Master PC- Brain Rot Edition

I feel like I should probably be apologizing to someone for the following story, but instead I'll do a quick thanks to Will Pratt for "Master PC: Word of Mouth", Pillas for "Chronivac: Roomates", and of course JRParz, creator of MasterPC, for being sources of inspiration for a few chapters that will be dated before they're even published. Enjoy!

"Hey hey!"

"HEYY, what's a Friday like you doing on a girl like this?"

"Oh you know, pre-gaming for Georgia's little party," Lara laughed, septum piercing wiggling.

"Well I think I can help with that," I smiled, holding up a brown paper bag bulging with shot glasses and vodka.

"Ooooh," Lara tittered.

"Got any chasers?"

"Yeah, I think my Dad has some coke. Now get in here, bitch!"

Laughing, I followed my Lara inside her Dad's condo.

The only girl I knew who could rock a buzz cut, Lara was was your typical punk princess. Clad in grey piercings and dark leather, she looked pretty fierce, but, still only 20 years old, she like me couldn't legally drink here in the US. Nothing that was going to stop us from getting silly goofy on our own, but we usually drank before parties so as not to get in trouble with campus police.

Lara's Dad certainly didn't care. Since getting his own place near the college, his condo had been a useful spot to drink outside the dorms. Lara even had her own room, done up with Metal posters and horror movie kitsch where I could even sleep over if I had one too many.

"Hey Camille, how's it going?" Mr. Rindquist greeted me, looking up from the kitchen table where he was working on his laptop, a pile of mail and random papers surrounding him. "Did you get a haircut? It looks...nice."

I **** a half-smile at my friend's dad, "Uh yeah I did...thanks."

His eyes were hungrily roaming my white jean shorts and crop top, doing his best not to betray any sordid intentions. I similarly poker-faced. Having only ever kissed one boy, who turned out to be very, very gay, I was never quite sure what to do with male attention, especially from older men who seemed to leer a bit more liberally since the summer I got my sleeve tattoo. I swear I wasn't trying to lead anyone on. but I felt so awkward I just tried to adjust my glasses and look away.

Luckily I had Lara there to change the subject.

"Duh Dad, of course she got a haircut," my friend butt in, "Camille's crush, Tyler, is gonna be at Georgia's tonight so she needed to look extra snatched."

"Uh, like hell," I rolled my eyes. Tyler was an over muscular gym rat who assumed he was God's gift to women.

"Camille had to get her bangs done," the Lara continued to tease, "she lives for Tyler to come up and tell her, 'damn girl, you serving all that cunt just for me'?"

Mr. Rindquist's eyebrows shot into his receding hairline, clearly not used to hearing his daughter say "the c-word". I just ignored him and laughed, playfully lunging at Lara to trying to shut her up by poking her in the ribs.

"Ow ow, OW, okay fine I'll stop," Lara relented, holding up her hands in surrender, "Ow, Camille stop it. I'm too skinny, you're just poking me in the bones."

"Aww, you poor baby," I pursed my black lips as I set the vodka bottle bag on the kitchen counter, as Lara stuck out her tongue, before turning back to her Dad.

"Anyway, Georgia's coming to pick us up in 90 minutes. We'll be in my room Dad, let us know if she knocks," my cigarette thin friend explained confidently. She then leaned in for a kiss, bumping her septum piercing on her Dad's forehead.

"Sounds good to me. But wait a second before you go, do you think Camille's heard of this thing?" Mr. Rindquist asked, gesturing at his laptop. "Got this program from my nephew, he works out of Silicon Valley. Have you heard of Master PC, Camille?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "Is it a social media app?"

"Maybe?" Mr. Rindquist squinted at his laptop, scrolling on the touchpad. "It seems to register people who are nearby. Like you showed up on the directory when you came in. That's why I figured maybe you'd heard of it." So saying he spun his gray laptop around, so I could get an eyeful of the GUI. A mustachioed genie was in the top right corner next to the name and a quick subtitle that read...

"...Brain Rot Edition?" I said aloud, before leaning in closer. Sure enough the main window was a series of Gen Z slang words listed out alphabetically. Ate, Aura, Baddie, BDE, Body Count, Bop, Boujee... all laid out with little sliders and check boxes beneath my name. I clicked over to Lara, seeing a similar array of sliders and internet nonsense words.

"It probably just picks up on our phones or something," Lara said dismissively, "creepy, but not out of the ordinary for Cousin Matthew. I think it's just a joke, Dad."

"I don't know, he was pretty insistent about it in his email," Mr. Rindquist said, rubbing his chin. "Said it would help me get along after the divorce. Trouble is I don't know what half these words mean. Like what's a 'Guy-at'? 'Gee-yacht'? 'G-Y-A-T'? I don't know what that is, but apparently Lara you have a ZERO in it."

I covered my mouth to stop from laughing. A head shorter than me and without my curves, Lara was objectively pretty flat, especially in the caboose region, a fact that made her nostrils flare in irritation.

"And on that note, goodBYE DAD!"

I laughed but Lara's Dad just looked confused.

"Camille and I will be in my room!" His daughter huffed, pulling me down the hallway and leaving Mr. Rindquist alone with his Brain Rot laptop.