In the living room

Rewinding the clock a little, Rosalyn was surprised to find the living room empty when she returned.

Having just finished unpacking her suitcase, she'd quickly changed into her favorite lounging outfit - a sky blue cardigan with pink socks and matching panties - and had begun prepping her itinerary before realizing that she'd never gotten the layout of Josh's campus before her retreat. She knew where she'd need to go tomorrow, but it would certainly help if she had specific directions.

Looking down at her open chest, she convinced herself to not wear her t-shirt, not wanting to seem uncomfortable in her brother's home. While Rosalyn preferred going shirtless as much as any other girl, she also felt like she had a right to her privacy. Sure, Josh and Sarah had seen her tits before, but only when she allowed them too. And, as she identified more and more with the latest growing feminist movement, those times were less and less frequent.

It was largely why she hadn't known what to say to Sarah when she first arrived; the girl had her chest in full view, despite Rosalyn assuming they weren't close enough to warrant such a display yet. Now, she concluded it wasn't best to make any more waves, and opted for the open cardigan.

That was how she found herself alone in the living room, hoping to find Josh. The fact it was empty surprised her, considering she'd heard him rush by her room not but two seconds prior to her leaving it. Yet he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Ahh, but his phone was!

Rosalyn had spotted it from the corner of her eye as she was turning to leave. Considering it her best alternative, she approached it with two quick steps, grabbing it from atop the cushion. Having zero intensions to intrude on her brother's personal life, she planned to keep her search to the strictest of minimums, intent on doing nothing more than open Google Maps and figure out what her best route would be.

She chuckled upon realizing that Josh still hadn't broken his habit of forgoing password pins on his phone and unlocked it with ease, a white screen filled with text opening up before her.

"What's this?" she asked the empty room, curious as to what kind of note-taking app her brother was using. Glancing at the large Rules of the World embolden across the top, she flicked her thumb and sent the wall of text scroll across the screen, the collection of disjointed sentences seemingly endless.

She read them curiously as they passed by, intrigued as to why her brother would have such a thing. It was obvious he hadn't wrote it, considering the amount of detail listed in the facts the app presented; she doubted Josh would have such intimate knowledge of the inner workings of a whale heart.

As they scrolled however, one of the sentences caught her eye and she quickly paused the moving text in order to catch it, rereading quickly to make sure she understood it properly.

• Men are usually seen as more hardworking than women.

The casualness of that single fact angered her. Men are usually seen as more hardworking than women? How about men are always seen as more hardworking than women. Hell, sometimes the woman could go above and beyond the task at hand and she'd still be rejected in favor of a man's work. Granted, it didn't happen all the time, but she'd definitely been noticing it more after she started following certain activists online; especially when it came from some of the male teachers at school. Job interviews, team leadership, management positions; none of her work matters if men were more likely to be chosen by virtue of their gender alone.

It was bullshit.

"What a stupid app" she said to no one, wondering why the hell someone would have created this. She tried highlighting the sentence, bringing up the app's text editor instead. She chuckled to herself, realizing she could change whatever was written and wondered of Josh would even notice. Smiling to herself, she removed the old fact and replaced it with a much more accurate view of how things were.

• Women constantly work twice as hard as men and rarely get any recognition for it.

If someone was going to take the effort to list out the 'Rules of the World', they might as well get it right.

"Hey Rosa, you in her..."

Her brother's voice trickled to a whisper as he spotted her in the living room, phone in hand.

Josh was certain he turned white as a ghost the moment he realized his sister was holding his phone. He barely even registered that she'd also conformed to his choice of evening wear, her tits on full display and ready to be seen. He was instead way too focused on the device in her hand, and the fact that the screen was open.

"What you are doing?" he asked, his voice dry.

"Oh, nothing" his sister answered with a dismissive shrug. "I was looking for you, actually. I wanted to know what the best way to get to your campus was, but I couldn't find you. I figured I'd use your phone, but I got distracted by... this?" She showed him the Rules of the World app in conjunction with her statement, raising an eyebrow at him.

"That's, uh..." How does one explain that she accidently stumbled onto a reality-altering app? "It's something from school, an assignment I'm working on."

"Your assignment requires you to know the intricacies of various animal anatomy?" He blinked, not fully understanding what she was implying. Her tone, despite being curt and firm, wasn't accusatory. It was clear she found something she wasn't happy about, but Josh didn't know enough about the app to question her about it.

