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  “Seriously, girl, I can already see that my life’s dream is to work as a model, always trying out these amazing make-overs!” Amanda remarked.

  Pedro spent some time watching them from afar, but soon started growing restless. Where were Luiz and Daniel? He got up and went down to the school hallways. A few feet from the classroom door, he could see his friends surrounded by Thiago, who had three other classmates with him.

  “Say it again to my face, chicken!” Thiago raged.

  “I can say it about as many times as you’d like!” Daniel’s anger made his voice become shrill. “It’s enough! Luiz isn’t going to do your homework anymore!”

  “Keep your voice down, you sucker, the teacher is coming any minute now!” Thiago drew closer to Daniel until his chest was only a few inches away from the boy’s squalid face.

  “Oh, man, let it go,” Luiz said to Daniel again. “I can go on doing it for him, just let it go.”

  “No, Luiz, I won’t let it go! You have to stop letting this moron dictate your life!”

  Pedro got to them.

  “Hey, what’s this? Stop bugging them, Thiago!”

  The big guy turned around.

  “Shut up, I’m not talking to you!”

  During those seconds of distraction, Thiago’s friends ripped Daniel’s backpack from his hands and started tossing it back and forth. Daniel was screaming desperately for them to stop. Pedro and Luiz tried to help their friend to claim it back, unsuccessfully.

  “Ah, now you don’t want a fight, eh?” Thiago laughed, then added, in a scornful voice, “You’re afraid of breaking your precious little tablet, aren’t you? And you can’t afford another one, right?!” One of his friends tossed him the backpack. He let it drop on purpose. “Oops!”

  Daniel felt the tears coming up to his eyes as he heard the sound of glass shattering. Luiz ran to grab his backpack while Pedro stared at Thiago still.

  “Let’s beat it, guys, the teacher is coming!” said one of Thiago’s goons. He shrugged.

  “See you around, losers!” he remarked before calmly strolling up to the classroom as if nothing had happened.

  Pedro came near his friends, who were scrambling to open the backpack. They confirmed their suspicions. Despite the fact that the thousand pieces that made up the tablet weren’t totally separated from each other, a huge crack had spread all over the screen like a spider web. Daniel tried turning it on, in vain.

  “Oh, man, you see it? I told you to let it go! All I had to do was his goddamn homework...” Luiz remarked.

  “You have to say something to the principal, Daniel! This is serious! It’s awful! We can’t leave it like this!” Pedro was furious.

  Red-faced, still struggling to hold back his tears, Daniel answered him, “Remember that time they gave Luiz a black eye and the people at the principal’s office said they couldn’t prove it was Thiago who did it? If we report it, it’s gonna be just a pain in the ass for us and nothing’s getting solved! I hate this school! I hate this world! Why do they let douchebags like him do this to us?” He was openly crying.

  “But that only happens because we get weary and end up letting them do it, Daniel. We’ve got to do something, or try to. If I’d had the time to think, I could have recorded a video...”

  “It would do no good,” Luiz remarked, sullenly. “It’s so easy editing videos nowadays that nobody would believe us, even with video evidence. They say Thiago’s dad is the one who keeps the school running... They’ll never so much as lay a hand on him...”

  The teacher was now only a few steps away from them. He asked what had happened, and Pedro told him the truth, despite his friends’ protests, who insisted it wasn’t worth it. The teacher tightened his lips, showing his concern. His face revealed he was on Daniel’s side: he also believed there was nothing that could be done against Thiago. Still, he filled out the necessary forms in order to give it all due process.

  The three friends spent a good deal of the morning settling it all. Each one had to report everything to the principal individually. Then they had to wait for him to hear Thiago’s version of the story, as well as everyone else involved. At the end of the morning, they were left with the promise that the principal would find a way to settle everything.

