4 - Catching up.

"Hey Lauren!"

I turned around in my chair to see Alyssa strolling up from behind me. My hair whipped through the air behind my head in shimmering waves, moving in literal slow motion, before settling in a deep bronze waterfall that cascaded down my shoulders and over my back and breasts.

Alyssa did a momentary double take.

"Ooh, you made it longer today. You know, if I had your fucked up magic hair I'd never wear it the same way twice. You should start dyeing it again."

She ran her hand through her own short black hair to emphasize the difference, as she took a seat across from me.

Alyssa was shorter than I was, a little heavier-set, and was dressed in black jeans, sneakers, and a shapeless white hoodie with characters from some kind of anime printed on it.

We caught up for a little bit. Alyssa had been trying a couple new dating apps - and striking out completely - and staying up late playing some new JRPG - one of those anime video games with all the numbers. She'd always loved those things in high school. I tried getting into a few of them, on her recommendation, when I got bumped from the softball team and needed a way to kill time, but I never saw the appeal. I'd thought she'd grow out of those by now, to be honest. Now, though, she was talking to me like I knew what the hell a 'persona' or a 'social link' or a 'new game plus' was.

I figured if we were at the same school in this timeline, and still hanging out on the regular, this was probably a continuation of a conversation from earlier. That version of me (Had she ever existed? Had I taken the place of someone who this Alyssa knew better? Was I an imposter in my own life, now? Jeez.) probably knew enough to keep up from talking to her before. Or maybe Alyssa was just like that.

I did my best to play along, smiling and nodding like I understood, and enjoying Alyssa's infectious enthusiasm. She lost her train of thought a few times, something I was accustomed to already - I had that effect on people, and I liked it. But this time she got caught up staring at my face as often as my tits. That would take some getting used to.

We chatted about class, as well - Yes, I'd done the reading, yes she could copy my notes, sure I could meet up to study later, and yes, that meant we were actually going to study. I told her, I knew teaching someone else was a good way to learn, so Matt's inadvertant command that made me 'try my best' wouldn't let me give up the opportunity. Together, we cursed him for turning me into such a boring nerd. ("not even the good kind of nerd", Alyssa added, with a cheesy grin).

"Well," I added, grateful for the chance to bring it up, "He's a creep, but you can't really blame him for that one. He didn't know"

Alyssa raised an eyebrow at that. "A creep? I thought he was being awfully polite about the whole situation. I know if you had to do whatever I said..." She trailed off. "Sorry, sorry. Uhh, bad joke."

I suspected it wasn't.

I also suspected it wasn't the first time.

I creased my brow, and sighed.

A moment later, she continued, more seriously, "...Lauren, he didn't do something, did he?"

I shook my head. "Well. Not like that. You know, I thought he was being polite, besides the studying thing. Which is kind of good, right? in a way? Turns out he didn't even know about it. Like, no idea. You shoulda seen the look on his face when he realized."

Alyssa was leaning in towards me now, and looking extremely concerned.

"and then?"

"He made me give him a show. Play with my breasts for him. He told me to 'try to enjoy it'."

I left out the detail of how much I had enjoyed it.

"Lauren, that's awful!" Alyssa replied. "You should call the police! Do you want me to call the police?"

"I really don't think we should do that. and besides," I took a deep breath, finally deciding to tell her what was really on my mind. "He's going to get what's coming to him."

Alyssa blinked at me. "what do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"Alyssa, there's this app on my phone. Matt had it, and now I do too. It can... change things, I guess. It's the reason my hair is like this. Just 20 minutes ago, I typed in 'I have perfect hair and makeup,' and poof. There it is. I know it's hard to believe, but it works, and I'm going to use it to solve this."

I expected Alyssa to look confused, and she was. But more than that, she looked sad, pitying, even.

"Lauren, you've had that magic hair and makeup as long as I've known you. I know what Matt did was traumatic, but fantasizing like this isn't a healthy way to cope."

My breath caught in my throat. of course she wouldn't believe me. It was ridiculous.

"Let me show you." I opened the app and set my phone on the table. "It's set up like some kind of game, but if you type something here..."

I could see Alyssa's eyes glace down for a split second before looking back up at me. "I really don't think I need to see... whatever that is. I think you should get help."

I wanted her to believe me. I was tearing up a little now. I wondered, for a second, if my mascara was running, or if it even could run.

I picked my phone up and held it in front of her face. I watched her eyes dart around to point absolutely anywhere else. "Please, just try it! Type anything!"

she took a breath and looked me squarely in the eyes. "Lauren, look at me. There's nothing important on your phone right now. You're starting to scare me."

Nothing important.

I thought back to last night, and all the time Matt had been staring at his own phone.

I hadn't seen anything on his screen then, either...

Well, in that case.

Over her protests, I looked down at my phone and typed into the open command prompt: "Alyssa Barnes can see this app."

I pressed enter.