It's been so long since I've updated this, so I decided to do a quick chapter to let you guys know I'm not abandoning it!

Also, I have dedicated this chapter to -fateless because they are one of the people who has been voting for almost all of my chapters and I want to express my thanks!

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It had been two days since Claire was chosen to be a Sloppie when the announcement for the next season of Glitchketball was made.

The Speedies came running into every single building of WGO screaming at the top of their lungs, 

"EACH DIVISION MUST SEND ITS TEN BEST PLAYERS, TWO GLITCHES AND EIGHT REGS!!! ITS GLITCHKETBALL TIME AGAIN!" 

I was shocked by their sheer numbers as they poured out of their area, clad in their typical running gear. Judging from their enthusiasm, Glitchketball was clearly a favorite activity of their division.

"You trying out for Team Codie this season?" My friend Vince asked, jogging up to me. 

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged, running a hand through my messy hair. 

"Me too," he smiled, high fiving me. "It's gonna be a great season, just like always," he gestured to the multitude of Glitchketball trophies on display outside the main building of the Codie complex.

"Whoa, we've won the tournament that many times?" 

"Yup!" Vince smiled proudly. "We've got a streak going, seven years in a row! You'd think it'd be the Speedies with their sports craze and all, but we have some mean Glitching skills!" 

"You got that right," I laughed, thinking of the Chair and the invisibility shield that protected WGO's headquarters.

"Well, I've been on the team every year since I got here, and I'll give you some tips," Vince began. "Don't try to resist the Glitch who's controlling you. It would slow everyone down and could cost both of your spots. And, trust me, that's gonna get you one angry Glitch. 

"Wait...I have to willingly let someone control my mind!? Do you have any idea how creepy that is?"

"Well Glitches aren't allowed to shoot and regs can't shoot on their own. The point only counts if a reg controlled by a Glitch scores. So basically you're the ones playing, while we control you from the sidelines." 

"I'm not so sure I want to do this anymore..." I tried to back out, but Vince wouldn't have it.

"No, you're doing this, dude. There's no getting out of it!" He slapped me jokingly. 

"Okay, okay," I threw my hands in the air and walked into line at the sign-up sheet the Speedies had hung from a tree on the edge of the Codie area.

I knew I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help but take a look at the columns of the other Divisions as I printed my name in the Section labeled "Codies." Unexpectedly, there was a very familiar name under the heading "Sloppies" written in the perfect cursive I had seen on so many performance contracts.

Claire King.

That was a weird move on her part, she'd never struck me as a sporty person. But then again, my sister was always full of surprises. The other Sloppie girl- what's her name- Kelly had signed up too. They were the only Glitches signed up from Sloppies. If no one else stepped up, they were guaranteed to make the team. 

I chided myself for it, but I couldn't help but think about how mad I would be if she made it and I didn't. It was pretty likely, there was a lot more competition at Codies, with more than twenty Codie regs trying out for the eight spots...

"So, any new additions to the list? Haven't checked since I signed up a couple of hours ago," Vince asked when I stepped out of line, finished signing up. 

"Eva's trying out for one of the Glitch spots on our team," I said. "Oh, and, Claire's signed up for the Sloppie team." 

"Eva's totally in, she's hands down the strongest Glitch out there," Vince said. "But don't worry about Claire. She's a great Glitch, but the Sloppies have never won a single Glitchketball tournament in WGO history. I really don't see her changing that, especially not with Eva and me around," he grinned.

"That may be true, but trust me, I know her. Even if she's totally outnumbered and out-Glitched, she isn't going down without a fight." 

"Who said she's going down?" Vince smiled mischievously. "She probably isn't going at all, Amanda clearly hates her."

"But Amanda doesn't decide who makes it, the Speedies do," I said, sitting down beside Vince on a nice, shady bench in one of the gorgeous Codie gardens. 

"Are you kidding me?" Vince snickered like that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "Amanda may not be directly responsible for some of these things, but trust me, nothing happens around here without her approval." 

"But it's the Speedies' call, Amanda can't do anything if they-"

"Amanda doesn't have do do anything overtly," Vince leaned in, his voice getting serious. "The Speedies know that if they don't put on the people Amanda says, they'll never see how their chosen players did in the tournament." 

"Wait...do you mean..." I stuttered, shocked that such unrestrained evil existed in America.

"You know, there used to be thirty Glitches, a nice round number," Vince whispered. "But there are only twenty six..." I trailed off, my brain beginning to conjure up all sorts of graphic scenes involving Amanda and a knife. 

"A few years after Amanda got here, when she was about thirteen, WGO was ruled by four older teenagers. They hated Amanda and humiliated her a lot, she was the youngest and least supported member of Government. They thought she was evil, that she would destroy all the Glitches, and they weren't afraid to show it. At one point, they had us all so riled up we were ready to throw her out! We almost did, except the next night, they disappeared."

"All four of them?" I asked, horrified. 

"Without a trace," Vince smiled sadly. "We woke up the next morning and they weren't in their beds. Amanda immediately appointed herself President and no one dared question her. Then, she chose new members of Government, ones who were either loyal to her or too timid to defy her. She sent out search parties to find the old leaders, but of course, none of them were successful. We all knew it was just an act, though. She had disposed of them, they were too much of a threat to her."

"She did that- she murdered, when she was only thirteen?" I gasped, shocked by the cruelty and utter heartlessness of WGO's leader. 

Imagine what she could do now, five years later. No wonder everyone was afraid of her.

"Yes," Vince said gravely. "And the most sickening thing is how well she's covered it up. The only ones who were here and old enough to remember are Jade, Calvin, Tim, and me." 

"Well then, let's tell everyone! We have to expose her! We can't just sit back and watch!" I yelled furiously.

"Ssh! Not so loud!" Vince whisper-yelled, looking around frantically to see if anyone heard. Luckily, they hadn't. "You can't tell anyone about this, do you understand? Not even Claire." 

"What?" I looked at his in confusion. "Do you want to just let her kill more people?"

"No, it's just not time yet," Vince said softly. "There's something different about Amanda. And it's not just that she's a super powerful Glitch." 

"Different in what way?" I asked, suddenly curious. "You know how Glitches can replace, alter, or store away regs' memories? I think Amanda can do that to Glitches to some extent." 

"What? How do you know!?"

"A couple of days ago, the four of us who remember talked about the incident, but we found that Jade and Calvin didn't remember anything. They said Amanda didn't do it, and that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. They said that the search parties had found the bodies of Ashley, Max, Stan, and Hope in a destroyed car and had concluded that it was an unfortunate crash.

The next day, I found that Tim said the same thing, and the three of them acted like I was crazy. There is no way something like that happens just by accident. Someone changed their memory of that day, and that someone is obviously Amanda. The question is, how did she do it? 

I told you all of this today because I know she's going to do it to me too soon. She won't do it to you because she doesn't know you know. What you need to do is every morning, ask me this question. 'Who killed the old president?' If my answer is anything but Amanda, you need to sit me down and tell me all of this so that I can continue my research. Got it?"

"Yeah, but what research?" I asked.

"I'm studying Amanda's manipulation of the Code so that sometime soon, I can figure out why she can do what she can do. Then, we expose her. That way, she can't just hush it up with her manipulation." 

"Okay." It sounded like a good plan. 

"But before that, nobody can know about this," he reminded me. "It would ruin everything."

I nodded. It would be hard keeping such a big secret from Claire, but I was sure it would be worth it.