Just Devin

"Oh, come on!" The boy shouted, anxiously.

The motorcycle was fast and he just had to shoot it one more time. One more time and he would end it. One more shoot and he would be the winner.

The lights of the arena were messing with his vision. It was not exactly blurry, but it was getting hard to focus. He had to concentrate, otherwise, he was going to miss the one chance!

The trigger was pulled and the bullet was in the air. It was like everything was slow motion. The player's heart was beating fast, he could hear it. The decisive moment.

The motorcycle skidded the dark floor, then overturned. The driver was underneath it, and when it stopped after hitting the invisible wall, nothing else moved for a few moments.

The audience screamed madly, applauding and getting to their feet.

"Dark Knight! Dark Knight!" They screamed and the player smiled. He won. He won!

"Turn that thing off and get ready for school!"

Everything went frozen. His mother just called him, and he knew she was not gonna call for him again. Next time, it would be his stepfather. Better not take chances.

Devin got back to reality and took off his reality glasses.

It was almost seven in the morning. He didn't even see time passing by. That was, definitely, a thought level.

David yawned and got up from his chair, heading to the bathroom, where he took a quick shower before going downstairs. He would probably get his sandwich inside the lunch bag and start to eat while waiting for the bus. Just like the day before. And the day before that. After spending the night playing, he would always be famished.

When he was entering the kitchen, his mother was fully dressed, putting his lunch in the bag.

"Oh, I'll take you to school today." She smiled.

"Okay." He answered. His mother was very nice, but Jason wasn't. His stepfather didn't like to be questioned and, if Devin asked 'why not the bus today?', he would probably be scolded. If he was lucky.

"Jason had to go earlier to the company, so, I thought you and I could enjoy this little time together." She smiled brightly at him and put his cereal bowl on the table, pushing it to him.

Carolyn lost her husband when she was pregnant. And it was thought for her to raise a child on her own. Her parents had passed away by time and when Jason came to her life, she was more than happy to accept him. And Devin understood why his mother was so attached to the man, to the point of being blind by how he treated her kid.

When he finished eating, in less than ten minutes, each got their own bags and went to the car. Since Jason was not there, Devin could sit in the passenger's seat beside his mother.

"You'll get back by bus, ok?" Carolyn told Devin while parking and he just nodded, getting out of the car as soon as it came to a stop.

He watched the car disappear, but when he turned around, he bumped into something, or better, someone.

"Look who's here. Shithead!"

The blond, tall, bully guy, with his face full of tennagers acne. He was looking at Devin with a malicious grin..

Devin didn't reply, just adjusted his glasses and tried to pass by Trevor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Trevor asked, blocking Devin's way. "Your mama is a beauty, huh?"

That was it. Devin could take a lot, but not someone messing with his mother.. Without a word, he just punched Trevor in the face. Then, caos descended.

"I can't believe it!" The school's principal, Mr. Barns, said. He was looking from a nose bleeding Trevor to a purple-almost-closed-eye Devin.

"He started!" Trevor said. "You can ask around, sir."

"Devin?" Mr. Barns asked the boy, who looked back at him with his green eyes, or better, eye, and shook his head from one side to the other.

"He talked about mama." Devin answered.

"I see." The principal sighed.

"Wait. You are going to believe him, sir, and not me?"

Mr. Barns looked at Trevor with a face.

"Mr. Steel, please, I have known you for a while now, since you studied in my school for what, fourteen years, now? Don't take me as a fool, boy."

Trevor looked down. He glanced at Devin, who saw it, and gulped. Devin knew it would cost him a lot for talking back, for talking in his own defense against Trevor Steel.

"Devin, go to the infirmary and then, right to classes; Trevor, you'll stay here a while longer."

"Yes, sir." Both boys said and Devin got up and went to the infirmary.

He hated school. Trevor had been making his life miserable since they were in kindergarten. But then, two years ago, Devin finally found something he was good at: games.

Not just any games: reality games.

In that school, Devin was a nobody. He was not smart enough to be considered a nerd; he was not cool enough to walk with the cool kids; he was not handsome enough to be popular; he was not eccentric, or dramatic, or skilled in anything, to be part of any group in particular. He was Devin. Just Devin. Or 'shithead', as Trevor and a few others used to call him after the incident where they tried to drown him in the toilet.

He wished he could live in that digital world forever, where he was valued by his abilities. He had a place there.

Or, maybe, he could just leave Carbondale for good. The night before, he may have just found the opportunity to do that. Okay, he was a seventeen years old boy, but he would be of age very soon. He just had to have a few more bucks to be able to leave that city behind him. Maybe his mother would even go with him. The "Greatest Tournament of All Time 2022" was on!

Smiling, Devin got to his class. He knocked on the door and Mr. Shelby nodded in agreement, allowing him to enter. No teacher or anyone from staff would ever doubt Devin, or question him for being late. He was a model. And nobody would question why he did have a purple eye, for everyone knew Devin was one to 'have accidents' the whole time.

Devin sat on the back of the classroom and got his notebook from the backpack. He couldn't wait for the day to be over, so he could turn on his computer and, who knows… give the first step to his new life!