Harem Mode - ON Ch. 03

"I'm out of shape."

Chet sighed.


"You're not unfixable. Besides, how else are you supposed to get in shape? We're too young for gym memberships. You can exercise a lot while playing sports without even knowing it. Running laps is boring but chasing a ball is exciting, and you do just as much running."

For some reason, Chet's logic chip was really starting to shine. He assumed it was just easier point out the truth to someone else, but he already had rehearsed these same arguments in his mind before.

"Oh, I get it now. I understand what you're saying." Aspen finally swallowed the mayonnaise-covered chicken chunk that was stuck in his gullet. He resumed speaking, clearer this time.

"It's strange having another person take an interest in the way I spend my time, but I believe you think you can help me out with some deficiency you think I have. But you know it's too late to join a sports team. It's the last year of high school. I have no experience in anything."

"Tryouts aren't going to start for another two weeks. And that's a lie, we all had freshman PE, so you had to have been acquainted with most sports."

"What can I even try out for?!" Aspen gasped, letting out some of his rage from earlier. Chet cringed like an abused housewife who had just overcooked the casserole, but the blow never came.

Aspen was clearly starting to get frustrated with himself. He had let Chet's arguments seep into his mind, making him realize his own inadequacies. Part of him was reaching out to Chet for help, to help batter down the defenses he had erected against changing himself.

"I dunno," Chet shrugged his shoulders. "Badminton. Tennis. Swim team..." He started rattling off as many sports as he could remember.Some of these don't sound half-bad, maybe I could try one of these? He thought. "Not all of these require you to be Arnold Schwarzenegger or anything."

The two of them went back and forth until lunch ended. Aspen's posture had changed from defensive to relaxed, and he had the look of someone who was clearly re-examining himself. Chet had shouted at him at several points during the conversation, to both of their surprise. Chet didn't know why he suddenly got so passionate about sports.

Some passersby looked at the two of them and assumed that Chet was a weirdo like Aspen.

Though Chet couldn't convince Aspen to go to tryouts, he convinced himself to go, knowing he had a secret advantage with his RPG powers.

He walked to the locker rooms to change for PE.

Jesus, that was exhausting. What a nutcase. He probably looks up a lot of weird shit on the internet. He certainly has the time to.

But...He did seem to like talking to me. Maybe having no one to talk to is what made him weird? Does talking to him even count as a good deed?

Probably not, because I didn't see any experience points pop up when we were done talking. And I probably didn't change him for the better at all. Yet.

Still though, I'm probably the only one he even can talk to now. I'm sure he scares everyone else away with that manifesto talk about inferiority and genes and shit.

Even if I don't get any points for it, I have to keep him from going too far down that rabbit hole. He seems really alone and miserable.

Chet stopped abruptly and looked down at his shirtless body.

I'm not fat, so I at least have a shot with girls at school. He's probably never kissed a girl yet.

Well, that's not fair, I only had my first kiss a couple of days ago.

He looked around the locker room. Most of the other boys were talking to each other in groups or pairs.

Not a lot of friends, either. He doesn't have any, but I still only have one. And that's Tony. And we don't even hang out that much. I mean, I have my pizza delivery job, but still.

He looked over to where Ben and AJ used to change.

Before those dickheads got expelled, they were my worst nightmare. I bet Aspen has bullies too. Well, no shit he does.

Damn!

There's really not much separating the two of us, except he has all these weird creepy beliefs, while I've channeled my creepiness into... pornography.

Yikes. Could I have ended up like Aspen if it were not for the grace of Porn?

If I'm trying to change myself into a good person, can he do the same?

Probably not. But with my help, I could probably make him a better person. I think.

Chet thought about it and laughed.

Nah, fuck him. I've got better things to do.

Chet slammed his locker closed and headed over to class for yet another round of physical exams. Today was going to be all about swimming.

"Sydney-San in a swim-su-to," Chet hummed musically as he swayed and swaggered to the pool area. He leapt to the air and clapped his feet. Hopefully Kayla was going to be just as luscious in her one piece as she was in that vacation bikini.

Just picturing her perfect breasts with wet fabric clinging to them, begging him to stare into her deep cleavage was getting him-

No! Chet stopped himself, feeling his unit start to swell up. He did a quick squat to draw blood into his quads and gluteals, emptying his erection before it was even born.Not yet, at least.

He made his way closer to the other side of the gym with the pool room in it. The weird distorted echoes of water splashing, girls cheering and boys howling emanated from the open door. Long shadows stretched across the lit walls at an angle through the doorway as Chet walked in.

