“The internet’s out all the time, Pres.”

She clicked the icon. It didn’t try for more than a second before returning the ‘fail’ result.

“It’s really out.”

“They’ll fix it. They’ve been good about it. Maybe you can focus on better things.”

“Soccer’s only twice a week, and we can’t practice outside.”

“What about afternoon classes?” her mom asked, archly. “Cleaning up?”

A finger moved around the room. The house was the kind that had come in pieces that all slotted together. Presley was offended that her mother pointed at the cards she’d slotted into the seams where the upper half of her bedroom fit into the lower half. The top row was soccer cards, the lower row was superhero cards, and there was a very small section in the narrow space between wall and window on another wall of the room where she had hero league soccer cards. Nobody was interested in trading them, and everyone knew it was about as real as wrestling, but they were cheap and she could always grab a few packs if she had change left over.

Presley rolled her eyes as her mom’s finger pointed at the different messes, pointing at some twice.

“Go to sleep early,” her mom said, more gently. “Do you need a ride to the arena tomorrow?”

“I’d check what the weather is like if there was internet or a weather channel,” Presley said. She saw the face her mom made, and she smiled.

“Let me know. For now, go to sleep,” her mother said. She intruded into the room, approached Presley’s desk, and there wasn’t anything Presley could say about it, because the rule was that computer time was parents-could-enter-the-room-time. Her mother laid a hand on top her head, stroking hair that had been made a bit crispy by the bleach, and gave her a kiss goodnight, between two fingers on hair.

“Night Mom.”

Her mom pointed at the screen. There was a row of soccer cards displayed, with players standing behind them, stats displayed along the bottom. It was a good booster, too, but the ‘no connection’ sign was glaring red, and the way the soccer game worked, a purchase that failed partway through was a loss, to prevent scrubbing.

“I’m not spending any of my money on it. They give you five packs for free and I buy more with the currency I get from trading up.”

“Okay, okay. Be careful.”

“And I don’t really care about that—” even if it was a good pack, “—the team had something big going on, I think. I wanted to ask if they were okay.”