“Well, that was a bust.” He remarked to his friend Steve in the cafeteria. “I’ll be lucky to scrape by with a C.” Either way, it was his last time eating here.

“You should believe in yourself more bro,” Steve said. “It’s possible you did better than you think.” Steve, he had met in an elective class on video games. They had been friends ever since, but Steve was a much better student than Arthur was. He was always trying to look on the bright side of things, something which Arthur knew he had to improve on.

“Maybe you’re right.” He responded just as Lindsey joined them, uninvited.

She sat her tray down across from them on the circular cafeteria table. “Hey, guys. How’d you do on the test Arthur?”

“Terrible.” He replied moodily. He wasn’t up for more cheer.

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad… now I did badly. I barely had time to study at all. Some of the questions were not what I predicted in the least! I hope the professor will go easy on us…” She had a way of rambling which drove Arthur crazy.

“You know what,” he started to say. “It doesn’t matter. I did, however, get to the end of Defenders last night.” He bragged. “I’m now, number two in the world.” He smiled. Of course, he didn’t like being number two of anything, but he wasn’t going to humblebrag like Lindsey.

“Wow! That’s awesome,” Steve said. Genuinely impressed. “I can never make it past stage fifty-six.”

“You can spend so much time on your game but not on studies?” Lindsey started to break out of her normally upbeat facade. “I’ve played Defenders too, everyone has, but I also make sure to pass my classes.”

Arthur couldn’t help but smile a bit at her indignation. “But are you in the top 10?”

“Will you be able to get a degree with that?” She returned the retort.

“What good are degrees nowadays anyways?” He answered.

“You know what, I can’t even talk to you.” She picked up her tray, “I was trying to be nice Arthur, but you really are a dropout.” And with that, he marched off.

“You know,” Steve said, unphased by the argument. “They’re talking that maybe the company behind Defenders will make a PvP version. Maybe you could go pro.”

Arthur nodded, feeling slightly guilty for making Lindsey upset… PvP, or player vs. player, however, would be ideal for a pro career. He’s thought about streaming online before but never got around to it. Right now he played just because he liked it. Who knows if there even would be a PvP mode though. The company that created Defenders was super secretive, they had one small office in California, but only select members of the press were allowed to interview a single PR representative. Even then, no one knew the developers, members of the team, or even the founders were all a complete mystery. Usually, a smash hit for an indy studio would put them on the map. Founder and team members would be rushing to do interviews, but not Defense games. Somehow and for whatever reason, they chose to remain quiet.

Having finished his meal, Arthur said his goodbyes to Steve, with the promise they’d meet up later in the week and took off for home. He had work that evening, but he could get a bit of rest first before that.