Mitch took his seat in homeroom, he was approximately 15 minutes early and had already cleaned up the loose trash around the classroom. He’d straightened the desks and cleaned the whiteboard - he’d made sure to bring a decent multi-purpose spray from home.

He pulled a thick paperback novel from his bag, it was loosely bound and appeared to be a dusty old Stephen King novel but this was deception, a ploy on Mitch’s behalf. He had swapped the book covers to get away with reading something a little more daring in homeroom.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply, appreciating the scent of lemon from his cleaning spray. He thought of this precious 15 minutes before homeroom as some of the most valuable time he had in his day. If he caught the early bus he had just enough time to get into the building and clean for around 15 minutes, then enjoy the peaceful quiet for 15 minutes.

No sweaty jocks in yesterday's clothes or distracting goth babes to lure him away from his books. The teacher entered and Mitch didn’t look up from his book, knowing Mr Webb all too well.

The overweight homeroom teacher was usually a kind man but had the unfortunate predisposition for bursting into tears when pushed too far by his students. Mitch was glad there was someone else who appreciated his efforts.

“Good morning Mitch, is that lemon?” Mr Webb asked pleasantly in his high pitched nasal voice.

Mitch poked his head out from behind his book, smiling and nodding to the teacher who knew the drill.

Mr Webb left the shy young student to his novel, turning to the whiteboard to write ‘group project’ at the top of the whiteboard.

Mitch immediately put down his book, raising an eyebrow at the teacher's writing. The ‘homeroom’ class was a farce, it was a place where roll calls happened and signed permission slips were delivered. You were given a grade for the class but it was based on attendance and behavior, not results.

Students started filing in and when Christine and Mel walked in they both knew something was instantly afoot. For starters Mitch wasn’t reading, instead he was frowning at the whiteboard. He looked like he wanted to ask Mr Webb a question but couldn’t raise the courage to lift his hand.

“Mitch what’s up?” Mel asked the quiet bookworm, looming over his desk looking like a female 16 year old Hagrid, minus the beard. She had long dark curly hair and prominent facial features. Add to this that she was 6”5 and usually flanked by the gorgeous and relatively short Christine and one could begin to understand how she’d earned the cruel nickname ‘Mega Mel’ amongst her cohort.

The first time she’d heard someone say it she’d been on the bus home from school, she had earbuds in but wasn’t playing any music. She just didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Two boys in front of her were talking loudly when one said to the other “Bro, did I tell you I saw Mel’s bra in PE! They were massive.”

The other boy turned to him and asked “Wait, wait, wait. Hot Mel or Mega Mel?”

His friend burst out laughing and grabbed him on the shoulder.

“Come on bro, Hot Mel has mosquito bites. Mega Mel has Mega boobs, I’m telling you!”

Mel had just stared out the window and turned on her music. She had tried not to cry.

Snapping back to the present she focused on Mitch’s quiet response.

“Would you both like to be in my group?” he asked softly, his eyes wide and a small look of panic on his face.

The two girls flicked their eyes to the whiteboard, taking in the smiling chubby teacher who waved good morning cheerily.

Christine shrugged at Mel and the girls took seats near Mitch.

The classroom filled up and Mitch noticed Christine, Mel and Mr Webb turn towards the door as Craig and Tim walked in.

Craig was a stereotypical dreamboat, athletic, polite, good grades, tall, extremely handsome with medium length blonde hair that most girls in the grade were jealous of. Tim was more of a ‘bad boy’ type. He had short cropped dark hair and a long, lean but wiry frame. He was well known as a horse rider, bull rider and just about anything that involved livestock. He grew up on a farm and wasn’t afraid to fight so most kids left him alone.

That was except for Craig’s friends. Whilst Craig himself was a great guy, his choice in friends was more than questionable. His fellow football players had branded Tim the ‘Ag Fag’ due to his agricultural knowledge when he had tried out for the team and Craig felt guilty that he had not defended Tim. They’d been close as kids and drifted apart in high school.

Now, Tim wouldn’t even look at him as they entered Homeroom at the same time, pushing in front of Craig who just let him go first. The only seats left were on the other side of Mitch, right up the front. Reluctantly Craig and Tim settled in next to each other.

