I stopped seeing Valentino during homeroom in the morning or after class. The empty seat beside mine left me feeling kind of lonely, but I cheered myself up—there was always Tireya to meet him online if I couldn't offline.

I would come home, eat lunch if I hadn't bought any that day, pray around noon, do all my homework, pray in the afternoon, and then sit with my headphones and a snack to log into CrusadEon Online, knowing a certain Templar Knight was usually there to welcome me. I'd log off to pray after sunset, have dinner, study, and then get ready for bed by washing up and praying for the night. At least, that was the plan.

I bumped into Valentino the last week of May when I left the microwave line. Seeing him brought a smile to my face.

"Oh, hey!" I greeted him. "I haven't seen you around all that much."

"Yeah," Valentino smiled, but his gaze slid from mine. "I chose to take an extra class in the mornings instead of going to homeroom, and I think they've been helping with my grades. Need to keep it up before senioritis takes over."

"Oh, that's good. I haven't caught senioritis yet, so don't give it to me," I joked.

He chuckled lightly, and we stood awkwardly in the middle of the lunchroom, the loud chatter replacing what would have been silence between us. I bit the bottom of my lip. Were we always like this? No, I was sure he used to be bubbly and blur the lines of personal space.

I scanned the cafeteria. I didn't see the other soccer players he usually sat with at lunch. It seemed like we were stuck together. Which should have been the best thing ever. But right now, it didn't feel like it was.

Valentino hesitated before suggesting, "We should sit."

"Yeah," I agreed. I gestured to a table nearest to us. After we started to settle in, with hopeful eyes, I asked, "Lunch? I brought my dad's chicken curry."

He hesitated. "I have my own today. But thanks."

A rush of disappointment filled me as I watched him retrieve a wrapped sandwich from his bag and place it on the table before him. Why did it feel like we were strangers to each other? Was I doing something to give him that vibe? Did he find someone to go to prom with, and now I'm just a friend?

I finally broke the awkwardness to ask, "So, the websites I told you about—are they helping with citations? There's a history paper coming up."

"Yeah, they're easy to understand." He bit into his sandwich and munched for a bit. "I'm getting some outside help also, so don't worry about it."

I nodded, deflating. "You're still playing CrusadEon Online?" I prompted.

"Of course," he said. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he swallowed another bite. "Uh, did you want to watch me play?"

"Yes! Only if you want to, obviously," I caught myself.

"Well, I have my laptop with me, so I guess I can show you."

"Now? I thought the wi-fi wasn't too good here."

Valentino leaned in a little. "I saw some technician work around the other side of the school this morning, so I think the wi-fi in this place should've gotten fast enough to handle online games."

"I doubt that's why they upgraded the Wi-Fi here in the first place," I couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah, but it's too early for them to have built a proxy against it. It'd be a waste not to," he smirked in response.

It made me relax. It was like seeing and talking to the real Valentino.

He glanced at the clock on the lunchroom wall. "We still have about half an hour. Good enough." Valentino placed and opened his laptop onto the table to type away at the keyboard. "There are a few updates since last you saw me play. Here, for example, they added more items to craft."

I leaned over the table, my eyes wide and glued to the screen as he spoke. Despite his initial excitement, I noticed he was a little fidgety. Valentino tensed every time a notification appeared to say someone was online, and his cursor almost always remained hovering over his Diplomat List.

"Look how cool these are..." Valentino continued to show me things in-game, but I stared as the cursor repeatedly returned to his Diplomat List at the top right corner of the screen.

"How come your cursor is over the Diplomat List?" I blurted.

"Oh, the Diplomat List is nothing big. Habit for waiting if a friend of mine would show up," he replied, and I thought that there was a slight blush creeping up his neck. "But she's not usually online during this time of the day...uh, did you see this new guy?" Valentino added, changing the subject and moving his cursor to hover over an NPC. "He's good for people who want to craft but are low-level."

I bit my bottom lip, and the rest of his tutorial was lost to me.

Tireya didn't show up online at this time of the day because I was still at school. Did Valentino like Tireya so much that he waited for her to log in at any possible moment? My eyes traced Valentino's profile, drinking in every strand of hair and every inch of exposed skin. Did he fall in love?

* * *

When I got home, I nearly tripped when I kicked my shoes off at the front door. I dumped my bag at the foot of the bed with a thud—it had gotten heavier with practice packets for mandatory exams and college applications. I rushed to change clothes and have lunch with Mama, and I dove right into my homework the first chance I got, knowing that the sooner I finished my work, the sooner I could log in and prove my theory.

I rolled my shoulders not long after, put away the papers, and cleared my desk to sit by my bed to log into CrusadEon Online. I checked the latest newsletter for a new update in the game and was reading it on my phone when a chat notification appeared on my screen. I put my phone down.

Heyy

You're a bit late today

My face felt warm. My heart was never going to catch a break.

Yeah, homework.

Ugh

The highlight of every teen's life

"Haha. But, hey, you're making progress like crazy in this game. It's awesome." He had switched on his microphone.

Only because I get help from the best!!!

I have you to thank, really <3

"Eh, it's all you. Don't be so modest now."

