After that, I went directly to bed. Normally, getting to sleep is a struggle for me, most nights I end up laying awake trying my hardest to turn my brain off. But that night I went straight to sleep, and didn't stay up for hours going over what had just happened in my mind. I certainly had no trouble quelling the fluttering in my stomach, and I didn't think about what Maddie had called me at all. Yes, I went out like a light.

The next morning, despite my best efforts, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Maddie thought I was a girl. Why was that surprising? Most people in-game thought I was a girl, at least until my friends told them otherwise. It was a consequence of playing a character who was a girl. Besides, there was a bit of an expectation of Grace being a "girlfriend character", a misogynistic stereotype that was rooted in the idea of girls being bad at video games. I wouldn't think Maddie would be the type to make assumptions like that. Then again, I barely knew her, and unconscious biases being what they are, I suppose it was a possibility.

But what to do about it? If I wanted to be friends with her, and I think I did, it would be best to come clean. Ideally, as soon as possible. So why did that thought horrify me? Maybe she would think I was catfishing her by pretending to be a girl in order to get close to her. No, that wouldn't make any sense, I was barely even close to her, and I haven't even pretended to be a girl yet, she just assumed. So I guess there's no reason not to come clean. Unless...

Well it was always kind of funny, and it always gave me a kind of warm, fuzzy feeling (probably just satisfaction from a well-executed prank) whenever people in-game assumed I was a girl. Maybe it would give me even more of those feelings if I got to know someone, and they got to know me, all the while thinking I was actually a girl. I never really figured myself much of a prankster, I always felt bad deceiving people, but for some reason the idea of pulling a prank like this really excited me. Ok, weigh the options here, figure out if this is really worth it.

Pretending to be a girl: Funny, makes me feel all sorts of weird but exciting feelings that are normal to pranks probably. On the other hand, if Maddie ever found out she'd probably be feel lied to, and wouldn't want to be my friend any more. Ok, so pretending to be a girl is a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Pretending to not be a girl: No risk of Maddie finding out, since I wouldn't be trying to deceive her. However, if I wasn't pretending to be a girl, then I'd have to be my usual boring self, and I doubt she'd want to be friends with that guy anyway. So no-risk, no-reward.

But there was a third option, wasn't there? One I hadn't yet considered, that caused Maddie to think I was a girl without requiring any pretense on my part. It was simple. It had been staring me in the face the entire time.

She already thought I was a girl, I just had to let her keep thinking I was one. Never outwardly state that I was a girl, but never correct her on it either. I wasn't really assertive enough to correct people on that kind of stuff anyway, so this would be easy. And if she ever found out the truth, I would have perfectly plausible deniability. Because all I would have to do is tell the truth, that I didn't mind that much, and it would be too awkward to correct her.

A genius plan. You know, sometimes I really astound myself.

Seeing as it was a school day, I decided it would be best to stop focusing on tonight and prepare for today. I imbibed the minimum nutrients required to function, and showered, taking care to pay as little attention to my body as possible. Normal teen boy stuff.

School was, as always, a blur. I found the easiest way to make it through class was to keep my head down, do the work as far as I could understand, and hope that was enough, which, unfortunately, it was. If my natural abilities for picking up on mathematical and scientific concepts ever proved insufficient, then the people who cared about me would end up paying attention to me, trying to figure out what was wrong. Computer Science was the one class I actually enjoyed, and that was mostly because I was competent enough that I could spend most of the time messing about, and still end up top of the class. Also, some of my friends were in there.

I was busy playing around on the school's licensed copy of Photostop when my friend Jaiden spoke up.

"We down for some more Lookout! tonight, boys?" Ugh. Now I had to explain why I couldn't join them and I'd have to explain the whole thing about pretending to be a girl through omission and-

My friend Julian jumped in to save me. "I was gonna work on the project tonight. You know, for this class. The one that's worth half our grade."

"Ohhhh, right, forgot about that. Yeah I should probably also work on it." He turned to face me. "Let me guess, you're already finished with it."

I let out a sheepish grin. "Finished it like, the day after we got it."

"'Course you did. Can we do a group call so you can help us with it then?"

"Sorry, I've got, uh, other work to do tonight." Excellent save, they won't suspect a thing. Still, I felt bad for not helping them out. Reluctantly, I closed the Photostop I had been working on, throwing away about half an hour of work, and spent the rest of the class walking them through it.

