Cotton and a kiss

(Cotton’s POV)

Fuck, it’s sooo late already, maybe I should have gone home, this guy wasn’t worth sleeping with. I get out of the bed, and put my clothes back on. I take a picture of his sleeping face for my collection and leave before he wakes up.

Ah, I got a missed call from Daddy, I call him back to tell him I’m alright and I’d like some pocket money. He transfers the money to my account and I call for an uber.
On the way I check my texts.

[Did u skip school again?]

[I’m coming bitch] I answer.

[It’s been 2h where were u?]

[Sleeping]

Does she want to know everything I do in my life? She should already be happy I answered her text.
I notice a new app on my phone. No way this guy had the balls to go through my phone, I hold a press on it to see the details, but it opens instead, showing me a very basic interface.

Name: Cotton
Surname : Newman
Gender: Female
Age : 18
Level 1 (0 / 10 xp)
Class: None
Perks : None
Perk Points : 0

Is that a RPG window? With stats and everything? Damn, I haven’t played one of those in a while. I’m a little surprised it has my info, as I look at it, I wonder if it had my date of birth, or just my current age.
Before I close the app, I notice a small window under my profile with a “quest”. So this is what this game is about? Roleplay?

Quest : “Say sorry to someone you hurt.”

Reward : Regret I perk

What the hell is this, I thought it would ask me to slay goblins or some shit, not to apologize like a bitch.
What even is this perk thing, can I check it’s description somewhere?
Uh, I guess I can, there’s a perk tree, so I just need to find it in here. I say as if it was simple when the perks just seem to expend infinitely.
This is a shitty app and a shitty game, whatever, I won’t apologize to anyone.

I arrive at my college, and I see nobody’s outside, which is to be expected when everyone is in class.
I’ll wait for next period, don’t want to get yelled at by an asshole because I decided to sleep well last night.
I sit at a table inside, and put on a netflix series I heard about a while ago. I almost get to watch the full episode before the class ends.

“Damn girl, thanks for making me wait on you.” I see Ann crossing her arms.

“I didn’t ask you to wait for me. You did it on your own.” I say as she glares at me.

“Huh, I almost remember someone asking help with her french class? But maybe I just imagined some bitch asking me.” It doesn’t take me long to remember. I think I should apologize for making her wait like that.

“True… Sorry about that, I guess I forgot.” I say, hearing my phone beep soon after.

She looks at me, surprised at first then a smile appears on her face.

“Wow, was yesterday a good fuck then?” She asks smugly.

“No, he was pretty bad at it. His bed was pretty good though.” She laughs at that.

The next lesson is pretty boring, but it passes quickly as we’re far enough in the back to whisper to each other without getting noticed.

After that is the lunch break, and while she goes to buy our food, I check my phone.

Two texts messages I don’t want to answer, and the weird app seems to have a notification as well.

You completed an advanced quest. [+10 xp]

Level up!

Name: Cotton
Surname : Newman
Gender: Female
Age : 18
Level 2 (0 / 10 xp)
Class: None
Perks : Regret I
Perk Points : 1

I don’t know how to react, did this app use AI to listen to me and check that I apologized to someone properly? That’s fucked up, but also to be expected, I mean every app listens on you anyway. At least this one does it for it’s game instead of advertisement?

I check the perk I received to see exactly what it pretends to do.

Regret I: People tend to accept your apologies.

I guess that could be useful if I needed to apologize to someone. It’s not that good, but it makes the app pretty interesting, does it mean I could have a quest to fuck a guy and that would make me better at sex?

I guess I can keep the app for now, it is more entertaining than I thought at first.

---

(John’s POV)

I flush the toilet and as I look at myself in the bathroom, I’m still surprised by the figure looking back at me.

My simple clothes fit me better than they usually do, and my face has more symmetrical features than it did yesterday. I would be freaking out, but it became way easier to hide my emotions as I want to. As I stretch slowly, bending my body more than I should be able to, I wonder why I didn’t take Perk Sharing earlier. This might be the best thing I did since I got the app.

