It's Just a Game

"How can you even watch that crap? It's disgusting."

"That's the point." My little brother was sprawled out on our sofa, eyes glued to the projection monitor. Two people were clothed in metal armor, riding beautiful horses and bearing long sticks. They looked foolish to me.

"What are they even doing?"

"They're jousting. They explained it at the beginning of the show. It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, though. Basically, the two opponents have ride the horses at one another with weaponless rods and try to impale one another or knock them off their horse. Haven't you seen this one before? It's a rerun."

"I don't watch it, Joshua, and you know it." I snapped. Personally I thought that he was too young to be watching it. It's one thing to watch old movies of people dying, because those were actors, but these were real people.

Charlie tugged on my hand, "Come on, Rosie. You've got homework and you know you can't focus when you get all worked up."

We took the lift to my bedroom and set up our portable chemistry set. I pulled some test tubed from my purse and handed them to Charlie. "I can't believe people would watch that. It's practically torture."

"I know what you mean." He replied, mixing some chemicals. "I still watch it with my older brother, though. You never know if you're gonna be picked." His uncle had been selected for the Match show. That was a few years ago and we haven't seen him since he left. I guess they just hadn't found his perfect match yet. Still, he hadn't made an appearance on the show in a few seasons. "Especially with the Game. They don't' always explain the challenges the players have face to the contestants. You need to know the possibilities."

"Charlie, the probability of one of us being chosen is slim to none."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what the other contestants said before they were chosen."

He made a very valid point.

I pulled a big stack of papers out of my backpack, along with a pen, and started to work.

"Are those English essays?"

"Yeah, Mr. Vaeda is going to visit his oldest daughter tonight, so I told him I'd give him a hand with the grading." I blushed, refusing to make eye contact.

"You would do anything for that man, wouldn't you?" He laughed.

"Hey, it's for me! This is great experience, since I'm going to be an English teacher, too." I defended.

"You are so adorable." He teased, kissing my red cheek. He always teased me for having a teacher crush. It's not like he had anything to worry about anyway, Mr. Vaeda didn't reciprocate my feelings. Plus I loved Charlie. We'd been friends for a few years and it just grew into something more; however, that didn't mean I couldn't simply admirer Jon Vaeda.

Smoke rose from the bubbling chemicals contained by the glass tube that Charlie left in his hand. Along with being a mathlete and head of the debate club, Charlie excelled at chemistry. His cool blue eyes followed his pen while he recorded the reaction. When he looked at me he got a big cheesy smile on his face, like he always did. I pushed his wire-rimmed glasses back onto the bridge of his nose and tucked a blonde curl behind his ear. "Keep working, Geek." I giggled.

That was probable the best thing about him: He could always make me smile.