Extra Ordinary

21.

Lore: @extra_ordinary shithead, didn't even tell us ur in a contest livestream

Chip: And he wouldn't even voice chat with us and puts his account on hiatus. Im hurt

Marius: how could you :'''(

Extra_ordinary: Stop whining ok :')

Extra_ordinary: I'm gonna be back online after this is over. With voice chats

Marius: you better. squirt. 

Extra_ordinary: Oi. I'm regular height. that interviewer is just tall

I slipped my phone back in my pocket, while Marius was undoubtedly insulting my average height some more. But we wouldn't be ourselves if we weren't talking shit about each other all the time. 

Them knowing my face hadn't changed anything. They were still the same as always, and it gave me some sense of hope. Things were going okay. Not great, but okay. 

I'd been playing it extremely safe this tournament. After all, if I used unorthodox weapons or took stupid risks like I did online, chances were I could wave my gaming computer goodbye. 

The duller but more stable strategies had to do. Even if some viewers complained I wasn't putting up enough of a show. 

Rolf had made one attempt to distract me, simply by standing behind me and looking while I played. He'd had made me sweat for a few minutes, but quickly got told to take more distance from the currently in-game players by a staff member. I saw him talking with an official later. 

I tried my best to ignore Rolf, but was always aware of where he was. It was a constant distraction but I, unsurprisingly according to the other players hanging around, made it to the stage. 

Even so, I found my eyes darting to Rolf while I was watching an ongoing match on the tv screen in the lobby.

There'd been some recaps of my gameplay during the break, but there was still no word from Asa or Cindy. 

A contest official marched my way.

"Extra Ordinary? You're up after the current match," he warned me. "I'll call you when it's time to go downstairs." 

"Okay, uh, thanks." 

An icy-hot surge of nerves shot through by body, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Behind closed doors was all fine and dandy, but the stage? That scared me. 

"Hey, you got this." A friendly older guy who went by the username Paradox slapped my arm with the back of his hand. He smiled. "Your stats are way better than anyone's here."

I tentatively returned his smile. "Thanks," I said again, this time more sincere.

Paradox's nose suddenly wrinkled as he looked at something behind me. "Oh, fuck, they're back again. Is this really necessary?" 

Paradox promptly jumped up and hurried to the drink stand while I turned in my seat and saw the camera crew. 

"Oh crap," I muttered under my breath when the crew spotted me too. They made a beeline for me, cornering me before I could do anything.  

Okay. It's just part of the show. What does it matter now? Your face has already been on screen anyway. 

"Extra Ordinary!" The interview guy greeted me. "Or, Gabriel, as that's your real name. Congratulations, you made it to the next round. As expected, honestly. How is the day going so far?" 

"I can't complain," I replied with a fake, trembling smile. "I wasn't at my best. Mistaking debris in space for another player and giving away my position was unfortunate -  lost some valuable points there. But hey, I made it to the next round."