Harrison ‘Cheater’ Smith

  Student Coach

  Level 406

  XP: 78/100

  HP: 100/100

  EP: 64/100

  RP Status: Controversial— Leaning Negative

  Weakness Lvl 10

  Task Acquired: Start Guild Training session— No XP

  Harrison didn’t have an actual Guild, so the next task wasn’t difficult at all. It only gave him this task because the Kappa Guild existed by default, with him as the sole member, so all he had to do was go to the private training room to log his presence, and his task would be complete. He didn’t earn any XP from it, since there was no one to teach, so he’d simply exercise and teach himself to get some worth out of it.

  The Guild Training room was huge and spacious, enough for the maximum of 110 members allowed in a Guild, and had multiple CDSim mats, a small ERMM room, and an AIDA that could track every member’s progress logged on their Versus Pets. It felt quite lonely when he was there, but he preferred to keep it from going to waste rather than just going to the private training room in the Student Coach penthouse.

  It came as a welcome relief to him, giving him the chance to generate one of his peers’ holograms on the CDSim— like Reilly or Disaris— and give himself the satisfaction of slamming their faces in.

  He always waited until about ten minutes after the Guild Training period started so he’d avoid the crowd of students mocking him. It was nearly a quarter after eight when he headed over, the campus full of non-Versus students. Most headed back to their dorms, but some had late-night classes or opted to have a late dinner after all the Versus students left the Mess Hall. Even though they were in different careers, they all knew who he was, and many of them made a point to watch him as he walked the pathways with luminous edges and floor lights guiding him in the dark night.

  The Training Center was dead and the gymnasiums practically empty, with only one open for anyone looking to get some late-night training in before curfew. As he passed the one open gym, some movement caught Harrison’s eye— a long, black ponytail whipping back and forth.

  Too curious to ignore her, he stood at the gym entrance, watching her. Her movements were jerky and reckless, clearly motivated by rage. A dangerous form of fighting.

  He didn’t blame her, though. He could relate to the girl in a lot of ways. Rumors, controversies, name-calling— all of it was a consequence of defying expectations.

  He wasn’t blameless; when he’d first heard that Calista was a former Socializer, even he thought she didn’t deserve to attend the academy. Many Socializers had viciously defamed him when he’d started his career, calling him the ‘youngest rager to date’, or the ‘Junior Murderer’. He’d gotten to completely ignoring her like everyone else was.

  Once he thought about it, though, he could tell Calista wasn’t one of those people. Her community truly did disown her, all because she was following this career.

  Calista didn’t even notice Harrison as he approached behind her. Her emerald eyes were laser-focused on the CDSim hologram, her dainty fists flying in the air as she furiously attacked the man-shaped projection. She practically screamed in frustration when it got past her defenses and slammed her on the mat for the umpteenth time. A pop-up floated up from her body:

  -5 HP

  Harrison stopped in his tracks, his brows raising when the girl rose with a vengeance, tackling the CDSim to the ground and punching it repeatedly. The program halted and the sim disappeared, with the words ‘SELF CONTROL’ blinking on the error screen.

  “I’m not glitching controlling anything, you son of a GLITCH!” Her hands slammed on the mat and she remained on her knees, wheezing. She coughed and clutched her stomach, wincing in pain. Her ponytail had come loose, her black locks now shading her face. Harrison momentarily wondered if he should turn around and leave her alone, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

  “You should drink some water,” he blurted out.

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  Calista’s greasy hair flipped when she looked up, a bit startled. She took a shaky breath and composed herself, standing up with a grunt, and she massaged her abdomen. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  -2 Rel-P

  Approaching Hostile Acquaintance Status

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  She turned away. “Why are you even talking to me? I’m supposed to be the big ‘social pariah’.” She gestured sarcastically and summoned a cold water bottle from her AIDA band, which generated next to the mat.

  Harrison smirked. Calista used to have a certain shyness about her whenever she was around him, like a suppressed fangirl. Now, all of that was gone. “I just got curious seeing you so bugged off,” he said.

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Calista reset the CDSim and took a long swig of her water. “My family’s under SECURE shelter, I haven’t spoken to them in over a week, everyone here hates me, everyone in my old community hates me even more, I have no home to go back to, and I can’t fight. That’s a few reasons to be bugged off.”

  “No, you can’t fight,” Harrison said. “Not like that.”

  “‘Not like that’? Then, by all means, enlighten me, Student Coach.” She took another angry swig.

