The College Spreads: The Pockets and the Team

Rebekah stayed in hospital for a little more than another two weeks. Finally, she was viewed as stable enough to be sent home. You pull her close, holding her like you’re afraid to let go, as your mother drives. Your heart thumps in your chest, your mouth aches from the grin on your face. She and your baby are safe and you’re finally reunited. There were times you wondered if it would ever happen, but it has.

Yet she’s quiet, subdued. Not drugged, you realize, but she has barely spoken since you picked her up and her forehead is creased in a deep frown.

“It’s okay, baby,” you say. “It’s over.”

She shrugs.

“What’s wrong?” you ask.

It takes a moment for her to answer. When she does her voice is strained.

“What about the bill?” she says. “I don’t have insurance, baby. I don’t know how much all that cost but the doctors, the meds, the visiting OB/GYN and a psychologist and psychiatrist they set me up with who visited. The shrink wasn’t even from this state. Baby, it’s gotta cost a couple of thousand at least.”

“One hundred and five thousand, two hundred and ninety seven dollars,” says your mother.

“What?”

“OH GOD!”

“How do you know that?” you ask.

“I asked Graham.”

“How would he know?”

“He paid it. Honestly, he could have had the hospital eat it given he’s on their board and a huge donor, but he said he didn’t want them to lose out. He’s good like that.”

“Why the hell would Graham pay it?”

She looks at you through the rear view mirror for a while. You try to work out what kind of crazy world you’ve stepped into. It’s like the first few challenges you did in College Spread. Every one made you question your beliefs about yourself and other people! But now, it’s the entire world, or at least the network, that keeps surprising you.

“Son, when are you going to realize what College Spread is? Graham’s almost on the Forbes 400. His net worth is over three billion. And he’s not remotely our richest member.”

It can’t be real. It can’t. And yet, you know it is. You’ve literally spent months competing against someone who can build museums, start scholarships, and consider it all a blip on his business chart. You struggle to fit the idea of what you’re hearing into the world you’ve known.

Rebekah pulls from you and sits up. “But why would he do that for me?”

“Because you two are legends — you even more than my son, Rebekah. You’re an incredible strategist and you’ve been entertaining everyone for a year with your plays. And more than that, now, you’re one of us.”

It can’t be real. The words keep spinning in your head. You’ve been thinking of the game like some pervy little tidal swamp, but you’re swimming with the big fish in the World Ocean. Maddy’s words to you about the wedding rush back: religious leaders, bakers, dressmakers. Even if only a small percentage of the ex players become super rich the others are making it in their own ways too.

“My shrink and my psych…” Rebekah says. “They’re members of the CS Universe too aren’t they?”

Your mom nods. “Yes. The psychiatrist stayed local to here, just one town over, but that should be easy to get to for medication assessments. The therapist is Dr. Oliva Dandridge, a world renowned specialist in trauma recovery. She said she can budget an hour of telemedicine once a week without a problem.”

You’re both just staring at her now.

“What do we have to do for them?” asks Rebekah.

“Nothing,” says your mom. “Why would you? Look, the College Spread universe is like pockets. When someone really needs something they reach into the right pocket and pull out someone who can help. And when their help is needed…”

“We help out too?”

There are tears on her cheek. She still can’t understand that people will just do things for one another because they care. Sure, this is a huge, and they’re not asking for anything in return, but that’s how friends and families are. Well, you remind yourself, not ALL of them.

“If you can,” says your mom. “Without too heavy a burden, and if you want to. It’s not like anyone’s keeping score.”

“All of this just because of how we’re playing in the game?”

“No, because you’re IN the game. We’ve all been through the same thing. We’ve all felt that excitement, that fear, that self-questioning doubt. And we’ve all learned. And let’s face it, where else are a bunch of kinky old perverts going to get entertainment like this?”

You both laugh at that one.

“You’re winning the final, baby,” says Rebekah. “It’s the least we can do.”

“Rhett did talk to me about that, but I told him I probably wouldn’t do it. I mean, I need to be there for—”

“Are you insane? You being there for me means you winning the final. Let’s pay them back!”

“Don’t do it because of that,” says your mom. “Do it for the prize.”

“I thought you said the network was the prize,” you say.

“Oh it is, but this year so is taking over from Rhett.”

“Mom, that’s not a hobby I have time for. I have other priorities now.”

Her eyes are on you. You know that look, the steady gaze before dropping the hammer.

“It’s not a hobby at all,” she says. “It’s a paid position.”

“WHAT?”