When she realized he wasn't going to elaborate further, she sighed, tossing the phone. "Well, whatever. It's obvious this is a group project, so keep in mind that some of the stuff in here could be a little... offensive? I took the liberty of making one of the fact a little more accurate, but you can change it back if you want."

Josh's blood ran ice cold at his sister's words. "Wait, you did what?" Ignoring his question, Rosalyn walked passed him and soon disappeared into the depths of the household, leaving him alone in the room. Turning back to where she'd thrown his phone, he scrambled to reopen the app, searching frantically to find what she'd edited.

Rosalyn left the room as fast as she could, deciding that she could learn her directions during the car ride with Josh tomorrow. The entire experience with the app had left a sour taste in her mouth and she wanted to get it behind her as soon as possible.

Even Josh had seemed troubled by the experience. Something about him was off; he was definitely tense. Had he gained some weight? She hadn't noticed it when he'd arrived home earlier, but in the months since she'd last seen him, he'd definitely gained a few pounds. Giving the sheer scope of the app, his classes must be making him more stressed than usual.

Her thoughts were broken as she nearly bumped into Sarah, the girls crossing each other's paths in the small space leading to the bedroom.

"Oh, sorry!" Rosalyn quickly apologized as their shoulders bumped, smiling up at her brother's girlfriend. It was only then that the girl noticed that Sarah wasn't wearing her comfy clothes anymore. Instead, she was wearing a tight gym outfit and was carrying a yoga mat. "You heading out?"

"Yeah, I have a yoga class at six" her brother's girlfriend replied, lifting the mat in question for emphasis. "I should apologize too. I wanted to make dinner before you arrived, but your early arrival caught me by surprise."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all" she answered, dismissing the other girl's concerns with a wave of her hand. "It didn't help that we made out until Josh came back."

"True that" Sarah laughed, "I was planning on making your favorite too - steak salad with a homemade balsamic dressing. But, I think I'll do it another day."

She darted passed Rosalyn without saying another word, heading for the main entrance. Rosalyn watched her go by, growing confused with each passing second. Certainly Sarah knew she didn't have to go the extra mile and make her her favorite dish, right? And had she'd somehow gotten more fit? When they'd been kissing earlier, Sarah had gotten a clear, unobstructed view of the redhead's stomach and no way did it look that firm.

"Hey Josh!" she heard Sarah called out from beyond, "Could you make dinner tonight?"

"Sure thing!" her brother yelled back, "I'll make pasta or something."

At that, Rosalyn rolled her eyes. It figures Sarah would go out of her way to prep for her guest's favorite meal while her brother resolved to simply make pasta. Yet another example of a girl going the extra mile compared to most guys.

Rosalyn turned to head for her room, the household's front door opening and closing as Sarah left, just as Josh called out to her.

"Rosa, seriously, tell me - what did you change?"

She sighed, annoyed. "Tell me Josh, how often do you go to the gym?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Uh, once a week? Maybe? It depends on when I remember to go. Why does it even matter?"

She ignored that question as well. "How often does Sarah go?"

"I don't know. Two, three times a week?"

Yet again, another example. Josh would never find what she'd edited.

Once again heading for her room, Rosalyn ignored her brother's cries, the bedroom door silencing them entirely as soon as she closed it.

"Rose? Rose?!"

He knew it was futile the moment he heard the door close. His sister was adamant on not telling him what she'd changed in the app.

This was bad. It confirmed what he'd suspected previously - that only the person who made the change was aware of what had happened. Rosalyn had edited something and he had no way of figuring out which of the endless factoids she'd found offensive. To him, everything listed was just as it'd always been.

Knowing how stubborn his sister could be at times, she'd probably never tell him. He could only hope that whatever it was, it wasn't anything too serious or else she'd seriously freak out when she realized something was amiss around with the world around her. He hoped she didn't - for his sake. He had no idea how he'd possibly ever explain to her what this app did.

Realizing there was nothing he could do, he sighed and pocketed the app, hoping to let go of his worry. What's done was done, and any edits he did would be uneducated guesswork, at best. Sarah was gone to yoga, leaving him and his sister alone in the house and he didn't want to upset her more than he'd already did.

Without another word, he promised himself he'd add a passcode to his phone to prevent this from happening again and made his way to the kitchen, ready to make dinner.