Thankfully, that had been the last class of the day, and I was able to sprint to the bike shed and put my all into making it back home as soon as possible. Mum would still be at work, and by all odds my sister was at uni, or out for some other reason, meaning I had the house to myself for a little while. Well, mostly to myself. I was greeted at the door by an adorable ball of black-and-white fluff that practically dove into my arms, causing me to drop my keys. Lucy was still a puppy, and she was desperate for affection after being all alone for what she insisted must have been several weeks. Affection I was all too happy to provide. After about ten minutes of pats, which was certainly insufficient by her standards I got up and headed to my bedroom. At which point she flopped onto my bed and flashed her adorable puppy eyes that left me with no choice but to spend another several minutes patting her. Eventually, salvation came in the form of my mum getting home. Being a teacher, she didn't get home all that much later than I did.

Finally released from the wonderful shackles of puppy prison, I turned my computer on and loaded into game. Only to see that Maddie was not yet online. Well that's no big deal, obviously she wouldn't be online all the time, I could just watch some videos while I waited. Except my friend Ted was also online.

Big_Teddiez: you down for some comp?

Oh dear. How do I handle this? It's no big deal, just lie by omission. That's the plan, so there's no harm in a little practice.

grlpwerd: nah, im waitn for someone

Big_Teddiez: is it your boyfriend? lol

God this guy! He was fun to hang out with, but he could be annoying as hell sometimes.

grlpwerd: he is not my boyfriend!!!! and i dont even think he plays this game

Big_Teddiez: lol he totally is

Big_Teddiez: is that why you were so reluctant to tell us who you had english with

Big_Teddiez: you were too busy making out

grlpwerd: shut up dude im not gay

grlpwerd: why do you keep doing this its seriously annoying

Big_Teddiez: chill bro its a joke

Big_Teddiez: and the fact you get so defensive is why i do it

Big_Teddiez: you gotta stop being so sensitive man

I decided to stop replying there. I wasn't in the mood for an argument. The guy in my English class and I were just friends, and besides, I wasn't into dudes! Even if he was like, weirdly pretty for a guy, I just wasn't attracted to men! Before that train of thought could arrive at any potentially problematic destinations, I got a message from Maddie.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: You free to play now?

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: Also I just realised I never asked your name lol

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: My name's Maddie, in case that wasn't obvious from the username

Oh no. Oh jeez. How did I not think of this? Of course she would ask me my name, that's a normal thing to ask someone you meet. What am I supposed to say? If I say my name obviously she's gonna realise I'm not a girl, it isn't exactly a unisex name, but I don't exactly have any other names to hand. Unless...

Oh, I really am clever. It isn't technically a lie, and it's not like it'd be that farfetched for that to be my name. It is a normal name, a girl's name, but to be fair a girl's name is kind of what I'm looking for. Oh, she sent another message.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: It's cool if you haven't figured it out yet btw!

What? I reread the message. It still didn't make any sense. How could someone not know their own name? Weird, but ultimately unimportant. It wouldn't interfere with my devious plan.

grlpwerd: most people just call me grace lol

It was true, from a certain point of view. Most randoms we played against probably just thought of me as our team's Grace, and the amount of random players I queued into was easily greater than the amount of people I knew in real life. Therefore, most people did technically call me Grace. This prank was shaping up beautifully.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: Oh! Is that just a coincidence or did you choose it because of the character?

Ok, now she definitely wasn't making sense. People didn't just choose their names! If they did, I certainly wouldn't have chosen... my name. I would have chosen something like... well, it didn't matter what name I would choose, even if I couldn't think of one that really fit me. The point being, you don't just get to choose your name.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: Actually nevermind! It doesn't matter, what matters it that it's your name and you're happy with it!

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: I think it's a very pretty name, and I think it suits you very well!

grlpwerd: youre just saying that because i play the character tho

grlpwerd: i dont think the name fits me very well

Why did I say that? Wouldn't that just detract from the whole "make her think I'm a girl" angle? Uhhh... You see, a lesser prankster would think that, but not a pranking-savant such as I! You see, girls can have insecurities too, and by giving the character Grace self-confidence issues, I could better sell her as a real person. Besides, I have self-confidence issues too, and it would be hard to continue faking not having them for an extended period of time. All in all, it was probably best to make sure "Grace" was as close to me in personality as possible, so I could get into character better. Except for the "being a girl" part. Obviously.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: Well we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

xX_MaddieSin_Xx: Are you ready to play, Grace?

Ah. Excellent. My stomach fluttered, and my face grew hot. Clearly, this prank was going off without a hitch.