  Pedro was worried while he and his brothers waited for his mother to pick them up. He once again feared his complaints would amount to nothing... Besides, he was concerned with all that time he wasted just to report the issue. He’d wanted to take in as much as he could from his classes so he wouldn’t have to study so much at home, giving him more time to enjoy the Neuralnet. But the worst was yet to come.

  “Pedro, what is this all about you getting into a fight this morning?” his mother asked, indignant, as soon as she saw him through the car window.

  Pedro’s eyes opened wide. Fight? What do you mean, a fight?

  “I got an e-mail from school! That’s all I needed right now, really, Pedro! Not even Marcelo and Rodrigo give me this much trouble!”

  Pedro tried to explain and tell her what had happened, but in her indignation, his mother paid him no mind.

  “Pedro, you think they would bother me if that was all that happened? If you were the good guy in the story, there was no reason why they’d scare the hell out of me telling me you were in a fight, my son! Good grief, you know how much we struggle for you three to go to the best school in the city! You know how hard it was to get that scholarship! Don’t throw that all away! You were always so nice, never did anything wrong! Don’t you turn all rebel teenager on me now, Pedro! I don’t need that, and your father doesn’t need that! You have no idea what we have been through to keep our life on track!”

  Noticing the silence and sadness in her son’s eyes, she took a deep breath and toned down her speech a bit. “Well, Pedro, at least it was just your first warning. I don’t know what happened and I don’t think I’ll ever even know for sure, but, please, my son, don’t get into this sort of thing again... It’s not worth it! Just lower your head and let it go... Did you get hurt?”

  “No, Mom... I told you it wasn’t a real fight... They just trashed Daniel’s tablet because he tried to defend Luiz so he wouldn’t have to do Thiago’s homework anymore.”

  “Oh, dear... This is the oldest thing in the world! You can’t keep getting yourself involved! Let it go! I know it must be hard for you, but in a few years you won’t even see him anymore... Thiago, right? You’ll have your own life to take care of, and he won’t mess with you again. I also used to have a classmate, a girl who made my life in school a living hell, my son, but then time passed and now I have my life, with your dad and the wonders that are you and your brothers. I never even heard of her again, all I know is that she doesn’t mess with me anymore.”

  Pedro slowly nodded in agreement, though he was still indignant inside. What about justice? How could he witness something like this and just “let it go”? If someone didn’t stop Thiago, he’d go on being the same douchebag for the rest of his life, thinking he could just step on anybody around him! And his mother was lucky never seeing that girl again, but what if he ended up working in the same company as Thiago in the future? How much longer would he have to tolerate such a jerk in his life?

  He tried to forget all about that and think of how he could find a way to log on the Neuralnet today. His brothers were going to spend the whole day at home, and possibly so would his mother. He didn’t want them to find out about the Neurolink.

  There was only one option left for him: getting inline late at night.

  In the afternoon he studied the subjects he’d missed in the morning. Chatting with his friends, he heard that Daniel had found a way to get his tablet to work again. He read some chapters from the last Star Effect book he had got as a birthday gift and went skating down in the park near his house after his mother had to force Marcelo and Rodrigo—such was their laziness—to go with him on their skateboards.

  At last, he set some hours apart for a nap, so he’d have hi
gh stability when he logged on at night, and also so he wouldn’t be too sleepy the next morning.

  When night finally came, and he and his brothers went to bed, Pedro tossed and turned until he finally heard the rhythmic sound of his brothers’ breathing, proving they’d fallen asleep. Silently, he took his Neurolink from the drawer, lay down again under his sheets, hiding the device and its glow, and finally connected.

  There was that feeling of falling backwards which he’d learned to appreciate, and a smile appeared on his face even before he realized he was back on the HUB. His stability at 100% cheered him further. Unfortunately none of his friends appeared as inline on his Neurolink.

