Mason get's a Magical App.

As Mason stifled a yawn, he decided he was officially done with high school. Dork that he was, he had actually never hated school. And that was still partly true. But he was done with it. Or maybe he was just done with his senior year. Or maybe he was just done with today. Like an idiot, he had stayed up far too late the night before. He fell down the rabbit hole grinding for gear in his favorite MMO. And so now he had to face the wrath of Monday with almost no sleep. He had spent the entirety of his day desperately trying to act like he was paying attention. All the while fighting to stay awake.

Not that there was any way for him to actually fall asleep. The desks were another thing that he remembered hating less like a freshman. But over the last two years, he had come to truly loathe the little plastic and aluminum monstrosities. That probably had something to do with his growth spurt. When he first set foot in William Tweed High he wasn’t even five feet tall and weighed ninety pounds soaking wet. But that had only lasted a few months before he grew like a weed abusing HGH. Now he was well over six feet tall with a stocky build. For the most part, he didn’t mind. It was nice to be able to get things on tall shelves and he was easy to find in a crowd. He was also basically bully-proof (no one wanted to pick a fight with the Eighth Wonder of the World.) But seats had become his mortal enemy. He hardly ever fit in any of them. And the tiny school desks were the absolute worst. He was constantly having to hunch over to write, twist up his legs to get them out of the aisle, and squirm to relieve the pain of the stumpy backrest digging into the small of his back. And of course, his left butt cheek could never actually fit on the hard seat.

He readjusted again glancing down at the blank page he should have been taking notes on and back up to his teacher. At least he had a good last class. Mostly because of who taught the class. Ms. Bailey was far and away Mason’s favorite teacher. In fact, she was most people’s favorite teacher. Though everyone had different, overlapping reasons as to why. For some, it was the fact that she was young and relatable. For some, it was the fact that she was friendly and approachable. Others loved her teaching style making even dry subject material interesting without talking down to her students. And for others, for many others, the rationale was baser. Zoe Bailey was basically God’s greatest gift/curse for hormonal boys. The blonde was absolutely sexy without ever trying. Even without much makeup, she was model-gorgeous. And even her modest school clothes couldn’t hide her slim build, her curvy butt, and perky breasts (while they may not have been huge they were more than enough for high schoolers to fantasize about them.) Mason would agree with all of those reasons, even if he might not ever admit that last one out loud. He was super glad to have somehow gotten her as a teacher all four years in high school, managing to luck into her as his civics, US history, philosophy, and now world history teacher.

And yet try as he might, Mason simply couldn’t focus on what she was saying. Her words simply floated in one ear and out the other. Exhausted as he was, only his lizard brain was able to really focus on what was going on. And what it seemed to notice was that he was horny and Ms. Bailey was hot. Every time she turned to write on the board his eyes locked on to her pert, heart-shaped ass trying to make out every detail he could through her modest skirt. And when she was back to face them, his eyes moved to her chest instead. Not that he could really blame himself. Her periwinkle sweater was a lot more form-fitting than most of her normal blouses. This was the best look he’d get for quite a while.

He knew he should have masturbated last night.

Tamping down a sigh Mason tried his best to focus on what Ms. Bailey was trying to teach them. At least he did until he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He rolled his eyes. His sister had taken to texting him when she knew he was in class, hoping to get him in trouble. She was older, she should have been more mature than him, not less. It buzzed again. He needed to turn off the vibration. But getting his phone out of his pocket would be tricky. Teachers like Ms. Bailey were good at spotting that type of thing. And he was hardly a master of stealth and subtlety. Still, he needed as few distractions as possible today. Plus it would probably be smart to make sure it wasn’t an emergency. If he didn’t he might start to worry.

So when his teacher turned to write something, he quickly worked his phone out and did his best to hide it in his lap. Clicking the button on the side he disabled the vibration immediately. Then when he was sure he could, he glanced down at what his stupid sister had sent him.

To his surprise, the notification on the lock screen was not letting him know his sister texted him. Instead, it was an app notification. The logo looked like a stylized pink “L” and the message read: Congratulations Mason! You’ve downloaded the Luxuria app! Please open it to begin!

That was weird. He didn’t know what this Luxuria app was. He didn’t even remember downloading it. Admittedly he was pretty out of it last night. Or maybe this was some random free app promotion, like when bands upload a song to your phone for free as a promotion. The more obvious possibility though was that he had downloaded it and just forgotten about it.

His first instinct was to open it. But he caught himself. Given the name and logo, there was a very strong possibility this was porn. If he got caught with his phone Ms. Bailey would probably let him off with a warning. He was one of her best students and was pretty far from a troublemaker. But if she caught him looking at porn, things would be much worse. But still, he was curious. And so while his teacher was distracted answering another student’s question he unlocked his phone and tapped the new app’s icon.

What opened was surprisingly not porn. Instead, it was a pink text box, written in the same font as the “L” in the logo.

Thanks for opening the app, big guy. Here is 500 Gold to start you off! Remember I’m rooting for you! -Lilith

As soon as Mason read it, the message disappeared. In its place was a mostly empty menu titled Targets. Of the dozen or so selections only one option was listed as anything but [Unavailable]. At the very top was listed Mason Griffith and the five hundred gold coins he was given. That certainly raised an eyebrow. It was hardly weird for an app to be able to get information like that, but usually, it at least had to ask for permissions first. But this one didn’t throw up any kind of EULA or anything.

