The halls of Westbrook High were a battlefield, but not the kind Principal Grimes understood. His war was against TikTok, vaping in the bathrooms, and the omnipresent scourge of online gaming. His latest executive order had been swift and brutal: all gaming websites were firewalled. No [site name redacted]. No [another site name redacted]. And definitely, definitely no Shell Shockers.
“See?” Leo said. “Teamwork. Spatial reasoning. Rapid decision-making under pressure.”
Leo took a deep breath. He looked at Maya, then at Derek. The game was still live. His egg was about to land in a pool of hot sauce. He could surrender, close the laptop, and accept the detention slip. Or he could go down fighting.
Leo, Maya, and Derek stared, mouths agape.
“What do we have here?” he boomed, though he kept his voice to a library-appropriate boom.