Lexy Andrews

The Man In Black

"Dana! I figured it out! It took me all night and I barely slept but I finally figured it out." Lexy said, breathlessly running down the hallway.

Dana shut her locker door and brushed some stray pieces of hair behind her ears.

"Woah slow down, what did you figure out?" She asked.

"How to get through the next round of G&G, duh! Let's skip first period. We can play it under the bleachers-"

Dana laughed and turned on her heels to walk down the hallway. "Lexy, we're not cutting class to play the game."

Lexy huffed. "Dana come on! This quest is what's gonna get me to level three of the game. You said yourself, that's remarkable for someone who's only been playing a few weeks."

Dana looked at Lexy like a mother would look at a child with their hand in the cookie jar.

"I know how bad you want this but I have a test first period. We'll play at lunch."

Lexy nodded reluctantly, pulling her sweater tighter around her. "I'll see you at lunch then." Not having much else to say to her gaming buddy, she left her alone outside her classroom and went get her own books from her locker.

Since her friends betrayed her and lied to her about Archie, she had turned to Gryphons and Gargoyles. At first, it was just something to distract her. But weeks started passing and she eventually realized that it was more than that. It was a sort of coping mechanism.

She had to put all this extra time somewhere, why not G&G?

"Why so glum, Andrews?" Lexy felt someone nudge her arm. She glanced to her right to see Greg, one of the boys she played the game with.

"I want to start the next round but Dana won't let me play until lunch. It's easy for her to limit my game time, she's already on level four!"

"She's been playing for months. It's kinda normal for you to not be on the same level." Greg shrugged.

"But I wanna be. I could be on level three right now. You think she's threatened by me?"

Greg laughed. It slightly scared her, considering she had never heard it before. Greg and her didn't really talk outside of G&G, and when they did, he was usually very serious.

"She's not threatened. She just has a big math test." He said.

"Well I don't. How am I supposed to focus on the works of Shakespeare when I could be sailing through the next round?" Lexy stopped at her locker and put in the combination.

"Why don't you just play on your own?"

The idea was intriguing. She almost considered it too.

"I can't. I don't even really know how to play on my own."

"Fair point." Just then the bell went. "I better go. I'll see you at lunch."

Lexy watched everyone make their way to their classes. She couldn't stand the thought of going to her own. "Wait, Greg!"

The boy turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What?"