Crosby’s animosity seemed out of proportion, especially since, until today, his squad had won all their matches. The only other explanation for Crosby’s hostility was that somehow he had figured out that Caleb was one of the two people who’d told Ms. B about his plan to cheat on the geometry test. But how? The only person Caleb told was Ms. B. And she had no reason to tell Crosby, right?

Anyway, Caleb had to admit that it was no fun being the target of Crosby’s glares and sneers. Lately, every time Caleb saw Crosby, he felt tense and wary. It was hard for Caleb to imagine what it must have been like for Zach, who’d been going through that kind of torment from guys like Crosby for years.

But as he and Zach walked away from school, Caleb had other things on his mind. “That last round today?” he said. “The one we needed for the win? How’d you know Gavin’s squad was working their way back through the spawn?”

“After nearly forty rounds against those guys you kind of know the way they think,” Zach said.

“And when they came up the stairs at the end, you stepped out right in front of them,” Caleb said. “You knew they’d see you. You made yourself a target so they wouldn’t notice Nathan.”

“I was super low on HPs,” Zach said.

Caleb eyed Zach. “But how’d you know Nathan would get a triple kill?”

“I knew it was a possibility,” Zach said. “He had the bazooka as his alternate weapon.”

Caleb nearly stopped in his tracks. “You keep track of everyone’s full load out?”

Zach quietly nodded.

He knew Nathan had the necessary firepower for the triple kill, and he sacrificed himself to give him the shot, Caleb thought. That was definitely something a lot of other gamers wouldn’t do. Nathan would never sacrifice himself. He was too focused on racking up kills. Even more interesting to Caleb was that Zach seemed to know so much about what was going on in the game, and yet he went out of his way to hide his skills. It was like Zach became a different person during a match. Who could have guessed that there was this whole other side to him?

Just as he had every other time they walked home after a match, Zach stopped by the old stone wall and dropped his skateboard to the road. “See ya tomorrow,” he said to Caleb, and then pushed off. Caleb wondered why Zach never let him go farther than that spot. What else was he hiding?

“See?” Mrs. Crane said with a big “I’m so proud of you” smile after Nathan told her how he sealed the Allied win that afternoon with a rare triple kill. He also told her that he was the best gamer on the squad.

“Always knew all those hours playing video games would pay off,” Nathan teased.