Hoping that he hadn’t downloaded some sort of spyware, he tentatively tapped his name. A new equally sparse menu opened up. It only had three options Body, Perks, and Back. At the top, it listed his full name again and his five hundred points. But the most bizarre thing was in the top left corner.

It was a drawing. The little chibi avatar bounced grouchily in the corner, his shaggy blonde hair bobbing a half-second behind the rest of him. As Mason watched the little guy readjusted his glasses and felt his own jaw drop. That was him. There was no doubt about it. He was even wearing the same hoodie and jeans.

“What the- !?” He whispered to himself. But was cut off by Ms. Bailey clearing her throat.

“Mason?” She asked in her Teacher Voice. “I need you to pay attention, please. You too, Keisha.”

“Sorry.” Mason found himself saying in unison with a girl behind him. Ms. Bailey took a deep sigh as she surveyed her class.

“Come on everyone, I know it’s the last class of the day but please try to focus.” When that got only murmurs in response she continued. “How about this, let’s take five minutes. Everyone stretch your legs, check your phones, grab a hall pass if you need the bathroom. But after that, I need you all ready to listen. Deal?”

That earned a significantly more positive reaction from the class. Most students were on their feet in the blink of an eye. Normally Mason would have been right there with them but for now, he was just glad to not be in trouble. So for the moment he just took a deep breath.

Then his phone buzzed again.

Looking down he found himself surprised to see another notification from Luxuria. It informed him that a new target was registered. Raising his eyebrow he unlocked his phone to see what the app was talking about. He entered his code and felt his jaw drop. The Targets menu had, in fact, been updated. The first entry below his name was now listed as Zoe Bailey, and she apparently had seven hundred and fifty-three coins (though hers were silver instead of gold.) His eyes bugged out of his skull. An app knowing his name was creepy, in a big-picture state of society kind of way. But was both pretty common and easy to understand. But there was simply no way around it. The app should simply not know who Ms. Bailey was or that she was nearby. Even if the mic was on no one said Ms. Bailey’s name. And yet there it was, it even had her first name.

“How the f-?”

“Mason?” Somehow Ms. Bailey had walked up to his desk without him noticing. Given his size, she was only a foot or so taller standing than he was sitting. But she still looked down at him with sympathetic eyes. “Is everything alright? You seem a little off today. You know you can talk to me if there’s a problem, right?”

“Oh, it’s nothing!” Mason said unconvincingly. Part of him felt bad for lying to a woman who had been nothing but nice to him and was just trying to help. But he couldn’t figure out how to bring up a mysterious app that knew her name. “My sister, Viv, has been texting me to try and get me in trouble.”

“Siblings, right?” Ms. Bailey said clearly relieved, but not totally convinced. “Well just remember, if you need my help you only have to ask.”

As she walked away Mason took a relieved sigh. But nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard “Psst!” come from his right.

“Psst! Mason?” A petite Asian girl next to him tried to quietly get his attention. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

The girl in question was Yumi Kamiya, and the two of them had been best friends since they were toddlers. Her family had moved from Kyoto into the house next door just before he and Yumi started kindergarten. The two nerds had been inseparable ever since. Even if puberty made things a little weird. Especially after Mason's growth spurt. If puberty hit him like a truck, then it hit her like a feather. She was still skinny (probably less than a hundred pounds), short (a full inch under the five-foot mark), and practically flat (She probably didn't even need to wear a bra.) The poor girl would probably be one of those women who got mistaken for a teenager until she was in her fifties.

“Y-Yeah. I’m fine.” Lying to Yumi felt worse than lying to Ms. Bailey but this wasn’t the time to drop a mysterious app on his friend. “I’m just...tired. I stayed up late grinding for the Emerald Star Wand.”

“What?” Yumi huffed. “You know it’s a waste of time to grind on your own. The devs torpedo drop rates for solo players. Did you not see the spreadsheets I emailed to the guild?”

“I wasn’t on my own.” Mason clarified holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I partied up with some randos. Besides that wand is going to be basically necessary to play healer in PVP this season.”

“Oh good,” Yumi said flashing a small smile. “Well if you want, we can grind together tonight.” Her face blanched as she quickly stuttered out “W-W-Wait! I just meant-”

“All right everyone!” Ms. Bailey said over the din of her students. “Let’s get back to it. So as I was saying the Bull’s Horns Formation was made of three parts.”

As the lecture resumed Mason’s phone buzzed again. This time he was hardly surprised to see it was another note from Luxuria. Another target had been registered. Careful to not get caught he checked the app again. Yumi had been added below Ms. Bailey and himself and with a whopping five-thousand-seventy-eight Silver. That settled it. Mason had been on the internet enough to spot the signs of a magic app. While it was shocking to see a real one, his brain immediately turned to a specific question.

What kind of app was it? In his experience, stories with magical apps came into flavors. The first was creepypasta affairs where there was a demon in the phone that would torment the user. He really hoped that it was the second one. The ones that were porn stories where the app let the user bang a series of hot women.

There was only one way to be sure. Well, he supposed he could just play it safe and try to ignore it. But on the other hand, he could see what the coins were used for. It was just a question of whose coins he could spend.