"Is it possible to get early onset senioritis?"

I look up as Xan slides into the seat next to me. I'm in my high school's cafeteria, working on my AP Computer Science homework. It's the second week of school, and I already have to write 500 lines of code for my problem set due tomorrow.

"Speak for yourself, Xan. I've got so much work to do, on top of college apps to work on."

Xan pops open a Coke bottle with a cork. I still don't know why he carries a wine cork around, since all of us are technically underage and can't drink alcohol yet. But his parents are millionaires and Xan hosts parties involving alcohol at his place on the reg. Maybe he just gets used to popping bottles and that's why he carries it around, you know, just in case.

Secretly though? I think he just carries it around because he thinks it looks cool.

We all have our quirks, right?

"That's because you're like, taking, what, 5 AP classes?"

"4. And doing the honors program at Columbia on weekends, and they give a shit ton of hw."

"I still don't get why you're trying so hard to get into college, when it's pretty much set in stone that you're going to get into Columbia... I mean come on, your mom WORKS there, as a frickin' professor."

That stings a bit. I don't want to get into college because of my mom, I want to get in because of my own credentials. Having my worth be reduced to who my mom is is incredibly discouraging.

But I don't tell him that. Xan wouldn't understand, he's had a trust fund set up for him since he was a tot and relies on his parents for everything. I'm kinda surprised he and I are even friends given the difference in our socioeconomic status. I'm barely upper middle class and he's in the upper echelon of New York City.

As is most of the population at this fancy private school.

I can't wait until I'm out of here. No one cares where you're from and who your parents are in college. My mom and I have different last names so no one will know she and I are related unless I tell them.

And I have no intention of telling anyone.

"I still can't get over the fact you got second place at the conference last weekend. You should have gotten first place, your game's the best thing since Neopets."

I laugh. Neopets? I know Xan meant that as a compliment, but Neopets is so 90s. Like, half a decade ago.

I can't believe it either, I thought I would get first too. But second place still gets to intern at Eden Enterprises, so I'm not complaining. The guy who got first place made a really awesome game, but I didn't think it was better than mine. Maybe it was my presentation that sucked.

"I'm over it. I still get to intern there, and that's all that matters."

"When does your internship start?"

I glance at my calendar.

"Approximately two weeks, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after school and I'm going to have to take a half day on Fridays. I'm getting internship credit for it on my transcript, which is pretty sweet."

"Lucky. I wish I could take off school."

"Dude, you barely come to school anyway."

"What, I do come to school. Like, half of the week."

"I never see you around, Xan."

"So? We game together after school and you can always message me on the metaverse."

"Yeah, that's true."

Olympus Academy live streams all of our classes on the metaverse, so attendance is completely optional. My mom, being the Spartan mom she is though, makes me go to school in person. She subscribes to the ancient parenting philosophy that kids need to be an active participant of the community in order to be successful later in life. She doesn't want me holed up in my room gaming all the time and working on my endless pet programming projects. Thinks I'm going to end up a social recluse with no job and reliant on parental support to get through life.

Not a chance, Mom. I'm going to make it big.

Or else.

My mom never believes in me...

I close my laptop and sit up straight.

"Anyway, Xan, I have a new project that I want your help on."

Xan groans and puts his head on the table with a thunk.

"Seriously? Your entry to the virtual world conference took me months to work on! And I didn't even get to go, I'm just listed as a name in the ending credits!"

"Dude, I pay you serious cash for your help."

Xan sits up and raises an eyebrow at me, adjusting his Gucci glasses.

"Buffy, do I look like I need money?"

I look at him from head to toe, glancing over his carefully tusseled hair that was a result from an expensive haircut at a high-end Korean salon to his signature dark blue blazer, which he insists on every day even though there was no standardized uniform at our high school. And his designer distressed jeans with threaded holes artfully placed throughout them and his designer sneakers that cost more than one semester's tuition at Columbia.

Then I looked down at my outfit: a simple black hoodie with no print or typography, thrifted Calvin Klein skinny jeans, and Vans that I had doodled coding symbols on in black ink.

I shrugged.

"I refuse to judge you by your appearance, Xan. Anything's possible."

With that, I hoist my backpack and swing it over one shoulder.

