Harem Mode - ON Ch. 02

CURRENT STATUS: INTRIGUED

Chet was mildly surprised about the information regarding Jane and Anna, but the revelations on Kayla concerned him more. He swore she was at an 18 when he last saw her today. Had it dropped down? Was it possible that these values are not static, but could fluctuate up and down.

It made sense. Kayla was a popular and busy girl; she had numerous opportunities to forget about him. Especially since she and Josh got off school at the same time. They probably spent time some together after school.

Whatever it was, Chet decided not to dwell on it too long. After all, 16 points of net progress in a single day was a big achievement. He went from a virtual nobody to the object of a small crush in just an hour. He could easily recover her interest and more tomorrow.

Now, to allocate those points. That was the real excitement for the night.

A small, colorful cartoon icon peeked out from the corner of his field of vision. Curiously, he swiped the air in front of him with his hand to bring it closer to center. He hovered over it, causing the icon to enlarge and play a small animation. A cartoon guitar strummed while a tennis ball bounced up and down before both objects became inanimate again. Then the text glowed up.

HOBBIES

Intrigued, Chet poked the icon, bringing up yet another menu.

SPORTS

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

CRAFTS

SINGING

DANCING

PARTY TRICKS

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

And the list went on for about a hundred items. But the ones at the top were pretty much all he cared about, so Chet selected Musical Instruments.

PIANO/KEYBOARD
GUITAR
VIOLIN/FIDDLE

BASS GUITAR
DRUMS

SAXOPHONE

FLUTE

CELLO

CLARINET

TRUMPET
HARP

And the list went on and on, for what seemed like infinity. There were some really exotic items in there, like the Tar or Jaw Harp or Bougarabou. But again, the more popular ones seemed to be listed up top for convenience.

GUITAR SKILL : LVL 0 -> LVL 15 PTS

The upgrade seemed pretty expensive, and he didn't know what level one proficiency looked like, though he could guess what level zero was.

Whoosh!

Almost as if the game was reading his mind, a guitar manifested itself out of thin air and started playing. The six little strings twanged and plonked rhythmically in simple patterns, playing recognizable beginner's hits like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Three Blind Mice or anything by Nickelback.

Chet's mind raced with the possibilities. The trade-off seemed more than fair, especially considering how much he wanted to be able to play an instrument but never had the time or gumption to pursue one. He spent the night making careful choices.

-xxxxxxxxx-

Chet got up the next morning and made a pitcher of coffee. His mother was crashed on the couch, hard asleep. Her shirt was soaked in booze and sweat, and her makeup and hair were caked against her face. Chet put a thin blanket over her and silently headed out the apartment.

After a brisk ride on his bike, he locked it by the gates and headed towards his Homeroom in the main building. He casually stepped inside, not a minute too soon. He quickly scanned the room for girls, seeing a bunch of 0s and 1s pop up above their heads. He tilted his head back for a second.

KAYLA SYDNEY MARTIN

AGE 18

STATUS: IN A RELATIONSHIP

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 13/100

AFFECTIONATE

He frowned. It had dropped down even more since last night. Kayla caught his glance and smiled at him, waving a quick hello with her hand before turning back to her friend.

Jessica, the other hottie and the school's resident Queen bee, noticed this and tried to see who Kayla was waving at. But Chet was already sitting down and facing forward.

"Hmm," she mumbled to herself. Josh was in a different homeroom.

Chet had already finished his homework the night before, so he had nothing to do but socialize for the rest of the period. Tony had taken his seat beside him.

"Hello, Chester, how are you this morn?"

"I'm doing alright, Tony. How have you been?"

"Good, good. Actually, I've just been asked to represent our team at the State Chesslympiads."

"Really? Damn, Tony, that's remarkable!"

As Chet and Tony caught up and chatted, JK (what the school called Jessica and Kayla) was busy with their own conversation.

"So I heard Josh's parents caught you two making out in his living room yesterday..."

"What?! Who told you?"

"Josh's sister, Trina. She was peeking on you two from upstairs. What a blabbermouth, am I right?"

"Oh, you're one to talk, Jessie!"

Chet picked up on the sound of female laughter coming from behind him. The rest of the classroom was busy having their own conversations, so it was hard to pick up on what JK were saying. Girls were better at whispering.

