“Guys I need help to beat this boss, I’m about to die!” Jessica yelled into her mic. Jessica Chen was currently a high school senior, with a passion for gaming. She was like any other high schooler, playing video games to procrastinate on her multiple homework assignments.

“Claire can you teleport to me? I have like, five health!” she panicked, furiously clicking her mouse. Her best friend, Claire Adamson, was quite the opposite of her. She always diligently did her work, and always finished her assignments before relaxing. 

“Sorry Jess, I have to go study for my math midterm,” Claire replied. “I’ll call you back after I finish.” 

“Fine, see you.” Jessica hung up her video call, and continued to play her game. 

“Please don’t die, please don’t die.” she pleaded. As if her pleas were heard, another avatar popped up on her screen, and defeated all of her enemies with one attack. 

“Dang.” Jessica marveled. She moved her cursor on the new character and clicked on it. 

“Jason StrongTalon, He’s a level 57?!” she exclaimed. She sent him a friend request, and continued to look at his stats. A notification popped up on the corner of her screen, which she clicked on, He wants to chat with me? She thought to herself. She accepted his request and read the message sent to her. 

“Hey.” 

“Hey.” Jessica began to panic, seeing that the mysterious stranger was typing, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her mother calling her. 

“Jessica, please come down for dinner,” a voice called from downstairs. Jessica let out a groan, and took off her headset, before stretching her arms and cracking her neck. She put on her glasses, got out of her chair, and walked out of her room. She walked into the kitchen, seeing her dad and younger sister, Jane, sitting at the table. 

“Took you long enough,” her dad snapped. Jessica sat down next to Jane, and muttered an apology. Her mom walked out, carrying a pot of sizzling hot chicken drumsticks. She placed it down on the table, next to the large bowl of broccoli, and sat down next to her husband. The family took their portions, and began to eat. The room was completely silent, except for the sound of utensils clanking against the plates. 

“Jessica, get your father and I some water.” Jessica’s mother ordered. Jessica nodded, and put down her spoon and went to the cupboard to get the cups.

“So Jane, how is your calculus doing?” 

“It’s fine.” 

“Just fine? You need to be doing spectacular.” 

“I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better.” Jessica poured water into the two cups, then picking them up and handing them to her parents. Her father took a sip from his cup, without a thank you. Jessica quickly shoved her food in her mouth, hoping to avoid any questions or judgemental comments. 

“Jessica, don’t eat so quickly, it’s not polite.” her mother scolded. Jessica apologized as she stuffed the last bite of chicken in her mouth. She got up and washed her dish, before practically sprinting up the stairs back to her room. After closing the door behind her, she quickly went to her desk and sat down. To her surprise, Jason had responded to her message.

“I see that you’re friends with Claire FireFairy, she’s actually my cousin.”

“No way, that’s so awesome, she’s my best friend!”

“Cool, well, I hope to get to know you better. I’m going to sign off for the night.” Jessica was about to reply, when her room door swung open and banged against the wall. She let out a scream and fell out of her chair, landing on the hardwood floor, “Dear Lord, you scared me to death!” Standing at the door was Jane,

“Sorry, but Mom wanted me to tell you to get off the computer and go to sleep.” Jessica’s heart was beating faster than a hummingbird's wings, she lay on the floor and tried to catch her breath, “Okay, okay,” she panted. Jane rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Jessica pulled herself off the floor, typed a quick reply to Jason, then logged off her computer and got herself ready for bed. 

The next morning, Jessica was woken up by the sound of her mom yelling, 

“If you kids don’t wake up then I’m going to drag you out of bed!” Jessica groaned and got out of her bed, rubbing her eyes.She picked up her phone and checked the time, Are you serious? It’s 7 o’clock on a Saturday! She groaned again and walked to the bathroom to wash herself up. Once she was clean and dressed, she went downstairs for breakfast. She was greeted by her (rather irritated) mother. Her mom glared at her, 

“You slept in so long, your food is cold now.” 

“Sorry.” Her mom rolled her eyes, and went upstairs. Jessica quickly ate the oatmeal her mom had prepared for her, then washed her dish, and went back up to her room. She went to her computer and logged on to finish some homework. She was typing in her login, when someone knocked on her door, 

“Yes?” The door opened, revealing Jane, who was currently wearing a face mask. 

