A rash decision

I throw the door open so hard it almost flies off its hinges.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I scream in rage, my eyes locked on Tatiana like torpedoes on an enemy submarine.

They both turn to face me, startled by my sudden arrival.

“What? Fuck. It’s nothing. We’re just talking,” Tatiana stammers in shock.

“Bullshit. What were you doing to her?”

“Just talking! You, tell him we were just talking!” Tatiana hurries Rachel while clenching her teeth threateningly.

The little shit. How dare she?

“Don’t talk to her!” I order, before pointing at what she’s holding. “Cigarette burns, huh? Have you no shame? What were you trying to get out of her? Money? You’re already rich. What the fuck did you want?”

“Nothing! It was nothing!”

Does she actually not realise that denial is no longer an option? I caught her red handed. Has she simply not processed that yet or is she straight up unable to comprehend that she won’t wiggle out of this one?

“If you’re gonna lie, do it better.”

“I was just. She was... I... Fuck.”

“What. Did. You. Want?”

“... Status.”

“What?”

“I can’t be on top without someone else being on the bottom. She’s on the bottom. I gotta make sure she stays there,” she explains, regaining her composure, and taking on a cool, collected demeanour I’d never seen on her.

“What? That’s not how life works...” I reply, taken aback. “It’s not a zero sum game.”

“Isn’t it? You said I was rich a second ago, and... yeah. I’m rich. But I wouldn’t be if someone else weren’t poor. That’s just how it is,” She finally meets my gaze and I discover a sheen of calm, calculating intelligence I’d never seen before.

Her sudden poise is disconcerting, and even a bit scary, but I can’t let it distract me.

“Don’t play with semantics. You’re using relative words --- rich or poor, being on top or being on the bottom --- to create a false dichotomy. It is possible to improve the quality of life of one person without lowering that of another.”

“Oh, I don’t think I---“

“No. Shut up. Whatever your clever little argument is going to be, I don’t need to hear it. You were about to give Rachel a cigarette burn just for your own petty, selfish, sadistic pleasure. However you rationalise your behaviour, I don’t give a shit. You’ve lost the right to talk back,” I snap.

“I’ve lost... the right?” She asks, with a strange confusion in her voice.

“Yeah. Bullying a girl who’s already struggling so much, aren’t you ashamed? Fucking hell!”

“Ashamed..?”

Why is that little fuck looking at me like I’m not even there?

“Yeah. Ashamed. I always had my suspicions about you, but I still can’t believe you’d stoop so low!”

I’m getting really worked up, it’s hard to focus on anything else than my anger right now.

“Stoop so low...”

“You may not want to take your responsibilities as one, but you’re a bloody adult. Bullying at your age is just embarrassing. You might as well act like a fucking child!” I finally scream in anger.

“Embarrassing... Act like a child...” She repeats confusedly, her face contorted in a pained effort to comprehend my words.

As she does, I feel a familiar pull from within me, and I suddenly realise what’s happening.

It’s BS about to be spent.

I could hold them back. I’ve already done so with Jenny. All it takes is a bit of willpower. I don’t even fully remember what I just told Tatiana, what the app will interpret as my point. I may completely fuck her up, render her utterly unable to function on her own. It’d be so easy to save her.

So easy.

-60 BS. 14 Remaining.

She instantly brings her hands up to her temples. This is the most BS I’ve ever spent on anyone at once, and for all I know, my anger may have made the effects more intense.

She leans back against the wall and lets out a grunt, while Rachel looks at her in fear. She’d spent our entire argument trying her best not to react, not to be seen, not to be hurt, but she can’t help but let out a small cry, seeing her bully nearly convulsing in front of her.

Tatiana’s legs buckle and she lands on her butt, her back leaning against the wall.

She stops moving.

I should be worried, but something tells me that that is a normal reaction to such aggressive arguments made with the app. Maybe that’s a side effect of my Perk. Not only does it tell me how much I’m going to be spending, but it also makes me more aware of what actions and feelings interact with the process, albeit on a half-subconscious level.

I look down upon the woman whose life I just changed forever without even knowing to what extent, and I feel no remorse. We’ll see what happens when she wakes up, I don’t even care enough to stay here until then.

I turn to face Rachel.

“Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” I ask.

Unsurprisingly, she can’t speak right now, but she manages a reassuring nod before standing up on shaky legs.

She looks down at Tatiana.

“She’ll be alright, I just made her... reconsider things, and she needs some time to work process it.”

That somehow seems like a good enough explanation for her.

“Come on, let’s go. Let’s get you away from her. Would you like some water?”

She manages another nod so imperceptible that it could be used as an eye exam for aspiring astronauts.

“Alright, I have a bottle in my classroom, let’s go back there.”

I’m still not sure whether talking to her yesterday made things even worse for her, or if it did help but Tatiana just undid it all. Regardless of what it is, it’ll probably be even harder for her to speak from now on.

I lead her back out of the room and up the stairs, then into the corridor we came from.

Okay, I’m really going to need to help her, with the app. I can’t just make her want to socialise, as that would simply add to the anxiety. The more she wants to speak, the more frustrated she’ll be when she can’t. What I need is to make it easier for her. Make it so that she feels comfortable socialising.