The students braced themselves for the explanation from Mr Webb. He cheerily turned to the students as the first bell ended.

“Welcome everyone, right. Let’s get through the roll call. Mitch, please put your novel away.” he said.

Mitch pretended to put the book in his bag and then slipped the paperback under his desk, leaning back in his chair with his chin tucked in, not too subtly continuing to read.

Mr Webb finished the roll call and then turned back to Mitch, staring at him until Mel touched him on the shoulder - startling him. He looked up and met the eyes of the teacher who was looking down with disappointment, and an outstretched hand.

Reluctantly Mitch handed over the book and Mr Webb flicked it open to a random page.

“If this is so interesting, let's read it for the class!” Mr Webb said with a disappointed look on his face.

He cleared his throat and began reading from the paperback theatrically.

“Argh. I cry as I feel a weird pinching sensation deep inside me as he rips through my virgi-” he cut himself off with a weird gurgle. His face went beetroot red.

“Mitch, what the devil is this!” he cried out, throwing the book onto his desk with disgust.

One of the girls in class began giggling “Oh my god is that fifty shades?” The entire class erupted in laughter.

Mitch cringed so hard he thought he might actually become one with his chair.

He dared to glance up at the girls and Christine gave him a sympathetic glance that only made him cringe harder.

Mr Webb fought valiantly to regain control of the class room and began to explain the group assessment.

He then split the class up into groups of 5, Mitch and the girls were paired with Tim and Craig and the students dragged their tables together. Nobody at the table said a word.

Mitch sighed and tried to start a conversation, the moment he opened his mouth however one of the boys at the back of the room moaned loudly, yelling “Oh yeaaah”. Setting the class off again.

Mr Webb, removed the student from the class and encouraged them again to begin.

The assignment was simple, they needed to ask each other four questions - an answer from each of the other members of the group. The questions were personal and the exercise was obviously meant to bring them all closer as a group.

1. Who has been your biggest mentor?

2. What is your favorite book?

3. When is it alright to be selfish?

4. Where is your favorite place in the world?

The teacher smiled broadly at the group as the rest of the class started to talk amongst themselves.

“This will count as 60% of your overall grade for this class. Get started.” he said with a jolly smile.

They looked at each other and a standoff of epic proportions began. Tim glared at Craig who stared at his notebook like it held the secrets of the universe. Christine also stared at Craig and Mel and Mitch stared at her.

It was widely accepted that Christine was the most attractive girl in their year. She was a classic ‘goth babe’ according to the tenth grade boys. Christine was very pretty and a natural blonde. She had dyed her hair black last year and started painting her nails black and doing her makeup differently. Her new style had complimented her light skin tone and brought lots of attention. Unwanted attention as Christine had been crushing on Craig for years.

Mitch shook his head, breaking out of his daze and realizing what was going on.

“This is the table of unrequited love,” he said.

All eyes turned on him and it was Tim who spoke up first.

“What did you say Mitch?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Never mind.” Mitch said, finding interest in the floor.

“The table of unrequited love.” Tim repeated leaning back in his chair and staring at the others around the table.

“No, you’re actually spot on aren’t you Mitch.” Tim said, his tone was harsh.

“We’re all attracted to Christine, who’s into Craig. Craig is in love with himself, and nobody likes you if your name starts with M.” he said.

Christine shrugged and nodded.

Mel and Mitch went bright red, Craig mumbled something under his breath.

“What’s that Craig? We can’t hear you?” Tim said rudely, leaning over the table towards him with animosity.

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Craig looked up at him from his notebook, tears in his eyes. He clenched his jaw and looked to the side. He took a deep breath then stared intensely back at Tim.

“I'm actually in love with someone at this table, Tim.” Craig said angrily.

Tim guffawed, and looked between Mel and Christine then narrowed his eyes at Craig.

“You haven’t shown a shred of interest in either of these girls. Christine has been trying to date you for 18 months. Don’t tell me now that you’re suddenly into her.” Tim spat.

“I didn’t say it was a girl.” Craig said through gritted teeth.

The table went silent. Several jaws dropped. The most popular guy in the grade had just declared his love for either Mitch - The entire table stared at Mitch for a brief second - or Tim.