  There was no time to lose. In the middle of that diverse crowd surrounding him, he identified the closest door, behind a group of shark-men. Setting up his Neurolink, he opened it. Satisfied, he saw he was once again in the white and green Flag Race server, looking for an empty table, when suddenly a message popped up. His Neurolink showed, “Mary wants to add you to her contact list. Is it OK?” Below it, it said, “Hi! I don’t know if Dante told you about me, but we’re on the same team!”

  Despite a certain chill down his spine, he decided to add her. After all, what kind of thug would know Dante, have his contact, and know they were part of a team? He also remembered that Asuka had told him they had another girl on the team, another Molder.

  “Hi!” he heard a pleasant female voice in his head. “Do you mind if I come over to you?”

  Ace thought for a few seconds, but soon sent his location to her while approaching an empty table. It’d really be better if she was the one to come to him than to go after her and end up on an unknown and possibly dangerous locus.

  The contours of the door by the his table began to glow before it opened. From inside it, there came one of the most beautiful girls Pedro had ever seen. Her skin was delicate and unblemished. She had a tall and thin, though very well-toned, body. Her light green, long hair seemed to have a life of its own, as it graciously moved around her, and she had captivating green eyes in that same hue. Though she wore a white low-cut T-shirt and denim shorts, it didn’t look vulgar on her. On her feet, red shin-high sneakers gave her a youthful air.

  Ace tried to hide how astonished he was at seeing her. Even though he’d met Kerah, who was quite lovely as well, he still couldn’t help but be impressed. She smiled before introducing herself, as if she were satisfied with her first impression.

  “You must be our new Runner! Ace, isn’t it? I’m Mary, nice to meet you!” She held Ace’s hand as she greeted him, before sitting down at the table.

  “Yeah, that’s me! And you must be the other Molder Asuka had told me about. So, our team is finally complete?”

  “It seems so, since most teams don’t keep players on the bench or anything. Now we have to find a way to schedule so we can all practice together.”

  Ace blushed. He was embarrassed to imagine that, despite their training, they would have to play alongside him, who had yet to play a full match. They’d have to be patient. Mary, casting an understanding glance at him, seemed to be reading his mind.

  “Don’t worry! We’re not pros, and Dante’s already explained to me that it’s not been long since your first access here. Nobody is judging you! I mean... Maybe Bobby, but don’t mind him! He looks angry, but he loves the game more than anything, so he won’t mess with you or do anything that might harm the team.”

  Ace smiled, hoping that would be true. It didn’t please him the idea of being struck by the minotaur again. Before he could answer, Mary went on, “I’ve just come inline now and I’m going to practice a little more, but you don’t need to come to the practice with me if you don’t want to, all right?”

  “But of course I want to!” Ace blurted out. Realizing he had exaggerated his excitement, he added, “I mean... I’ve yet to play against the AI and since we’re on the same team, the sooner we play together the better, right?”

  Mary’s hair color changed into a light pinkish hue for a few seconds before returning to its original color. Smiling, she answered, “Of course!”

  Shortly after, they were already on court. This time they came out of the door on the red base. Ace figured the game randomly assigned which team would be red or blue on each new access.

  “So, Ace, are you ready? How about we play against the AI? Let’s go two on two!”

  Ace smiled, shrugged, and nodded in agreement, hoping he could impress Mary in the match that was about to start. She gave him some instructions.

  “Let’s stay here by the base for the game to start. Real matches only start once the players are behind these lines around the base. I’m already setting up our match and... Done!”

  Again, gigantic screens appeared hovering above the stadium, showing the two teams about to clash. On half of the screen, on the red team, he could see his face and Mary’s being filmed in real time. On the blue team, two mannequins resembling crash-test dummies appeared moving. Their bodies had their team’s blue coloration.

  Soon the screens started the countdown: 3, 2, 1, Go!

  Ace immediately crafted his magnetized roller blades and started thrusting forward, following Mary, who ran lightly but at a high speed toward the center of the court.

  “Let’s stay together, Ace! We have better chances like this! Let’s go straight for the blue flag at the center lane, on their base!”

