Eighteen-year-old Nathaniel Carpio has been having chicken inasal with his best friend Elena Dizon at their favourite sidewalk grillery for four years now, but when Lena whips out a silly ‘six-peso coin’ to comfort him on a bad day, Nat realizes that he’s fallen in love with her. Eager to spend the rest of his life with Lena, lovesick Nat believes they should both apply to the college program held by the developers of their favourite real-time strategy game, Mitolohiya. But just when his game plan is coming along nicely, in pops a new challenger – Rafael Antonio, the world-renowned Filipino voice actor for the hero Apolaki in the game. Now, star-struck Lena spends all her time bonding with her online idol and Nat starts to feel more and more like a boring NPC. With his future hanging in the balance, Nat embarks on an epic quest to compete with the celebrity in a real-world PvP match he’s not ready for. In the midst of life’s epic wipeouts, is winning over his best friend the right strategy before it’s Game Over?

Catherine Dellosa plays video games for a living, reads comics for inspiration, and writes fiction because she’s in love with words. She lives in Manila, Philippines with her husband, whose ideas fuel the fire in her writing.

Her Young Adult fantasy novel, Of Myths And Men, has been published by Penguin Random House SEA and is her love letter to gamer geeks, mythological creatures, aliens, and epic quests to save the world. The second book in the trilogy, Of Life And Lies, is out now.

When it comes to contemporary YA, [title to be revealed soon!] is another tribute to gaming, while her light speculative YA romance [title to be revealed soon!] is coming soon, also published by PRH SEA.

She has also penned The Choices We Made (And Those We Didn’t) published by BRUMultiverse, as well as Raya and Grayson’s Guide to Saving the World and The Bookshop Back Home as part of #romanceclass – a community of Filipino authors who are equally in love with words too.

When she’s not lost in the land of make-believe, she works as a games journalist for one of the biggest mobile gaming media outlets in the UK. She one day hopes to soar the skies as a superhero, but for now, she strongly believes in saving lives through her works in fiction.

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‘Can we not talk about this? Josh is coming over any second.’ Not to mention I was just rendered invisible by an online celebrity a while back. I mean, I’m pretty proud of my messy hair. I got that from my father, who was apparently a ‘reallooker’ back in the day. We both have that ‘just rolled out of bed’ look my mother loves so much—then again, since she’sthe source of all these compliments, her opinions probably aren’t too reliable.

Still, no amount of adorably dishevelled hair can top whatever Rafael Antonio has, apparently.

‘Of course, of course.’ Dad raises both hands. ‘We’re still not done with these expense reports, though. This stuff isBusiness Survival 101. Gotta show you the ropes in case your old man bites, you know.’

Ever since Dad spoke to one of my teachers at my graduation ceremony, and she told him about that weird chest pain her husband got that morning (I mean, why would they even talk about that thing? Adults.), he’s been obsessed with‘showing the ropes’ and hoping to pass along this little shop-that-could to his ‘sole heir’. He’s also been stressing out abouthow to drive more customers to the shop and make it thrive even more just for me.

Just in case he gets that weird chest pain too. Just in case he doesn’t wake up in the morning. Or just in case I wake upin the morning and he’s no longer there.

‘Sure, Dad. Assets and liabilities. Can we pick up where we left off later tonight?’

‘An assets-and-liabilities date it is.’ Dad’s eyes twinkle. ‘Feel free to take Unit 23.’

Right on cue, Josh pushes the glass door plastered with old video game posters and saunters into the computer rentalshop, the chimes tinkling happily overhead. He grins at my father behind the counter. ‘Hey, Mr C.’

‘Joshua!’ Dad grins right back. ‘Are you hitting 50,000 subscribers today?’

Josh waves his flash drive at him. ‘I’ll try.’

I slink out from behind the counter and lead Josh to Unit 23, and as we wait for the computer to boot up, I plop downon the unoccupied unit beside him.

‘Can you?’ I ask. ‘Hit 50K?’

‘Maybe.’ Josh plugs the flash drive into the USB port. ‘I’m

feeling good about this one, Nat. A full set of random Avengers figurines. Series comparisons, stock availability, the works. Today just might be the day.’

He boots up the video editing software and starts working his magic, once again making me wish I had some othertechnical skill aside from just being a good gamer. On top of his sick video editing skills, Josh also knows how to work a crowd, and his unboxing YouTube channel is proof of that.

I know he’s applying for a graphic design course in college, but honestly, does he need it? Right now, he’s a mere 500followers away from hitting the 50,000-subscriber mark. I still can’t believe that many people are watching him open boxesof random toys and action figures just for the heck of it.

Then again, Josh a.k.a. bulk_smash doesn’t understand my love for video games either, but that doesn’t mean wecan’t still be best friends.

‘When you hit 50K, will you be showing off your face?’ I grin. ‘You know, live the proper celebrity life and all that?’