I look better, feel better, and I’m more efficient at my job. I’m sure Maria looked jealous at the speed at which I was cleaning the storage room earlier.

Actually I noticed that Maria looked at me a lot this morning, maybe because of my improved appearance, but maybe also because of the quest I gave her.

Advanced Quest : Kiss someone
Reward : Casual Affection I perk

Seeing how she observed me, it almost feels like she misinterpreted the quest, but a kiss on the cheek would work.
Let me explain, this morning when I added Cotton, I couldn’t avoid imagining putting her in her place, and since I needed to pace myself with my new target, my horny frustration had to go somewhere, so I might have given my other targets quests I would consider slightly out of my comfort zone.
For now, they haven’t given up their quests so I guess I haven’t gone too far.

I gave an even harder quest to Rita though.

Hard Quest : Send someone you like a photo of you in a seductive pose.
Reward : Parasocial Affection I perk

Okay, I might have listened to my dick too much, but at least I calmed down when writing Matt’s Quest. He is a guy, and I don’t want to do anything horny with him, even though I really like him.

Advanced Quest :

• Offer something to a neighbor
• Joke with a neighbor
• Have a drink with a neighbor

Reward : Chosen neighbor’s full trust

I would have preferred to give him a perk, but there wasn’t any and that was the best reward available.

I leave the bathroom and notice Jessica came in and is waiting at the entry desk.

“Hello?” I say, and she turns around surprised to see me come from the other way.

“Ah, John… Sorry again for last time.”

It doesn’t do much for me to hear her apologies when Brad was the one who did something wrong, but I guess she might feel guilty about what happened last time.

“No worries, he didn’t actually hurt me. He just yelled a little.” I say and she seems to feel a little better.

“Right, I did have something I was looking for…” She says and I’m slightly confused.

“Alright, what is it?”

“I’ve looked everywhere those last few days, but I can’t find my bag. I have a few textbooks I really need for my next exam, and I don’t know where I lost it.”

I vaguely remember her leaving her stuff here last time as she followed Brad out.

“I think I might have it, can you wait a minute?” I ask and she nods.

I go through the storage room and sure enough I see a school bag that doesn’t belong, put in a corner, I think I put it behind the desk, so Maria must have moved it and I completely forgot about it.

“Oh my god! Thank you so much! You can’t believe how much you’re saving me right now!” She says as she opens her bag and checks that her missing textbooks are all here.

“No problem, I’m sorry I couldn’t give it back earlier, but I guess I had no way to contact you.”

She seems to think about that for a little while.

“You’re right, since I come often, maybe it would be good if you could contact me after all… Do you mind exchanging phone numbers?” She says matter of factly but I feel uncomfortable and she seems to notice.

“If it’s about Brad, I can add you with another name, he is too jealous so I won’t tell him about it.”

That’s better, but I still wonder if it’s a good idea to get her contact info when that’s talking to her that put me in trouble.

No, Brad would have found a reason to bother me no matter what, so I shouldn’t care and do what I want.

I agree to exchange numbers and we do so.

“Sorry, but I have to go, I haven’t eaten yet, and my classes starts in less than an hour.” She says as she leaves in a hurry.

I guess it’s time for a lunch break then? I arrive in the break room and Maria has already set up our food, and she’s on her phone. She turns it off as she hears me coming in.

“I think I surpassed myself today. Are you intrigued?” She asks while pointing the plastic box in front of me.

“I guess I am, what did you make?” I say as I remove the cover.

“Lasagna, I even heated it up for you before you arrived.” She says as the smell invades the room.

“Okay, that looks really good, did it take long?” I ask.

“Kinda, I started preparing it yesterday, and I cooked it this morning when I woke up. I made a lot, so I guess that’s my meal for the next few days.”

I grab a bite, and it’s very good, like way better than anything else I ate this year.

“Wow, this is incredible! You’re the best cook I know!”

She blushes, and takes a bite of her own.She closes her eyes, and enjoys the taste. She looks even more surprised than I was.

“I didn’t expect it to be that good. I guess I don’t mind eating that for a few days.”