Everyone's gaze settled on Tim and he looked at Mitch again and then down at his own notebook. He looked up at Craig with a hurt expression.

“Really. You’re going to say that after you let them call me the ‘Ag Fag’.” he said, and this time the sting was gone from his voice. He just sounded stung.

Craig opened his mouth and then closed it, looking down again.

“Grow a pair dude.” Tim said quietly and folded his arms, resuming his glaring session.

The standoff resumed and after five more awkward minutes it was Mel and Christine who broke the silence.

“OK let’s get this over with.” Christine said.

“Why don’t we all ask Mitch what his favorite book is and Mitch you ask one of us?” Mel suggested.

Mitch nodded.

“Ah, my favorite book is Red Rising by Pierce Brown and Mel. I'd love to know what yours is.” Mitch said.

Mel informed him that her favorite book was Jade City, which drew an appreciative nod from Mitch.

“Fonda Lee. Great book.” Mitch said as he wrote down the answer.

“Christine, what is your favorite place in the world?” Mel asked her.

Christine considered for a moment “Definitely Dymocks.” she answered.

“You like to read?” Mitch asked with a hopeful look on his face.

“Yeah I love romance.” Christine answered and Mitch looked disappointed.

“Mel what’s yours?” Christine asked her.

“My grandpa’s farm.” she answered and this time Tim’s head snapped up.

“What sort of farm?” he asked.

“Dairy.” Mel said back with a smile.

“Cool.” Tim said with a return smile.

“Well… who’s your biggest mentor?” Mel asked him nervously.

Tim was a notoriously hard nut to crack. He took his time thinking of a response, forcing the group to wait. When he was ready he spoke only to Mel, looking her in the eye.

“My biggest mentor in life is my mama. She’s the toughest, kindest, smartest person I’ve ever met. Her dad… my grandfather… was a heavy handed guy. Big drinker. This one time he hits my ma and my dad goes and gets his rifle. She ends up standing in between her husband and her father who was also armed and somehow everyone leaves alive. That woman could survive a nuke. She could talk the middle east into peace. She’s my goddamn hero.” he said.

Everyone at the table looked at him with sympathy and he couldn’t stand it.

“Anyways, who's your biggest mentor Mel?” he asked her earnestly.

“That would be my Grandpa, he taught me everything I know about animals and the land. Classic stoic farmer. Dry humor, hard worker.” she answered.

“Which leaves the weird selfish question. Who’s got something for this?” Mitch asked the table.

“It’s ok to be selfish when you’re the only person taking care of yourself.” Christine said.

This drew glances from all at the table except for Mel who reached out a hand and took Christine’s.

“You’re goddamn right it is.” Mel said.

“It’s also ok to be selfish when you’re trying to protect… a secret.” Tim said, giving Craig a nod.

Craig looked like a scolded puppy who’d been told he could come back inside.

“Thanks Tim,” he said.

Phones started beeping around the classroom and the students were startled to see that they all had the same message, a line of code from an unknown sender.

/Initiate_HIT.exe

Brilliant white light flooded Mitch’s vision and as he blinked it away he could feel that he was lying down on grass. He realized he was staring at the sky. He smelled the earth and felt something tight around his neck. A necklace?

He sat up and pawed at his neck feeling a collar and realizing he was wearing a priest outfit. He tugged the clerical collar attempting to pull it off but it must have been sown into the fabric. With a sigh he stood and looked around. At least he seemed to be alone.

He was on a path in a dense forest, this made no sense? After five minutes of walking he saw an opening. He stepped out from the dense brush to find a clearing with cobbled stone. In the center was a large glowing blue crystal that was guarded by two huge statues of mighty warriors that had blue ribbon ordaining them.

As he walked towards the glowing structure, familiarity tickled the back of his brain with a light feather. He was sure he knew what this was. He looked out across the field and saw four other figures walking mesmerized towards the structure.

It was Mel, Christine, Tim and Craig and they made him glad he was only dressed as a priest. In his opinion they looked ridiculous.

Christine was dressed like a dark bride, complete with a veil. Her dress dragged along the ground behind her and it rippled in the light like it was made of shadow.

