New Friends

I woke up five minutes before my alarm. Blinking, I sat up in the dark and just… sat there. I still couldn’t believe it. I had a girlfriend. An actual, real-life girlfriend. Not only did I have a girlfriend, but she was also the hottest girl in school. Fuck what other guys said, Emma was by far the hottest girl in school. I would go so far as to say she was the hottest girl on the whole damn planet. No other girl came close.

Climbing out of bed with a grin on my face, I stretched and went to get ready for the day. I was brimming with energy, consistently running five minutes faster than usual. Mom was suspicious as she watched me over the cup of coffee she was sipping. After giving her a bear hug, I hopped in my car and headed to school. Classes were easier than ever. I followed along, taking copious amounts of notes for later review. With an energetic pep in my step, I grabbed lunch and headed for my table.

My happy bubble was popped by an annoyed Emma standing across from me.

“What are you doing?”

I glanced down at my tray, then looked back at her. “Um… Eating lunch?”

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously. But I’m just wondering why my boyfriend is eating here alone, while his beautiful, wonderful, and impossibly sexy girlfriend is sitting across the cafeteria.” I grinned stupidly as I stared up at her. She crossed her arms. “What?”

“You just said, ‘My boyfriend.’”

Making a sour face, she shook her head. “On second thought, if you are going to be cringey about it, you can keep your ass parked over here as far away from me as possible.”

She didn’t look back as she headed back to her table. I only watched her ass sway for a few seconds before I was up chasing after it—her. I was following her.

Emma had taken her usual seat and I noticed the one across from her was empty. My pace slowed as I approached. Even though I’d met everyone here before, I felt anxiety gain a foothold. These were Emma’s friends and I barely knew any of them. Even if I wasn’t beat up over Ben and Owen going their own way, all the friend drama made me gun shy about jumping headfirst into a group of people I only assumed thrived on drama. Sure, that might have been a stereotype of popular kids based completely on what I saw on TV, but it couldn’t be that far off… right?

Her smile as I took my seat across from her calmed my nerves a bit. A strong impact on my back nearly sent me face-first into my food.

“Isaac! What is up?”

“N-Nothing much,” I said with the best smile I could muster. There were a lot of eyes on me. Even if we were at the end of the group, there were a lot of people associated with Emma’s friend group. Thirteen. Fourteen including Emma herself. They all seemed to be looking at me right now.

Ryan chuckled, looking down the line at the others. “‘Nothing much,’ he says.” Arm grabbing my far shoulder, he gave me a gentle shake. “My man! This dude is ice-cold chill. Bags the Ice Queen herself and acts like it’s Monday.”

“It is Monday.” Not my finest moment, but my brain was a bit panicky at the moment.

He laughed, slapping me on the back some more.

“Congrats, Isaac. I was rooting for you,” Sarah said with a thumbs up. That opened the floodgates as I was showered in congratulations. I had no idea what to think right now. The bombastic nature of things was overwhelming. Looking to Emma for support, she enjoyed the moment with a warm smile on her face.

Once that was taken care of, people began to drift back to their previous conversations. It was a welcome shift. Happy as I was for the welcome, having all those people looking at me was a bit much. My face felt like a furnace.

“Emma mentioned you use Discord, right?” Ryan said, drawing my attention.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Cool. Cool. Let’s get you an invite. That way you can keep up on all the stuff going on. Anything posted is free game, so if you see a few people talking about going to a movie, dinner, whatever, please invite yourself. The more the merrier.” He navigated on his phone as he spoke. “I’m serious about that too. Invite yourself. I know we didn’t talk all that much at the bowling alley, but I know we are all itching to get to know the guy who melted our fair Ice Queen’s heart.”

Emma responded with a liberal use of the middle finger. Ryan simply laughed as I was swept along at his pace. Not only did I get into their Discord, but Ryan exchanged numbers with me.

“Welcome to the team, Isaac.”

“T-thanks. Really.”

He nodded. “Don’t mention it. Like it or not, you’re one of us now.” I grinned. His smile had a way of making people do that with his unhealthy amount of charisma. “I’m sure Emma will fill you in on some of the more… clandestine… elements of our group's operation, but if you have any questions or concerns, ask away. More than happy to answer things and everyone else is super helpful if you post it to Discord.”

I nodded, suddenly remembering what her group of friends got up to.

“Speaking of… Emma already said it was okay, but I want to hear it from you. You know our little Friday game we play and what we get into. You okay if Emma is still included in the Prize Pool?”

“Prize Pool?”

“I hate that we call it that,” Emma said.

“Better than what Zach wanted,” Sarah said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Slut something.”

