There is this stereotypical idea that comes up when somebody mentions the concept of a 'Teen Sleepover.' Generally, this idea revolves around a small room filled with all sorts of pastel-colored mattresses, pillows, blankets, and maybe even some fluffy plushies. Add to this fantasy some personal touches you might have yourself, and you get a pretty clear picture of what this scene looks like.

Personally, I have a bit more of a fascination for the people attending said sleepover, instead of its aesthetics. Without a merry menagerie of teenage girls dressed in comfortable pajamas, a sleepover simply isn't complete in my mind's eye.

And I know, coming from a man, this is quite the creepy fantasy. But in all honesty, I don't think anybody has ever viewed me as a 'Man' in my 15 years of walking the earth. No, the only way the world ever referred to me was through the word 'Boy.' At least, that was the case for most of those 15 years. But now, there was a new group of people who had intertwined themselves in the fabric of my life. A group of people who had only ever seen me as a 'Girl.' It was a preposterous notion, don't get me wrong. This oddly shaped piece of equipment between my legs confirmed as much. And not only did I possess some things a 'Girl' wouldn't, but I also lacked some things that a 'Girl' would. Somehow... that made me sad.

But if I removed this physical reality from my brain, the 'Girl' hypothesis suddenly becomes a lot more plausible. Especially because those who would refer to me this way viewed me in a much more positive light than those who didn't. Even my own view was heavily impacted by this. The 'Boy' was an anti-social bum who had only ever had one friend in their life, a friend that merely adopted him because she took pity on his miserable existence. The 'Girl,' on the other hand, was part of a tight-knit group of friends. Because this group had been impressed by the 'Girl' and her confident personality. And together they could elevate the best parts of each other.

"Hey, slowpoke! You almost done in there?" a muffled voice yelled from behind the white door.

I bit my lip and opened my eyes, allowing myself to once again be confronted with the physical world. The shape of my masculine equipment appearing on my retinas sent a slight shiver down my spine, so without looking any longer, I pulled up my undergarments, swiftly followed by my plaid pajama bottoms.

"Almost done!" I responded and pressed on the big button above the toilet. The water flushed away my biological waste, like this weekend had been washing my worries. To finish my restroom ritual, my hands were now being soaked in soap and warm water that pushed itself through the tap. But if the cold water in the toilet represented my old worries, this warm water from the tap represented the new ones. Because while she was doing way better in comparison to the 'Boy,' the 'Girl' still had her own set of troubles to deal with.

"Finally!" I heard when I opened the door, and a flash of fiery red hair flew past me.

Looking at my surroundings, I could see 6 identical beds standing with their headboards against the wall in a large rectangular room. Three of them were positioned against the right wall, and three of them against the left wall.

Ah yes, the Teen Sleepover that had started this train of thought in the first place. A little different from the stereotypical image my brain had generated before. The room was quite big, and the fact that there were actual beds instead of loose mattresses brought forth a bit more of a formal feeling. And that is without mentioning the giant glass chandelier that formed the centerpiece of the room.

It was almost midnight at this point, but we were not quite ready to settle in for a well-deserved night of sleep. I decided to walk over to the only two people who were currently in this room with me.

"You have to wear the same uniform every single day? Damn, that's going to suck so bad," I heard Riley complain while squishing a pink pillow between her hands. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed at the far-right side of the room. Her eyes looked to be completely focused on Rachel, who sat across from her.

The tall brunette shrugged and responded, "Well, at least you will get to pick between the winter and summer uniform," causing Riley to make a slightly annoyed face back.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, making my presence known to the girls who had been way too concentrated on their own conversation to have noticed me earlier.

They looked a little startled as they swung their heads round to face me. I could see that Riley was about to say something, only to decide to keep her mouth shut in the end. Rachel, on the other hand, responded right away.

"Nothing, just some silly school story," she said to me in a deflective manner.

My limited social awareness told me that whatever they were talking about, it wasn't something they wanted to share with me. Knowing that both were also playing some kind of romantic game of cat and mouse, I decided not to pry.

"What exactly is the plan tomorrow?" I asked Rachel to get the conversation moving without making them feel awkward.

She held up her finger and bent down to pick up her phone that was sitting on the floor next to the bed. After pushing a few buttons, she brought up a list that seemed to include all this weekend's plans. She then read out tomorrow's section of the list, answering my question in the most literal way possible.

"09:00 AM Breakfast, 10:00 AM Leave the house, 10:25 Arrive at the LAN Centre, 10:45 play a pub to get used to the setup, 11:00 Scrim VS Untimed Roshans…"

She continued all the way up to dinner time when I finally decided to interrupt her. "Yes, yes, I get it. But uhm…" I nudged my head in Riley's direction. "What is she supposed to do all day if we are just playing?"

