The music started.
It was time for the cosplayers.
Chad had already gotten his girl, so he didn’t
really care.
But his teammates were yelling, “[Dude, isn’t
that Valkyrie dressed as the main character?
She’s at the event!]”
“[She looks even better in person!]”
“[Why didn’t she tell us she was coming?]”
<
“[She probably wanted to surprise us!]”
Chad was stunned.
He had just been texting Valkyrie!
He looked up and saw the woman onstage,
the lights shining on her. It was the same
person in the photos.
14
The show went by quickly.
I was just thinking, I got my points! When the
lights went down, I rushed to the locker room
to change.
As soon as I got off the stage, I saw Chad
waiting for me.
<
He was peering around the door.
When he saw me, he smiled like a lovesick
puppy.
I just walked past him.
Then Chad, all dramatic, called, “Valkyrie!”
Me: ???
“What did you call me?”
I frowned, gathered my stuff, and asked
coldly.
Chad wasn’t listening. He just poured his
heart out. “Valkyrie, I can’t believe you came!
You wanted to surprise me, huh? It’s too bad I
only got second place. I was so distracted
<
when I saw that gross Liv before the match.
After this is over, I’m gonna mess with her at
your school. You said she had been bothering
you, right? I’ll get revenge. Valkyrie, you said
you were gonna be my girlfriend…”
I didn’t understand anything he was saying,
so I stopped him. “Hold up. I have no ideal
what you are talking about.”
Chad finally calmed down. “What?”
I said, “First of all, I’m not Valkyrie. I’m Liv,
you know, the girl you said was disgusting.
And I didn’t bother your Valkyrie. You don’t
need to get revenge for me. We were only
gaming buddies for a short time. We were
never together. Please get out of my way.”
Chad stood there, speechless.
<
It was like he was trying to process everything
I was saying.
I wasn’t going to wait for him. I grabbed my
phone and went to leave.
Just then, a bunch of messages came in.
I opened the phone and saw the nasty
messages.
Chad finally snapped back to reality.
He couldn’t believe it. “So, you’re not
Valkyrie. You’re Liv. The person who’s #1 in
the beauty contest… is you…?”
I ignored him.
I zoomed in on the photo they had sent when
<
they said, “Look at Valkyrie! She’s gorgeous
and such a good gamer, you’re nothing
compared to her!”
I looked at the image for a few seconds, then
laughed. “So, Stacy used my picture to sign
up for the beauty contest so she could flaunt
it in my face?”
15
In that instant, Chad understood everything!
I saved the messages and evidence. I sent it
to my resident advisor, then looked up at
Chad. “I’m going to send all this to your
school. They’ll deal with your cyberbullying.”
I grabbed my things and was about to leave
when Chad grabbed my arm. “Valkyrie… I
<
wnen Cnad grabbed my arm. “valkyrie… I
mean, Liv, that’s not what I meant! I hated the
lard bucket, not you! I was tricked! I was a
victim too! Can we start over? Let me fix my
mistakes!”
I pulled my arm away, wrinkling my nose. “Fix
it? By mistreating Stacy? Oh, wait! You two
have been playing games together for weeks.
You’re so close. Can you really say mean
things to her?”
