The Good War Read online

  Caleb didn’t need to be a professional gamer. Writing the grant proposal and getting the Providia computers and fast connection was good for the eSports club and for the school and had been a challenge for him. Of course, it would also look good on his transcript, where his one glaring weakness was in sports.

  But despite what he’d accomplished, Caleb didn’t feel satisfied. The brief glimpse of school life through Zach’s eyes that afternoon was nagging at him. There was definitely more to Zach than the weird kid you saw in the halls walking backward or making bizarre noises. Caleb was surprised to discover that it bothered him that any kid had to be afraid to join a club, or to get on a bus. It was bad enough that every time they had a lockdown drill, they were reminded that the world was full of maniacs with semiautomatic weapons who might break into school and kill a bunch of students. Why should Zach, or any other kid, have to live in fear of the people who were already in school?

  * * *

  Crosby was psyched about the eSports club. He’d been playing The Good War for a couple of months and already knew the maps. He even knew a few lesser-known spots and glitches that would give his squad an advantage in the game. And having that advantage would make Gavin happy.

  When Crosby first got into TGW, he played against random gamers based on their Elo ratings. But over time he’d gotten to know some players and considered them friends. Now they squadded up when they saw each other online. They even had their own private Discord channel to chat. One guy he particularly liked had the handle 88Rising. He was a good listener.

  “My girlfriend’s annoying sister, Mary, came over for dinner,” Crosby told 88Rising that night. Crosby didn’t have a girlfriend. But 88Rising’s deep voice made Crosby think he was in his twenties, so Crosby pretended to be older. In reality, his aunt Mary had come over because Crosby’s mom was seriously ill. Aunt Mary was a nurse in Franklin, but three or four nights a week she drove a couple of hours to Ironville to cook dinner and help with his mom’s care.

  “Oh yeah? What’s the sister’s story, CrossBow?” 88Rising asked. CrossBow was Crosby’s handle.

  “She’s always going on about women’s rights, and how women are oppressed, and junk like that.”

  “Oh yeah, that type,” 88Rising said dismissively.

  “So during dinner I mentioned eSports,” Crosby said. “I mean, I was just making conversation, you know? But Mary instantly goes off. Like how can my girlfriend sit by while I play video games? Doesn’t she know gamers are all anti-women? Hasn’t she ever heard of Gamergate?”

  “Gamer what?” 88Rising said.

  “I didn’t know what it was, either,” Crosby said. “So I looked it up. It was this thing that happened years ago where some jerks got into a fight with a couple of female developers. It blew up because these guys called in fake terrorist threats on the women, and the police raided their houses.”

  “They swatted them?” 88Rising asked.

  “Yup,” Crosby said. “So some people started to think that male gamers were weirdos who spent most of their time attacking women.”

  “That’s lame, bro,” 88Rising said.

  “Right!” Crosby agreed. “But does my girlfriend defend me? No! She stares at me like, is that true? And I’m like, no way. And Mary goes, just wait. She tells my girlfriend that the longer I’m in that ‘misogynistic gaming culture’ the more chance there is that I’ll end up being a hard-core woman-hater.”

  Those were the exact words his aunt Mary had used.

  “Misogy…what?” 88Rising asked.

  “Yeah, right?” Crosby chuckled. That’s what he liked about 88Rising. He didn’t pretend to be a brainiac. He just wanted to play games and have fun. “So, the next thing I know, my girlfriend’s saying maybe I shouldn’t be gaming so much. Can you believe that?”

  That was actually what Crosby’s mother had said.

  “Hell yeah,” 88Rising said. “Welcome to the real world, CrossBow. Women, immigrants, minorities…they all want to blame white males for everything that’s wrong in their lives.”

  By now it was after midnight, and Crosby was wiped. He’d played nearly five hours of TGW, and his wrists were beginning to ache. He told 88Rising he was getting off and would be back tomorrow. 88Rising always signed off with RaHoWa 14/88, whatever that meant.

