Level 2 || Alex Gaskarth a.u.

Chapter 3: spacenoodle182

The next couple of days are spent with Zack and I using most of our free time researching STW players that are fit to join our dream team; but finding someone to join our team turned out to be a tougher challenge than I had originally anticipated.

And, unfortunately for us, all of our fellow internet STW cronies seemed to be entering with other people because apparently, they're all determined to beat us once and for all (some friends they are).

On Sunday, we decided to hold tryouts online, stating that if anyone could beat Zack and I, we'd let them on the team--but it turned out that none of them could. Emails and emails of hate mail came in after each game we played, which was quite entertaining for us to read, but it wasn't very productive.

"We're at a dead end!" Zack had complained after we had defeated the tenth opponent in a row. "This is impossible! Like, more impossible than completing level sixteen of the Enchanted Forest without using the secret passage!"

"Don't lose faith. We still have a couple of days until Round One." I had said, but that was then, and now the days are running out, and as I'm sitting my polished floor of my spacious apartment, re-reading the monthly letter of complaint from my dad, a sinking feeling is settling in my chest.

The mug of tea in my hands has long turned cold, so I place it in front of my feet and curl my legs into mu chest, so that my chin can rest on my knees.

"Maybe dad's right." I sigh aloud to myself. As I expect, nobody answers, but for some reason, this little fact bothers me.

I close my eyes and try to picture an alternate universe where, perhaps, someone is sitting next to me, telling me irrelevant stories just to fill the empty space.

Sounds like something Alex would do for Reese.

"This is stupid." I say moodily, tearing up dad's letter and letting the pieces fall in front of my toes. "Alex is just a guy. Like Zack, like Jack, he's just him."

My words echo off the wall.

"I mean, why should I care that he has a girlfriend? It's not inconvenient for me." my voice feels small, like it's scared because it's trying to prove a point that doesn't exist.

"If we were supposed to be together, then we wouldn't have met at a time like this anyway." I say softly, my words becoming more and more reassuring.

"Timing is fate, and fate is timing."

I smile to myself, satisfied at my conclusion, but then my phone beeps, ruining the moment, and my cranky mood returns as I open the message.

z-man: ive found a third player. get over here now. :-)

"What?" I whisper, frowning as I re-read the message. He's found someone? How? We've spent hours together, trying to find someone, and suddenly it's a done task? This is betrayal!

Feeling steamed, I decide to call him to find out who the mystery player is, but it goes straight to voicemail, so I make the decision to get my ass over to his apartment to meet our new colleague (who probably won't be my colleague for much longer).

It's only polite, after all.

It takes me approximately ten minutes of reckless driving and two broken red traffic lights to get to Zack's apartment, and after going up two flights of stairs, I'm nearing the point of exhaustion as I tumble into the cluttered apartment, only to find Alex Gaskarth playing head-to-head with Zack while sitting on my red beanbag, using his very own gold STW controller (a rare revival of the original gold controller from 1992).