  Ace nodded and began accelerating further. The ecstatic thrill of the game began flooding over him. He wanted to impress her on their first match together. Mary seemed excited as well. Her billowing hair was now colored a darker shade of green.

  They crossed the middle of the court. Ace remained alert, but couldn’t see the mannequins anywhere. Neither could he sense any danger ahead. The court was still flat, and he could clearly see the blue flag facing the also blue base, near the game line’s end. He thought maybe Mary might have messed up the programming when suddenly she screamed.

  “Watch out!”

  By the court’s sides, throughout almost all of the game line, several machine guns held by mechanical arms, which until now had been hidden under the court, started gearing up and within moments began firing. Ace soon realized he was under a hail of bullets coming from almost all directions. Figuring he was about to get several new holes popped out of him, he braced himself, but nothing struck him.

  Under the deafening noise of hundreds of shooting guns, he saw he was still going for the flag. Mary kept herself by his side, now with her hair upraised, wavering intensely, which showed the strength of her focus. She was the one who was keeping him from being gunned down. Upon paying better attention, he noticed the almost invisible bubble around them that was ricocheting the bullets in all directions.

  “Ace!” she shouted. “I can’t fend off the bullets forever!”

  He knew he had to do something and it had to be now. But what? The mannequins had waited until they were halfway through before activating their trap. It was a great plan because now both ahead and behind the red team a line of automated guns kept them under constant fire.

  Ace considered directly attacking the machine guns, but there were too many of them. Mary’s defenses wouldn’t hold long enough for him to destroy them all one by one. He had to think fast!

  Then he remembered how his training with Asuka went. When she made the plants sprout just to get in his way, the roots and branches weren’t much of a hassle. They gave him a lot more trouble when she focused for them to attack him.

  If the AI worked like a real player, then it was probably focusing hard for those guns to be shooting them all at once as accurately as they were. Since they hadn’t seen the mannequins yet, that could only mean one thing: they should be hiding behind their base.

  Concentrating, Ace could see part of a mannequin’s head peeking at them from behind the blue base. Ace gave it a penetrating stare before acting.

  Taking advantage of the whole military atmosphere, he created a grenade in his hand and tossed it with great ac
curacy down to where his foes were hiding. He made it so it would detonate on impact, and his concentration together with his desire to impress Mary were so strong that he couldn’t help but be surprised at the size of the explosion. The blast sent the mannequin flying far overhead, out of the court. The guns immediately ceased fire.

  Mary made a face at him, her expression clearly meaning “not bad!”

  They had almost arrived at their goal when the other mannequin appeared from behind the base, singed, but wielding a rocket launcher pointed directly at them.

  “Go for the flag! Leave him to me!” Mary instructed.

  Ace sped up, hoping she knew what she was doing. The test dummy was still targeting him when he and Mary distanced themselves. It seemed to know he was the one who’d steal the flag.

  Just as it confirmed that Ace was locked down on its sight, the mannequin fired. Ace noticed the missile homing on him, correcting its own path in mid-air to follow his steps, but he couldn’t stop. He went on ahead.

  Soon the missile, Ace, and the flag were all only a few yards away from each other. Ace focused on his goal. He needed to trust that Mary would protect him.

  Much to his relief, something looking like a huge water bubble appeared between him and the projectile. What plans the girl had in mind, he didn’t know, but they’d better work. He reached out for the flag and soon had it in his hands. Ace looked back at the missile. As it entered the bubble its speed was reduced until it was barely moving. It was like time was passing at a different speed inside that sphere. He didn’t wait to find out what would happen. Strapping the flag on his back, he started sliding toward the red base.

  Halfway back, he heard Mary through his Neurolink. “I’m going to hold down the one that’s still here! Bring back the flag, then head for the one on the left. Just watch out for the other dummy! It’s probably being put together now somewhere in the court!”