“Oh yeah? What’s the sister’s story, CrossBow?” 88Rising asked. CrossBow was Crosby’s handle.

“She’s always going on about women’s rights, and how women are oppressed, and junk like that.”

“Oh yeah, that type,” 88Rising said dismissively.

“So during dinner I mentioned eSports,” Crosby said. “I mean, I was just making conversation, you know? But Mary instantly goes off. Like how can my girlfriend sit by while I play video games? Doesn’t she know gamers are all anti-women? Hasn’t she ever heard of Gamergate?”

“Gamer what?” 88Rising said.

“I didn’t know what it was, either,” Crosby said. “So I looked it up. It was this thing that happened years ago where some jerks got into a fight with a couple of female developers. It blew up because these guys called in fake terrorist threats on the women, and the police raided their houses.”

“They swatted them?” 88Rising asked.

“Yup,” Crosby said. “So some people started to think that male gamers were weirdos who spent most of their time attacking women.”

“That’s lame, bro,” 88Rising said.

“Right!” Crosby agreed. “But does my girlfriend defend me? No! She stares at me like, is that true? And I’m like, no way. And Mary goes, just wait. She tells my girlfriend that the longer I’m in that ‘misogynistic gaming culture’ the more chance there is that I’ll end up being a hard-core woman-hater.”

Those were the exact words his aunt Mary had used.

“Misogy…what?” 88Rising asked.

“Yeah, right?” Crosby chuckled. That’s what he liked about 88Rising. He didn’t pretend to be a brainiac. He just wanted to play games and have fun. “So, the next thing I know, my girlfriend’s saying maybe I shouldn’t be gaming so much. Can you believe that?”

That was actually what Crosby’s mother had said.

“Hell yeah,” 88Rising said. “Welcome to the real world, CrossBow. Women, immigrants, minorities…they all want to blame white males for everything that’s wrong in their lives.”

By now it was after midnight, and Crosby was wiped. He’d played nearly five hours of TGW, and his wrists were beginning to ache. He told 88Rising he was getting off and would be back tomorrow. 88Rising always signed off with RaHoWa 14/88, whatever that meant.

Crosby crawled into bed. Even though his eyelids felt heavy, he found himself thinking about what had happened that day in geometry. Could Gavin really be the one who ratted on me? It killed Crosby to think that. He wanted Gavin to be his friend. He needed Gavin to be his friend. But if Gavin hadn’t told Ms. B about his plan to cheat, how had she known? Who else could have told her?

Crosby fell asleep pondering that mystery. Nearly four hours later, in the middle of the night, he suddenly woke. The answer had come to him.

MATCH TALLY

GAVIN’S SQUAD: 3

EMMA’S SQUAD: 0

They were in tight quarters in TGW. As Emma crept past the gray concrete walls of the bunker, she could sense a shoot-out looming.