- - - - - - - - - -
Anna had a lot of thoughts to mull over right now. Each thought would bounce off her brain before coming back in a few seconds and bouncing off again. It was like brick breaker but if the bricks were her brain and the balls were thoughts about Owen. She really hadn't paid any attention to him and his friends throughout their whole school career and when she had bumped into him the other day that was really the first time she had spoken or even properly looked at him.
Anna had been scared she had hurt him or something and had rattled off as many apologies and questions that her mind could muster to his friend (who she found out was named Dan).
Dan had promised to relay what she had said to Owen later on but she didn't want to ask him the next day more about Owen.
She wasn't interested in him in any way and didn't want their friends to think that either. He didn't seem confident or outgoing to her. Probably because she hadn't spent any time with him.
So she figured she figured she should go and ask him directly in the cafeteria and make sure he's OK.
But when she went to go see him she didn't see the scared and hyperventilating geek that had run off from a girl who had bumped into him, instead she had a nice chat with a relaxed normal guy who seemed completely uncaring about her bumping into him and just Anna in general.
Owen was even the one that instigated her leaving him alone. She hadn't thought about it again until she had bumped her arm on the huge iron gates in front of her large house when walking home.
She realised she hadn't given him a fair shot and had just labelled him as not-worth-getting-to-know without ever actually speaking to him.
She had intended to speak to him today but when she was thinking about how to approach him in the cafeteria again. She looked up to see Ms. Gladys yelling at some boy in her class for using his phone under a desk. But when she looked closer she realised that it was Owen and he had changed slightly but she couldn't put her finger on how.
At least now she wouldn't have to accost him in the cafeteria again now she could just wait until class was over and then walk out of the room with him.
She glanced over at him several times throughout class whilst taking notes but he just seemed to be doing the same thing she was (apart from the glancing).
After a long time of writing about things that had happened a long time ago the bell rang and Anna got ready to leave but kept looking at Owen so he would know she wanted to talk to him.
She closed her eyes for a second to rub the sleep out of them and when she looked back at Owen his eyes had widened and he was breathing heavily.
She tried calling out to him but he had already rushed out of the room and the remaining people inside had taken note that one of the most popular girls in the school had called out the name of some loser.
Anna sat down for lunch with her friends, the sun had been awfully bright today and it was shining through the window in such a way that they could not look in a certain direction.
"Hey Anna!" A cheerful voice called out but their view was blocked by the sun so they didn't know who had said it.
They all assumed it was Ezra, an athletic and outgoing guy who had grown up alongside Anna, all their friends figured that they would get together.
The sun continued to shine in their eyes as they tried to look at the guy who was standing right beside Anna's chair.
"Whats wrong? Don't you recognise me?! Maybe I should move away from the sun."
The guy walked round and was now out of the sun and on the other side of Anna's chair. But no one except Anna recognised him. It was Owen, it seemed to her that his shoulders were broader than she thought or maybe that's just because she had never seen him really up close like this before.
"I was wondering if I could walk you home after school?"
- - - - - - - - - -
What the hell was I doing? I was walking with one of the most popular girls in school back to her house. At least I could take a later bus home that wouldn't have any people from school on it.
This is all that crappy systems fault...
I had ended up in an apocalypse novel, the chapter I was stuck in was just the mc being shown around an apocalyptic town and being given an injection to strengthen his body then however, the town gets attacked by raiders and the mc gets shot a couple times whilst running away.
That was not fun.
At least the system converted the injection to a strength point so I was now at 'D-' strength. I had been shot a couple times and because the system hadn't fully augmented reality my body felt all the pain when I was brought back to the real world. I ran out of my classroom because the bell had just rang and I went to the nearest bathroom to check how bad the bullet wounds were. There were no wounds of any kind even though I could still feel the pain. I had heard of this before it was called phantom pain, when you feel pain that's not really there.
On the plus side I was now starting to show a little muscle probably because my strength had changed to a different grade.
When I was admiring the fact that I now looked more like a normal student at the school the system popped something up.
[Surprise Quest alert!]
[Walk "Anna Lodge" home]
[Rewards: 1 random skill]
[Failure: ???]
Of course I couldn't resist the free skill! I needed something that could actually help me. Like something to deal with my school work or the whole bus situation, or I could really use something that could help me with these events because I don't fancy getting shot or hunted by a psychopath or stabbed and then thrown in prison again, or I could also use something that could defend me from these other users of the system.
Which leads to now when I am awkwardly walking Anna Lodge home, someone who I had always thought was an untouchable beauty for me and plus everyone knew that her and that bullying asshole Ezra were basically already together.
Now it's not like I had never walked a girl home before. I used to live in a different house that was closer to the school a couple years ago and I would walk home my longtime childhood friend Sarah but then she moved away. Wow I haven't thought about her in a while I wonder how she's doing, she used to be a really good artist I wonder if she's still doing that.
I was lost reminiscing that I hadn't noticed Anna trying to talk to me.
"Sorry what did you say?" I asked while looking her in her eyes.
"I was just wondering what made you want to walk me home?" her eyes were a calming shade of light brown.
"I just realised that I should probably explain what happened yesterday." She plays with her blonde hair almost nervously. "I should just clarify that I didn't have to leave early because of you or anything."
She seemed relieved after I said that.
"I hope I'm not keeping your friends away from walking you home."
"No usually I just walk alone..."
"Really?! But doesn't Ezra live right next to you?"
"Yeah but he's too busy to walk me home."
"Yeah I'm sure he's way too busy terrorising people like me to care about anyone other than himself."
"What?!" Her face showed something between confusion and anger.
"Sorry probably shouldn't have said that out loud to his girlfriend."
She remained silent for the rest of the walk and when we reached her gate I went to say bye but then...
[Surprise sub-quest alert!]
[Say goodbye to "Anna Lodge" in a way that raises her affection]
[Rewards: 5 skill points]
[Failure: -5 skill points]
OK let me use my analysis skill to think about a way to raise her affection, she walks home alone and doesn't seem happy when we talk. I think she feels lonely for some reason.
I say goodbye to her and then I wrap my arms around her, she seems tense about it at first but then her shoulders relax. While I'm near her ear I figure I may as well just talk to her here, it may even raise my affection more. I lean in close to her ear.
"Thank you for caring about me so much, I wish I could return the favour. I really enjoyed this we should do it again." I say softly.
I then bring my arms away from her and take a step back before walking away.
[Surprise sub-quest completed!]
[5 Skill points awarded]
Sweet that brings me up to 15 skill points I should be able to get something good!
[Surprise quest completed!]
[Random skill will be awarded]
I mentally tap on that last part and I find myself transported into a white room with nothing in it apart from me and a huge barrel that looks filled with pieces of paper. I realise that I probably need to stick my hand in and pull out a skill at random.
Reaching my hand in I try and get as close as I can to the bottom without completely falling in and I bring out a small folded piece of paper.
I unfold it and I look at my new skill...