  Crosby crawled into bed. Even though his eyelids felt heavy, he found himself thinking about what had happened that day in geometry. Could Gavin really be the one who ratted on me? It killed Crosby to think that. He wanted Gavin to be his friend. He needed Gavin to be his friend. But if Gavin hadn’t told Ms. B about his plan to cheat, how had she known? Who else could have told her?

  Crosby fell asleep pondering that mystery. Nearly four hours later, in the middle of the night, he suddenly woke. The answer had come to him.

  MATCH TALLY

  GAVIN’S SQUAD: 3

  EMMA’S SQUAD: 0

  They were in tight quarters in TGW. As Emma crept past the gray concrete walls of the bunker, she could sense a shoot-out looming.

  “Careful,” Caleb cautioned. “This is a choke point. Not an easy angle to push.”

  “No prob, bro. I’m feelin’ good,” said Nathan. “Just got a new sight for my Springfield ’03.”

  “I’m in the bunker now,” Emma said into her headset. “Where are those guys?”

  “They just passed back through their spawn,” said Zach. “They’re headed for the stairs.”

  Emma felt a buzz of excitement as she joined the rest of the squad taking cover near the top of the stairs. The eSports club had competed three times over the past month, and so far, Gavin’s squad had won every match. But today they were tied at four rounds each. Going into this final clash, Emma felt that her squad had a chance to win.

  Just as Zach predicted, Gavin’s squad came up the stairs. “Here they come! We can close this game right now,” Nathan yelled into his headset.

  “Wait. Just wait,” Caleb, ever the cautious one, begged. But it was too late. Nathan began shooting, and the rest of them joined in blasting Gavin’s squad, who quickly dived for cover.

  “How is he not dead?” Emma heard Nathan yell.

  “Zach, why is your knife out?” Caleb cried.

  “Gotcha, ya Nazi bastids!” Nathan shouted so loud, it distorted in Emma’s headset.

  “Language, Nathan,” Ms. B warned. Normally the other squad couldn’t hear what they said online, but when Nathan got fired up, and shouted, everyone in the room could hear. And Nathan had good reason to be excited. He’d just clinched the round with an amazing triple kill! Emma’s squad won the match!

  Emma pulled off her headset, and she and her squad shared fist bumps and big grins. Even Zach joined in, with none of his usual jitters. Everyone patted Nathan on the back. Emma was especially pumped. Over the past month she had discovered that she really enjoyed being part of the squad. She’d been on teams before, like soccer and softball, but she always felt insignificant because she wasn’t a standout player. But on the eSports squad she was one of only four. Her play accounted for one quarter of the team’s effort. And being captain gave her role even more importance.

  Meanwhile, across the table, Gavin’s squad leaned back in their chairs, pulled off their headsets, and looked grumpy.

  “You know, my brother says they weren’t Nazis,” Mackenzie said sourly. Today Emma’s squad had been the Allies and Gavin’s were the Axis.

  “Come again?” Emma said. Mackenzie’s comment seemed to come out of nowhere. Almost. Knowing Mackenzie, she always had to have the last word.

  “We were talking about it,” Mackenzie went on. “When you’re the Axis side, you’re the Wehrmacht. The German army. They weren’t the same as the Nazis. They weren’t trying to wipe out all the Jews. They were just doing their duty. You really should be more careful about who you call a Nazi.”

 
Emma’s squad fell silent. No one knew how to respond. But it felt like their triumph had been muted. Mackenzie smiled. It seemed to Emma that if Mackenzie’s side couldn’t win the match, the next best thing was to make sure the other squad didn’t get to enjoy their victory.

  As captain of her squad, Emma wanted her players to feel good. She wished she could think of something to say to retaliate. But even if she did, she doubted she’d say it. Mackenzie was just an okay gamer. Emma was better. But she still felt intimidated by Mackenzie, and by Isabella, who’d dropped out of the club after the first week. Emma was still afraid of the hurtful things they might say if she got on their radar. She might have been squad captain, but once a match was over, she was still the same old anxious Emma.

