I was reading an article for my history class that afternoon when my mom walked into my room.

"How was your precalculus quiz?"

I froze. "G-good," I stammered. "I might've not done my best."

"Hmm. We can review any mistakes when the teacher hands it back," my mom encouraged, "so you can do better on the exam. Can't have you falling behind when they'll be tallying up for valedictorian soon."

"Okay...um...we voted for prom theme today, too," I said to change the subject.

"Ah." It was my mama's turn to stumble over her words. "Well, you know...I don't trust an environment like that."

"I know, but..." I bit her bottom lip. "I'd told everyone I wasn't going, but I did want to go. It's not the most Muslim thing to do, sure, but if I didn't miss any prayers because of it and didn't stay out too late, maybe it would be okay?" I pleaded.

"We can talk about it again later," Mama said. It wasn't a yes, but my shoulders relaxed—Mama was willing to listen. "I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

I watched her turn away before returning to the article on my phone. I wanted to finish all my homework before dinner to squeeze in an hour or two of CrusadEon Online afterward. While I knew the game was the reason I'd forgotten my quiz and may have done poorly on it—but was not playing going to increase that quiz grade? No, so there was no reason to punish myself by not playing. I just needed to take it as a lesson learned.

When I logged in that night, Valentino wasn't online. My shoulders slumped, but I stayed online to continue the game's storyline anyway.

I was so focused on the game that an hour or so in that I didn't notice the little notification at the top of my screen, indicating a friend had logged in until I saw it disappearing. I immediately went to check my diplomat list, and there he was.

Hey!!

Hey

what's up

Just questing

Want me to help out?

Yessssir

Lol

Hahaaa

I'll be right there, ma'am

When his character arrived, I asked,

Do anything today?

Eh

had a math quiz

Rip me

I typed out a "me tooooo" but quickly thought better. I deleted it and instead replied with,

Ohh man

How'd you do??

Probs not that good

Happens to the best of us lol

True that

the smartest kid in the class forgot too, so I'm not worried lol

I gasped. Valentino just called me the smartest kid in class!

Wooww

You know the best weapon for your class is a scimitar

Broadswords are better for templars

Oh

Thnx

You know where I can get a good scimitar?

Let me go look online to double check

Okay!

Okay so you haven't reached the boss to get the one that's recommended

We can work on getting another one

I'm readyyy

Or we can level you up to unlock the place

Hmmmm

Up to you

Let's try farming for the other one

and if we can't get it

we can continue questing

Aight let's do that then

Yayy thnxxx

Btw

Is that hijab that your character is wearing?

Are you muslim?

I bit my bottom lip, hard. I forgot that I had Tireya wear a hijab to ward off all the internet weirdos who tried to hit on her. Valentino wouldn't suspect it was me behind the character, right? After all, there must be thousands of hijab-wearing girls playing CrusadEon Online.

But there were still two weeks of homework and exams, so I couldn't give my identity away. I was going to play it safe.

Omg yes it is

Didn't think you'd recognized it

It gives extra defense stats you know

I think it's cool

Oh haha

Thx!

Don't want my awesome, fiery hair to distract everyone from the game

Lmao

Oh yeah

I remember your character had red hair

But... Your hair is really red?

I mean how else did you make the character lol

Maybeeee :P

Youre not the only one with cool hair around here

Lmao

It used to be lighter when I was younger

I got made fun of for it

What???

Who would make fun of you for your hair color???

Let me meet them real quick!!!

Lol its cool

My familys Asian and Latino

so I look out of place a bit in gatherings sometimes

Asian? Valentino's last name was Rosas. Was his mom some other ethnicity?

Is your hair natural?

He's talking about Annok's hair again. I needed to distract him. Maybe if my character died in a battle, Valentino would be thrown off from making any conclusion about who was playing behind Tireya.

I stopped dodging hits. We lost the battle.

Oh, nooooo

Sry about that

The boss was too strong :(

Haha it's ok

It happens to the best of us

Yeah! Lets try again

After several failed and frustrating attempts at getting the scimitar, I decided to call it quits. The clock read 10:50 p.m., and I couldn't risk another tired morning or messed up night schedule. Otherwise, my grades would suffer—but I couldn't tell him that.

Hey I've got to go

Bedtime you know

It's not even that late

Lol I know but still

Do ya have to?

You been on later other days

Today's a weekdayyyy

Aight

Sry :(

Nah ur good

Okay :)

You're not half bad yourself <3

:)

Haha

Gnight!

Gooodnight!

I was smiling faintly as I logged off and was still smiling as I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. He didn't want me to go.

Mama dropped by to tell me goodnight around eleven and left my bedroom door open behind her—but I liked it that way. It made me feel less alone.

Turning to my right side, I snuggled under the thin covers. I said my nightly prayers and went to sleep with a faint smile and Valentino in my heart.