Chet continued his conversation with Tony, but his attention started to drift back to the two girls. He strained his ears to pick up on what they were saying, but to no avail.

"So, have you seen it?"

"What?"


"Don't give me that, you know what. It. Josh's 'it'."

"Hey, that's a little personal!"

"Are you not telling me because it's small? I'll tell you how Brian's is, if you want. Or Andrew's, since he just showed me last week."

"Is that all he did? Just 'showed' you?"

"For your information, K, yes, that's all he did! He wanted to show me he was bigger than Brian."

"Was he?"

"Not by a long shot. Guess money can't buy you everything LOL," Jessica snickered, pronouncing each letter in LOL.

Girlish tittering and mocking ensues.

"So, now that I've shared with you, I think it's only fair to tell me about Josh."

"Is this all we talk about, Jessica? Mens' penises?"


"Yes, all girls talk about the size of their boyfriends' dicks with each other. All of us. No exceptions. Guys think we're above this but we're not."

"I swear I haven't seen it. We haven't done anything!"

"So you've never seen one before, have you?"

"Uh..."blushes

"I heard from a little birdie whose name ends in -acy, that you were treated to abig show yesterday."

"Stop it, Jessie. Please?"

"Who was it? It must have been a complete nobody since she doesn't even remember his name."

"Where do you want to go to lunch, Jess? I was thinking Amigo's -"

"Fine, you won't tell me. Ugh!"

Chet had long given up trying to parse out what Jessica and Kayla were saying to each other. He assumed they were talking about boy bands or some other tripe. He did a little air guitar ditty, pleased that his fingers were actually forming chords without his conscious effort. A girl saw him and scoffed.

-xxxxxxxxx-

Chet went through his classes, using his skills to get through his lessons. Becky Nguyen continued to pester him for answers during Physics class, so he decided to actually spend the effort to explain the concepts to her, but she could have caught flies with her slack-open mouth.

Math was tough, as usual. As soon as Chet felt he had mastered one concept, the next day brought a whole new set of applications and auxiliary concepts that swamped his brain and made him feel like a Becky. He swore that the next time he leveled up, he'd spend his points on intelligence.

Speaking of points, Chet earned a couple in Social Studies and Literature simply for volunteering to read an excerpt. Granted, they were small points, but they provided another opportunity to gain EXP.

Lunch came around, and Chet followed through on his earlier promise to play a round of chess with Tony, or "Sir Tonington, as seniority demands." Tony cleaned house, even with the few hints and moves that Chet's mental software suggested to him. Chet had to fart and wave it towards Tony's face to stall for time, a move Chet dubbed 'en gassant'. His cleverness went unappreciated.

Finally, it was PE again, and Chet was curious to see how the events of yesterday would affect the way Kayla interacted with him. It was Day Two of the fitness exams, and the boys would be tested on their sit-ups, push-ups and stretches.

Push-ups went poorly for Chet, as he had not developed the muscles required to consistently go past the plane formed by his elbows. Nor could he use his hands to support the three-quarters of his body mass that relied on them for very long. Fortunately there were no girls around to see him embarrass himself.

Then he heard the familiar squeaking of girls' shoes across the gymnasium floor. A groan escaped his lips as the same two blondes made their way over to help monitor the boys' results. No doubt Kayla and her patsy Tracy were looking forward to another show like yesterday's.

Not even shy about the potential rumors she might set off by doing so, Kayla offered to hold Chet's feet down while he did sit ups in front of her. But her face betrayed no mischief or ulterior motive. She looked so genuinely excited to help him out that he couldn't say no.

"Ugh! Fuck!"

"Noin."

Regardless, Kayla gradually began to smile at Chet's severe difficulty in doing sit-ups. She began to play up her Aussie accent to get back at him for teasing her about it yesterday. He was so confident and suave and nonchalant to her before, it made her second-guess herself. But now, seeing him slowly revert into a loser was oddly comforting, as if her brief, involuntary infatuation with him was a burden that was being lifted with each awkward back spasm and gasping pant. Tracy was three feet away from her, helping another boy with his fitness exam. She was snickering uncontrollably.

Watching him gasp and sputter on the ground did much to boost Kayla's self-esteem. His shirt was soggy with flop sweat. Chet could see his value to her dropping in front of his eyes.

KAYLA SYDNEY MARTIN

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 13/100

12...

11...

