"Shut up."

Leo exhaled. Maria nodded once, a silent salute.

His friend Maria slid into the desk beside him. "Still on Level 3?"

Leo didn't answer. He knew the trick: use more planks than necessary, build a triangle lattice, and the game's physics engine would carry you through. But that felt like cheating. Just Build wasn't about winning fast. It was about building right.

Leo had failed twelve times that week.

The Last Span

Mr. Hendricks turned on the projector. "Today, parabolas."

He placed the first plank at a 22-degree angle. Then a second, counterbalancing. Then a third, forming a tiny triangle. Triangle by triangle, the bridge grew. It wasn't straight. It was alive—a spine of digital wood curving across the void.

The yellow car appeared. It rolled forward. Leo held his breath.