Once we’re halfway done, the conversation starts.

“You know John, you never really told me what you do outside of work.”

“I guess… I don’t do much to be honest, I watch movies, and if I’m motivated enough I write my book.”

“Right, I forgot about that. It’s been a while, is it done?” She asks.

“Almost, I still have a few things left to fix but it’s pretty much ready. I plan to send it to a publisher soon.”

“I see, You’ll let me read it right? Oh, maybe we’ll order it at the library too.” She seems happy, and almost proud of me.

“Haha, we’ll see about that, I think it would be embarrassing.” I say trying to stay nonchalant about it.

Maria finishes her meal, and as she waits for me to catch up, she seems lost in thought for a while.

“Are you single?” She asks abruptly.

“I am.” I answer simply, thank god I get to use Poker Face I, because what the hell is this question out of the blue.

---

(Maria’s POV)

Really, no reaction? He seems so different today, I was sure he was going to blush like a kid. Maybe today isn’t my day. I’ve spent my morning thinking of ways to naturally kiss someone, all the while trying to pinpoint exactly what changed about John, it’s like he suddenly became more… handsome.

He wasn’t bad looking before, and he’s still not exactly my type, but he’s getting there. Maybe if he lost some weight and got more muscular…

I’m losing my train of thought again, I’ve spent enough time stalling, if I don’t kiss him now, I’ll miss my chance.

I shoudn’t care what he thinks about it! Last time I hugged him and he just accepted it! I don’t see why today should be different, it’s just a kiss on the cheek! They do that as a greeting in many countries.

As he finishes his meal I decide to come closer. I refuse to be cringy by trying to justify what I’m doing, instead going for a kiss on the cheek directly.

However it seems my sudden movement surprises him as he turns around.

I freeze for longer than I’d want as we kiss, our mouth touching and sharing their warmth.

---

(John’s POV)

I have some difficulty processing the event that just happened, and it seems Maria decides fleeing is the best choice, leaving me alone in the break room, as I think about how awkward this was.

I guess that was my first kiss then? I don’t know if it was particularly good but it doesn’t leave my mind. And I keep replaying Maria’s reaction in my head, she looked so cute as she gasped for air, her face red and her eyes fixed on my face.

Fuck, I really liked it.

I grab the app.

Cotton completed an advanced quest. [+7 xp]

Maria completed a basic permanent quest. [+3 xp] [+3 bonus xp]

Maria completed an advanced quest. [+7 xp] [+7 bonus xp]

Level Up!

Name: Maria
Surname : Finocci
Gender: Female
Age : 27
Level 8 (15 / 20 xp)
Class: Yoga Mom
Perks : Training Efficiency II, Cooking I, Motherly II, Flexible I, Coach I, Beauty I, Casual Affection I
Perk Points : 3

Casual Affection I : Hugging, kissing, and other signs of affection are perceived as casual and ordinary. (Hidden: Small compulsion to use thoses signs of affection more)

Okay, that might help! If I act like our kiss was normal, she’ll think the perk affected me, and she won’t behave too differently. I hope this will work at least, I’d hate for her to start distancing herself from me after she started to open up.

I also check Cotton’s profile. She already leveled up, I forgot how fast it goes in the beginning.

Name: Cotton
Surname : Newman
Gender: Female
Age : 18
Level 2 (0 / 10 xp)
Class: None
Perks : Regret I
Perk Points : 1

Regret I: People tend to accept your apologies. (Hidden: Small guilt increase for every bad action commited)

Ok, I guess this perk will make her act better, if she feels guilty, she’ll think about her actions right?

While I’m on her profile, the Add Class bouton really attracts me, I don’t know if I should use it yet, or wait for ideas of what to do.

---

Author's Note : You can choose a class by using the Class Chapter propositions (more can be suggested as well but John is not mean enough to choose something like ****, Slut or Stripper). If people are too divided, maybe I'll delay the class choice some more.

Here is a small list of those I thought could suit Cotton :

• Android
• Goth
• Nerd
• Maid
• Perfect Student