On my way to the gymnasium, I scrolled through my contact list and pressed the call button when I found the person I needed. The familiar ringing was hypnotic enough to put me to sleep in the state I was in. I hadn’t stayed up that long in my life before, and it was honestly a miracle that I could even put any coherent thoughts together after having my sleep cut that short. But thankfully, the line on the other end clicked before I could doze off.

“Yoooo Trist! What the hell man, I heard you got suspended yesterday. You good? Did you fuck the other guy up at least?” Lance answered the phone in his usual jovial manner.

“I didn’t fight anyone.”

“Yeah, I heard you went crazy on a bunch of desks. You all there mentally?”

“Christ, does everyone know about it?”

“Yeah. Naomi thinks you’re a nutcase. Also, James still thinks you’re a child so that tantrum of yours didn’t help.” The thought of having to show up at school with that kind of rumor floating around was enough to make me wish I was outright expelled.

“So what’s up, man? You like, never call. Something else going on?”

All the tension from today slowly melted away the second I started talking to Lance. It was like a gentle reminder of the peaceful times before the turbulence of dealing with Zoey and Benjamin took over my life. I began reminiscing about the days before my high school life turned into this. The simpler times of trying to answer his nonsensical hypothetical scenarios, the flirting with Naomi… it was all just so much better than whatever it was I was doing at that moment.

“Hey Lance… do you love Naomi?”

The question probably caught him off guard, of course. Just when he thought he’d be getting me to open up, I flipped the spotlight right back on him. But my reminiscing had made me curious about their relationship. If they really had been dating before but still hung out like this all the time, then what was their relationship really?

“Yeah, I do.” But despite catching him off guard, Lance answered my question immediately.

“Then why did you break up with her?”

“Hey, it’s a little weird to answer that when the person in question is…”

Naomi must have been sitting right next to him.

“Pass her the phone then.”

“Huh? Oh, sure.”

“Hey Trist!! What’s up?”

“Do you love Lance?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I do.” She also answered it immediately, to my surprise.

“Then why did you two break up? Was it really over a good morning text?”

“Huh? How should I know?”

“How should… but you were there.”

“I don’t know what that guy’s thinking. We just hang out and sometimes we even … hey! Give me that! I was talking to Trist!”

The only recognizable audio coming from my phone’s speakers anymore was the sound of those two idiots struggling over control of the phone.

“Sorry about that, I’m back.” Apparently, Lance had won the battle.

“She has no idea why you broke up with her. Isn’t that kind of like, messed up? And then it’s like, you’re stringing her around by hanging out with her like this.”

“It’s not a permanent break up.”

“What? What does that mean? I’ve heard of people getting back together after a while… but then like what, are you guys separated like a married couple?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Why?”

“Do you really want me to get into all of this right now? Why’re you asking me this?”

“Sorry, I guess it’s not relevant right now.” I paused for a moment and then sighed heavily. “Hey Lance, do you remember when you came over for the weekend in sophomore year?”

“Dude, do I remember? How could I forget? And we played Dota the entire time.”

“Well, you practically forced me to. I wanted to jump off a bridge like 6 hours in, but you kept saying ‘one more game’.”

“Hey, you could’ve said no anytime.”

“I guess, but you seemed like you really wanted to keep playing. It felt like you were a balloon and Dota was your helium. Like, you would’ve completely deflated if we stopped at any point. I didn’t really get why at the time, but…”

“You’re acting weird today, man.”

The sight of the back of the gymnasium came into view at last. It was a solitary building that stood detached from the main school, but it was large enough to host the main sporting area, as well as the changing rooms and equipment storage room. There was a staircase attached to the back which led to the stands of the basketball court.

“Okay, fine,” Lance said. “I’ll tell you everything when you’re back at school, okay? But in exchange, you gotta tell me about that Jaz chick later. She looked like she was really into you.”

His answer satisfied me. It gave me something to look forward to after all of this was over. A return to my normal life was coming. But only after I proved to myself that, unlike what he had said earlier that week, I could change. The old me who would always take the easy way out was now dead.

Stolen story; please report.

“Alright, I’ll see you on Monday, man.”

