The next morning was far from peaceful.
In fact, one might call it a violent awakening.
Chad did not awaken from his drunken stupor naturally.
No, he was forced awake by a splash of ice-cold water on his face.
And welcomed back to the realm of the living by vicious screaming.
"You motherfucker! You actually fucked my girl last night!?! How fucking could you?"
Being hungover, half awake, and forcefully dragged out of his sleep in an overtly hostile manner.
Chad's instincts took over, honed from years of being raised by Marines in fight gyms. He immediately started grappling, diving out of his bed and securing double underhooks on his assailant.
He was quick to pick the man up and slam him onto the bed behind him.
It was only when Trevor's confidence broke, and his voice cracked, seeing a fist coming straight down to his face that Chad finally realized where he was. And who he was about to brutalize.
"Dude stop!"
Chad stared at his friend and roommate, who was cowering from below, trying to cover his face to the best of his ability while tilting it to the side.
Ironically, in doing so, opening him up to far more dangerous strikes to the back of the head.
But Trevor was not a fighter, nor did he have even the most minimal amount of training, so how could he possibly know how much of a precarious position he put himself in.
And then Chad sighed heavily, adrenaline spiking, endorphins flooding his bloodstream. Cortisol going into overdrive, forcing himself awake faster than an energy drink could manage.
His voice was anything but calm as he tried his best to make sense of the whole ordeal he had suddenly found himself in.
"What the actual fuck, Trevor? What the hell is wrong with you!?!"
Trevor finally stopped cowering beneath his poorly assembled guard and looked up at Chad as if he were the asshole in this situation.
"What the hell is wrong with me!?! What the fuck is wrong with you? You not only fucked my girl, but you posted the video to the fucking web too? What the hell, man? I thought we were friends?"
It took more than two seconds for Chad to realize what had gotten Trevor so worked up, and when he realized it, he slid off the man and grabbed his phone.
He looked at his messages, seeing several notifications from the MPS app. Ignoring them entirely, he found messages from virtually everyone he knew. At least on campus.
Evidently, the video had gone viral, and as for Amber there was a single message sent to him. It was both ominous and utterly lacking in any emotion at the same time.
"Hey… We should talk…."
Chad sighed heavily, pressing his phone to his head as he realized that this stupid app may have cost him more than he had gained from it.
As for Trevor, he was still visibly pissed, but too intimidated to actually cause any more violence than had already occurred between the two.
His voice immediately turned passive-aggressive instead.
"Well? I'm waiting!"
Chad, clearly not in the mood for Trevor's shit looked over at the man as if he were about to eat his liver. His voice, audibly constrained, almost rasped in its suppression.
"Well, what?"
Trevor narrowed his gaze, thinking about shoving Chad before realizing that was a very bad idea after the way things had just turned out moments ago.
"Are you fucking serious? You do this to me, and I get nothing?"
Chad scoffed and shook his head.
"You're such a fucking idiot, Trevor… You didn't fuck Amber you fucking liar. She told me everything. She came back to our dorm looking to have some fun, and you, ever the fucking lightweight passed out on the bed before you could even get your pants off. She slept on the couch you fucking dumbass. Whatever bullshit you told us at lunch you made up, and you fucking know it…."
Trevor was about to protest when he began to think back on the memories in his head.
Realizing that some of them were a bit too unrealistic, and instantly realizing he had indeed passed out, and had a dream about what he wanted to do to Amber, but had never actually done it.
And when he realized this, he instantly became silent. Not saying another word. It was ultimately Chad who broke the silence.
"Besides, she told me I could take the video you fucking cunt. And before you say anything, I have to talk to her you dumbass. So give me a fucking minute will you? Or do you want to go for round two?"
The way Chad's muscles began to twitch, and the furrow of his brow suggested to Trevor that the man wasn't joking.
He was actually very angry and more than willing to slug this out.
Because of this, Trevor got up and began to leave the room. Fleeing the scene before he could make things worse.
