Game On!

The Beginning of the End

The end of life as I knew it started on a typical Tuesday. The day started with Jackson McNeil screaming and riding his skateboard down the senior's hall, to which I had a front-row seat from inside Mr. Brown's homeroom.

"Wow, even as a senior, he's still so... him." I turned around with a bright smile and greeted my boyfriend, Shaz.

"Hey, when'd you get here?" I asked. 

He shrugged, lifted his helmet, and grinned. "A few minutes ago. Whatcha working on, Princess?" he asked and leaned in to stare at my laptop screen. I turned it toward him so he could see.

"Mmm, this seems very complicated and like I might puke if I keep looking at it," Shaz commented and sat at his desk behind me.

For the past few weeks, I've been coding a game in hopes of impressing my future college game dev club. Even though I got accepted to East Atlantic University, getting into this club was rigorous, and being a team lead was even harder. I heard rumors from my cousin's boyfriend that their game dev club was the hardest to get into out of all the universities on the East Coast.

"It's not as bad as it seems. I can't wait to wow the prez with this project." I turned to Shaz, then said, "I can't wait to spend four more years going to school with you." Shaz and I got extremely lucky in that we both wanted to major in STEM in college. Even better, we applied to the same school, one that happened to be the most prestigious in the country, and we both got in.

"Yeah Nalu, it'll be fun going on study dates and stuff together," he said.

I tilted my head to the side. "Are you mad at me or something? You never call me that nickname," I teased. Or worse, was he not excited to spend more time with me?

Shaz stared at me for a moment with a blank expression before he said, "Of course I'm not. Just wanted to call you by your name."

I furrowed my brows. Before I had the chance to respond, the teacher cleared his throat and started to do roll call. Mr. Brown was the stereotypical coach who was a part-time teacher only because he had to. Budget cuts in schools were brutal this time of year. When he got to my name, I was so distracted thinking about Shaz's response that he had to call my name again.

"Sorry, here," I said and continued to think. Did I do anything to piss him off? Not that I'd ever seen him angry, but... it felt like I did do something. Graduation was in a week... maybe he was just stressed?

After Mr. Brown announced that we'd be working on our projects today in our groups, he let us split off and do our own thing. I turned around and gave a half-smile to Shaz. He returned it, and we worked in silence for about ten minutes before I decided to break the awkward ice sheet hovering over us.

"But why?" I whispered. Shaz glanced up at me, and his brown eyes landed on mine. He just looked confused. "Why did you want to call me by my name? You never do unless you're mad at me."

Shaz blinked a few times, then cleared his throat. "I don't know, Nalini. I just-"

"There it is again," I pointed out. Shaz's eyes dropped to his keyboard. When he looked back up at me, he seemed... annoyed. And frustrated.

"Why are you being like this? I'm just saying your name. Let's not do this here." He gestured at everyone around us talking, laughing, and working in their groups.

"It's just unlike you. Like, imagine if I called you Sharaz instead of 'babe' or 'love.' Doesn't that sound weird?"

"No. It just sounds like my name. Can we please just work on this project? I don't want to fight with you on this," he pleaded. After a few seconds, I nodded.