“Hey, Seth,” he heard as he went through the door, and almost choked on his Coke. Jullia? Here? Wating for him? And still looking just as cute. Hair up in a scrunch, dark blue loose sweatshirt, and, he supposed, shorts… which couldn’t be seen under the sweatshirt.
“Jullia!” he said, coming forward and awkwardly sort of hugging her. She stept quickly to turn it into a side hug. Right. She wasn’t ready for front hugs. He would remember that. But she was firm enough with the side hug, and had her hand around his waist, so that was good.
“I saw you lot coming in and thought I would meet the rest of the team,” she said, taking his arm and making him glow. “And besides, they have good snacks here! I love these Kolaches and this raspberry tea.”
The others were looking at him, staring at him, really, so he said, “This is Miss Jullia Brown, and she lives across the street. We met the other day. She’s going to be babysitting the Madison kids.”
“I already have once!” she said. “Are you going to stop by and do some more workout with my brother? And bring your friends?”
“Umm, do you think Justice would mind?”
“What? No! You heard him say you could come by any time. And bring your teammates!”
“Oh, umm, Ok. Do you two want to come?”
Susan looked a bit shy, but George thought a second. “Sure, why not. What kind of workout?”
“Oh, they have simply everything. What role do you play on the team?”
“I’m the tank and sword,” George said.
“I’m the healer,” Susan said.
“So I’m sure my father can figure out what muscle groups you need,” Jullia said to George. “And as for you, probably just a lot of work on the treadmill. Learning to run away?”
“And dodge,” George said.
“Ah. I think jumping rope would be good for that, no?”
“Umm, maybe?” Susan said.
“What do you wear in the game?” Jullia asked Susan.
“I’ll be wearing a long robe,” Susan said.
“Ah! Well, I have robe you can borrow. Like a bathrobe, not something fancy. That will get you used to the skirt flapping around your ankles.”
“Umm, Ok.”
They got to the house and Seth led George off to the gymn, while Jullia took Sue off to her room. “Hey, Justice, stupid of me not to bring them. Could I borrow some shorts again? And do you have any that might fit my friend?”
“Sure,” Justice said, putting down the weight he was lifting. “Come on.”
A few minutes later the boys walked back to the gymn, where they saw Susan, looking rather shy, being introduced to the treadmill. “I’ll give you a real variety,” Jullia was saying. “And I’ll run next to you with the same thing.”
Not that they would look the same, since Jullia was in shorts and a sweatshirt. An odd combination, especially as the sweatshirt was pretty baggy.
“Ok, Seth, you get started on the bag,” Mr Brown said. “And George, you’re going to start off with this machine. I’ve got a couple of excercises that will be good for someone that will be good for someone swinging a sword all day.
Unfortunately Seth’s bag was facing the wrong direction, so he spend the next half an hour only getting the occasional glimpse of the girls as they ran, and only a little bit more of George as he pulled on one rope after another.
“Ok, now, boys, let’s get you going with pullups. I’m sure there are times when you will have to climb in the game, and pullups are a good start for that.”
Seth wondered how much of his own muscles he would need to play the game. Didn’t the suit and your attributes do it all for you? But Jullia had turned around and was running backwards (Sue was going very slowly) and was watching him (which he felt good about, all covered in sweat and with his muscles burning) so he went eagerly enough over to the pullup bar.
“Well, we’re going to have to work on that!” Mr Brown said, after Seth managed to do three pullups and George didn’t manage to do any. “Get down and show me some pushups.”
Seth, being lighter, thought he would have the advantage there, as well, but George outdid him something awful, doing twenty straight out without even resting!
“I have to go,” George said, a few minutes later. “This has been great.”
“Come by any time,” Justice said, taking him by the shoulders and leading him out. “Seriously and not kidding or just being polite…”
The voices faded off down the hallway and Seth kept watching Julia. How had she ended up liking him?
“Hey, guys!” Seth heard, and turned to see a short man walking in to the gymn.
“Adam, how’s it going?” Justice asked, as Adam sat on the bench and started stripping off his track suit. Good grief! The guy was short and with the track suit on had just looked skinny and short. But with it off, wearing only a skimpy pair of shorts, he was ripped.
“It’s going!” Adam said, going over to a treadmill and, with a couple of quick taps on controls, was running flat out. Seth turned back to his own lifting, feeling a lot more out of shape than he had a minute ago. Who was this guy? With guys like him around, why would Julia even give him a second look?
He snuck another glance. The guy was running flat out! Faster than his scout character could even run in the game!
He suddenly felt a hand slapping him… he blushed… had Sue seen Julia slap him like that? “You staying for dinner, cuteness? Mother is making steaks with baked potatoes. Sue says she can stay.”
“I’d love to,” he husked out, the guy on the treadmill utterly forgotten.
“Good,” she whispered back. “I’m off to my room to study, come by when you’re done.”
“Ok,” he said, and then watched her go. And faced one of the most horrible decisions he had ever faced… when would he be ‘done’? If he left right away she would think he was lazy, or weak. If he waited to long…
“Yo, Seth, come over here,” Justice said. “I told Adam the other day that you were doing knife work in the game, and he’s an expert at it. Let him teach you some tricks.’
Seth was not stupid. It might be that learning knife work IRL would not help his game character. But it wouldn’t hurt and… who didn’t want to learn knife work??
Party System
A famous gaming producer offers four teenagers fame, fortune, and skill training through an elite gaming team. It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Seth gets the beautiful girl. Frank becomes the leader. George develops strength and discipline. Sue gets to hang around with boys, including one she secretly loves.
But as they train with real weapons, compete in tournaments, and execute increasingly dangerous in-game missions, the line between gameplay and operational reality blurs. Their genuine skills make them genuinely valuable. Their market value makes them genuinely endangered. And when rival organizations begin hunting them—both in the game and in the real world—the teenagers discover they’ve already passed the point of escape.
In a world where a legitimate game conceals criminal enterprise, and adolescent ambition meets organized crime, four teenagers must confront the reality of their situation: they aren’t just playing a game.
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Von