The week passed by fast. School, student council duties, and tennis practice kept Stella busy. Exam season slowly crept up on them as well, which cranked up Stella’s stress levels. She had her tennis tournament in two months, and there was still much to do for the lounge. Workers installed a new floor to the lounge, and Stella received the principal’s approval on the couches her mother wanted to donate. They had arranged a delivery, and now the couches were sitting in the otherwise empty room waiting for the other furniture to arrive soon. Stella itched to go shopping. She wanted to cross one thing out of her to-do list.

Stella tossed her physics book off the bed in frustrated huff and rubbed her face. She had spent all her time after coming home trying to understand the latest chapters, but whenever it came to the calculations, her brain blanked. She understood math, so why was this hard? She needed a good score from the test. It’d be embarrassing if she didn’t.

Stella knew she wouldn’t have any luck with cracking the concepts of electricity or conductivity that day. She took a deep breath, stretched her hands over her head and walked to her computer. She’d destress with Argent Night and then head to bed, so she’d be refreshed for the shopping trip tomorrow. It was a shame Justin couldn’t come with her. It was always more fun with him, but Justin’s father had decided they would be having lunch with a colleague’s family. There was no way of getting out of that.

The past few days Stella had only logged in the game to collect the daily rewards. She hadn’t talked with GeminiWarrior either, and she noticed her eyes immediately wandering to the list of friends. The gray dot next to GeminiWarrior’s name blinked green, and Stella’s heart jumped a bit.

[Spica]: Hi

The message was sent faster than she could process. It was like her fingers moved on their own.

[GeminiWarrior]: Hi! I haven’t seen you in a while

[Spica]: Yeah, it’s been a bit. 

[Spica]: I’ve been busy with life, kinda. Or making myself busy. Exams are coming soon.

[GeminiWarrior]: Oh, same here. I should probably look at the books some time

[Spica]: That makes it sound like you haven’t even opened your books.

[GeminiWarrior]: Lol, don’t worry. I have opened them

[Spica]: Have you read the words inside?

[GeminiWarrior]: Some

[Spica]: ….

[GeminiWarrior]: I just don’t like reading. Too many words and not enough pictures

[Spica]: Have you tried watching videos? A bunch of them go through the same stuff school books do.

Maybe she should take her own advice and watch some physics for dummies videos.

[GeminiWarrior]: I’ll be fine. It’s not a big deal

[Spica]: If you say so.

It was none of Stella’s business how someone studied or didn’t study for an exam, but it felt unbelievable anyone would have such a casual approach. 

[GeminiWarrior]: But anyway. Do you want to play? We could grind for the event

[Spica]: Sure.

Argent Night had a new event, avian invasion, where flocks of bird-like monsters tried to take over the continent. The game set the players goals for destroying enemies, and if they reached those goals, they would receive varying rewards. Stella had only reached the first goal of 100 ko’s. She’d need 10,000 for the main goal which was birdian armor. It’d look sick on her character.

[GeminiWarrior]: I know a good spawn spot, so you can follow me

Stella followed GeminiWarrior’s character to the forest. Usually it was full of different animals and smaller monsters, but now the forest was eerily quiet.

[GeminiWarrior]: The birds have scared all other creatures away

[Spica]: Scary. But also a pretty cool detail.

[GeminiWarrior]: Btw do you have a Clinker account?

[Spica]: What’s that? Sounds like a dating app?

[GeminiWarrior]: Oh, no it’s not a dating app. It’s a chat thing where you can message and call people

[GeminiWarrior]: I was just thinking since it’d be easier to talk on a call while playing

[GeminiWarrior]: since we don’t need to stop to type in the chat

Nerves twisted Stella’s stomach. Voice chat? Her heart started beating faster. Gemini knew she was a girl, so it probably wouldn’t be bad. No harassment or bullying. Still she felt uncomfortable. Did she want a stranger to hear her voice?

[Spica]: I don’t have it.

[GeminiWarrior]: That’s fine. I just thought to ask since it’s pretty popular.

[Spica]: And I’m so well known for having knowledge about popular things.

