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Chapter 4

After a short minute, we had figured it was a weird power surge through the outlet my laptop was plugged into that had cause it to burn out. We checked to see if there was another room left for us to use, but they were all full. The windows in the room don't open, so we couldn't air out the room. After having my best laptop turn into a grenade, I was through with playing anyways. While we were packing our equipment, I caught Linda looking at me from across the room. Her hair was over her left eye. She had a small frown.

I knew what that meant. "Let's talk."

"John, you go ahead and head on home. I'm gonna buy another coffee."

"After your gaming laptop just went Nagasaki, I don't blame you. See you later."

After Lin and Roy had left, it was just us.

"Ice cream?" Linda asked.

"Why not?"

After apologizing for the outlet blowout and leaving the cafe, we took a short walk down the sidewalk to a small ice cream shop called Marshmellows. Yes, I know it's not spelled right. That's how they spelled it. Buzz off with your internal auto correct.

It was just after lunchtime, so I bought a tuna sandwich and some tea. Even though I knew the sandwich was delicious, I barely made a dent in it. Linda touched it with her fork.

"Don't worry, it's not alive," she said.

"I wouldn't be surprised," I said.

She put her fork down. "You'll eat when you start feeling better. And it'll make you feel better if you talk to me."

"Was it that noticeable?"

"You were basically screaming it. At first, it was only a little, but after your laptop overdosed on power, it was clear as day something was up."

I pulled a piece of sandwich off and popped it in my mouth.

"Is it about the game yesterday? I wasn't there, but talk in the cafeteria goes around quick."

"I had it. The goal was literally in my hand. I don't know what happened."

I picked up my fork and peeled off another piece. I popped it in my mouth.

"Did you hesitate?"

"Oh, no," I said, waving my fork when I spoke. "I don't usually choke when I have to make a shot."

She took a sip from her strawberry milkshake. "It was a pretty important shot though."

"Everyone was counting on me, but I didn't really feel nervous. I was super hopeful. Almost ecstatic. Until Bradley crashed. Then the coach thought I was the one who should take the two shots. After that, it's pretty much a blur. Only it wasn't."

"You're going in circles. What are you trying to say?"

I looked her in the eyes.

"I made that second shot. I saw it go in the basket. But it didn't take."

"You... made the shot?"

"It was a clean swoosh. The perfect arc. I saw the video footage on Facebook. That's not what I saw. I scored that point. We should have won that game."

She squinted her eyes at me intensely.

"That's not what happened, but... you're really sure of what you saw."

"I know I wasn't imagining it. I know I made it."

She looked at me for another moment.

"In your eyes, that's your truth. But to everyone else, it's a lie."