The New Newman on Campus

The sun struggled to pierce the sea of clouds that had gathered over Ashcroft Academy, and it was under this shadowed morning that John Newman, as he had never been perceived before, walked through the school's front gates. He had come straight from the diner, packed with an overdue meal and yet feeling just fine; another benefit of his Gamer's body, he decided. He had skipped re-visiting his temple: after so many hours wasted in a mystical forest, followed by a hasty shower at home and his promised mission to get his flask of fairy dust back (somehow still half-full and abandoned in the basement, for which John thanked the mysterious Gaia), dealing with the mess inside his bizarre second home was the last thing John wanted. He didn't need sleep anymore, but apparently he could still feel exhausted just thinking about certain chores. For now, he enjoyed the sensation of concrete beneath worn sneakers, the rims still stained with grass that wasn't real. He tried to push back the thoughts about that waitress, and how easy it had been... how cruelly easy it had been to manipulate her. His curiosity was sated, and guilt would ensure he avoided the restaurant if he could manage it.

Presuming Wentworth doesn't just poof me back into it, anyways. Thinking about the potent mage shrunk his enthusiasm; he'd have to get a glimpse of her today to see if awareness finally told him more about her, now that he was in the double digits himself. The students who were arriving with him were far less mysterious: they opened like books for him, previewing and tasting their lives with brief descriptions, watching their relationship scores tick up when they saw him and then again when they took a second glance. His charisma had skyrocketed since last he walked these halls, and the level gap meant most rested close to 100 without so much as exchanging words with him. Cliques of cute girls turned around and whispered conspiratorially about the hot nerd they never noticed before, even though none could quite place what suddenly made him hot. Pairs of boys, from athletes to losers, wavered between admiration and jealousy.

By the time he headed up the stairs, John considered suppressing his cult status. He liked being less hated at school... but with so many leaping close to or over 100, where 200 was the most one's heart could love... was this right? Was it safe? This train of thought flipped right off the rails when he reached the second landing, where half the football team waited for him. Most ranged from an inch to a foot taller than John, and even with the subtle sculpting of his body with his new stats they had more muscles, pound for pound, than he might ever have. The eight of them ranged from levels 4 to 7, each with enough health to at least make fighting them bothersome. Paul Klein, their weakest, was also apparently the only one especially prone to ****... and the first to speak. "That's him." Their relationship scores ticked up, but most didn't even make it up to -5. The team nodded, and began to circle John on the landing. He could dive down the stairs, but outrunning the football team sounded less promising than it should have for someone with his abilities. Of course, he could just teleport away, but everyone "in the know" so far made it seem doing that in public would only worsen his fate.

"What's this about?" There was more confidence in his voice than he ever would've managed before. He raised a few eyebrows and got some chuckles from these particular peers of his.

"Paul tells us he knows somebody on your bus, somebody who saw you talking to the head cheerleader."

Wallace Kent
Level 7 Fighter
200/200hp
5/5mp
+3 rp

The tallest of them, Wallace was also the only one who didn't have either a football team role or "brute" as a class, and the only one among them with mana. What the Hell does it mean then?! The near-giant grinned as he spoke, flashing those perfect pearly whites at the nerd before him. "Paul also saw you get into one of her Caddys. When did you become such good friends with Frank's girl, little man?"

The circle cut off the stairs, and John was well and truly trapped between them. From the gaps they created, never larger than an arm's length, he spotted someone by the mouth of the second story landing: an unfamiliar, stern-looking Asian girl.

Kim Moon
Level 20 Martial Artist
<The Silver Crane of the North>
985/985hp
370/370mp
Status Effect: First Kata: Shizen
+0 rp

What the Hell?! She's even stronger than Moira! John grew more nervous, which the bullies took to mean they were finally getting through to him. Certainly, he couldn't risk using magic now, not without knowing who was spying on what might become an altercation. "We've known each other since high school. We're just friends." Less of a lie this morning than it was the last, certainly.

"Eh?" Paul leaned forward, eyebrow twitching almost comically. "Friends? Do you think we're stupid, huh?!"

"Paul's got a point," a third (Oswaldo Perez, per awareness) chimed in. He cracked his knuckles with a wolfish grin. "No way Vanessa would waste time on a loser like this... maybe he's bothering her. Maybe he needs to be reminded of who and what he is."

"A small-dicked faggot," spat a fourth. A ring of chuckles. The mysterious Kim Moon didn't move.

"I was invited to her mansion," John carefully worded, "so I don't see how I would've been bothering her. You even saw me get in her butler's Cadillac." He turned towards Paul, addressing him with a withering gaze. "This isn't high school you know," John quietly reasoned, "you're adults now. You've made your point. I get it."

