Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 5 - Rules of the Game - IV

  The next day, Natalie took her advice.

  As lunch rolled around, she almost started walking out to South Hall, but the thought of spending another meal totally alone and worrying every time the bathroom door opened pushed her to turn around. Natalie walked right up to the cafeteria doorway and stepped in, expecting the worst. She waited for every head to swivel toward her, the hundreds of kids watching her every move as she finally tried to rejoin the student body.

  No one even noticed. The bustle of the cafeteria continued as if she wasn't there.

  Natalie took a few nervous steps inside. A couple heads briefly turned, but after a curious glance or two, they returned to their friends and their food. No one really cared. She scanned the room for Blake and her friends, but they were nowhere to be seen—or Natalie might have expected a bit more fanfare.

  To her great relief, Quinn was there, along with most of his 'Glasses Club', seated at one of the far tables against the walls. Natalie made her way across the room and approached them. Steven was leaning up against the wall, watching Quinn and Tyler playing a card game. Natalie didn't recognize it. As she approached, Steven sat up straight, waving her over.

  "Hey, Jenny!"

  Quinn looked up. Natalie shrunk slightly away, but he just gave her a little wave before focusing back on his game. His eyes were so narrow and focused, she didn't want to interrupt. She nearly took a step away.

  "Come on, sit down over here," Steven added, pointing at the spot across from him. Natalie reluctantly walked up and took the spot, grateful it was against the wall. She didn't need to worry about anyone behind her.

  "Hi."

  "Hi." Steven grinned. "Don't try to talk to them. They're in the zone."

  "They are?" Now she really felt nervous. Should she leave?

  "Well, Quinn is. This is the closest he's ever been to beating Tyler and he's really into it." Steven pointed down at the cards. "He just needs one more good attack and he wins, but Tyler's defense is like a fortress."

  "Where the heck did you get this draft?" Tyler muttered. "It sucks."

  Quinn didn't answer, flicking through his hand of cards. Natalie tried to figure out what was going on just from context clues, but the numbers and symbols on the cards were pretty meaningless without a rulebook or anything else to explain them. The artwork was something though—a lot of cool fantasy images like dragons and knights and wizards. One card on each side stood out, with much more fancy artwork (and a lot more text) than the rest.

  Tyler's card depicted a knight in full plate armor and a humongous sword planted in the ground. Like his card, Tyler was sitting stock still and staring straight forward, waiting for his opponent to move. Between them lay a wide array of cards, pressed up against each other as if they were fighting. Knights and creatures and rock monsters and all sorts of other things, though they didn't look as heroic and strong as the main card back in Tyler's area. As Natalie followed them across, she found the knight's equal on Quinn's side, facing away from her.

  Her mouth fell open slightly. Quinn's card showed a young elf woman in full hunting gear with bow and arrow, riding atop a huge grey wolf and with a ball of fire immersing one hand. In fact, it was almost exactly like Natalie sometimes pictured herself when she was thinking about Gwen—if she were a bit older, a lot prettier, and with wavy golden hair and striking lavender eyes instead of plain old brown for both.