"Hey man… Chill… This is a huge misunderstanding, alright!"
Chad simply scoffed and looked at his phone.
Finally, he looked at the messages left to him by the system.
[It's about damn time you woke up! I have been sitting here all night trying to tell you the good news! Are you listening to me, asshole! Do not fucking make me get out of this screen, or I will yeet your as off that balcony! Are you listening to me? Fuck!]
Finally, Chad responded to Anna's complaints.
"What? I've got some serious problems thanks to you, and they need solving quickly, so this better be fucking important?"
Anna flickered on his screen, pouting, arms held together under her shoulders, slight blush to her face, lips pursed as she averted her gaze.
Chad could only sigh and think to himself.
Ever the fucking tsundere, huh?
As if she could read his thoughts, the artificial intelligence immediately scolded him.
[I was just going to tell you that the video you and Amber made went viral! Like, for real, look at these comments and likes! So much aura! I was going to give you a bonus as a gift, but with the way you're acting, maybe you don't deserve it after all!]
Chad could only sigh and shake his head before trying his best to earn Anna's favor.
"I'm sorry, honestly? It's been a hell of a morning; please just do me this favor and forgive me?"
Anna stopped pouting, twirling one of her golden locks, as she debated internally whether she should. And then she herself sighed.
"Fine… I'll give you ten extra points to spend as you please. But you should know, for each increase you add… there is obviously going to be more points required going forward. So do spend wisely!"
Chad thought about it for a second before allocating his points to the skills he had neglected last time. Bringing them up to the same level as the others.
He had chosen [Gains] gains for strength, [Vibes] for perception, [Grit] for endurance, [Flexibility] for agility. And finally dumped another additional few points into Looksmaxxing to perfect a few more physical flaws he had.
Just minor ones like the shape of his teeth, and some minor asymmetry across the board.
While the improvements were minimal on the surface. They were subconsciously appealing to those who saw him.
He was just about to respond to Anna when he noticed a call on his phone.
Seeing the caller ID, Chad was quick to accept, putting the phone to his ear, as he heard the voice on the other line.
He expected it to be angry, or perhaps even depressed. But instead it was calm, perhaps a little anxious, and maybe even something else he could not yet identify.
"Hey… I'm sorry did I wake you? I just thought you should know… The video you posted of us… Ummm… It's viral…."
Chad's heart nearly stopped. He didn't know how to explain what he had done to Amber; hell he didn't know whether apologizing would make it worse or not.
It's not like he could explain his actions. Nor was he the type of man to cower away and blame another.
He could only be honest.
"I know…."
Amber was silent for a long time, and then when she did speak, she nearly blew Chad's mind with what she said.
"So…. I was wondering… do you want to make another? Like… Shit I'm really bad at this. Urrgghh… Fuck it, I'll just come out and say it. Chad I want to collaborate with you!"
Collaborate? What the fuck was she talking about? And then he heard the snicker of Anna on his phone in the background.
[Hehehe… The bitch has some brains after all….]
Chad wanted to ignore Anna until the idea suddenly hit him. He had pressed upload through the app, but what exactly did that mean? Where did it upload to?
And when he looked at his app, he saw it. By pressing upload, it automatically made an account across every platform for such spicy content. Specifically, those that could be monetized.
The money he had made in a single video was well beyond his expectations. In fact… he could practically pay his entire year's tuition and living expenses with it.
He stood there gawking at the number in complete and total disbelief. Counting it over and over again,making sure he wasn't imagining an extra comma.
The only thing to drag him back to reality was Amber's voice on the other end of the line.
"Chad are you still there?"
Chad didn't need to think about it twice… Thousands of dollars per video, and attribute points to improve himself? Why would he ever reject Amber's offer?
In fact, try as he might, his lips couldn't help but curve into a grin.
"Yeah, Amber, I'm here… And honestly? I was thinking the same thing just now…."
And with that, Chad' contact in the app was changed.
Amber now entered his APP under the "fuckbuddies" section.
A feature he would have to explore at a later date.