  -2 Rel-P

  “For one, don’t attack your opponent like a crazed gorilla,” Harrison advised, ignoring her bitter tone. “You’re asking them to slam you into the ground. Anger’s good, but as long as you keep it under control.”

  “Yeah, control. Always control. Keep a smile on your face and pretend nothing bothers you because if you don’t smile and pretend it’s all a joke, you’re immature and spoiled and have a thin skin.” Her speech gradually grew faster and her voice pitched higher. “They can write the code for other people, but not for themselves, because they all get offended over absolutely nothing, but of course, they’re always right and they always have a reason, but when I get mad, I’m the problem, and it just goes around and around and around until I do something to get a compliment so I can forget the whole thing!” She winced again, clutching her stomach. “Yes, I know, Lindsay, but I don’t feel like it. Just let me rant.” Harrison presumed ‘Lindsay’ was her Pet.

  He only stared, not knowing how to respond. He found her strangely relatable. He never thought he’d ever relate to a Socializer, of all things.

  +1 Rel-P

  “Look, I get it,” he began. “I know what you mean about… pretending you’re okay when you’re-”

  “You know what I mean?” she chuckled. “I don’t think you do.”

  “Even you know I’m a controversial fighter.”

  “And even you don’t like me. You don’t think I could ever amount to anything in this school. I’m the one who glitched you up that first day, after all. You haven’t picked me for a team since, and I’ve seen your face when I get assigned to your group.”

  Harrison sighed. She had a point; he wasn’t exactly thrilled whenever she got grouped with him. He didn’t lack a reason, though. Calista tended to be clumsy and distracted, costing the group valuable XP.

  “I know I’m the worst student in the entire Versus school,” Calista continued. “Of course you wouldn’t want me on your team. No one does, anyway. All I do is bug up. I’m too clumsy and stupid to do anything right. Everything hurts and bothers me, too.” She chuckled humorlessly. “You know what else I have to deal with? My glitching body. My mom made me body-mod almost all my life, and now all my bones and muscles and cache are all glitched up, so I have to be on meds, and you know how long I have to take reconstruction meds? It could be years. Years before I can go back to normal. Years before my stomach stops hurting just from glitching yelling.” She winced again and shot her hand up to the necklace she always wore, the gold one with her initials. She held her breath and squeezed the charm for a few seconds, bearing with the pain. She finally exhaled. “Never mind. What do you care?” She flicked back her sweaty, messed-up hair and started leaving. “Good night.”

  Harrison’s speechlessness finally faded. He managed to croak out a desperate-sounding “Wait.”

  Calista stopped, not looking at him. He couldn’t believe he was about to say this, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I can help you.”

  She finally looked at him, a quizzical frown knitting the space between her thick brows. “You can help me? How?”

  “After dinner, all the Guild members go to Guild Training. You could fit that in your schedule.” His stomach jumped. What was he thinking? Asking the lowest-leveled, most ridiculed student in the entire academy to join his nonexistent Guild? Reilly and Disaris would have a field day with this.

  +2 Rel-P

  Calista seemed to be thinking the same thing, the confusion increasing on her face. “You want me to be in your Guild?”

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “There’s a lot of reasons why not. One, look at my tag. Two, look at my tag.” She pointed at the tag above her head to emphasize. “Three-”

  “Look, I know I’m not the most popular SC in school, but even my Guild can offer you some protection and advantage here. It’s a cardinal rule.”

  “You know what they’re going to say,” Calista said. “You’re the unpopular, Earthian Student Coach. I’m the Earthian Socializer whose sister is under house arrest. Now, you’re inviting me into your Guild, and I’m going to be the only one in it-”

  “People are going to criticize us whether you join my Guild or not. It doesn’t matter what we do.” Harrison sighed resignedly. “We might as well try and help each other out. I’m not a fan favorite, but I’m a pretty good fighter. And if you Level up, it’ll say a lot about my coaching skills.”

  “Why me, of all people?” She turned to face him fully.

  “You’re the only one that’ll say yes.”

  “What about… Lílitha Houdge? ‘Piranha’? You guys are friends, right?”

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t want to join a Guild. She wants to make it on her own. I respect that.”

  “Maybe I can make it on my own.” Calista turned away, heading to the door.

  “That’s fine, too,” Harrison said after her. “But the offer’s out there if you want it.”

  Calista paused, still not looking at him. A long pause stretched out between them.

  “I’ll think about it,” she finally said, leaving the gym.

  +2 Rel-P

  Approaching Positive Acquaintance Status