Paul's expression didn't change - apparently he was too thick to sense the danger he was in - but the circle of men exchanged glances, unsure of how to counter that until Paul did it for them. "You calling us immature? We'll show you immature you little shit-!" Paul's fist swung hard into John, nearly lifting him on his toes.

-9hp

Paul blinked at the boy... and John realized, with a delayed reaction, that he 100% no-sold the hit. Paul reared back and struck again, this time slamming into John's face.

-7hp

Paul leapt back, clutching his bloodied knuckles... and John did his best to reel back this time, though still too late to be convincing. "Ow!" he yelled... and so John realized that high Wisdom, Charisma, and even Intelligence did not make him a good actor.

"What the fuck are you doing, Paul?!"

"My fucking hand- he's got like braces or some shit!"

"You just gotta know where to hit short-dicked little assholes like-" Oswaldo tried his luck, and drove his shin up and into John's crotch in a field goal-scoring kick. "-him!"

-10hp

John exhaled. No Academy Award winner could sell what that would've felt like without Gamer's body... and when he stood there, glaring, he knew the jig was up. "Fine, if you shitheads really want a fight," he hissed, earning bewildered stares, "then you'll get one-"

"What the Hell are you doing?!"

Mary Davis-Lorenzo
Level 4 Cheerleader
40/40hp
-21 rp

John peered up at the girl on the flight of stairs going up to the third story, and the moment their eyes met her dislike of him flipped into a firm +89. Her question hung in the air like the chastising command it was, and all the players suddenly lost interest in him (save for Paul, who continued to glare while gripping his cut hand).

"We're just having a chat with someone who bothered Vanessa... you understand, don't you Mary?" Wallace raised an eyebrow with that slick smile. Maybe she normally returned it, because he looked stunned at her reply.

"Not when that 'someone' is her new boyfriend, dummy!"

John, and every football player present, stared up at her with wide eyes. "What?" In this chorus, too, were they all joined.

"Yeah... and if you think for one second that you should side with Frank on this? Don't forget whose rich dad is also part-owner of like half of our college division!"

John blinked up at her, unsure as to how that would change anyone's mind, unsure even of what division she was talking about... until he looked around at the no one that now surrounded him. They had scattered like cockroaches under light, and Kim, too, had vanished at some point during their route. Mary, who John had only ever seen in passing as one of Vanessa's newer friends, walked down the stairs with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "You don't ever need to, like, worry about them again," she whispered with a giggle. "Vanessa asked me to make sure, and... like, I knew they'd give you trouble? But they're so stupid, right?" She rubbed his arm tenderly as she laughed, sighing happily. Is... is she flirting with me? In truth, John had been flirted with nearly two dozen times on his way here, but it would be awhile until he realized what that was like. "I mean, this is Academy, you can't go doing things like we're in middle school, am I right?"

"Boyfriend?"

"Huh?"

"You think... I'm her boyfriend?"

She stared at him... and then started to laugh hysterically, covering her mouth as she turned a bit red. "Hahaha, oh- oh come on! You just... you just stood up to half the football team, hahaha! No need to be shy about it, gawd," she laughed with a roll of her eyes." I mean, it's not like Frank can do anything anyways, being in the hospital and all. Look," she whispered, giving an exaggerated look around for eavesdroppers. "you don't need to hide the fact that you're Vanessa's man now. The whole cheerleading team knows it, a few teachers know it, like, I mean, it's all over her Instagram - you two hella need a couples photo, by the way - and she's like super glowing ever since you two got together! And don't tell Vanessa I said this?" She leaned in, whispering in his ear. "You're totes cuter thank Frank too."

John stared back at her, unsure of how to even begin unpacking all that had landed on his lap. "That's..."

"Oh! Vanessa told me to also let you know that, like, 'you're welcome'? I'm not really sure what for, but she said you'd know why- oh! And she's totally going to send the Cadillac to come pick you up again. She says you absolutely, positively must come over again, and that she has your homework for you? Go figure, I mean, Vanessa, right?! I mean of course she's super smart, but she like refuses to do homework like it's- you know what I mean, right? Haha. She must be totally into you!"

"But..."

"Oh. My. God. I'm late for remedial literature! I totally got to go, muah, muah," she blew kisses to either side of his paralyzed face, "give Vanessa all our best, see you around, bye!" The whirldwind of cheerleading energy drifted down to the first floor, and John was left alone in the staircase, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"I have so many questions-"