"Ah… Little Emmy wants to make sure I don't feel left behind," Riley said, pouting her lips mockingly. She then shot a quick look over at Rachel before switching her tone and mannerisms to sound a lot more sincere. "Don't worry about me, I can make my own fun."

Rachel was now looking at me with serious eyes. "Don't forget that we came here to prepare for the tournament. So, there's no time for distractions tomorrow. We have already done more than enough faffing about today."

I felt a little bit intimidated by the way she was speaking to me right now. It felt like there was some weird tension in the air, but I couldn't quite understand why. Especially because everything we had done so far has been exactly what she wanted us to do already.

My hands were already pushing down on the soft mattress as I attempted to exit the conversation and head towards my bed for the night. At the same time, however, I could hear a door close. The sound of 2 bare feet speeding into our general direction now came closer and closer, stopping at the exact moment that I had lifted my body from the bed and fully turned around.

Lizzy stood on the other side of the middle right bed and yelled loudly: “Out of the way, Emmy! Executive interior design decision coming through!”. She showed off an impressive amount of strength as she started shoving the empty bed toward the bed with Rachel and Riley. In no time, the two beds were joined together, causing Riley to chuckle loudly.

Rachel, however, didn’t seem to be amused by this sudden turn of events. “Lizzy! Put it back!” she commanded.

The red-haired ball of energy standing next to the bed didn’t look fazed at all. Instead, she was grinning from ear to ear and said, “Don’t be a buzzkill, I’m just trying to help the ship along.”

“I’m serious! Elizabeth! I don’t want my parents getting ideas if they decide to barge in here!”

Rachel had already jumped off the bed and started to undo Lizzy’s work. Her face looked like it was filled with genuine anger, making me feel a little afraid. Even though her full name was just uttered, Lizzy didn’t seem to be intimidated at all. I would say she looked more annoyed instead, most likely with the fact that Rachel was unable to handle her joke, although Rachel’s intensity told me there was something more going on here. I had more than enough baggage of my own to deal with, so I decided to stay as far away from this bee’s nest as possible.

“So… you guys coming down to watch a movie? I’m sure Jade and Kelsey have managed to decide on something by now,” I offered as a way to exit all the drama. I could see Rachel make a quick glance of poorly hidden disdain towards Lizzy before she let out a big sigh. “Sure…”

***

'3:18 PM,' I could read off the large digital display on the wall in front of me. While outside, the sun was still shining bright, and people were probably enjoying some of the last good days of the year, inside this room, it was all very different. Not a single speck of sunlight could enter the darkened room, which was instead sparsely illuminated by a menagerie of rainbow-colored LEDs. The biggest source of light in this room, however, came from the five screens lined up on the massive desk against the wall.

Sitting in front of these screens were five teenage girls displaying the full array of negative emotions across their faces. From disappointment to anger, and from exhaustion to anxiety, all of them were present. We had been playing non-stop for more than four hours at this point, and it had been a total disaster. Not a single game we played resulted in a win. Even the last game we played against a practice partner we would normally beat with ease. Today, they managed to beat us for the first time in months. And let me tell you, that stings.

Personally, I had felt incredibly tired coming here. Yesterday I experienced more feelings than I had felt in the entire year before that. Clearly, I couldn't focus my mind on the game anymore. My rotations had been sloppy, my CS was non-existent, and I missed more spears than I hit in my last Mars game. We had three more scrimmages planned for the rest of the day, but none of us were looking forward to it. The next team we were supposed to play was called 'Nefarious Nerds,' a squad we hadn’t played before. I had just started scrolling through the Dotabuff page of their position 1 player called 'Agumonster' when a massive beam of light suddenly blinded me and my teammates.

I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to restore my vision. By the time I could once again perceive the physical world around me, I spotted the person who had just illuminated our darkness. He was a guy who looked to be around our age, maybe a bit older. He was standing underneath the doorframe wearing the intriguing combination of an expensive-looking button-up shirt and an oversized hoodie. His hair was a dirty blonde and neatly combed to the side. The slight shine suggested that some product was also involved in creating this slightly conservative hairstyle.

“So, this is your 'Top Notch Squad'?” the guy said in a slight Boston accent that almost reminded me of my dad. “Just your hockey mates and a little Minnie Mouse-looking kid? My expectations were low, Ray, but I didn't think it would be this pathetic.”

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Rachel's hand was balled up in a fist, her white knuckles betraying an attempt to hide the frustration she was clearly feeling. Her voice sounded a lot more measured though. “Quit the trash talk, Arthur, just get in the lobby,” she said in a monotone manner.

The entire interaction confused me profoundly. Who was this guy, and why did his presence affect Rachel so much? I turned around to face Kelsey and whispered to her. “I’m guessing there is some history with these 2?”