Mel walked next to her dressed like an Amazonian with knee high boots, a short skirt and gold plated armor on her chest, shoulders and forearms.

Tim looked like a bad Indiana Jones cosplay, complete with the hat and khaki. Instead of a whip however he had a rifle strapped to his back. In Mitch’s opinion his pants were too tight.

Craig was dressed in a light chainmail shirt with brown britches and his long hair had been done up in the Viking braided style. Mitch begrudgingly admitted to himself that he looked pretty good. Craig was also carrying a long spear.

Tim and Mel burst out laughing when they saw Mitch, Christine stifled a giggle.

Craig just raised an eyebrow.

Mitch raised his hands and spun on the spot “Alright, take it in. Yes I am your friendly neighborhood altar boy.” he said.

“Now I don’t feel so bad about the khaki.” Tim said, causing Mel to lose it slightly. Which Mitch felt was an overreaction.

“Guys, what the hell is this?” Christine asked, pointing at the crystal.

“I think.. I think it’s a nexus.” Craig answered.

“Come again?” Tim said.

“A nexus, like in League of Legends.” Mitch answered.

“Again, speak English.” Tim said.

“It’s our base. It’s going to spawn minions and when the enemy kills them they’ll get gold and experience.” Mel said.

“What? Base? What enemy? I’m so confused. Where are we?” Tim said.

“That’s because you’re the only one of us without an internet connection. I’m pretty sure even Christine plays. Right?” Mel said and Christine nodded.

“I’m an Ahri main.” Christine said cheerfully.

Tim sat down on the cobbled ground and held his hat in his hands. He liked to think of himself as a practical person but this was the most unprepared he’d ever felt in his life. He could ride any animal. He could shoot any weapon. He could survive off the land and navigate by the stars and sun. Right now whilst his classmates looked like they were excited to be waking up in some sort of video game reality he was losing his mind.

“Tim, what's that number next to your head?” Craig asked him.

Tim started swatting the air around him.

“I think that’s his level!” Mel exclaimed, she looked thrilled and leaned in closer, before jumping back.

“Wow and you can see his class if you get in close!” she exclaimed.

Mitch leant in and class information popped up above Tim’s head.

Level 1: Specialist

“Oh, do me. Do me.” Christine asked and Mel took a step into her personal space.

Level 1: Mage

They quickly discovered the rest of their classes.

Mel was a Tank, Mitch an Enchanter and Craig was a Marksman which made Tim scoff.

“If you’re a marksman then why did I get given a gun while you have a spear?” Tim grumbled.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this.” Craig said, holding the spear away from his body like it smelled.

“So what do we do nerds? Explain this game to me.” Tim asked the group.

Christine walked up to Tim, close enough for him to shy back as she defiantly jutted her jaw in his direction, which was up.

“Get good, noob.” she said and walked back over to Mel looking proud of herself.

Tim sighed and regathered himself.

“Yeah, really helpful Christine, but how does this thing work?” he asked.

“You kill monsters and earn gold to buy items that grant stat points. You also gain experience which can give you access to new abilities. When a team is strong enough, they can try to destroy the enemy base.” Craig explained.

“You’re all nuts.. Acting like this is normal. We were just in the homeroom!” Tim exclaimed.

“You’re right Tim. I understand where you're coming from. Have you heard of Isekai?” Mitch asked.

“Remember the time I made you watch Sword Art Online?” Craig asked him.

Tim stared dully for a moment and then it was like a lightbulb went off behind his eyes.

“Oh so wait, you think our physical bodies are ok but we’ve somehow been put inside a game?” he asked.

“Well no. We have no way to know if this is real or a game. In Sword Art Online remember if they die in the game they die in reality?” Craig said.

“Oh shit. So we need to play the game and get strong. I’m sorry, I just felt like I was the only one freaking out.” Tim said.

“We’re all freaking out, right guys?” Mitch asked the group.

Mel and Christine looked at each other and shrugged.

“We both think this is amazing.” Mel said.

The boys sighed and Tim gave Mitch an appreciative nod. He was glad someone cared enough to at least try and explain the situation to him. The guy was just naturally supportive. Tim hadn’t ever given him much of a chance but he was rethinking that now.

“So how much time do we have to get strong?” Tim asked and nobody answered at first.

