“-and don’t forget, the assignment is due Monday. Enjoy your weekend!”

I rolled my eyes as I leaned back into my seat, watching as everyone scampered out of the class before the teacher had even gotten his last word out. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Normally, everyone would hang around, filling the classroom with endless noise as gossip filled the air. But today was different. The only reason anyone cared about the weekend wasn’t sleep, or freedom. 

It was the launch. SageTech’s greatest creation.

“You sit there, acting all nonchalant, but we both know you’re itching to fly out the window.”

I looked behind me, recognizing the voice immediately. A petite girl, barely five foot five, stood over her table, staring me down with mischievous blue eyes.

“I’m surprised you haven’t jumped through yourself,” I replied playfully, swivelling my seat around. “You guys would need a head start anyway.”

“Haha.” She walked over to me, sitting on top of my desk. “We’ll see who really needs one once Alex gets here.”

“Ohhh, I’m so scared,” I mocked, poking her. Flashing her a cocky grin, I stood up to meet her eye level. “We both know I’m the better gamer, Jaqueline.”

Jack punched me in the gut, making me double over immediately. I dropped back to my seat, wheezing as she looked down at me with a triumphant smile on her face.

“Told you not to call me that, Danny.” She ruffled my short, dark hair. “Now be a good boy and say sorry.”

“I’m... sorry,” I forced out, my head on the desk. “You didn’t have to hit-”

“That’ll teach ya.” She ruffled my hair again. “Oh, look who’s finally decided to show up.”

Looking up, I saw Alex standing in the doorway. Tall, pale, with blonde hair stopped short at his ears and dull grey eyes that almost always looked bored. He looked down at me gasping for air and let a small smile escape his lips.

“Yeah, well, our teacher kept us back again. I swear he waits for the bell just to dump homework on us.” He strolled over, mildly amused. “So, what’d he do to you this time?”

Jack sniggered. “Does Daniel have to do anything before I torture him?”

“Fair enough.” Alex stopped in front of us; a stupid smile plastered on his face.

“I hate both of you,” I grumbled, finally sitting up. I grabbed my bag from under my desk and stood up, slinging it over my shoulder in one motion.

As much as I enjoyed messing around with them, I wanted nothing more than to run home. SageTech had been dangling this game in front of us like a carrot for over a year now, promising a world that felt real enough to touch. We’d been counting down for months, scraping together every allowance just to make sure we had it on launch. After all that waiting, after all that saving, the idea that other players were already in there while we were stuck at school made my skin crawl.

“Awww, is Danny going to cwy?” Jack pouted, grabbing my arm. “I’m sowwy Danny.”

Alex chuckled softly and shook his head. “You sound just like him now.”

Jack broke out laughing, letting go of my arm.

“Real mature you two,” I said, unable to hide the smile creeping across my face. “Can we go now?”

I did my best to conceal my excitement, not wanting to prove Jack right. I knew both her and Alex were just as eager as I was to get home.

Jack wiped a tear off her eye, hopping off the table as she did so. “Yeah yeah. Time to kick ass.”

Alex turned and headed out the door, with me and Jack close behind. The hallway was nearly empty, barely five students still standing by their lockers, arranging their books or looking through for whatever. We walked by them, Alex and Jack still laughing to themselves, and exited the school building.

As we walked down the road, the laughter finally subsided, the duo finally ready to use their words again.

“Oh man, I really hope SageTech didn’t screw up,” Jack said, looking down at her phone. “No one’s posting anything, so that must be a good sign.”

 Alex and I pulled out our phones from our pockets and went straight to the popular social media app we all used, Chirp. Usually, my timeline was flooded with game updates and football discussions. But asides from the public announcement of the newest SageTech game being released today, there was practically nobody chirping anything.

“Everyone’s in the game while you two were laughing my ear off. Great work guys.” I slipped my phone back into my pocket, feigning sadness.

Jack shoulder bumped me, her long brown hair whipping the side of my face. “Oh, cheer up. Even if they had a day ahead of us, we’d still climb over all of them.”

“She’s right,” Alex said, his eyes still fixed on his phone screen. “We’ve sacrificed our social lives and mental health for games. It’s finally about to pay off.”

“Your stupid hair is why you have no friends Alex, not your obsession with games,” Jack snorted.

 “You don’t need stupid hair to keep people away from you,” Alex said, without looking up from his phone.

Jack’s face contorted. “Who says people stay away from me?”

“You didn’t notice?” Alex taunted.

“Will you both just shut up?” I moaned. That proved to be a huge mistake.

Jack turned to me, wearing her mocking, pouty face once more.

“Is libble Danny gonna cwy again?”

I glared at her, opening my mouth, but Alex beat me to it.

“Don’t encourage him. If he floods the street, we won’t be able to go anywhere.”

Jack burst out laughing, nearly doubling over, while Alex just slid his phone back into his pocket with a faint smirk.

“See?” he said flatly. “So please leave him be.”

A grin cracked across my face despite the barrage I had just had to endure.

“My bad, my bad. I just want to get in quick. It’s all I could think about all day.”

“I knew it,” Jack said, a hint of triumph in her voice.

I cussed under my breath, realizing my mistake. But it was too late now.

“Both of you stayed up all night talking about it and suddenly you were trying to pull that stupid nonchalant act. Please. I know you better than that.”

“Yeah, well what did you expect,” I said, brushing her off. “Don’t act like you’re not as excited as I am.”

Jack scoffed. “Of course, I am. Even more so with the radio silence everywhere. I can only imagine the game is as good as they said it would be.”

“As long as both of you haul your asses to my house as fast as possible, we can get to it quickly.” Alex turned off his phone, sliding his hands into his pocket. “I did all the chores I needed to do last night. My parents don’t have any reason to bother us.”

 “Knowing you, that dumb dye probably blocked something important out of your thick skull,” Jack teased.

Alex growled, reaching out to her, but she skipped out of the way, sticking her tongue out. Sighing, Alex raised his hands like he was about to strangle her with his mind. He sped up slightly, trying to catch up to her subtly.

Jack giggled hysterically as she ran out of his reach, occasionally looking back to stick out her tongue to mock him even more.

A small smile tugged at my lips as I trailed behind, watching the duo clown around. Watching these two idiots always reminded me why we made a name for ourselves. Together, we just worked. We clicked, no matter what.

That was always the way with us too. In MineMake, CastleNite, Gacha Impact, it didn’t matter the game, we always clawed our way to the top. We weren’t just good alone, but better together. Top hundred. Top thirty. Top ten sometimes. Our names always stuck.

Ascension wasn’t going to be any different.

Too bad there was no one around to see Jack and Alex fool around. The neighbourhood was dead quiet, like the whole world had already dived headfirst into Ascension. The silence gave me chills, but it didn’t really surprise me. Everyone wanted a head start.

Smiling to myself, I broke into a jog, chasing after the two of them. In just a few hours, we’d finally be inside the new world. Ready to take it by storm all over again.