Chapter 2

Round One ended 0-3.

It felt like a slap across the face of every Westbridge student in the arena.

On the giant screen, Kestrel captain Damian Cross leaned toward the livestream camera with an easy, mocking smile.

“So this is Westbridge’s supposedly elite cybersecurity program. I’m not impressed.”

The live chat moved so fast the comments blurred together, but the anger behind them was impossible to miss.

“What is Westbridge doing? Weren’t Vanessa and Ethan supposed to be amazing?”

“Getting humiliated on an international stream is crazy. If I went to Westbridge, I’d turn off the campus Wi-Fi and pretend we didn’t exist.”