We reach my classroom. I realise I didn’t to lock it in my hurry, despite having left all of my stuff in there. Luckily nobody tried to come in while I was gone.

40 BS. That’s how much I’m going to need to help her. I should easily have that by the end of the weekend, maybe even tomorrow evening if I can use the new belief again.

I hand Rachel my water bottle and she takes a long sip. It does seem to calm her down a bit.

“Hey. Hang in there, okay? I know it’s not easy, but I promise you I’m on your side. And I won’t rest until everything is right,” I declare solemnly.

She looks at me, takes one more sip of water, followed by a long breath, before she attempts:

“Th... than... th...”

“It’s okay. Today, you can put your efforts on hold. Just take care of yourself, okay? You deserve it.”

She looks to the side, pensively, as if she wasn’t sure what taking care of herself entailed.

“How about... video games?” I suggest.

It’s a bit cliché to expect all school nerds to be into video games, but then again almost everyone plays at least a video game nowadays.

And she does seem to like the idea.

I’m getting better at reading her emotions.

“Are you gonna be alright walking back to your room?”

Her answer is about as assertive as a shaky, uncertain, stuttering nod can be.

I guess even she doesn’t want to be seen being walked back to her room by a teacher.

“Alright then. You can stay as long as you need, and leave whenever you’re ready.”

She tremors gratefully, but starts walking to the exit almost immediately.

I’m not surprised, she’s clearly the kind of person that feels more comfortable when she’s alone.

She turns around right before reaching the door and manages an awkward wave.

I’m really starting to feel protective towards this girl. I don’t want any harm to come to her. I want her to feel comfortable doing whatever she wants, without fear of any anxiety or bullies coming in her way.

Speaking of bullies, I should check the app.

*XP +6! Next level in 4 XP.

Cash +6! Total: 26.

New profile added: Tatiana Pushkin.

New Path unlocked for Tatiana Pushkin.*

I open up her profile.

---

Tatiana Pushkin

Age: 26

Occupation: Student

Special traits:

• Kingpin. Target’s path effects are also applied to her goons for as long as they stay under her authority.

Available Path

Please select one of the following options:

1. Bullying at your age is just embarrassing. Target will believe that humiliating herself and her goons, especially in a sexual manner, is the most effective way to be a bully. She will regularly come up with new ways to **** herself and will grow to enjoy self-humiliation, even when it’s not related to bullying. Third parties observing her will not feel threatened at all, and will instead find her behaviour pathetic, but they will generally give her what she wants out of pity. The target will never realise that she is the laughing stock of everyone around her.
2. You might as well act like a fucking child. Target will believe that she should no longer act as a bully, but instead make a display of immaturity. Her behaviour, speech patterns, clothing, and hobbies will regress to a more juvenile state. This behaviour will only be skin deep, as she will retain her mental maturity on most aspects such as general survival skills, sexual maturity and awareness, personal grooming and hygiene, etc.

---

There is so much to unpack in here.

First of all... she’s twenty-six!? How is she still in high school? She’s only a little bit younger than me. I knew she was a bit older than the other students but Jesus, some people have a master’s degree by that age!

Secondly, that special trait is extremely strong. It basically means that whichever Path I pick will be applied to most of the girls in her class, so it’s ten for the price of one. I need to be careful here. It does say that the effect only applies when they’re “under her authority”, which means that whenever they leave the school or simply stop respecting her, they’ll go back to acting normally. I assume the app will use some of its magic to make sure they don’t realise anything was ever amiss.

Finally, the Paths themselves. These are the most intense ones I’ve seen so far. Whichever one I pick will changer her life for good, make her unable to fully function independently, either because she’ll be too busy putting herself into the most humiliating positions she can imagine, or because she’ll simply never be able to acquire the mental maturity required.

I’m actually starting to feel a bit sorry for her. I don’t regret yelling at her, but maybe I should’ve held the BS back.

I suppose I could simply never choose a Path, but that would mean that I won’t ever be able to control her, that she’ll still be able to bully Rachel or anyone else whenever she wants, and that I’d have wasted those 60 BS.

Despite all that, I actually do consider not picking a Path, but as I’m about to close the app, the image of Tatiana holding her cigarette a few millimetres away from Rachel’s skin springs to my mind.

The sheer contempt in her eyes as she stood back up. The total lack of empathy for her fellow human. The detached coldness when she said she had to make sure Rachel “stayed on the bottom”.

She doesn’t deserve my pity.

I look down at the app, and lock in my choice.

---

---

---

Hello everyone!
Thank you for reading this new chapter. It's quite different from the usual, but I hope you enjoyed it. As usual, feel free to vote for the Path you'd like to be selected by commenting!

I would like to once again thank the people who've tipped me on ko-fi, and more specifically Gerx, who's been very generous yesterday. It means a lot and I'm very grateful!
We're actually getting somewhat close to reaching my first goal of buying the full version of the writing app Scrivener, and in the name of transparency, I'll be sharing a survey on my ko-fi page about how I use any potential tips you may decide to give me after we reach that goal.
I've been absolutely floored by your generosity. I wasn't even sure I'd ever get enough money for Scrivener, but after just a few days we're already 3/4 of the way there! Thank you so much!
In any case, I'll see you all in the next chapter!