"Got Calculus next with Schrodinger. See you in WOE?"

He gives me a thumbs up, and I stride out of the cafeteria.

-

That was a lie by the way. I'm skipping Calculus today. I'm actually headed to my computer science club's room.

I was pretty pissed off when I didn't win the virtual reality contest. I didn't show it, of course, just got up on the stage and forced a smile on my face as they announced who the prizes went to. Three of us got the coveted internships at Eden Enterprises, but I really wanted the first prize. First prize gets $20k, which I needed for private reasons. Second place only gets the internship and a 1k in meta coins. I already have a lot of meta coins, given that amount of shit I do for them on the side.

I need hard cash, and I need it fast. I don't want to wait for my paycheck from my internship, which hasn't even started yet. I already dug out a lot out of my bank account for Xander's help on my game and also paid some freelancers to debug my game.

I need some alone time, and my club room is the perfect place for me to think by myself without disturbance.

My club room is located in the basement of the Tech Institute. Which is kind of perfect, because no one visits the basement during the day, so I wouldn't have to bump into any nosy classmate asking me what colleges I'm applying to. Most people know that my mom is the famous Professor Whitley of Columbia University's mathematics department, but not everyone knows that I'm applying to Columbia early decision. Only Xan, Charlie, and Damien know, and they know me well enough not to tell anyone. Maybe I'm a typical Capricorn with major trust issues, but who cares about pleasing the whims of a entitled teenager with a trust fund?

I sure don't.

The elevator door to the basement opens and I walk out. The basement is brightly lit with white fluorescent light and surprisingly spacious, looking more like an underground aquarium (minus the fish) than a barely visited corner of a private high school. I see some kids lounging near the water fountain, huddled over their phones, but they don't look up as I quickly walk past them.

Safe. I whip out my ID and scan the card reader to my club room. The door clicks and slides open. Sighing with relief, I stride in and the door slides shut behind me.

You would think that given the size of my club, our room would be small and cramped with ill funded tech and disappointing interior design. I assure you that is not the case. The only reason our club is small is because we're the second programming club in the school. The other club is the Olympus Robotics Club, which has hogged all of the coding talent in the school. Our school is ranked first in the state in robotics team competitions, so naturally, anyone who is remotely interested in getting an award mentioned in their college apps and testing their programming mettle would join that club. My club is more geared towards those interested in computer science research and development, which practically no one is.

Oh, also, we hack sometimes. But who broadcasts that they're a hacker in today's heavily regulated techonomy? About 80% of the population today is a closet hacker. Not even exaggerating, almost everyone knows how to code nowadays, and it's a slippery slope until you realize hacking is kinda a necessity to winning the battle of survival of the fittest.

That's what my game is about anyway. Atheos, a Godless world where we race to be crowned the title of God.

Ugh. I still don't get why I didn't win.

Groaning in exasperation, I dump my backpack on the empty table and plop down in my gaming chair. Folding my arms behind my head, I lean backwards and stare at the ceiling. Finally some peace and quiet.

A lot has happened in the past week. Getting second place, filling out forms for my internship at Eden, starting classes at school, and I still have to work on my college applications and get my recommendation letters in.

Not to mention I still have to fix some of the bugs in Atheos, so I can release my game to the public.

What, did you think it was just for a competition? Heck no. What's the point of making a game if no one plays it?

But there's a slight hitch. If I had won first place, my game would have been released on Eden's servers, and I wouldn't have to get my own servers. But thanks to that dweeb who probably won just because he was a guy, I lost and I have to find cash to buy my own servers.

Cash that I don't have.

Some brainstorming is needed here.

I pull out my Moleskine notebook, and open it to an empty sheet. Taking my pen out of my jacket pocket, I twirl it around my fingers, thinking.

There's gotta be a way to earn money, fast, without doing anything illegal. There are no direct laws against hacking, it's just a social faux pas to flaunt it. But, stealing money from someone else by hacking into their bank accounts is a no-no, and I can't afford to get a criminal record.

So what should I do? I'm stuck in a catch-22.

Ugh. I'll just play some WOE. I can't think straight with all this cortisol in my system.

