooted a little closer and gently squeezed my arm while I went through the steps necessary to recover all my accounts. Some of them would take a while before they'd get recovered, some were instantly back, some I wouldn't ever use again.

At least my money making Twitch was safe.

When I was done filling out forms and contacting customer support addresses, I went to my email profile to check the settings there.

Asa pointed at my screen name. "Why did you put an underscore between Extra and Ordinary?"

"Because in many places there can't be a space in your username."

Asa shot me a deadpan stare that said 'you know what I mean.'

I breathed in and out deeply. "It was a joke. A word joke," I explained. "I'm good at video games, but that's it. I'm just the guy in the back of the room keeping his head down and preferring it that way. Hence, extra ordinary."

Asa pressed his lips together and made a disapproving sound. He pressed his finger to my screen, selecting my screen name. With a tap on backspace he removed the underscore between extra and ordinary, making it one word.

Then Asa looked at me. His intense gaze made me flush, and he leaned in to press his cheek to mine.

"Because regardless of whether you play on this account again," he murmured in my ear, "now or ever, this is what you are."

I wrapped my arms around Asa and rested my chin on his shoulder, mostly because I didn't know how to make eye contact with him without dying of sheer awkwardness.

"Okay, okay. Stop it," I said, embarrassed.

I did as Asa asked, however. Over his shoulder, I secretly pressed 'save changes' and accepted the new username.

I didn't exactly believe in the name.

But, I had mustered the courage to pick up the pieces of my video game life, regardless of whether I ever competed in a tournament again. I had Asa hugging me tightly. I had my parents picking up my PC, and a bunch of other people who wished me well.

And, with a small smile, I decided that even I could feel a little bit extraordinary.