  * * *

  Because the seventh grade wouldn’t study European history until next year, they hadn’t covered World War II in any detail. So it was curious to Ms. B to hear what the members of the club had learned or heard outside of school. She was surprised today when Mackenzie lectured the others on the difference between the German soldiers and the Nazis. Ms. B wasn’t sure about that, and would have to check. Still, she thought Principal Summers would be pleased to learn that there was an educational aspect to the eSports club.

  But that wasn’t the only good news Ms. B planned to share with the principal. At lunch in the teachers’ room today, Mr. Parnes, who taught language arts, announced that he’d been nominated to thank her. Ms. B had looked up from her Tupperware container of chopped brussels sprouts and kale. “You’re welcome, Mr. Parnes. But for what?”

  “The change in Zach Cook,” said Mr. Parnes. He was a gaunt, stooped fellow whose entire wardrobe consisted of plaid shirts and khakis. Shakespeare was his passion, and each year he directed the school play.

  “It’s not like he’s suddenly become a model student,” added Ms. Orlean, who taught social studies. “But we’ve all noticed a change for the better.”

  “You’ve given him the opportunity to stand out,” Mr. Parnes said.

  “In a good way, for once,” added Ms. Orlean, who had brown bangs and loved to deliver short sarcastic quips.

  Ms. B was aware of the improvement in Zach’s behavior. He wasn’t acting quite as squirrelly or remote as before. But she hadn’t said anything to anyone. She’d been waiting for someone else to notice. And now they had.

  * * *

  The truth was, Caleb had expected to lose again today. Luckily, Nathan finished the deciding round with a spectacular triple kill. But what truly surprised Caleb was something that he doubted anyone else on the squad had noticed: Zach had set that triple kill up for Nathan.

  Now he and Zach were walking away from school. Leaving together after the eSports club had become a routine for them. It was a big change for Caleb, who usually felt he had to hurry home to do homework and chores. But he was glad not to be taking the late bus. For the past month, Crosby had gone out of his way to give Caleb the evil eye. Is it just because we’re on opposing squads? Or is it something more? Caleb wondered.

  Crosby’s animosity seemed out of proportion, especially since, until today, his squad had won all their matches. The only other explanation for Crosby’s hostility was that somehow he had figured out that Caleb was one of the two people who’d told Ms. B about his plan to cheat on the geometry test. But how? The only person Caleb told was Ms. B. And she had no reason to tell Crosby, right?

  Anyway, Caleb had to admit that it was no fun being the target of Crosby’s glares and sneers. Lately, every time Caleb saw Crosby, he felt tense and wary. It was hard for Caleb to imagine what it must have been like for Zach, who’d been going through that kind of torment from guys like Crosby for years.

  But as he and Zach walked away from school, Caleb had other things on his mind. “That last round today?” he said. “The one we needed for the win? How’d you know Gavin’s squad was working their way back through the spawn?”

  “After nearly forty rounds against those guys you kind of know the way they think,” Zach said.

  “And when they came up the stairs at the end, you stepped out right in front of them,” Caleb said. “You knew they’d see you. You made yourself a target so they wouldn’t notice Nathan.”

  “I was super low on HPs,” Zach said.

  Caleb eyed Zach. “But how’d you know Nathan would get a triple kill?”

  “I knew it was a possibility,” Zach said. “He had the bazooka as his alternate weapon.”

  Caleb nearly stopped in his tracks. “You keep track of everyone’s full load out?”

  Zach quietly nodded.

  He knew Nathan had the necessary firepower for the triple kill, and he sacrificed himself to give him the shot, Caleb thought. That was definitely something a lot of other gamers wouldn’t do. Nathan would never sacrifice himself. He was too focused on racking up kills. Even more interesting to Caleb was that Zach seemed to know so much about what was going on in the game, and yet he went out of his way to hide his skills. It was like Zach became a different person during a match. Who could have guessed that there was this whole other side to him?

  Just as he had every other time they walked home after a match, Zach stopped by the old stone wall and dropped his skateboard to the road. “See ya tomorrow,” he said to Caleb, and then pushed off. Caleb wondered why Zach never let him go farther than that spot. What else was he hiding?

