The game was loading around me and like the beach, the landscape was booting up first. I must have missed the explanation because as I stared, I saw snow, pine trees and two adorable wooden chalets appearing. Then the objective flashed before me.

MISSION 3: SELL 6 HOT CHOCOLATES WITH 4+ GOOD REVIEWS

That sounded like the easiest mission yet: it was very specific and asked for less drinks than before, but I saw the sneaky 4+ good reviews. I wondered what would happen to Speedy Sue if she kept averaging 3 stars. Would she get booted from the game?

3

The solid wood countertop loaded before me and I saw the green awning start to gain real-feel. Tina’s Place would look adorable among the snow, it matched the pine trees. I was caught up in staring at the beautiful location and missed the fact that the customers were already beginning to appear in the portal.

MISSION 3: GO!

The users could ski right up to the little chalet coffee stands and some of the small children were wearing snowshoes and snow boards. I knew it would be a long time before I saw snow again, so I tried to memorise the beautiful location before the first customers walked up to me. A father and child in matching yellow beanies smiled at me:

“Hi there! Welcome to Tina’s Place. How are YOU today?”

“It’s a cold one, but there’s great powder! Can I get two chocolates? What syrups do you have?”

BAM, I was in my element here- I can make amazing hot chocolate with my eyes closed!

“I can do vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon, mint, orange, caramel or for the grownups, a touch of chilli or coffee! We also have marshmallows!”

“Wow, what a variety! I’ll take a chili for me and a caramel for this one.”

“Coming right up!”

The nice man tapped his credit over and I beamed. I reached over to the bubbling hot milk and…

WOMP

A snowball exploded into the wall behind me. What. The. DUCK?!

The customer didn’t seem to see it, he was fiddling with the little boy's coat, so I glanced over his shoulder, bit my lip and KEPT GOING. Not today! One of my first memories is of me and mum making hot chocolate together. I am the unstoppable CHOCOLATE QUEEN!

My hands worked on their own stirring the cocoa powder, touch of sugar and the syrup with care to make the delicious drink flavoursome, but not overpowering. I was getting the man two napkins when…

WOMP

Mother DUCKER- where were they coming from? That one almost got me!

I handed them over smiling and immediately took the next order. I heard the boy say, “This is yummy!” I wanted to revel in his approval, but I had another two to make, the adorable pair of girls in matching pink beanies had matching snowsuits and both wanted cinnamon hot chocolate with double marshmallows. “Coming right up!”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

WOMP

It’s as if they were trying to hit my face! If I stood still for too long, I would be a sitting duck! But what could I do? Then as I looked past my line of customers (Oh my GOSH, I have a line!) I thought I saw a shadow hiding behind a tree. (Can’t stand still. Can’t get hit… can’t stand still… GOT IT!)

I started dancing! I swayed left and right making sure my head was never still. I even waved to the people in the line and although I worked a little more slowly- I would be harder to hit.

Some people in the line really seemed to get into Tina the Dancing Barista and the line seemed to move fast. I just kept making the hot chocolates and smiling and dancing, feeling my energy starting to slip. I didn’t even realise when I’d met the objective, because of the…

WINNER ROUND 3: TINA

WOMP- OUCH!

As the game was booting me out to the lobby, my face was stinging from the one snowball that actually hit me. I appeared in the lobby and immediately wobbled over, my head in my hands. It hit me hard right on my nose. The immersion technology felt so real, I had to check to see if I was bleeding. I won! I think I broke my face, but I won!

I stood on the podium, tenderly pressing my nose back into shape- it felt totally flat. Katie B came running up to me, yelling, “DINA! Well done! Your first win! What’s wrong?” She saw my face and squealed. “EWW, what happened? You’ll ruin the broadcast!”

I was dizzy, it had really hurt. I reached out for Katie and she steadied me and let me take her arm. She sat me down and forced water into my hands, then the security guard with the beard handed me a bag of ice with a look of concern.

“Feels pretty real, doesn’t it?” he said. I pressed the ice bag to my face and loved how cold it felt. “Oh DARLING, that’s nothing!” laughed Katie. “You should see the players in Gladiator Melee! I’ve seen them pass out, this is nothing!”

It didn’t feel like nothing to me. It was hard to enjoy my first victory with a mangled face. I heard a strange sound I hadn’t registered before and realised it was someone else finishing there round and appearing in the lobby. Katie B looked up and I could tell she didn’t care who it was… so it must have been Marcus.

He walked over and knelt down near me, looking up. “Far out T, are you ok?” he murmured. (It hurts. I want my mum. My nose hurts. I want to cry!) I just whispered, “I’ll be ok.”

“Well, good,” chimed Katie. “We have backers who want to see the winner! Do you think you can smile? Wait, can you cry?! They love a crier- I smell a ratings BOOST darling Dina!”

“Miss Bee, her name is Tina”, the guard corrected. I saw Marcus nod at her, like she didn’t believe it.

“Of COURSE it is, come on Tina. Time for your moment of fame! No, don't worry about the redness, it looks great on camera! Don’t wipe your nose, the snot is very convincing!” (Snot. Fantastic. Dancing Queen Tina is now Mucus Queen Tina.)

Katie and Marcus took an arm each and helped me over to the corner where some photos were to be taken. There were some people I’d never seen before behind a velvet rope and I realised they were Speedy Sue groupies, complete with t-shirts with her picture.

“Hey, it's Third Place. She must have won this round.”

Even THEY called me Third Place. I should charge admission for standing near me.

Katie took a series of photos where I had to wave and stand around in different poses. She was so busy doing her job, she didn’t immediately run to Speedy Sue when she appeared on the podium. But we ALL heard her.

“Um, hello? I’m here!”

The groupies started squealing and waving at her and Katie turned to capture her interacting with her fans. That sort of thing was really important, more than my mangled nose, I guess. But as I wobbled over to the couch to sit down, I snuck a look at the scoreboard:

TINA 3140 ★★★★★ MARCUS 2640 ★★★★ SPEEDY SUE 2575 ★★★

The numbers didn’t lie- I had the most stars and the highest points. Finally, I felt like I’d earned my spot in the game. Problem was… someone and their painful snowballs didn’t agree.