But he did. Alex always did.
6. Volunteer to help at an Artist Alley booth that is definitely not yours. (35 points)
31. Post about your new favorite artist from Artist Alley on your social media. (31 points)
17
Alex
Alex rushed to catch up as Cat stormed ahead in a huff. Always so dramatic. He shook his head.
“You don’t care about the Quest at all, and I’m trying to help you get this big thing. I thought you would be grateful!” Cat said over her shoulder as she stormed down another aisle. Alex watched her cape swish back and forth behind her, like it was punctuating her point.
Well, her point sucked. Take that, cape.
“I’ve been working just as hard at the Quest as you have!” Alex shot back. How Cat could think otherwise was totally insulting to Alex. Hadn’t he won them the Hexforce Legends VR challenge? And even gone along with her horrible cheating plan?
Wait.
The cheating plan.
Cat’s horrible cheating!
Alex could feel the puzzle pieces sliding together in his head. It was like one of those slide puzzles he was really good at, except now he hated it. Alex stopped dead in front of a colorful booth almost ceiling high with weird drawings of anime girls. Cat didn’t notice at first and kept walking. She only turned back when she saw her brother wasn’t next to her anymore.
Alex watched her turn. Please don’t let this be true, Alex thought. Please, please, please.
“Cat,” he said slowly, “when you say you ‘lost’ our passes … did you ‘lose’ them … to Team Dangermaker?”
The words rang out into the din of the con and seemed to echo between the two siblings. There were a million noises around them—people laughing, artists chatting, videos blaring, the background roar of the con in full effect—but the only thing Alex could hear was Cat’s total and absolute silence.
It was deafening.
“Um.” Cat just swallowed and stood there, frozen. Alex didn’t move, either.
“Answer me, Cat.” He was being forceful now. That was something he could do. With Cat, at least.
“… Yeah.” She nodded, looking at the ground. That was usually Alex’s deal, yet here they were. “Yeah, I did. I gave them to Dahlia. I had to.”
Alex couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t believe it. He needed a minute. He needed a minute to deal with this. Alex sat down on the floor in front of the weird anime booth, landing hard and ignoring the complaints of the people perusing the wares. They could walk around him.
“How—” he started to ask before being cut off. As usual.
“I had to,” Cat repeated quickly, kneeling down next to him. “I had to. It was the only way to stop them from disqualifying us.”
Alex covered his ears to block out the background noise. There was too much going on. This was too much. “You only had to because you cheated in the first place!”
“I know!” Cat slumped down onto the ground next to Alex and put her head in her hands. “I know. I messed up. But you have your signature—”
“Stop bringing that up! I helped with that, too; I got us to the front of the line!” Alex squeezed his ears harder. Cat was just making things worse.
“I’m sorry—”
Alex couldn’t handle it anymore. Cat couldn’t stop making things worse for herself and for them! Alex stood up abruptly and dropped his hands back to his messenger bag strap. “I can’t be here right now,” he said to no one in particular. Looking down at his sister, Alex added, “Don’t follow me.”
He’d never felt so betrayed in his entire life. Cat had messed up their entire day—their entire plan—and for what? A few extra easy points? He still couldn’t believe it. What was the purpose of any of this if it was just going to tear them apart?
Alex made a beeline for the floor exit and just kept walking once he was out in the corridor. He slammed his badge against a scanner and burst through the convention center doors into the midafternoon sunlight. It was oppressively hot but Alex barely noticed. He kept walking and walking, turning a corner at the edge of the building and finally coming to a stop, resting his back against the center’s concrete wall.