  * * *

  “See?” Mrs. Crane said with a big “I’m so proud of you” smile after Nathan told her how he sealed the Allied win that afternoon with a rare triple kill. He also told her that he was the best gamer on the squad.

  “Always knew all those hours playing video games would pay off,” Nathan teased.

  His mother’s proud smile slowly turned into a smirk.

  “That’s right, Mom,” Nathan said. “The thing you always complained I did too much of is the thing I finally like about that stupid school.”

  Not that enjoying the eSports club was enough to let Nathan forgive his mom for forcing him to leave his friends and move halfway across the country to this two-stoplight dump of a town. Back when they first moved, he loved how his mother kept saying, “Don’t worry, Nate, you’ll make new friends.” Yeah, right! Like making friends is the easiest thing in the world. “Just smile and introduce yourself,” she said. Sure, Mom, he thought. Introduce himself to who? Know who wants to be your friend when you’re a new kid at school? Losers, that’s who.

  His mother didn’t understand that it wasn’t only about making new friends. It was about having to reestablish himself. He hadn’t lost just his old friends when he and his mom moved to Ironville. He’d lost his place, his position. He’d been popular at his old school. A winner. Someone who got invited to do stuff. Someone kids wanted to sit with at lunch.

  Now he had to begin all over again. He’d even had to start playing a new video game. For the past month he’d grinded TGW each night. It finally paid off today with that triple kill and his squad’s win.

  But as far as Nathan was concerned, this was just the first step toward a much bigger goal. The problem with the eSports club was that there was no one in it he really wanted to be friends with. Caleb seemed pretty smart, but he was too buttoned-up and goody-two-shoes for Nathan’s taste. The captain of the squad, Emma, was okay, but outside of the club she could be really quiet and withdrawn….Definitely not one of the popular kids. And the weird guy, Zach? Nathan had canceled him the second he’d laid eyes on him.

  As far as the kids on the other squad, Crosby was just a clinger-on to Gavin, who struck Nathan as the last guy you’d want to meet in a dark alley. Tyler was too much of a joker to be able to tolerate for long. And that left Mackenzie, who was both stylish and mean enough to be popular but somehow didn’t appear to connect with the girls Nathan had identified as the red-hot core of the seventh-grade social scene. Girls like Bethany Willis and Tanisha Proctor, who Nath
an knew only by sight for now but who he would have to get to know better if he ever hoped to get where he wanted to go. At best, the eSports club was only a start, and little more than the first tiny rung up a long, long ladder.

  * * *

  One of the things Emma both liked and disliked about herself was her need to know. In one way she was proud that whenever there was a question about something she didn’t know, she felt compelled to look it up. But it could be annoying, too. Especially with questions to which there were no obvious answers. Like, where had life come from? And how did the universe begin? And why were some girls, like her, stuck with dry, thin, curly hair? And was there anything she could do to become less anxious and more self-assured and outgoing? Maybe the answer to the last question was: stop being such a nerd and always looking things up!

  But tonight, Emma couldn’t help herself. She was researching Nazis. Everybody knew the Nazis were bad. Everyone knew that Adolf Hitler had been their leader and that the Nazis had killed millions of Jewish people during World War II. But now that she was looking online, it was confusing. Every source had a different estimate. Had 11 million people been killed? Or 17 million or 21 million? If roughly 6 million of those killed were Jewish, who were the others? And why had they been killed?

  She paused in her research when the rest of the squad got online to discuss that day’s match. During the past month they’d had a follow-up discussion after each match, and Emma had begun to see a pattern. Zach was almost always silent. Nathan talked a lot, usually about how great he was and where his squad mates needed improvement. It could be annoying, but Nathan was their best shot, so they put up with him.

  That night, Emma half listened while Nathan recounted in minute detail how he’d pulled off the triple kill. It became obvious to her that Caleb was only half listening, too, because in the middle of Nathan’s self-congratulatory ramble, he texted her: Zach set up that triple kill.