Level Three

The fallout hit after she left. Ben and Owen were easy reads. I’d ascended to godhood if you listened to them. Trent and Mike were harder to get a read on. Cautious surprise was what I was leaning towards. Not a perfect response, but considering how things could have gone it was better than I’d hoped.

Sunday, Emma texted me wondering how it went and I filled her in on their reactions. I was cautiously optimistic, but I wouldn’t learn until Monday what they really thought of it. Me, I felt terrible again. However my friends felt about me, it wouldn’t change the fact that I was now a pervert who takes candid shots of unsuspecting women. While Emma had never told me that I couldn’t tell them she was in on it, she didn’t need to. It would be a hard sell and all she needed to do was deny it.

Monday rolled around and I was able to touch base with my friends. Owen and Ben were all high fives and thank yous. That was expected. Trent was… Trent. Whatever his thoughts on it were, the universe would die of heat **** before he worked up the courage to say what he felt. Mike was the only one that worried me. He was my best friend and his thoughts on this were more than all the others combined. I was genuinely worried because it seemed like he was avoiding me.

Of all places, it was lunch when I finally saw him. I was surprised because he had class during this time. I started to walk over to him when I stopped in place. He was standing at the popular kids' table looking wholly uncomfortable as a surprised Emma looked up at him. This was entirely out of character for him since he always wanted to be invisible to the kids he considered popular. Already, I could see some at the table snickering as Emma stood up and followed Mike out of the cafeteria. Way out of character for him. I knew better, but just from an observer's point of view, it was a lot like he had called out Emma to talk with her in private. Without context, it was easy to guess he was asking her out or something, but I knew the context.

He was telling her about the photo.

Sitting at my table, I cast worried glances towards the door they had walked out of. Anxiety churned in my gut as I poked at my food. What was happening? What were they talking about?

What was Emma saying about me?

Realization dawned on me as the full weight of the power I had given Emma the other night. As of right now, the fate of my friendship was completely in the hands of someone who relished tormenting me. Through our conversations, it was obvious Mike was the closest of the friends I had. Considering how Mike was acting, I had a feeling my approval in his eyes had already taken a hit. It wouldn’t take much to end a decade-plus worth of friendship. If shit blew up because of this, I wouldn’t even blame him. I would do the exact same if our positions were reversed.

Nearly five minutes later, Emma returned alone. I stared at her, silently begging for a sign. She never looked my way. Of course not. That would be too easy.

Pulling out my phone, I sent her a text. Staring across the room I watched as she glanced down at her phone. She looked away, smiling as she resumed talking to her friends.

So that’s how it was going to be.

I waited until after lunch to send Mike a text.

>Hey, we haven’t hung out in a while. Want to do something after school today?

It was nearly the end of the day before I got a reply.

>Can’t. Have something else planned

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I was a mess the rest of the day. Five minutes before the final bell, I got a text. Pulling out my phone, I casually gave it a glance when the teacher’s back was turned. It was from Emma.

>Meet me by my locker after school

This was new, and new was never good with Emma.

After the last bell, I realized that I didn’t actually know where her locker was and had to text her for it. When she finally responded, I found it was on the other side of school. I fast-walked through the throngs of students as I made my way to her. Winded, I leaned on the locker beside her as she put books inside.

“What did Mike tell you?”

Eyebrow quirked, she glanced over at me. “Good afternoon to you too.”

“Come on. This is important. Mike blew me off when I asked if he wanted to hang out with him. What the fuck did you tell him?”

She let my anger roll off her. “Thanks to you, he fell in love with my tits and declared his undying love for me.”

“Damn it, Emma. This is not the time for this shit. Mike is my friend.”

She turned her attention back to her locker. I waited because that was all I could do. Finally, she closed her locker and looked at me. Her anger surprised me, hot tears welling in her eyes. “And I thought we were friends. Mike told me what you did. I trusted you, and you take advantage of that to sneak a picture of me changing? As if that wasn’t enough, you go bragging to all your friends about it? What the fuck, Isaac.”

Stunned, I wheeled backward away from her. Sweat beading on my forehead, I looked around to see who had heard that. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be busy in their own world. Thank god everyone seemed to have earbuds in these days.