‘No way, man. The great bulk_smash values his anonymity above all else,’ he says. ‘Besides, I don’t think Bea wouldapprove of that kind of life for me.’

‘Afraid of all the attention?’

‘Totally. I mean, I don’t want to be Rafael Antonio over there.’ Josh points to a poster of Apolaki on the wall in frontof us. Posters and ads from all kinds of games are up on the cramped walls of our internet cafe, and unfortunately,Apolaki- slash-Rafael’s face comes with the territory. ‘Well, maybe a little. Subscriber-wise. I’d kill to have his kind offollowing.’

‘It’s funny you should mention him.’ I sigh. ‘I sorta ran into him today.’

Josh turns his eyes away from the panels of his storyboard on the screen. ‘You ran into Rafael Antonio? At the TalaTales photo shoot?’

‘Yeah. He . . . played Mitolohiya at the lobby.’

‘That’s pretty awesome. I would have asked him all these questions on how to be the ultimate YouTube star.’ Josh’seyes are shining. ‘So, what happened? You had a session with him or something?’

‘He asked Lena out to lunch.’

‘Oh.’ Josh’s face falls. ‘That sucks.’

‘Yeah.’

When Lena and I met four years ago, Josh was right there with me, peering over my shoulder into my monitor at theonline auction. I was locked in a bidding war with some girl over official Tala Tales Games merchandise—a replica of half of Bathala’s agimat, which comes with a special code for exclusive in-game equipment—and I was almost at the price limitthat Dad gave me over the thing. I was pissed and desperate, the clock was ticking, and I only had a few minutes left before I lost the bid, so I sent my nemesis a message to try and bargain for it like a coward. The girl did not give in, won the bid, andeven lectured me generously about how she deserved to win because she was the ultimate Mitolohiya fan.

She also turned out to be a nice person, online war freak nature aside. Since then, Elena Dizon and I have beeninseparable, hanging out after class at the sidewalk grillery where our schools are nearest and playing games here at our shopwhenever we have the chance.

And then, after a particularly bad day in school and against the rainy backdrop of the fading sun, she fished for changein her pocket at the sidewalk grillery and handed me a ‘six-peso coin’—a five and a one stuck together, inseparable, ridiculous.She told me she had been holding onto it for a while as a special charm and was her most prized possession at the moment,but she gave it to me, just because she wanted me to feel better.

‘It’s silly, I know, but you mean that much to me,’ she said.

There was no room for silliness then, no time to wonder why my heart was clawing against my chest, no way torationalize the fear that gripped me with panic so intense that I had to clench my fist to steel myself.

Because the rain had stopped and the water hung in the air like mist. The vapour framed Lena’s face in an ethereal glow,and the moment held nothing and everything at the same time.                                                       

The six-peso coin had done it. The smile that I was so used to seeing every day suddenly looked different—tugging at myheart and radiating an unsettling warmth from within.

To this day, I still don’t understand how someone can just be your friend and then you wake up one day and all of a sudden she’s something else. But I guess I’ve always liked her from the very first time we met—it just had to take anotherrandom act of kindness on her part to admit that to myself.

‘Sorry, man.’ Josh pulls me back to the present, staring at me with his video draft forgotten. The expression on my facemust have looked absolutely defeated because he plants both hands on my shoulders.

‘Nathaniel Carpio. So Lena met her online crush—no big deal,’ he says. ‘It’s just lunch, right? It’s not like they’re gettingmarried.’ I’ve always thought that Lena and I are meant to be together.

One of my favourite console games of all time features an adventure-hunting couple named Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher, and I just . . . well  how can Lena and I not be the samething, you know?

‘I guess you’re right.’ I glare at the Apolaki poster. ‘It’s probably just a one-off thing. A celebrity trying to look goodfor the press.’ But because fate wants to take my stupid Nathan-and-Elena dream, trample it on the ground, and thenrub the mangled pieces in my face, the messaging app on my phone sends me a notification.

It’s a selfie. Lena is grinning from ear to ear at the camera, and right there, with his arm casually draped around her likethey’ve been together since the dawn of time, is Rafael Antonio enjoying their no-big-deal lunch.

Along with the photo, Lena has sent me a message that makes me wish I myself had burned up under the wrath of the SunGod instead of just my avatar this morning. ‘We’re hanging out again tomorrow! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MYENTIRE LIFE.’ Josh takes one look at my screen and curses. ‘Nat. Nat. You okay? Hey . . .’

But Josh’s voice fades farther and farther away. Oddly enough, the message feels like an unwelcome splash of ice-cold water, jolting me out of my complacency and forcing my mind to zero in with laser focus.

Because at that moment of complete and utter clarity, my very being commits itself to a singular mission, and no,despite how charming the Big Boss is, defeat is not an option.

I have to destroy Rafael Antonio, level up, and win Elena Dizon’s heart.

Desiclaimer: This excerpt is published with the permission of Penguin Random House South East Asia

AMAZON LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Win-Catherine-Dellosa/dp/9815144006/ref=sr_1_1