“Can I hang out in here? Mom’s having another tantrum.” Jessica nodded, then continued to prepare to work. Jane closed the door behind her, and sat on Jessica’s twin sized bed. She pulled out her phone and watched a movie. Jessica pulled the essay she was currently writing on her computer, and began to type. A few moments later, her mom burst into the room, dressed in very formal attire,

“Your father and I are going to meet up with your Aunt Cherylene, we’ll be back later this evening, make sure you finish all of you homework.” 

“Okay, see you later Mom.”  The girl’s mom closed the door behind her, and left. Jessica worked on her homework for a few hours, before finally finishing all of her assignments. She let out a sigh of relief and stood up to stretch, 

“Homework is such a nuisance, I’m so glad that’s over with.”  

“I still have a project to finish!” Jane gasped. She practically jumped off the bed, and ran to her room. Jessica scoffed, 

“Dummy.” 

Jessica collapsed into her chair then put on her headset, and logged into her game. She saw that Claire was online, so she decided to video call her. 

“Hey Jess!” Claire exclaimed. 

“Hey Claire, do you want to go in the Haunted Mansion dungeon?” 

“Sure.” 

The two friends started their game, fighting their way through the many different levels.

“We beat the boss!” Jessica exclaimed. 

“Great job!” 

Jessica was happily celebrating their victory, when a message popped up in the corner of her screen, 

“Hey Claire, your cousin, Jason has been texting me recently.”

“Oh cool, he’s a super high level, he can totally help us on our quests. There’s something else he can help you with too.” 

“And what is that?”

“Your singleness. He’s our age, and he’s totally available!” Jessica snorted, 

“No thank you, I have no interest in having a boyfriend, whatsoever.”

“Well doesn’t matter, I think you two would be a cute couple.” Jessica rolled her eyes, 

“You’re so annoying.”

“I know, but you love me.” 

Claire snapped her fingers, 

“How about I just add him into this call?” 

“I guess, it’ll be easier to communicate than messaging.” 

Claire squealed, 

“Yup, and plus you two can finally see each other face to face.”
Jessica rolled her eyes, at this point Claire was starting to annoy her.

A new face popped up on the video call, a boy resembling Claire with his blonde hair and hazel colored eyes, you could mistake them for siblings.

“Hey Jessica, nice to finally see you face to face.” he said with a smile. Jessica’s eyes widened, not only was he super good looking, but his voice was deeper than the ocean.
“Ni-nice to meet you too,” she stuttered. 

“You’re just as pretty as Claire said you were.” Jessica’s face began to heat up,
“Thank you . . .” Jessica looked at Claire, who’s mic was muted, and rolled her eyes, Claire was squealing. 

“Well, are you guys ready to take on this next dungeon?” Jason asked. 

“Obviously!” Jessica exclaimed. Claire turned her mic back on and nodded, 

“Yeah, let’s go kick some butt!” The three teenagers played for a few hours, before Jessica heard the front door open. 

“I have to go, my parents are home.” 

“Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Jessica signed off of the video call, and went downstairs to greet her parents. She took her parent’s coats and bags and stored them in the closet, then went back upstairs. She pulled out her phone, and had a text message from an unknown number. She opened the message and read it, it was from Jason, he was asking her if she wanted to meet up with him the next day at a local cafe. Jessica replied that she would, without even thinking. 

“It’s 8 o’clock?!” she exclaimed. She hadn’t realized that it had become so late, and decided to turn in for the night. The next morning, Jessica woke up with her phone on her face. She groaned and picked it up and checked the time. 

“Shoot, I’m meeting with Jason today!” 

She quickly rolled out of bed and hopped into the shower. After showering, she threw on a white tee-shirt and pastel pink skirt, and ran her fingers through her long, black hair. After looking in the mirror, she grabbed a small backpack, and stuffed her phone, wallet and keys into the bag. She ran down the stairs, and quickly shoved on a pair of sneakers. Her mom, who was in the kitchen, looked at her bewildered, 

“Where are you going in such a rush?” Jessica bit her lip, if her mom found out she was going to be alone with a boy, she would never be able to leave the house again. 

“I’m going to Claire’s house to work on our physics project.” she lied. Her mom raised an eyebrow, but walked back into the kitchen. Jessica let out a sigh of relief, and went out the door. Once she was in her car, she pulled up the cafe’s address on her GPS, then drove off. Upon her arrival at the cafe, she looked around for Jason. In the corner of the cafe, she saw him. A boy with blonde hair and hazel eyes. He looked up from his phone, and their eyes met. 

“Hey.”