The App

Drew stared at the pile of papers that she had spread out on her bed. In the week since she’d lost her scholarship all she had done was research. All of these papers laid out in front of her represented the accumulated effort of her work.

No matter how she cut it… she didn’t have the money.

The semester started in a week and it was too late to get any financial aid or grant money from the school. And if she wanted to stay on the team she wouldn’t have time for a part time job. The situation appeared dire.

Among the mass of job fliers she’d stolen off a bulletin boards a bright neon green flyer caught her eye. In bold letters it read:

NEED CASH? GOT CASH TO BURN? BORED AND WANT SOME ACTION?

DOWNLOAD THE CAMPUS CLASH APP NOW. WATCH THE CRAZINESS OR COMPETE… IF YOU DARE. THE WINNER GETS 30K!

Drew pulled out her phone and out of curiosity download the app. An alert telling her she needed to be 18+ immediately popped up. In the back of her mind that should’ve been a red flag, but again she felt the need to continue. There was no way that there would be a competition for 30 grand on campus.

But as she opened the app and the more she read… the more it sounded legit. Or at least convincing enough that she felt the conflict of what to do in her mind.

The premise seemed simple enough. The app was in beta testing and had chosen their campus to do a dry run. They wanted 16 contestants (11 girls and 5 guys) to compete. Each round would feature a task the contestant must complete. From there the rest of campus would vote on who had done the task the best. The winner would move on the loser would be out.

The app also mentioned folks being able to gamble on who they thought would win the match and other advertisers being able to join and sponsor contestants. That’s what would drive the prize money. All money earned (up to the 30k) would go to the winner. The rest to the app developers. The losers? Nothing.

It all sounded convincing to Drew. And 30k… that would be enough money to get her thru this semester and the next easily. That would be enough time to prove to Coach Sharp that she deserved a scholarship.

She started to fill out the “application” and again the red flags should’ve stood out. It required her name, age, and other relevant information. But it also asked for a full length picture of her front and back. Finally there was the disclaimer that popped up right as she clicked submit asking if she was sure. Then in the fine print she read:

“Contestant agrees to participate in challenges that may involve public nudity, sex acts, and a variety of things that some would call lewd and vulgar. The developers of this app are not responsible for any contestants arrest or resulting charges and fines. If any contestant fails to complete a challenge in a satisfactory manner they are required to reimburse app developers for any money bet on them to win.”

Drew paused for a minute. She found it odd that in her head she quickly accepted the first part of the disclaimer. Public nudity and sex acts? But it had said may involve that. Odds are that wouldn’t be the case. It was the gambling restitution she’d have to pay back if she chose not to do something that concerned her. She was broke as it was… she wouldn’t be able to afford to pay any money back.

“I guess that means I’ll just have to do whatever the task may be…” she thought to herself as she hit submit.