I put on my VR headset and load up my gaming system. It takes 5 seconds for my systems to boot up, courtesy of Olympus' heavily funded computer science department. I had to fill out some applications and plead with the chair of the department to get funding for the state-of-the-art equipment in our office. I told them that we needed computers with exorbitant memory and storage to run our machine learning projects. They told me that they'll fund us, but with a catch. Our research had to place in a competition.

And you know me. I managed to do that my sophomore year.

My reward? $500,000 in funding.

Pretty sweet right? I spent it on some cool tech for my club.

The problem? I spent ALL of it. I had to for my game. It took a lot of resources to get my game up to speed, and I didn't even get first place in the competition. Life would have been a lot easier if Eden just took care of my game for me.

Whatever. I need to kill some demons.

I motion with my controller, selecting the server location in NYC. My avatar appears in a town that looks a bit like the world of Oz. The imagery is gorgeous, courtesy of their custom graphics platform that no one has ever reverse engineered (believe me, I've tried). There's shape shifting mountains in the horizon, dragons dancing in the sky, and cute fairy dwarfs hobbling down the cobble-stoned paths.

There's no demons to beat here. I run down the path into the wilderness. Time to get my adrenaline pumping.

Taking my sword out, I start slashing away as demons launch themselves at me. They're Level 2 demons, by-products of the First Level of Hell. No challenge for me as I've spent six years playing this game. They're really ugly though, and it's annoying having to deal with them. I wish there were some Fallen Angels for me to fight, as the angels in this game are really beautiful. Tons of hair and wings and shit.

I finish killing the demons and see a dungeon entrance ahead. The dungeons are the best way to level up since they have chock full of monsters, demons, even dragons. Not only that, they have a lot of treasure and rare finds to add to your inventory. That's the main reason I go to the dungeons. I could sell the loot I find to other players for actual money.

I take out my twin swords, as I'll be able to kill more monsters that way. I leap into the dungeon and start slashing away. It's a bit of a grind and not that challenging in the beginning, but it's gonna get good.

I smile in anticipation as I clear the first level. I grab the gold and the treasure chests that the monsters leave behind as they evaporate. I'll look at what they are later. I run down the stairs to the second level. Dungeons usually have seven levels, like the seven levels of Hell, so there's a long way to go. I estimate that I'll take 15 minutes to clear all the levels.

Yeah, that's how good I am.

All the slashing, hacking, and grabbing are giving me a bit of vertigo. That's the only downside to playing a VR game. You forget your spatial orientation. I used to get so dizzy that I would throw up after playing WOE, when I was younger. But I'm used to it now, or at least, I've adjusted.

I'm a bit tired of slashing enemies so I put back my swords and get my staff out. Time to do some magic. It's a lot less physically exerting to attack with spells.

I defeat the last of the monsters and run towards the last level, the Big Boss. The boss demon in this dungeon is a demon dragon the size of one of the mansions my classmates live in. Usually a party of players is needed to tackle these monsters, but I've collected enough HP and MP to defeat one of these bosses on my own.

The dragon hisses at me and roars, a giant ball of fire erupting from his mouth. I cast a shield spell and then attack, my staff and sword uniting.

A treasure box is left after it disappears. It's different from some of the other treasure boxes I've seen, this one's color is off, not gold, but silver with blood red design across it. Puzzled, I reach out with my sword and nudge the cover. I open it, and the sky falls.

The world is changed. I am no longer in the cavern but in a white corridor. Everything around me is the same solid white, instead of the darkness of the dungeon. There is a door at the end of the hallway, but no one is around me. I approach it tentatively, and open the knob with my free hand, sword in another.

I am in a room. A room fit for royals, gold ornaments on shelves and paintings depicting scenes from the Bible adorning the walls. There is a throne, and I see a man sitting in it. He stands up when he sees me.

That's when I see his wings. Golden plumes of feathers spread out. He's wearing a white suit and gold veined earrings adorn his earlobes. He smiles at me and puts a hand on the table in front of him, leaning against it. A thin silver chain falls from his neck as he leans forward, gesturing me closer.

"Welcome."

I stare at him. Is he an NPC? Or a player?

Some words pop up over his head. Apparently his name is Michaelis. But his character type is unknown?

"Hey. I'm Eva. Where am I?"

He smiles and puts a necklace that looks similar to his on the table.

