Page 1 of Do You Ship It

CHAPTER 1

Your ticket to the Worlds Beyond fantasy con today …

See you there, CERYS!

I skip through the email, looking for the QR code, but not before my eyes widen at the reminder that ‘weapons, even makeshift and non-threatening, will not be allowed into the convention centre’.

‘What am I getting myself into?’ I mutter.

A glance around makes me even less sure that I’ve made the right decision to come along: there are streams of people walking past with armfuls of posters ready to get signed, wearing questionable wigs and fake elf ears, T-shirts that look like less cool versions of theStranger ThingsHellfire Club. Some of them are even completely dressed up, like they’re going to a Halloween costume contest. A guy strides by me inbrown armour made of papier mâché, with antlers the size of myarmsticking out of his head.

I take a deep breath.This is all just a means to an end, I tell myself,and it’s going to be totally worth it. I just have to walk up, scan my ticket, and go find Jake.

I’ve hardly seen my best friend Jake since he moved house at the start of summer and started going to Colleg Carreg for sixth form, instead of St David’s with me. I can justfeelhim slipping further and further away. Every time we’ve made plans to hang out over the past few weeks, the rest of the old school gang ended up joining us, which would normally be fine, except …

Except I haven’t been able to shake the full-blown crush I developed on Jake months ago, and it’s true what they say: absence reallydoesmake the heart grow fonder. And how am I supposed to initiate a romantic move on him if he’s only ever going to see me inthatcontext? I’ll be stuck in the best-friendzone for life.

And, like, what’s the alternative? Tell him I have a massive crush on him and think we’d be great together, risk total rejection and lose the best person in my life for good because I’ve made it too awkward between us?

Yeah, right.

No, I have to find a better way. I have toshow himwe’re perfect for each other.

Hence, The Plan.

Hence, I’m now at some random industrial estate, in front of an old warehouse-turned-convention hall, surrounded by strangers in cosplay and ready to spend all afternoon pretending I’m totally excited to be here.

There’s a huge banner stretched across the front of the warehouse.WELCOME, TRAVELLERS!it declares,TO THE WORLDS BEYOND FANTASY CON, FOR FANS OF ‘OF WRATH AND RUNE’!

Why couldn’t Jake have at least picked something, I don’t know, a bit more mainstream to be a die-hard fanboy over? I probably could’ve gotten on board withLord of the Rings, I’ve seen the memes about it and even that weird Isengard song video. And I’ve been to see all the new Marvel films with Jake, even if I don’t actually know what he’s talking about when he goes on about the different ‘phases’.

But no, he had to go and pickOf Wrath and Runeto be his favourite thing. A niche, low-budget TV show with a cult following andeightbooks – eight! – that aren’t even a finished series yet. I have some idea what it’s about, mainly all second-hand knowledge from Jake talking non-stop about it when I have managed to see him lately: it’s a high fantasy adventure, with fauns, some Robin Hood-type characters called the Rascals, and an evil wizard or something.

I figure I probably have enough surface-level knowledge to not make a complete fool of myself today, and then I’ll try to watch the TV show. It’ll be like homework. All part of my ultimate mission to become Jake’s dream girl and give us something new to bond over so he’ll finally realize it.

Speak of the devil – my phone buzzes with a text asking if I’m here yet. I wonder if he knows I’m stalling out here, thinking about him? (Although, to be fair, I amusuallythinking about him.)

His text only serves to remind me how quiet our message thread has become; when I open it, I can see back to texts I sent four days ago, agreeing to come to the convention. My reply sounds bright and breezy, thankfully – I’d been internally screaming that he’d invited me after I mentioned oh-so-casually how I was thinking of giving his favourite new series a go, seeing what all the fuss was about. I even swapped my usual Saturday shift at work so I could be here.

As I slowly make my way to the ticket scanners, I scroll a little further back, seeing too many half-made plans that fell through. Usually because he was busy with football, or his family. But one name in particular keeps glaring up at me from the screen:Max. They made fast friends after Jake moved, and ever since it’s Max this and Max that, and …

I can’t help but feel like I’m being replaced. Like Jake’s forgetting about me.

I shove the phone into my pocket, jaw clenched in determination. I have to change that. I have to get things back to how they were. And, if possible, make them better.

Alright, I think, striding towards the doors.Show time!

I’m not really sure what I was expecting from a convention, but I’m immediately overwhelmed. The noise of people chatting and someone speaking over a microphone is amplified by the high, corrugated metal ceilings into a cacophony that makes me feel like I’ve accidentally wandered into a nightclub. It’s way busier than I was expecting, with people clustered in huge groups to get things signed or have their photo taken with someone, and spilling out of a curtained-off section where I figure there must be a panel going on.

There’s loads of stalls selling merch, too. Not justOf Wrath and Runethings, but general fantasy junk. There’s a huge display of crossbows and swords, which I think is pretty rich, given the so-called ‘rule’ against having weapons in the convention hall.

This, I decide quickly, is so not my thing. Jake tried to get me to play Dungeons and Dragons withhim and his older brother a couple of times, and I just could never get into it. I just don’t care about elves and sorcerers and trolls and faeries, and Ireallydon’t want to spend my whole Saturday hanging out with people who do.

It’s not too late to turn around and get the bus home. I could just say I wasn’t feeling well. There’s got to be a better way to get Jake’s attention than all ofthis, right?

Also, it turns out, it’s not everyone in their costumes and fan-made T-shirts that looks weird in here: it’s me.

In the cute blue sundress and brown sandals I picked out especially to impress Jake, I stick out like a sore thumb.

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