"Ten. I'll let you rest a little bit, Chet, since you've been trying so hahd." (Australian English omits the r sound at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant)

For the love of God, if there's anything that can get me out of this, anything! Give me a sign

Prayers answered, a chorus of angels sang in harmony as a glowing white button appeared in the upper right corner of his vision.

BITCH MODE

Completes mission with full automation at the cost of forfeiting all experience gained from PE FITNESS EXAM, DAY TWO.

"Fair enough."

Though Chet didn't need to, he reached out with his right arm to where the button was and poked it with his finger, which happened to be Kayla's nose.

"Wha-"

He then folded his hands behind his head, like a boss, and let whatever force which was animating the game take over the muscles of his body. He did his eleventh sit-up with perfect form, adding in an unnecessary and superfluous twisting of the obliques as he brought his right elbow to his left knee, then the reverse before bringing his chin to his knees. This continued in measured, but respectably quick succession.

Chet clenched his jaw, putting on a fake smile. Though he abdicated his abs to bitch mode, the pain was still there with every side-splitting crunch. His back was crushed by the repetitive lumbar compressions, but he stifled his gasps and grunts of pain.

"Twelve," Kayla gasped in astonishment. Coincidentally, the number 12 reappeared above her head at the same time.

"Thuh-teen." Her infatuation towards Chet rose up again by a single point. This was enough encouragement for Chet to endure the pain.

"Foh-teen... Fifteen... Sixteen, Chet, you don't have to push yuh-self so hard. Take it easy! Slow down! You'll huht yuh-self!" Panic began to show in her innocent blue eyes.

I hope he didn't take my teasing personally, she thought to herself.

"Child's play," he responded cockily.

Well, fuck me dead. He was just toying with me again -_-

For all Chet's bluster, the pain he was enduring was no trifling matter. Lactic acid was eviscerating his abdomen, and he could feel his joints stiffening as 'he' kept up a perfect rhythm of identical sit-ups. He had to think of something to distract himself from the agony.

Kayla's soft, sultry voice pierced through the fog enough to engage his brain juices. He reminded himself of their kiss yesterday. The way her wet, pillowy lips parted ever so gently as he stole first base, darting his tongue quickly in and out of her mouth, making her moan unintentionally with his fervor and passion.

Her lips tasted good, and he remembered from some science class that kissing was a way to see if two people were genetically compatible or something.

Chet's penis awoke and uncoiled itself from its sweaty pretzel, and snaked its way up his pant leg. Each evocative memory jolted new life into it, assisting it in the grapevine climb up his thigh. Or maybe it was the sit-ups squeezing the blood from Chet's midsection outward into his extremities that helped it grow and expand, like what spinach did to Popeye's biceps.

Like Olive Oyl, Chet's chode was tall and stiff and straight, and the outline was clearly visible against the red fabric of his PE shorts. His knees parted every now and then, flashing Kayla with Chet's Thunder from Down Under.

Kayla eventually caught sight of his Crocodile Dundee, and her little brown freckles turned into strawberry seeds against the blush that took over her face. Her eyelids closed halfway, covering the blue sapphires of her eyes with the fine mesh of her long eyelashes. She turned her head slightly, but kept his didgeridoo somewhere in the corner of her eye.

She bit her lip as sweat seeped off of her billabong and into her panties. Or at least, she hoped it was sweat.

"Fifty. That's enough to give you a puh-fect score on this section, Chet. Do you want to keep going?"

Kayla's question was answered by a loud thud as Chet's back made contact with the floor. She let go of his feet in surprise, and his legs fell flat against the ground too. He was panting and heaving, and the color was partly draining from his face.

Tough guy. He really was trying to impress me.

Well, you did.

She smiled and helped him up to his feet. Several of his friends came up to him to pat him on his back. Chet walked stiffly and silently to the locker room.

...

"So then I says, 'Ey! I'm walking over here!'"

"What he say?"

"'I beg your pardon?'"

"What you do then?"

"Then I says, 'fuck ya muddah' and bada bing! BAM! I clocked him. Laid him out flat."

"That's always good."

"Yeah, no shittin'. Now pass me my hair gel."

Chet leaned against his locker, oblivious to the usual locker room chatter. His torso was killing him. He just barely handled the bending over required to shuffle his gym shorts off. He dropped his jeans to the ground, put one foot in each leg, and squatted down to reach the hem of his pants with his hands.

