Chapter 4

“I’ve decided.”

In the end, I broke the deadlock. I held out my arm. “A sentence.”

“Nice! You’ve got guts.” Duan Fei gave me a thumbs-up.

Feng readied his equipment. “What sentence?”

“Study for the rise of China.”

Lai Xue and Duan Fei said together, “Huh?”

Feng’s hands stopped. He looked at me, put his tools down, and addressed them reproachfully. “What are you bringing a good schoolkid here for? She’s got ambitions. Don’t lead her astray.”

Lai Xue nudged me. “Pick something else. None of those grand slogans. Something you really feel.”

I lowered my head and thought. “Something I really feel… Then ‘I love my mom and dad.’”

“Oh, for—oh, honestly—”

Before I’d even finished, Lai Xue fled.

Duan Fei pulled a face, rubbed the goose bumps on his arm, and dragged me out after her.

Walking down the street, Lai Xue wouldn’t look at me. “Forget it. You might’ve inherited that loser’s genes and run off after one character too. I couldn’t live that down.”

“Who’s a loser? I didn’t make a sound when I got my dragon!”

Lai Xue rolled her eyes. “You’re so great? Then you pick where we go next. I’m out of ideas.”

“Easy.” Duan Fei pointed a short distance away. “Internet café. My happy place.”

“Great!” I skipped ahead.

They watched me with satisfaction. “Quick learner. Not bad at all.”

Once our computers were set up, I could barely contain my excitement. I stroked the keyboard and moved the mouse.

Normally, I only got to use a computer during IT at school. We had one lesson a week, and our homeroom teacher was always taking it over.

But I’d heard them clearly just now. They’d paid for three hours.

And they’d each booked a computer beside mine. Which meant the one in front of me was mine alone.

I was practically dizzy with happiness.

They discussed which game to start me on, talking across me.

They couldn’t agree.

Each thought the other’s favorite wasn’t any good.

“Your stupid game is for babies. Look at them, all little kids. And there you are, the one grown-up moron,” Lai Xue said.

“You don’t get it. It’s about nostalgia. Yours is the shallow one!”

…

After a long, inconclusive argument, they decided to let me choose.

They each opened their game and told me to watch, then pick whichever looked more fun.

With their pride on the line, both went all out, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Keyboards and mice clattered on either side of me. Quite the atmosphere.

“Won!” Duan Fei slapped his keyboard and leaped up, grinning. “What a rush!”

Lai Xue gave a scornful smile and took off her headset. “What’s so hard about winning a game? What matters is which one she likes.”

“Oh, right. Duan Qing, which…”

Duan Fei turned toward me, then forgot what he’d meant to ask.

Lai Xue looked over too. She studied my screen, then my rapt expression.

“What. Are. You. Playing?”

I stopped typing and excitedly pointed to the left half of the screen. “Word! I just typed out our reading passage from memory. This keyboard’s better than the ones at school. I can type so much faster.”

“…”

“…”

I pointed to the right. “And with PowerPoint, I can make really pretty things. Look at this animation. Isn’t it fun?”

They watched my demonstration in silence for a while, then leaned around me to whisper.

“What’s fun about it? Can you tell?”

“Is this… a single-player game?”

For the next two hours, we each did our own thing. But those two seemed less absorbed now, glancing over at me every so often.

Clearly, I’d picked the most interesting one.