I hung up and checked the time on my phone. It was 4:02 pm. The game should have been starting at any second. I had never watched a full basketball game before, but I had a basic understanding of the rules, so I wouldn’t have much difficulty following the game. I could feel the exciting atmosphere from outside. From the rumbling of the crowd, to the reverberation of the host’s mic, I felt the compounding excitement of the game exuding from the building. I had no attachment to this excitement, however, and I refused to let it overwhelm me. After all, my goal that day was to crush the dreams of every single student who wished for a Deer Valley high victory. I climbed the staircase outside the back of the gymnasium, sliding my mask back onto my face, and entered the door.

The atmosphere inside of the gym was electric. The first thing I saw was our school mascot, a brown deer with large, pointed horns, dancing and waving its hooves around while doing its best to hype the crowd up. It seemed like the homecoming atmosphere was getting to everyone’s heads, because even though almost the entire seating area was filled up, it looked like pretty much everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs. After scanning the area for a moment, I took the closest empty seat I could get to the door and folded my arms.

“Deer Valley High!!!! We hope you’re all having a great time!!” The crowd erupted into cheers. If there was one thing everyone was doing, it was definitely having a great time. The host did a fantastic job at capitalizing on the energy in the gymnasium. “But just before we start the game off now, we’re gonna have a little bit of a performance for you all. Introducing... our very own cheer team!”

A squad of ten girls flowed into the court in cheerleader uniforms. Krista, the star of the cheer squad, took the front of the formation. Behind her were Gwen and Penny, and the other seven members of the team stood behind them to complete the pyramid.

After waiting for the cheers to die down into silence, the sound of a generic pop song filled the gymnasium, and the girls began dancing at last. I tapped my feet impatiently. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate their hard work, the performance they were putting on was certainly the mesmerizing sight. But I was really hoping that the game would hurry up and start. I was beginning to doze off.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be sleeping right now?”

That familiar cinnamon scent crept up on me as I heard the sound of someone sitting down next to me.

“You sound worried.”

“If I said I was, would it make you feel better?”

“Not really. Shouldn’t you be taking pictures right now?”

“Jaz can handle it alone until the tip off.”

“Aren’t you a slave driver.” She laughed, then continued prodding.

“She’s doing well, isn’t she?”

“Jaz?” I asked.

“No, her.”

Curious, I traced her gaze down to the court, and found that she was staring at Gwen.

“Are you talking about her dancing?” She smiled, then folded her legs.

“You know Tristan, I’m curious about something. Do you think the old you could have roped Gwen into your plan so effortlessly?” I blinked twice.

“Not sure what you mean by ‘the old me’, but I did decide to stop taking the easy way out after yesterday.”

I wasn’t playing dumb. I truly didn’t know what she meant by that. She was being as cryptic as she had been since I’d started talking to her. What I did know, however, was that there was absolutely no more energy left in my body to argue with her. I wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep in my seat right that second. But here she was, throwing me for another one of her loops.

“How many times have you hacked me?

I paused.

“Four nights in a row now.”

“Our consciousnesses merged four nights in a row now. I want you to think carefully about what that means. The process of our minds becoming one and separating. Forcefully joining together and tearing apart. Do you really believe that something like that wouldn’t have any side-effects?”

“What are you getting at?”

“It’s a similar phenomenon to when Mao bit you that day. Your mind remembered the pain even though you went back to your own body, didn’t it? To put it simply, your mind still remembers my personality. You’ve been carrying me with you for the past few days.”

Her words were like a brick wall. I couldn’t think of a proper response.

“That’s not… I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Really? You honestly think that, after one single epiphany, you suddenly became capable of taking the risk of coldly negotiating with that time-bomb of a girl? You? Tristan Collins? Do you really believe that people can change that easily?”

“You don’t know me.”

“Maybe not. But I want you to think about this for a second. You hacked my mom for an hour straight two days ago. That’s a long time to experience someone else’s view of the world. Think about what happened to you after that. Really think about how your relationship with the world around you changed after that experience. Your body couldn’t forget how she felt about me, could it? You couldn’t bear to be next to me, just like she can’t bear even the sight of me. And the way you couldn’t contain your anger yesterday and got suspended. If there’s one thing I know about my mom, it’s her lack of filter and self-control. She gets irritated easily, and she can’t help but take it out on whatever’s nearby. Think about it, how did you feel when you hacked my mom that day?”