I could hear the smirk in his voice, and I was sure there was a full blush on my cheeks.

So how's soccer?

Your coach making you guys run in this heat again?

"Ugh, yeah, we have to work so hard. But I guess it'll pay out in the end. The team is lookin' real good. I doubt Morrison High can beat us at this rate.

"But practice is the east part. It's the expectations that come with, you know? I have to work harder than the rest of the team to meet them. And I get that—I've got to be the leader and inspire. But several of my teammates want the captain position, too, so it's not even about leading. It's about proving that I deserve this title." His voice was stern, but there was a softness to it, too, like he knew the person on the other end would care. "I hate staying late at practice games, too. Because my teammates aren't the only problem. Every parent's dream is to have their kid be the captain, and the last time I stayed on the field, I overheard some rich parents trying to persuade the coach to appoint their kid as captain of the team instead of me."

:(

That's what you meant by the jealous ppl in your life huh

Yeah. I don't let them get to me tho

Don't want it to affect how I play

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, noticing that Valentino had switched from speaking to typing in the chat. I hoped it was because we had just started an end-of-quest boss, which tended to be more difficult.

Yeah, absolutely!

You're a great person and deserve being the captain of your team <3

Have you talked to anyone about it?

Parents maybe?

I'm sure your coach refused those bribes

Ha, thanks.

My dad doesn't really care

As long as I'm in school

He's not home most of the time anyway

I'm sorry you don't have much support

You have mine <3

Your Holy Cry attack does so muchhh

I need to lvl up a lot for my Righteous Call to do that lol

Got the rest of my life to teach you

Have you thought about soccer in college?

You could prove those haters wrong!

Valentino cleared his throat before speaking into his mic. My heart lurched like it always did when he spoke.

"It's a bit difficult. A lot of the scholarships ask for finances of both parents, and um, my mom...she's no longer with us. I mean, not that she's dead. It's just the two of us...me and my dad. We moved to New York when I was seven. My mom didn't want to move with us. So, she's living in San Diego with my baby sister...but my dad still holds onto the hope that one day she'll come around and bring my sister to live with us, you know...and our family'd be together again. I'd need to be in contact with her if I wanted an easy route for scholarships."

I didn't know how to respond. Valentino gave no indication of any home problems at school. And the pauses in his story told me this wasn't an easy subject for him to talk about.

:(

I'm sooo sorry

I didn't know

It's just been you and your dad this whole time?

Yeah sort of

I have a neighbor

Hung out with her kids a lot she was nice

It's been a while since I seen or talked to my mom

She's Muslim I guess

My dad was, too.

I don't really think about it anymore

I felt like I'd been whacked in the chest. Valentino's parents were Muslim? He'd also gone off voice chat again.

Did they teach you?

About Islam I mean

Before they separated?

I went to a mosque once.

That's all I remember honestly

You know what that is?

Yeah :)

Is that why you knew what a hijab was?

Haha maybe

Well you're so strong

How you can keep your focus

Despite everything

Not letting what people think or do affect you

I'm proud of you

That's the only option I have really

Haha

Anyway

Thx for listening to me

Noo

Thank you for telling your story

I'm rooting for you in every way!!!!

I'll be here for you <3

Well, I could talk to you all day

Lol

And I could listen to you all day!

Hahaha

:)

Our chat went quiet for a while so we could continue questing together. But my mind was spiraling. Never would I have imagined that Valentino was Muslim. He said his father stopped practicing, so was the situation like Mama and Baba, then, with his mother born into a Muslim family and his father marrying in?

I smiled at the screen while Valentino used the mic to speak the strategy to me. It took us a harrowing fifteen minutes to win the battle.

"That was insane!"

IKR!!!

That was awesomeeeeee!!!

"Wow. You are awesome!"

I blushed hard.

It's all youuu

"Couldn't have done it without you, though! I wonder if my little sis would be good at this. She learned how to do a lot at a young age. I bet she'd learn as fast as you."

Aww, I bet :(

How long has it been since you saw her?

Hmm, about 10 yrs

Give or take

That's such a long time!

How old is she?

Yeah, it suckz

She was three when my dad and I moved here

She would be 14 now

Aww she must've just started high school!

Yea

Wow, I never really thought about that til now

My lil sis is a teenager now

I bet she's annoying as hell

Lolllll

Don't say that!

But you don't talk to her?

No

My mom is really uptight about her talking to us

Something about custody

That sucks :(

Sry I'm just really speechless

I don't have any siblings

But it must be really difficult to be in your situation :(

Yea

Thx tho

I've never really talked about her with anyone else before

It feels nice to talk to you about it

Well, you're welcome!

:)

Why cant we love like a storm again

I never thought I could withstand it

Why can't we love like a storm again

But now I know

I am the storm

<3

Valentino's conversation stayed in the back of my mind even as I washed the dishes after dinner that night. The words gnawed at something at the bottom of my heart. He was missing a part of himself—just like I was with my mom. If only I could talk to him...but I couldn't reveal my identity as Tireya. He could stop talking to me for the same reason he chose not to ask me out to prom. And if that happened, who would he have to talk to about his family problems?

I needed my fake identity to stay on.