My panic faded enough to hear the sweet sounds of Emma laughing, wiping tears from her eyes. “I’m just messing with you. Oh man, the look on your face though.” Smoldering, I glared at her, not trusting myself to speak. I was so angry, I felt an urge to physically hit her. I didn’t, of course. My parents had raised me better than that. I abhorred **** in general, but against a woman, even one as deserving as Emma, was a line I would never cross. Still, I hadn’t been this angry in a long time.

“Relax, Isaac. Yes, he told me about the photo, but I told him that I was in on it.” She grinned. “He was so cute, flustering about like that. In fact, he reminded me a lot of you when we first started this. Oh? Jealous? Don’t worry, you aren’t being replaced,” she said, patting my arm. My shoulders relaxed at the news, releasing a tension I hadn’t known was there.

“How did he take the news?”

“Hmm? Oh, don’t worry about that. I have it handled.” She glanced down at her phone. “Speaking of handling things, I have to go.”

“Emma, wait,” I said, stepping to block her path. Blue eyes met mine. “Why?” She tilted her head. “Why did you tell him the truth?”

She was silent for a moment. “Why wouldn’t I? He was concerned about his friend. You’re lucky to have a guy like him on your side. Even when he showed me what you took, he still defended you, saying you weren’t the type of guy to do something like this without reason. He made it clear that he was on my side and he didn’t support your actions, but he wanted a chance to confront you first before doing anything about it.”

“Still…” I said, looking down. I didn’t know how to phrase it politely. She was in the perfect place to do some real damage to me. After the other day, it was clear to me that I was at her mercy now. Every day, I was walking deeper into her lair. After the other night, I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to escape anymore.

“Isaac, I think you are forgetting something.” I looked up at her and she smiled softly. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

My heart raced for another reason. Seeing her smile like that at me always reminded me of how I felt about her. Even when she beat me over the head with her friend zone stick or whatever other torturous things she had at her disposal, I was never able to bring myself to hate her. She brought me to the line, but stopped right there at the edge.

I opened my mouth to reply when a new voice interrupted me. “Emma! There you are.” Turning my head, I found an attractive guy slide in beside her. Jealousy flared as I watched his hand slide around her waist. I recognized him as one of the guys she ate with at lunch. “I thought you said you would meet me by the car?”

“Sorry,” she said, giving the guy a beaming smile. I hated the guy even more. She had given me a lot of different smiles over our time together, but nothing like what she was giving him. “I was just talking with Isaac here.”

“Isaac?” the guy said, looking at me as if he hadn’t noticed me standing there.

“Isaac, this is Ryan. Ryan, Isaac.”

“Hey,” he said, clearly not interested in anything to do with me. “Anyways, ready?”

“Sure.” She turned her head towards me. “Thanks for the study guide. I’ll look over it tonight and we can go over it tomorrow after school, okay?”

“Uh, y-yeah,” I said, thrown by her random statement.

They left together, Ryan’s arm still around her. I heard her giggle, slapping at him playfully. “Stop, he’s not—” I didn’t catch what she said, but I had a feeling it was about me and it wasn’t anything nice. My heart hammered against my chest as I watched them go. They looked good together. Two attractive people, owning the space around them. A dozen steps away Ryan’s hand slid down farther to grab her ass. I could see her laughing, but she did nothing to remove it.

That sight haunted me for the rest of the day as envy and jealousy ate at me. I didn’t know what they were doing or where they were. It fueled my imagination. Each place was worse than the one before as it went wild with speculation. Would I be getting a picture of her with Ryan’s cock next? Was he enjoying the sensation of Emma’s lips around him? The beautiful blue of her eyes looking up at him as he shot his seed into her waiting mouth? I was level three now, whatever that meant. I still didn’t know what to expect from that. I had an idea but I don’t think I was mentally ready for it. Not yet.

Shit. I was obsessing again. I had enough on my plate with Mike to worry about what Emma was doing.

It was ten when I got a text. Checking it, I found it from Emma.

>Check your folder.

Frowning, I turned to my computer and navigated to our shared folder. Inside, I found a change. Instead of three folders, there were four with the new one named tier three. My body tingled as I realized what it was. My upgraded reward.

What **** waited for me in this level of Isaac’s Inferno?