It was Mitch again who spoke up.

“That’s actually a good question Tim. As much as we recognize the game environment there’s no way to tell how much time the game will take. Usually by now we’d have nearly finished a game so I think things have changed. We should be careful.” Mitch said.

The rest of the group nodded their agreement and they decided to stay together and venture out into the jungle to start farming.

“You’re kidding me, that's what you call it?” Tim asked them like what they had said was blasphemous.

Before anyone could respond a notification flashed across the sky.

WELCOME to The Battle Royale! Minions will spawn soon.

180:00

The numbers started counting down.

179:59

“Three hours until minions spawn? This game is going to go for days.” Mitch groaned.

“Hmm, more like one or two days I think.” Mel said.

The group ventured deep into the thick jungle, sticking to the garden path. They encountered some Level 1 Scuttlebugs and quickly smashed them for a small amount of experience. When they got a kill or an assist, a small blue meter flashed at the top of their screen. The bugs didn’t move the meter far. Tim was very enthusiastic and cheered the first time his meter increased.

Ten Scuttlebugs later they came across two large tree stumps propping up a large red glowing sphere. It was entwined with roots and branches to keep it in place. Tim walked up to it and rested one of his feet on the stumps.

“What do you guys think this is?” he asked casually.

Christine’s eyes went wide and she put her hands out to show Tim the universal signal for ‘STOP’

“Tim, you're standing on a monster called a Brambleback. Get your foot off it and get behind Mel.” she urged.

Tim narrowed his eyes at her skeptically but withdrew his foot. The second he broke contact with the bark the two tree stumps were wrenched violently from the Earth causing Tim to stumble back to the group and hide behind Mel.

It was a large Ent like creature, it stood on two legs and raised the two stumps as it’s huge forearms. The red glowing sphere now looked like a brain. It smashed down at Mel and she crossed her forearms and took the blow on her bracers.

A health bar popped up above her head and showed that the hit had taken about a tenth of her HP.

Acting on pure instinct whilst hiding behind her, Mitch reached out with a glowing hand and touched Mel, her HP climbed back up to full.

“Oh I’m a healer!” he said with surprise.

Tim unshouldered his rifle and peeked out from behind Mel, shooting at the Brambleback to little effect. Its health bar barely moved and despite looking like a lever action 30/30 this rifle was clearly shooting a much smaller bullet. Tim guessed it was only a .22. He looked at the rifle in disgust.

“We need to go together, everyone attack at once!” Craig called out and the group tried to engage together.

Mel ran into range of its forearms and this time caught the creature as it struck out at her, holding it off balance and displaying remarkable strength, far surpassing a normal human.

Craig ran in front of her and thrust his spear up into the red sphere, causing the Brambleback’s health to drop by almost a quarter.

Christine whipped her hand forward and tried to cast a spell. Nothing happened. She spun on the spot, stomping her foot in frustration and her dress whipped up around her creating a protective shell.

“Oh, looks like I haven’t got any offense yet. Sorry guys.” She said,

Craig and Mel did almost all of the work, with Mitch jumping in to perform his minor healing spell multiple times. He definitely needed to physically touch his allies to heal them. Luckily his small stature made it easy for him to keep nimble and treat it like a dangerous game of tag.

Tim kept shooting from a distance but it was obvious his bullets were ineffective against the monster.

As a group they eventually took the Brambleback down, Craig and Mel’s exp bars filled up completely and they jumped to lvl 2. It was subtle, but the rest of the group thought that both of them had also grown in size with the level up. Mel more so than Craig. She now had bulging triceps on each arm that definitely weren’t there a minute ago.

155:43

“We’ve still got plenty of time left.” Mitch said.

“I think we should all try to get to level 3 before we even think about going to a lane.” Craig said.

“Agreed. Let’s go hunt some more monsters in the jungle.” Mel said.

They didn’t need to worry about finding more monsters however, as at just that moment they were discovered by the second jungle camp - Wolves.

These weren’t typical wolves. They were much bigger and smarter. The group found this out the hard way, being ambushed and having two of the wolves dive for Christine.

She was unable to cast her protective shell quick enough and one of the wolves took her to the ground by her throat.