Plugged In

Chapter One

Plugged In- because reality is boring. It was the perfect hook, appealing to the teens who had the exact same thought day in and day out. I was one of them.

Plugged In looked like any other game store from the outside; but on the inside, it was so much more. It had every game imaginable, in every genre anyone had ever heard of (and probably some that nobody had), for every audience all lined up neatly on the metal shelves. It was the perfect bait for someone who gamed as much as I did.

My life had gone to the dogs after my mother's death. My father had been laid off, so we lost our cozy home in the suburbs and were now living in the slums that they call apartments on the bad side of town. We woke to police sirens every morning and our door looked like a bank vault with it's eight complicated locks and deadbolt. Our neighbors were a couple in a very dysfunctional relationship who fought about everything from money issues to cheating to a sock left carelessly on the bedroom floor. No one was happy here, and my father and I were no exception. He turned to drinking to escape our newly abysmal reality. I turned to video games.

Odd choice, right? Well, don't get me wrong, it wasn't my first pick. I tried chocolate, which I had heard was the biggest stress reliever, but it got too expensive after some kind of labor strike in South America. I tried writing, but stopped once someone found my notebook and read it as an example to her English class the next day (thanks, Mrs. Wheeler). I even tried a cigarette once, but I apparently did it wrong, because the heaving and hacking that ensued was far less than enjoyable.

But one day when I was at the library trying out reading, I met a boy (no, it's not one of those stories). He was the strangest thing I had ever seen and still is, even after all I've been through. He just strolled into the wood-paneled lobby of the library, unaware or maybe just uncaring of the astonished stares he was receiving. It was easy to see why. He had bright blue hair (dyed of course), matching blue eyes, and was dressed in an orange wife-beater and baggy blue cargoes. He looked like something out of a comic book. As everyone in the main room turned to gawk at him, he made his way over to one of the computers, popped in a disk, and began playing a (very) loud video game. He was extremely animated while playing, leaning the way his character moved and groaning loudly every time he took a hit.

At some point, he noticed me watching over his shoulder and asked if I wanted to try it out. I insisted that he not stop playing on my account...that is, until he showed me the game's icon on the desktop next to him.

I created a profile, but the character creator confused me. I moved a variety of sliders and pressed a variety of buttons, but nothing I did could make the girl on screen look any better. He looked over and laughed at my pathetic attempt at an avatar (who, admittedly resembled a world-class body builder) and then offered to create one for me. After a few minutes in which he alternated between looking at my face and the screen, he had a character that looked exactly like me, down to the unique red-brown tone of my hair. I looked at him in disbelief and he just shrugged.

"You just get good at it after a while. I'll teach you how to use it later, I promise. But for now...what do you say we play with your look a bit?" he said grinning down at me mischievously.

"What?"

"Your character. She's a bit bland, don't you think? Part of the fun of this game is that you can be whoever you want to be. So, the question is, who do you want to be?"

I looked up at the strange boy hovering over my shoulders. What did he mean 'who do I want to be'? Was he giving me permission to lie about who I am? Or was he just asking what I want my character's personality to be? Did they even have personalities?

"How about a warrior princess? I bet you could handle a battle or two."

Oh.

With one click, he had the girl on screen clad head-to-toe in furs and armor that didn't really protect any vulnerable areas. Or anything but her shoulders and calves, really.

"She must be an exceptional warrior if she isn't dead yet. After all, I see a bunch of bare organs and arteries that should just have a big, red bulls-eye painted over them," I said, earning a surprised chuckle by my right ear.

"Alright, alright. Let's try...sorceress."

This time, she was clothed in a dress that came to her knee, but had a neckline that plunged to her waist and had slits that raced up her thigh. More clothed, but still unbelievably vulnerable. The boy saw the look on my face and clicked "Archer". This character, I liked. She was wearing pants that, although they were still skin-tight, covered her legs completely down to the knee. She wore a long sleeved green tunic with a laced-up neckline with a brown leather vest and matching leather braces on her forearms. The whole look was completed by a beautifully carved bow and a richly decorated quiver of arrows that had been slung over her left shoulder. I nodded, and the boy returned to his seat next to me.

"Alright, now you just type in a name and start playing," he said, moving his mouse to wake it back up.

I thought through a list of names. Amelia? No. Andrea? No. Something more unique, maybe. Possibly in a different language. Sieglinde? Svenja? Usei-Teywa? Nyx? Eventually, I gave up on my quest for the best name and just typed in my own name. I turned and found the boy looking at the screen.

"Coriander? It's different, but it suits you, I guess"

"Thanks."

He turned his brilliant blue eyes on me. "But can I ask you a question? Why did you name her after a spice?"

"I didn't. My mother named me after a spice."

"Oh," he said, turning an interesting shade of red. "Well, it does suit you. Sounds calming."

"Whatever you say," I said, rolling my eyes.

"If it makes you feel any better, my name is Aleckistov Maleel."

I strained to stifle a giggle. "Aleckistov?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want you to be deprived of oxygen because of your laughing, so call me Alec."

"Sure, but only if you call me Cori."

"Cori? I would've expected something more feminine, like Anna."

"Ugh. Anna's just so...normal. But I bet you don't have that problem," I said, sticking out my tongue.

"Ok, are we here to make fun of my name or to play some games?"

"Who's to say we can't do both?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Alright, then. Prepare to be defeated, Spice Girl."

"Whatever floats your boat, Lexi. Pick on the poor, defenseless newbie."

"Top left corner of the screen. Take the tutorial if you're going to complain about it."

"Maybe I will," I said, jabbing his shoulder with my elbow.

This was when he started singing. Terribly off-key. "'If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends! Make it last forever; friendship never ends!'"

"You know, it kind of frightens me that you know the song that well."

"Oh, you're just jealous."

"Of what? Your golden voice?"

"You shut up," he replied, lightly smacking me on the back of the head.

At this point, the librarian had gotten over the intial shock of well, Alec, and had come over to reprimand us for the noise. We promised to pipe it down (even though I think we all knew that wasn't happening) and returned to our game. He was really good at it and didn't mind having to teach me what everything did and what it meant. Within a few days of meeting up at the library, I was hooked.

That was the beginning of our whole crazy adventure.