"You're invited, Eva, to join my guild, the Fallen Angels."

I walk towards the table and pick up the necklace. A large silver cross hangs from the chain. I rotate it and see some letters embedded. I bring the cross closer and squint to make out the text.

Latin. Amare est veritas. Love is truth.

What does that have to do with anything?

I stand there for a bit, fiddling with the necklace while trying to process the situation I'm in. Just a few seconds ago, I was in a dungeon, about to get the best loot of my life, and now I'm in some sort of medieval church where an angelic man in a suit and wings just invited me to join his guild. I highly suspect that the Fallen Angels is actually a cult in disguise.

So I say to Michaelis,

"No thanks. I'm already in a guild."

Michaelis smiles at me, showing his white even teeth. Seriously, this guy belongs in a laser teeth whitening commercial.

"Yes, I know. The Demon Slayers' top bounty hunter, ranked number one on the leaderboard for most killed demons."

I narrow my eyes at him, a little creeped out. I'm an incredibly private person, even bordering on paranoia, and I don't appreciate this man digging up intel on me.

"How do you know that? Guild members' stats aren't released to the public."

Michaelis takes out a black folder from underneath the desk and places it in front of me.

"It's all here, Eva. And I'm not a player, I am one of the Angels in this game. And I've come to offer you a proposition."

My jaw drops. Holy Hell, this guy's an Angel?

Angels are essentially moderators of this game. I've never met one in person before, because they usually hide in the sidelines monitoring the players. Kinda the equivalent of a Grim Reaper, but works for Good.

Or so their job title states. If I were God, I would fire them. Give some pigs their wings and make them fly.

Don't ask why I have a grudge against them.

But since you did, I'll tell you. An anonymous angel banned me from WOE once for 2 months. I got into a fight with another player over some loot and I hacked into his system and stole some of his stuff. I didn't think anyone would find out because I used a throwaway account, but that shithead must have reported me. If I see him again, I'm going to hack his head off. Literally.

I'm not trusting this Angel. Who cares about his stupid proposition? Probably a ploy to lower my rank because I'm almost God level.

"No thanks. I don't know why I'm here, but I'm not interested in joining your guild or in your proposition."

Michaelis sighed.

"Quite the stubborn one you are, Eva. Why don't you have a seat and just listen to what I have to say?"

He pulls out a chair and motions me to sit. I roll my eyes and sit in the chair, slouching.

Michaelis pulls out a white folder and hands it to me. I open it and see a stack of papers stapled together.

"This is all the information you need to know about Fallen Angels. All of our rules, guidelines, lists of our members, inventory, and all the wishes we've granted."

I look at him and raise my eyebrow. "You grant wishes? Don't tell me, you're actually a genie pretending to be an angel?"

He chuckles.

"That's where the fun comes in. All of our Fallen Angels get to earn money, ranging from hundreds to thousands even tens of thousands dollars worth of money when they grant players wishes."

My jaw drops. Holy Cow. Say that in the beginning, man.

I flip through the papers, skimming through them. Apparently if I join, I'll be assigned players who would pay me money if I do things for them in the game. Examples of past requests include opening new portals in Eden so players can transport from one location to another location without having to run all the way to an entrance point and fixing equipment and helping them defeat adversaries.

I didn't know that players could earn money IRL in this game. Sounds illegal though.

I narrow my eyes.

"What's the catch? Sounds like Fallen Angels are essentially hackers. I could get caught."

Michaelis holds out his hand and an apple falls into his palm, out of nowhere. Magician or no, this whole situation is bizarre.

"That's why you've been chosen, Eva. I've been watching you, you know."

Shit. He knows. That I'm a hacker. I'm not surprised though, I was banned from the game, but I thought I had hidden my tracks.

Michaelis spins the apple in his hand, light from it breaking apart the shadows of the room I was in.

"Don't worry, I won't tell. Your secret's safe with me. We of the Fallen Angels protect our own. No one will know what you've been up to, and you'll be granted access to the secrets of Eden."

He smiles mysteriously, and hands me the apple.

"Take a bite. It's sweet."

I stare at the glossy exterior of the fruit in my hand.

What could I lose?

And what could I gain?

I hesitate for a second.

And then I bite.