“You don’t think we let our host try to do the job without support do you? He’s OUR HOST. Or she, once, about 15 years ago. No, son, you get free tuition, books, housing, health insurance, and there’s talk of raising the monthly stipend from 2k to 5k next year.”

“What the hell?” you say. “Every time I think I understand something I’m wrong! What am I, some kind of idiot?”

“No,” says your mom, “You’re 18. You’re smart, you’re adaptable, but you can’t expect to understand the world when you’re barely out of grade school.”

You shake your head as the car rolls on.

When you get home, Rebekah asks your mom to excuse you both and drags you and Jada to the bedroom. You curl up together, touching, holding, kissing. It’s intimate, but not passionate. There’s no sex, just three people in a relationship needing to know that they’re still the people they each knew.

Your mom brings you food twice, and provides drinks too. She never questions or really interrupts, just places the items on the bedside table and leaves.

You fall asleep early, and pass the night in the dreamless sleep of the truly exhausted.

“HEY REBEKAH!”

Shouting from outside and someone banging on the front door wakes you suddenly. Rebekah’s already climbing out of the bed. She looks back at you with a soft smile. She reaches a hand towards you and you kiss it. Then she goes to the window as you dress too.

“Guys? What’re you doing here?” she asks.

“Time to get up, girl, we got games to play!”

You step beside her and put your arm round her waist. In the front yard stands every member of HexDrive. Priya Menon and Tariq are there too, the lovers of the team’s Bottom, Luca Strauss. They’ve brought computers.

“You guys are crazy,” says Rebekah. “I’ll be right down.”

“You sure about this, honey?” you ask.

She nods, and she looks happier than she has in a long time; excited, yet somehow still relaxed.

The two of you dress quickly. Jada blows a kiss and tells you to go have fun before she rolls over to go back to sleep. You’d wondered just how she’d be as she recovered from her breakdown, but it looks like a lot of her old interests are still there. Not as intensely, maybe, but still present.

As you head downstairs, the aroma of cooking hits you. Savory scents of bacon, onion, sausage, and more mix with the sweetness of something baking in the oven. Your mom’s cooking, and it seems like she’s going all in. She always was a good cook, but it’s a long time since you had a breakfast like the one your nose is promising.

You let the HexDrive team in and at once they scatter around the downstairs, hunting for places they can hook up their computers. Soon the kitchen, living room and sun room have people setting up towers, hooking into the net, pulling up gaming software. Rebekah hands out the network password and takes her seat at her own computer.

“We brought your school work,” says Priya, handing over a heavy-looking carrier bag.

“Thanks,” says Rebekah, taking it. “But you really shouldn’t have bothered. I’ve missed a month, I probably failed everything already. I’ll have to redo the semester.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” says Priya. “Take a look before you make assumptions. Like I always say, test your hypothesis.”

“What are you…?”

Rebekah pulls the documents out of the bag and looks them over. There are class notes, handouts, a book and what looks like a bunch of essays.

“Wait,” she says. “I didn’t write these…”

You look over her shoulder and see you’re right. This is completed coursework. There are grades on each essay, notes scribbled in red all over them. They’re all passes, though mostly C’s and B’s. One of them, a History of Gender piece, shows an A. Rebekah studies this one closely.

“Wait, this looks like the undergrad thing I helped Jada with last semester, but it’s more detailed… What did you guys do?”

“Nothing!” says Priya.

“And you keep your mouth shut about that,” says Tariq. “Dean Sinclair’s going along with this as long as you don’t raise too many questions.”

Dean Ayana Sinclair, you think. The head of the humanities department, and also, the Ace of Hearts. It’s College Spread again. And it’s saved Rebekah’s future.

“Guys,” says Rebekah. “You’re amazing. But I can’t let you do this, you’ll get into trouble. So will Sinclair!”

“Only if you open your mouth outside of here,” says Tariq. “Just accept it. You have to do the rest of the semester yourself, but none of us was going to let you fail if we could help it.”

From the kitchen you hear your mom’s voice. “And don’t worry about Dr. Sinclair. She’s covering her ass. She might be willing to help out, but she’s not an idiot.”

Rebekah giggles. The laugh has the crazy edge of someone trying to find their feet in a world they never suspected existed. At least, not for them.

“I love you guys,” she says.

“Great,” says Luca. “Now, are you ready for some Fluorescence or shall we start with some CozyGames Party Pack?”

“Maybe some of the Party Pack,” she says. “I think I’ll give myself a few more days before I go back to Fluorescence.”