Haze Maloney's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Haze stared at the character creation screen. Hanna needed a personality — the game required it before she could move forward. Kind? Energetic? Stubborn? The list sat there, waiting. Emily and Hanna were both offline now, probably at dinner or doing homework. The chat was empty again. She could pick one herself and keep going. That's what she would have done yesterday. But now it felt wrong, like cheating. She added all seven personality types to the wheel. Then she opened the stream settings and scheduled the next broadcast for Thursday after school. She typed a title: "Picking Hanna's Job — Vote Live." The words looked official on the screen, like a promise she couldn't take back. Her stomach tightened. What if nobody showed up? What if Emily forgot? The wheel would just sit there spinning with no votes, proving the whole thing was fake. But she clicked save anyway and logged off. Thursday came and she went live at four. Emily joined the chat within two minutes. Hanna appeared thirty seconds later. Haze's hands shook as she explained the vote — seven personality options, pick one for the hero. Emily typed "popstar" in all caps. Hanna sent a question mark. Haze laughed and added Popstar to the wheel, then spun it. The needle slowed and landed on Popstar. Emily sent a string of microphone emojis. Hanna typed "omg no" but she added a laughing face after it. Haze clicked through the job selection screen and gave Hanna a brown hat with a pastel pink bow and tiny rose gold hearts. The game built a stage for her character automatically — pink curtains draped in soft swoops, bright orange tulips clustered at the edges, a white platform in the center. It looked like something from a dream, too pretty to be real. Haze took a screenshot and posted it in chat. "Your debut," she typed. Emily responded immediately: "when's the next stream?" Haze looked at her calendar, then back at the chat. She'd always said no deadlines, no pressure, stream when it felt right. But they were asking now. They wanted to know when to come back. She typed "Saturday, same time" and hit send before she could change her mind.