Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi Read Free Book Online Page A

game and not real life, her death was only a
temporary problem. A moment later, Allora showed up at the town's
graveyard, looking all ghostlike. All I had to do, the instructions
stated, was run her back to her body and then click a button to
resurrect. She'd be as good as new--no big deal.
    I did as I was
told and sure enough, my pretty elf had soon successfully risen from
the dead, just a few feet away from the spot she'd been killed.
Problem was, before she could even get her bearings, those nasty,
horrible wolves jumped her again, and before I knew it, she was back
in the graveyard as a ghost.
    I slammed my
fist against my desk in frustration, running my hands through my
hair. People played this stupid game for fun? It was almost as
stressful as school. And a lot more annoying. I tried my dad one more
time, praying he'd signed
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    on and could
give me some help. After all, he was a higher level--the wolves would
pose him no threat, right?
    He was still
off-line. At five forty-five. I hoped he wasn't in some kind of awful
car accident or something. But no, that was stupid. He probably just
forgot. Forgot about his promise to me, forgot about me in general. I
sighed.
    Deciding to
give it one last try, I ran back from the graveyard and hit
Resurrect. Sure enough, the wolves pounced on me. It was as if they'd
just been hanging out, all rabid, drooling, waiting for some juicy
elfin flesh to rise from the dead so they could devour her all over
again.
    Just as I was
about to give up and die again, one of the wolves uttered a piercing
howl of pain and dropped dead at Allora's feet. The other followed a
moment later. My mouth dropped open in surprise. Had I done that
somehow? Did Allora have some secret power I didn't know about? The
power to--?
    [SirLeo] Don't worry. I got 'em.
    I stared at the
screen. Some random player, whose name I didn't recognize, had just
instant messaged me. Was he the one who killed the wolves? I moved
the game's camera position around with my mouse so I could take a
look. Sure enough, "Sir Leo" stood nearby, lounging against
a tree. He was a valiant-looking elfin knight with shoulder-length
white hair, blue eyes, and a large sword strapped to his back. Yum.
He totally looked just like Legolas.
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    I realized I
should instant message him back and thank him for saving my life.
    [Allora] Thanks! They were killing me over and over again!
    [SirLeo] LOL. Ibet. They're level five. You're level one. Not exactly a fair
fight.
    [Allora] Yeah. I guess not!
    [SirLeo] You shouldn't even be out here in this area at your level. Didn'tthe
guards warn you?
    [Allora] Er, they might have. But 1 kind of ignored them.
    [SirLeo] Heh. Well, that explains it then. First day playing FoF?
    [Allora] Yeah. That obvious, huh?
    [SirLeo] It's okay. You're just lucky I was around to save you.
    [Allora] Totally. Thank you so much.
    I smiled at the
screen, even though he obviously couldn't see my real-life reaction.
I was lucky indeed. Lucky to run into such a nice guy. After all, he
could have just run off, left me to the wolves. But he stopped to
help. Game people sure were nicer than real-life people. At least
this guy was.
    [SirLeo] So do you want me to show you where you should go? Where the mobs are
a bit more your level?
    [Allora] Er, mobs?
    Sir Leo
laughs.
    [SirLeo] You really are a noob, huh? Mobs are like monsters.
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    You get quests
from the townspeople to fight them and earn experience and treasure.
    [Allora] Ah. Cool. Sorry. My dad got me this game and he said he'd show me how
to play, but I don't know where he is. He was supposed to sign on
like an hour ago.
    [SirLeo] Typical dad, huh? Well, I can show you, if you want. This way when he
logs in you'll already be totally 1337.
    [Allora] 1337?
    [SirLeo] Er, like, leet. Short for elite. LOL. Sorry. I'll try to take it easy
on you since it's your first day. But don't worry. You'll be a gamer
girl in no time.
    [Allora] He-he, ty. I appreciate that.
    A gamer girl. I
liked the