[GeminiWarrior]: Lmao

[GeminiWarrior]: True

[GeminiWarrior]: Misjudgement on my part. I’ll remember in the future

[Spica]: Wow. Meanie :<

[GeminiWarrior]: Lol

[GeminiWarrior]: Maybe it’s better that I shut up before you get sick of me

[Spica]: I doubt that’d happen.

GeminiWarrior didn’t want to risk his chances and headed towards a bird-warriors camp. Stella’s character followed close behind and together they cleaved through dozens of enemies. Somewhere a horn sounded, calling for reinforcements.

Quickly Stella started to wish she had more spells that targeted several enemies at once. The swarm they had to deal with would be easily deleted if she had a proper area of effect lighting spell she knew some mages possessed. But alas, she had chosen to be a battlemage and would have to use her fists and a handful of weaker spells. 

Raiding the bird camp was harder than expected. Or, it wouldn’t have been if the two of them had stopped to think how smart it would be to attack over fifty armed and angry bird people without any help.

Stella couldn’t even message Gemini to plan a strategy, because if she stopped fighting, she’d get clapped by the enemy and would be sent back to the nearest respawn before she could finish her message. All she could do was attack, heal and cast stat boosting spells in hopes they helped.

Stella was starting to consider just running away, when another party of characters crashed through the bushes. The group had an archer, a mage, two warriors and a healer. They dashed right into the battle. It was usually considered rude to join in on other people’s fights without permission, but this time Stella welcomed the help of the newcomers with a quick heart emoji above her head.

Together they managed to clean out the camp much faster and without any casualties. After the last enemies were cleared out, everyone showed smiley faces and thumbs up emojis to each other, before the bigger party headed off, probably to find the next camp. Stella was exhausted. That intense fight had wrung her dry. Her brain felt like a lemon squeezed out of all the juice.

At least she could chat with GeminiWarrior now.

[Spica]: Well that was an experience.

[GeminiWarrior]: Yeah it got a bit more intense than I expected

[Spica]: Luckily we got some help.

[Spica]: Did you know any of them?

[GeminiWarrior]: I recognized a few names. We might’ve raided together a couple of times, but they aren’t my friends

[Spica]: That fight tired me out. I have to go to bed soon, so I won’t be dead tomorrow.

[GeminiWarrior]: Do you have plans?

[Spica]: Yeah, I’m going shopping. I was gonna go last week, but my aunt came to visit, so I had to stay home

[GeminiWarrior]: Oh okay

[Spica]: Do you have any plans?

[GeminiWarrior]: Not really. Maybe I’ll go check some shops too in case there’s game sales

[GeminiWarrior]: I’ve played all the ones I have at least three times

[Spica]: Sounds like it’s time for a new game then.

[Spica]: I wish I could give suggestions.

[GeminiWarrior]: I’m sure I’ll find something. I have a few ideas already

[Spica]: I saw some game ads the other day, and they look so cool.

[Spica]: I’d love to try them, but I don’t have any of the consoles.

[GeminiWarrior]: That sucks :< Maybe you could ask one as a present if you can’t buy one

[Spica]: Maybe. My parents don’t care about games though.

[Spica]: But I’ll survive. I have this game at least.

[GeminiWarrior]: True. And there’s plenty of games for pc too.

[GeminiWarrior]: Or do you have any friends who’d have games?

[Spica]: No. His parents care about them even less than mine.

[GeminiWarrior]: Rough

[GeminiWarrior]: But I can be your gaming buddy :)

[Spica]: I’ll keep that in mind :)

[Spica]: But I really have to go now.

[Spica]: Good night :)

[GeminiWarrior]: Good night :)

Stella logged off the website and rubbed her eyes. She wondered if it’d be a good idea to try some bedtime stretching to relax and have time away from screens before bed. But there was a high chance she’d doze off, so she decided to skip it. She could sleep a bit later in the morning. After brushing her teeth and moving Mila from her pillow, Stella burrowed under the covers. Just thinking about the next day made her excited. She’d have an amazing day.