Continuing With the Lunch Break

John had to put his thoughts about Amelia aside; at this moment, he couldn’t do much about it. He decided to think more on this later while working on June’s assignment. But he still managed to lose himself in his thoughts, Will this power ever help me correct what I have done?

And so, once again, he thought back to his current situation. Choosing to let the past events happen according to Vanessa’s will had some major consequences for John: losing friends, becoming one of the main targets of bullies and staying at home for most of his days after school. Staying at home quite a lot made him develop a taste for playing games and writing erotic stories. Shit. I had a publishing deadline for this morning. I have to remember to do it as soon as I get home.

Chief among his activities was gaming. Seclusion had left a social hole in his life, so he filled it with playing online with others. He made some online friends while doing so, but it was mostly due to his skills, that he quickly developed, and the other players that relied on him a lot.

When not being used for the benefit of others, he had a partner he played with most of the time, a girl called Caile Agùr. They clicked almost instantly. It seemed that they always chose roles that complemented each other, so basically, she became his main partner for most of their own quests. Outside the gaming world he was an outcast. But inside it, he had friends that most of the time relied on him.

Playing with Caile was the highlight of his time at home. Her company and the fact that they talked a lot during their playing time was perfect for him. Because of their similar playing time, he had figured out that they lived in the same time zone region, but, being too wimpy to ask, John never brought up if they could meet outside their games. They always used voice chat during their playing, and that’s the closest he ever got to being with her. Sometimes they would take a break from one of their quests; they would just take their characters to a secluded spot on the map and talk while enjoying the scenery.

Once, when he was feeling rather lousy from his bullying problems at school, John was off his game. Caile noticed this and purposefully put her character in danger for him to wake up from his low. “Hey, mate, wake up, remember, we’re pretty useless as a team when one of us is off their game. So, get your head together or we’ll both die here!”

“Sorry, Caile, school problems. I am having a hard time concentrating. Nice idea putting yourself in danger to wake me from my troubles. I’ll just have to try harder,” he replied and proceeded to play to the best of his abilities.

“I understand, shit happens! Let’s try to kick some monster ass, maybe that will lift your spirits! We have been trying to finish this dungeon for almost three days now. We can talk more after we kill the boss,” Caile tried to motivate him. “I know you’ve been dying to get your hands on the final boss’ loot. So, like The King would say: ‘a little less conversation, a little more action, please.’”

Having a gaming partner like her really made him feel better after tough school days. Most of the time, she knew just how to motivate and help him forget his troubles. She did make him laugh when she sang the verse. Yet, this time they didn’t make much progress. No matter how much he tried, his head was just not into it.

They were only able to finish the dungeon on the next day, when John was in a better mood due to Frank being suspended from football for failing his Maths midterms.

Just about the only advantage of lunching alone was that John was able to observe the social interaction at school. Some people are just mean! But that bitch is on a whole other level, John thought as he observed Vanessa bullying a poor fellow student.

Once again, John saw that he was right. The Academy’s social problems were mainly due to Vanessa’s reign. He saw that the girl being bullied had friends that wanted to help her but were too afraid of Vanessa and her clique. John had seen that fear was not their only feeling toward her, there was hate too. Remembering his days as a member of his trio, John realized just how much people looked up to him and the twins. The Trio never allowed Vanessa to get away with the shit she did to others.

His resentment for the people who abandoned him was now starting to fade away. It is not their fault anyway. It is mine, I allowed this shit to happen. I’ll stop it, even if I have to do it alone. He cast as many observes as he could to size up who among Vanessa’s clique really disliked him enough to be a threat. He was a bit pleased to find out that almost half of them weren’t in that category. Still, there were too many of them for him to confront alone. Then he saw a window pop up.

New Quest - Chop off her head
Ok, don’t do it literally, the consequences would be worse than simply going to jail as you will soon find out why. Just give her her due reserves and kick her off the top of the social ladder.
Reward +3 charisma
+50 Relationship score from old friends
Accept | Refuse

Well, that’s excellent; not only will I get to exact my ****, but I’ll also be rewarded for it. He accepted the quest. He started to think about how he could manage such a feat; obviously he had to train. I’ll start that next at PE. But he couldn’t do it alone, he would either need to isolate her and Frank or get some allies to help. From my gaming experience, I know I can’t take on the jocks alone. No matter how strong I can get, a mob can always overwhelm me due to its size. So I have to do this smartly.

But, before he could proceed to plan, for the second time that day, a shadow was cast on John and he was expertly struck at the same place on his head as he had been earlier. “What were you doing, dweeb? This is the second time today you crossed the line. I saw you staring at Amelia before she left. Does Vanessa need to remind you of your role in staying away from that girl? Or maybe, hmm… yes…” he smiled wickedly, “I should ask a couple of friends to take her to a private party. Hmmm, not a bad idea, I would definitely want to join in on that.”

Utter rage spread across John’s face. Noticing this, Frank hit him again for good measure. “Don’t let me catch you breaking the rule again.” Frank left with that warning. John had always believed that his coward decision had allowed to keep Amelia safe for the past six years, but this last threat had just shown him that things could escalate out of proportions and soon. He did not doubt that the bully would make good on his threat if Vanessa permitted him. And, given the bitch queen’s animosity to his childhood friend, John was sure that she would unleash Frank and the other jocks.

Once again, before he could think further on his current train of thought, something happened to interrupt it. This time, by the means of a couple of popups.

Achievement unlocked - Not Being Aware of Your Surroundings.
That’s twice you got attacked without realizing. Maybe this could help you next time.
New Skill: Proximity Sense

Skill - Proximity Sense Lvl 1 (Passive)
Perceive the intention of movement of sentient beings. Effective radius of skill will increase on higher levels. Skill can be turned off.
Effective radius 1 meter.

Wow, that is just incredible. From playing tank roles, John knew just how useful a skill like this was. He looked up and whispered so no one could hear him and think he was crazy, “Thank you! Whoever you are! Oh, and thank you, Frank.” John smiled, anyone looking at him would have thought it strange that John smiled after Frank hit him twice. They’d probably wonder if Frank had hit him too hard.

If only PE could allow me to train the use of this skill as well. I guess I’ll soon find out. John finished his sandwich and soda. He was going to put the tray away, Hum, this might be useful. And I guess, since there are so many, no one will notice one is missing. He looked around, saw that no one was looking at him and put the tray in his inventory.

He left the school cafeteria and proceeded towards the gym, when he suddenly noticed that there was no one around. The corridor was quite empty and everything was too quiet. Not only that, but the walls were strangely blurred as if his eyes couldn’t focus on the details on them. Then, a popup appeared telling him what was happening. Although, what he read only brought more question than answers.

You have been dragged into a trap barrier.
Defeat all enemies to escape.