Standing up, he inelegantly brought his pants up over his legs, having to kick out with his feet a couple of times to straighten them. He fell back down to the bench.

Taking his shirt off was going to be a bitch.

Chet didn't push himself to get changed quickly. Woodshop always started a little late, so there was no need to rush.

The locker room started to empty out. Chet caught a few bits of stray conversation in the distance. One of the greasy-haired boys was raving about a new gabbagool place. Chet closed his eyes and leaned back against the metal locker.

Tap Tap Tap.

Chet brought his head forward wearily. The vibrations on the metal went straight to his ears. He looked to his left. A familiar sandy blonde was peeking out from behind the lockers, her hand hovering near his ear. She was in her regular clothes, a white tank top and blue denim jacket. A pair of sunglasses was resting in her hair. Tracy wasn't here with her this time.

"Thought you'd be here."

Chet slowly brought his head up, staring at the air above her head.

KAYLA SYDNEY MARTIN

AGE 18

STATUS: IN A RELATIONSHIP

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 24/100

MODERATE CRUSH

"Are you ignoring me again?"

He looked back down at her and smiled. "What can I do you for?"

"This again," she sighed. "You're still in your gym shuh'."

"My shorts? No, I changed out of those already."

"No, you big oaf. Yo' sheht. Yo-wur shirrrrr- tuh!" Kayla enunciated, half-certain he was playing with her again.

Chet looked down at his chest. "Why, you're right. Iam in my gym shirt! What about it?"

Ass.

"My boyfriend already gives me a hard time with my accent, I don't need you doing it too..."

Chet inwardly sighed. There was still that obstacle. Still, he put on a nonchalant smile, as if she said something totally ignorable and irrelevant. He had a good instinct for riling her up.

"Put your arms up."

He complied.

She crouched down near him and reached behind him with her arms to peel off his sweaty article. She pulled it off his arms and tossed it in the open locker behind him.

"Yuck! Wet."

She reached back in the locker to get his clean shirt, and turned around to put it on. But first she took a look at his shirtless chest.

Not bad, she thought. Chet was skinny, without any obvious flab anywhere, and he had some muscle definition in his pecs and arms. Overall, he could use some work. But he wasn't a mess.

Chet looked back at her, wondering what she thought of him. Her gaze was making him more than a bit self-conscious. But she also wasn't hiding her interest in him.

"Umm, my eyes are up here," Chet interrupted, startling her a little. His arms were still up above his head, so they both looked and felt kind of stupid.

She took his shirt and wiped the corner of his eye with it, snapping into a motherly role, making the implication that he was a messy kid. She had to do what she could to put him in his place.

"You got dirt in your eye," she said, hoping her actions wouldn't be taken as flirtatiousness.

"Thanks, Sydney."

She started back. "How do you know my middle name?"

Oh, fuck! I'm such an idiot! Chet panicked. She didn't know about the game. Hell, he didn't understand it himself. But there's definitely no way he could explain this knowledge without giving away the game or coming off like a complete stalker. He struggled to keep a composed face.

"We're in the same homeroom class. They read our names when they take attendance," he responded coolly and diplomatically. It actually came off as overly stiff and formal.

She squinted at him. She put on a suspicious expression.Hmm, I guess he could be right.

She relaxed. She put his shirt on over him, and smiled like she just won a minor victory.

"True, but that doesn't explain why you remember. Or why you've been paying attention to my name, stalker."

"Maybe I'm just good at remembering things!" Chet grunted, feigning frustration. He brought his arms down and poked her ribs with his index fingers, causing her to squawk.

She leapt off the bench and hit him playfully on the shoulder.

"Fine, fine! Seriously though, only my dad calls me Sydney. I'm just Kayla to you."

"Why can't I be your daddy?"

Another punch. "You're too ridiculous! I gotta get out of here," Kayla said incredulously, hopping out of the locker room.

"Thanks for the help."

Kayla stopped. "Well, you were being a dummy and overdoing it again. I figured you needed it. But, you're welcome." She darted off.

Chet smiled. He couldn't help but notice something. Something that betrayed her coy aloofness.

RELATIONSHIP TO YOU: 26/100

END OF PART TWO

A/N: Didn't do a lot of proofreading this time around, so apologies if the writing came off sloppy. Didn't want to keep everyone waiting too long.