“Slut Stables,” the girl next to Sarah said, looking equally disgusted. Shit. I forgot her name. Now it was too awkward to ask…

Ryan chuckled. Didn’t seem like he was opposed to the name. “Remember how we compete for placement every Friday? Well, the Prize Pool is…” He gestured to the three ladies across from us. “These mighty fine women. Winner gets first pick, then down the line. Since we happen to have more girls than guys in our little group, the guys in last place may not get to choose the lady he wants, but he gets two of them.”

As morbidly fascinating as this was, Emma’s obsession with games was making a bit more sense. I wonder if it was her influencing the group, or the group influencing her.

“So, um… What do you do then?” The four were staring at me. “N-no. I mean, I get that. I mean, is it a one-time thing? A week thing?”

“Ohhh. Yeah,” Ryan said.

“Exclusivity isn’t really what we do,” Sarah said with a kind smile. “It’s more… priority system. The guy who picks us for the week gets priority. We can still play around with anyone else, but if our chosen guy wants to play, we play.”

“And to be clear, she doesn’t have to. Consent is king. No one does anything the other person doesn’t want,” Ryan said with a serious expression. “This is just a fun way to spice things up. Some healthy competition for us guys, the girls seem to like us arguing over who gets who. Of course, it’s not limited to only sex. Depending on the person and mood, sometimes a guy will take his ‘prize’ out for a date, maybe go into some roleplay stuff like master/servant, whatever. Stuff like that is the only thing you aren’t allowed to invite yourself on. Everything else is fair game.”

“We also have a strict condom policy,” Sarah said, jumping in. “Everyone wears them. No exceptions.”

“I see.” That explained why all of Emma’s photos she sent me had the guy wearing one.

“As Emma has no doubt told you, we are pretty open about sex here. No pressure on you to get involved with any of that stuff if you don’t want to though. You want to simply hang out, shoot the shit, maybe sneak a couple beers with some friends? Totally cool and we’ll think nothing less of you.”

“Appreciate it,” I said with a relieved smile. Even if I wanted to, Emma had made it clear other girls were off-limits. It was a sacrifice, especially sitting here with all her other friends. They weren’t Emma level, but they all had their charms.

Alas, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Silver was less attractive when all you had eyes for was gold.

“You never answered his question, Isaac,” Emma said, leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand. “You going to let me be a part of the Prize Pool?”

I knew that damn smile. That lighthearted bubbly tone she used wasn’t going to fool me. My initial response was to rubber-stamp it. It was what she wanted. It was what I wanted. But that wasn’t any fun. Besides, this was a new beginning and uncharted territory for both of us. I fully intended to give her what she wanted, but she was going to have to work for it.

“Hmm. I don’t know.” Her smile winked out of existence as she stared at me. “Seems kinda unfair having my girlfriend in a pool I can’t compete for.”

Sarah snickered, nudging her silent friend. “He’s got a point you know.”

Emma sat up in her chair, poised and graceful. “What are you talking about? Of course you can compete. No one is stopping you.”

“What’s the point?” I grinned. “Unless you’re saying I can pick from these many fine friends of—”

“Absolutely not,” she said firmly. There was no mistaking the heat there. Pushing that direction was only going to result in a crispy Isaac. I spread my hands in a, ‘my point stands’ sort of gesture. That smile of hers was back as she leaned forward slightly. “My sweet, sweet, Isaac. So smart, yet so lovably oblivious to the obvious.”

I frowned, staring at her. Oh, she was enjoying this. Not going to lie, I was too.

“How are you going to pick me if I’m not in the Prize Pool?”

I gaped at her as she continued giving me that wonderfully smug smile she had when she knew she came out on top. She seemed even happier than normal after my failed attempt to beat her at her own game.

“Of course, if you lose the competition…” She trailed off. ‘Some other guy is going to have me’ was the part she left unsaid. Studying me, her eyes sparkled with delight. I saw the angle she was going for, and I approved. A competition with risk-reward. I was going to fight six other guys for her. She knew I was going to lose. Shit. I knew I was going to lose. These guys have probably been playing these games for years and had experience in them. I was a total noob and without some miracle-level beginner's luck, no way was I going to place anything higher than last.

But that’s what she wanted. Emma wanted me to fail. I would fail so she could spin how she was ‘****’ to be with another man. Maybe she would bring out Innocent Emma and the waterworks.

Fuck. I was terrified already.

Or maybe that was excitement.

Grinning, I looked over at Ryan. “You heard her. Sounds like I’m going to be spending my Fridays hanging out with you guys.”

He laughed. “Right on! Just letting you know, no one is going to go easy on you. No mercy.”

Looking back at Emma, the smile on her face was worth it.