Opening it, I only found a single item. It wasn’t an image, but a video file. Breathing fast, I stared at it for several seconds before bursting into action. I made sure my door was locked before grabbing my headphones and putting them on. I was a quivering mess as I moved the mouse to select the clip. Double-clicking, it popped open. My ears were immediately assaulted with the unmistakable sound of someone sucking on something. There were wet smacks and heavy breathing mixed in with soft, feminine moans. Gradually, the blackness faded to reveal none other than Emma. My chest heaved as I watched my crush stare at me while her head bobbed atop an erect cock. There was an eagerness to her movements, her eyes never leaving the camera that recorded her. I watched her lips press against the thick shaft as she pulled her head upwards. The cock plopped out of her mouth with a wet smack before she quickly used her tongue to run along the underside. The guy groaned, the camera shaking slightly as she repeated the movement, but working in the opposite direction. Giggling, she gave a smug smile as her hand wrapped around the guy's base. She slowly pumped her hand along his base as she licked at the head.

“Nothing better than exploring a new cock,” she said to the camera. No. She wasn’t talking to the camera. There was only one person she was talking to because only one person would be getting this video. Me.

Slowly, she licked her lips as she continued to pump at it. Her eyes moved away. “I can’t wait to find out how you taste.”

The video ended with her looking hungrily up at whoever that cock belonged to.

Stunned, I sat there in complete silence. This was like experiencing the shock of her blowjob picture for the first time. I thought I was prepared for anything she sent me, but this was making my head dizzy. It wasn’t what I saw. Seeing her in action was intense, but I was already slightly desensitized due to all the pictures I’d gotten. It was everything else. The sounds she made. The things she said.

That the entire thing was directed at me.

I jumped at the text alert. I was already halfway through my second viewing.

>Watch it yet?

>Yeah

>Do you want the entire thing?

My heart raced. I could hear the sounds happening, but my attention wasn’t on the screen. There was more of it?

>Yes

>You know what you have to do then. Question one: Did I give Ryan a blowjob today?

>Yes

It was a guess, but I was relatively confident in my answer. She usually started out with an easy one. As I waited for her reply, my mind drifted back to Ryan’s hand slipping down to grab her ass and found myself wondering if that was all they did.

>Question two: Was that video from today?

I took a moment to look over at the screen. Was that the same top she had been wearing today? I couldn’t remember.

>Yes

Relief flooded me when I saw the next message pop up. So far, I was two for two.

>Question three: Was that Ryan’s dick I was sucking?

Something was wrong. This was all too easy. She had said in the video that it was ‘new.’ The way Ryan was acting around her, it was clear they’d been close before.

>No

>Question four: Are you close to the guy in the video?

That was an odd question to ask. The moment it clicked, my entire world collapsed.

“She didn’t.”

My attention was immediately back to the video. I replayed it again and again. All erotic aspects were stripped away as I searched for clues. I didn’t see much of the guy, but the more I saw, the more the pit in my stomach grew.

“No. No. She didn’t. That isn’t him. It can’t be.”

I was almost having a panic attack as I tried to think. Was Mike that dark? No. I was pretty sure he was lighter. Right? That had to be because there was no way that was Mike in the video. Turning away, I struggled to breathe. Mike had told me he had something else planned and Emma said she had things, ‘handled.’

Was this what she meant?

I think I was going to be sick. Shutting down my computer, I paced back and forth as I felt sweat form across my body. I was only vaguely aware of the sound of incoming messages as I debated if I needed to get to the bathroom or not. Minutes passed and I at least managed to get my breathing under control. Thinking things over, I was ninety-eight percent sure that the guy in the video wasn’t Mike. Mike was a big guy and if my memory was correct, the angle of the camera and what I could see of the guy, he didn’t look big enough to be him. Besides, Mike wasn’t the type of guy who would just get a blowjob if a girl offered, right?

Of course he would. Doubly so if the girl was Emma. I don’t think I was the only one with a crush on her. She had us all caught in her net. They were all lucky she focused her attention on me.

It wasn’t him. I knew it wasn’t him, but the doubt lingered. That two percent haunted me. When I closed my eyes, I could see it all. My mind replayed the clip over and over, only the guy she was with had transformed into my best friend. Forcing myself to try to sleep only made things worse as my mind made them do other things.

Legs against my chest, I sat in my bed and let thoughts drift through my mind without focusing on any in particular.

So far, level three was a bitch.