I remembered. Back then, when I was paying for the beer at the gas station, I got irritated by the teller, and I ended up taking my frustration out on him. And when I lost Zoey’s phone, I slammed my fists against the steering wheel.

“And what about you?” she asked. “I might not know you that well, but then ask yourself. Aren’t you the opposite of that? Aren’t you the kind of person who lets people like Benjamin walk over you every day? If you ask me, the real you would never let those emotions out while still at school. Like you said yourself, you always take the easy way out.”

My first instinct was to deny it. I wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that I was still myself. But then I thought back to my conversation to Lance just minutes ago.

“You’re acting weird today, man.”

That’s what he had said. I hadn’t thought about it with everything that had been going on, but my mind was nothing short of a mess. Was it just the situation that was causing me to act out in these obscene ways? Or was it my power?

“What was something unusual you felt when you hacked me? Something about my feelings that felt foreign compared to the way you normally feel. Try to remember it.”

Something unusual about Zoey. If I had to name something, it was her inhuman coldness. She felt no strong emotions like love or hatred. She was never anxious or scared, nor was she overly excited. She merely existed as a passionless machine that existed to carry out directives, which was completely different to my experience with her mom.

When you compared that to how I’ve been acting since I decided to control this bet, could I really tell myself that I hadn’t been influenced by her in some way?

“There are two types of people in the world, Tristan. Those who succumb, and those who overcome. And I don’t think people like you just happen to stop taking the easy way out overnight.” She stared down at the floor level. “Anyway, I just wanted you to keep that in mind. I’m not sure exactly who it was that you hacked earlier, but those feelings might influence whatever you’re trying to do with our star player Benjamin.”

My eyes drifted back down to the ground level of the gymnasium. There, I caught Krista doing a stunt where she was standing on Gwen and Penny’s shoulders. After a moment of anticipation, she bent her knees forward, then launched herself off her friends and did a back flip onto the court. Her landing was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that the crowd erupted into cheers so deafening that I expected to develop tinnitus after this was all over.

“That’s my cue to head back. I’ll see you after the game.”

She stood up from her seat and walked past me to head back down the stairs to the court side. What she mentioned about the people I hacked influencing me wasn’t entirely impossible. But if it was the case, then it still wouldn’t be a problem. Gwen had feelings for Ben, but her desire to have him lose the match should triumph over everything else. Still, was everything I did today not accomplished by my own hands? Was I simply boring Zoey’s coldness to brute-force my way through this situation?

“Well done cheer team! Wonderful, wonderful performance! With that out of the way, let’s get the game started as our players make their way to the court!”

I felt an elbow nudging my side.

“Hey, was that Zoey Brahm? She sat right next to us, dude! You dating her or something?”

A male underclassman who happened to be two seats away scooted over to ask about my conversation with Zoey.

“No, we’re just acquaintances.”

“Really? Do you think you could put in a good word for me? She’s so cute, I really wanna date her...”

He placed his hand on my shoulder, an action which caused my stomach to react so viscerally that I instinctively slapped his hand away.

“Don’t touch me.” I froze the moment the words left my mouth.

It was an action so much like Gwen that I couldn’t believe it. Zoey might have been onto something. Perhaps, because I was experiencing the emotions firsthand I hadn’t noticed anything. But to outsiders, I must have looked like a completely different person.

“Sorry man, geez. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I looked down at my hand in shock as the whistle for the start of the game filled the gymnasium. It was terrifying, but I had no time to dwell on it. I turned to the boy besides me.

“Hey, I’m gonna take a nap. Mind not letting anyone wake me up?”

“A nap? Here?”

“I’ll put in a good word for you with Zoey. Just make sure no one bothers me.”

“Oh, OH! Okay, yeah. I can do that. Thanks man, you’re the best. What’s your name again?”

“Travis.”

“Travis, huh? Nice to meet you. I’m Ollie.”

“Pleasures mine.

I flashed him a smile then leaned back into my seat, filling my head with thoughts of Benjamin Otto as my consciousness faded.