Sunday came and went. I didn’t log in once. I spent my free time reading random links on wikipedia, constructing a supermassive Iron farm in Minecraft, and doing next week’s homework. Basically everything I can to forget about the nauseous feeling from the day before.

Monday came before I knew it and now I am walking from the school entrance to class while the bell tolls behind me. I passed through the halls of tan painted walls and teal blue lockers sparing only a glance at the boards covered with ten-year-old announcements that were never taken down.

Another day of classes, another day of Mr. Shellburg being an awesome teacher. And then lunch happens.

“Hey! Roe! Over here!”(Benjamin)

Ben called out to me from a table by the window. Gustav and Anna were with him, so I decided to head on over. Taking my tray that had a burger with fries and a brownie with me I went over and sat down. Taking a look, Ben had a strange looking dish on his plate. Ben made his lunch himself instead of getting it from the cafeteria. I looked at the unnatural amalgamation of what used to be normal fruits, vegetables, and breads but was now chemical soup and chuckled. Despite its appearance, it was edible, healthy even. Ben looked up at my chuckling, pretending to be offended.

“Hey! Don’t diss the stew. I’ll have you know it was made with all-natural non-GMO ingredients and makes my body healthier every time I eat it.”(Benjamin)

“Are you sure about that?”(Gustav) Gustav said as he looked doubtfully at Ben’s dish.

“It looks like toxic waste.”(Gustav)

“Mnhm.”(Anna)

I looked at Gustav’s plate. Macaroni-n-Cheese with a side of apple slices. So normal-looking compared to Ben’s. I glanced up at Gustav for a moment. Red hair with brown eyes and white labcoat that he never takes off, combined with his “Resting Schemer Face” and almost constant chuckling when not sufficiently distracted, gave him an aura of a mad scientist thinking up a new invention or plot.

Right now his face was more... “That Gruel looks disgusting and I am unsure whether the fact that it isn’t poisonous is reassuring or alarming.” After that last comment Ben shrugged and said,

“I don’t really have a comeback about that one. I just kinda followed the recipe and this is how it turned out.” (Benjamin)

He took another bite/swig of the stew/bio-waste and swallowed before continuing.

“Besides, it only looks like toxic waste, it isn’t actually anywhere close chemically. Roe can back me up on that. Right Roe?”(Benjamin)

I gave him a, Why? Look before officially joining the conversation.

“While the simple act of cooking and preparing vegetables, fruits, and meats for consumption cannot produce chemical or toxic waste, cooked food can be composted. So while it isn’t bad for your health yet, if Ben doesn’t eat it all before the end of the day or just leaves it out in the sun somewhere, It could become so.”(Rowan)

“Thanks Roe!”(Benjamin)

I looked at Ben again and he quickly changed the topic before I could start an entire lecture on the subject.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“So Roe, how’re you likin’ Champions of Asteria?”(Benjamin)

“Very well actually. I did relatively well on my first day.”(Rowan)

“Why didn’t you send me a friend invite?”(Benjamin)

Oh, I forgot.

“Wait! You have Champions of Asteria now Roe!?!?”(Anna)

Anna straightened out in surprise and nearly stood up. Her grilled-cheese sandwich falling from her hands to her plate with an audible thump. Her hazel eyes blinking with excitement, her long, wavy brown hair swaying as if suddenly disturbed. Her t-shirt with the phrase “L337 Gamer Girl 4 Life!” with three classic game heart points below it, one of which was missing one half, stuck out from the rest of her attire but suited her personality to a T.

“I also play that game! You should send me a friend invite as well!”(Anna)

“I don’t think either of us know your username Ann.”(Benjamin)

“My username is L337H@ck0rG1rl_1773.”(Anna)

She spoke each individual letter so quickly I barely had time to process it.

“Slower please!”(Benjamin)

“No. I’ll write it down and hand it to you during club time.”(Anna)

“Jeesh. I didn’t know a human could speak that many different syllables that quickly.”(Benjamin)

“Me neither.”(Gustav)

At this point the bell to signal the end of lunch rang and so we left for the rest of our classes. Some of us, still chewing on the remains of our food from earlier.

Classes went by normally, only deviating during English when one of the other students got a stomach ache and went to the infirmary.

I arrived at the clubroom and immediately moved to Ben and Gustav’s corner. They had taken apart the two dueling robots and were looking to see if they could reduce the force of the punches.

“So, I know what you want to do, I am asking what are you doing?”(Rowan)

“Taking it apart and manually lowering the output capabilities of the pistons and rigging a system to divert power away from the motors to further dampen the force of impact?”(Ben)

“Doing something incredibly over-complicated when you are providing a much simpler solution?”(Gustav)

“At least Gus gets it.”(Rowan)

“So what was your solution?”(Ben)

“Just give them boxing gloves. Or some other cushiony material wrapped around their fists. That would work better than dampening their pistons and motors manually. And so much easier too.”(Rowan)

Ben looked at the model robots, then looked back at me with an expression like a child who was just told to clean their room.

“But then they wouldn’t look the part-”(Benjamin)

Ben Started but I cut him off.

“I never said they had to look like lumps of stuff on their hands did I?”(Rowan)

A look of realization dons Gustav’s face and he turns to Ben to explain.

“Lets just take some pillow cotton and styrofoam and fashion it into robot hands and Kaiju claws. Then we paint them over and viola, both problems solved.”(Gustav)

The look of realization now dons Ben’s face as he understands what it is he must do.

I turn and move over to my corner, picking up a book on how computers work as I sit down on my chair. Anna comes over and hands me a slip of paper. It has her username written on it. Anna gave me a quick wink before going back to her project.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. I got home and took out the trash for the garbage truck to pick up tomorrow, and then I went and showered before making dinner. After finishing dinner, I went into my room and laid down on my bed. The faceplate of the vr headset sliding down onto my face, I said.

“Headset, on!”(Rowan)