The pool room was a frenetic beehive of activity, with everyone relaxing in the pool, waiting for class to start. Cute girls and dopey dudes alike took pool day as an opportunity to fraternize and cool down in what was for some of them, the last period of the day.

Chet was about to go join them when his PE coach whistled out three short blasts to call the classes to order.

"Alright, everybody listen up. Today's gonna be a simple test, just your fifty yard swim, from one end of the pool to the other and back. You'll each get three chances to take it, but you can just do it once if you're comfortable with your score."

The girls paid attention while the guys pretended to listen. Everyone already knew how the tests were going down and this speech was just intended a reminder.

"We've got three TAs for the boys and three for the girls, so we can run six tests at a time. We should be finished by 1:45, but those of you who are finished should hit the showers early so it doesn't get too crowded. That means no dicking around!"

"Sure thing, coach," yelled out Mario Luigioni, who was slicking back his wet hair on the far edge of the pool.

"Is that a comb? Never mind. Boys are going to take the left three lanes, and girls the right three."

"But the right edge is shallower. That's sexist, coach!" Yelled Mindy Merkins.

"Fine, fine! Girls can take the deeper side of the pool," the Coach relented. Half the girls in the class groaned, pissed off at MM for making everything more difficult again. She in turn scoffed at their lack of pride and solidarity.

"Line up! We're going to time the TAs first so they can get their tests out of the way and help the rest of you. When the girls are done, which they usually are because they don't DICK around, the TAs for their class are not going to stick around the other PE class..."

This was the boys' turn to groan.

"Because we're not going to hold them back because you boys decide to dick around!"

That's the third time he's used that today, he must be in a bad mood, Chet thought. He was staring at Kayla the whole time. She already had her goggles on, so it was hard to tell where she was looking. Sitting next to her were Tracy and Sally O'Sullivan, an actual adult and paid assistant for the girls' class. Kayla and Tracy were just students who regularly volunteered.

The three of them formed a nice spectrum of skin tones. Kayla had a golden-brown tan while Sally was sheet-white, and Tracy was somewhere in between at a light bronze. Ms. O'Sullivan was putting on sunblock even though they were indoors. She had freckles on her shoulders, nose, cheeks and chest. Her red hair was neatly tucked into her swim cap, while Kayla's sandy blonde hair was uncovered. Tracy's regular blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. All of them had it cut shoulder-length.

The three boy TAs, Trent, Bert and Holt were all in great shape, and took athletics pretty seriously. They mostly only hung out with each other during class, and didn't take part in the general tomfoolery of Boys' PE.

"Let's start with the TA's now."

All five TAs, excluding Ms. O'Sullivan, walked over to the edge of the pool where the students had formed a crowd, and each took a lane. Some of the boys tried to wander over to the girls' side to stare at Kayla's and Tracy's backsides before they jumped in, but the girls glared them down. Which was hypocritical, as they did the same thing for Trent, Bert and Holt.


Twee!

Five splashes, not very far apart in time, filled the room with their echoes. The boys and girls started cheering, mostly for Kayla and Tracy. As they swam toward the other side, the students began migrating along the sides of the pool to follow them.

"Yeah, yeah!"

Chet marveled at the way Kayla kept her body almost parallel to the water's surface. Her upper and lower halves twisted and turned, but the small of her back stayed the same distance above the pool floor. Her sandy blonde hair coiled into tight tresses, revealing more of her face as it clung to the back of her head, turning a darker shade as it got wet.

And of course, who could miss her round butt as it rose above the water, with the swimsuit rolling up between the cheeks like floss? But Kayla was focused solely on swimming, so she didn't reach back to pull it out like Tracy did.

She reached the other side of the pool, spun around and kicked off the wall with her powerful legs, corkscrewing her elegant body for the return lap.

Bert and Holt finished first, followed by Kayla, Trent and Tracy, in that order. Some of the girls applauded Bert and Holt, but everyone was gathered around the star captain of the girls' swim team when she emerged.

All the boys stared at her shapely butt as it pulled out of the water. The pool surface clung to her like the skin of a pudding before breaking off into smaller puddles and rivulets that glistened off her buttocks and legs. Kayla waited until her feet were firmly on the concrete before she finally brought her fingers down to readjust the bottom half of her swimsuit. It re-covered her top half of her cheeks again with a wet snap.

With the TA's finished and ready to proctor, the rest of the classrooms split off and lined up for their exams. Most people generally have a hard time swimming, and this class was no exception. No one looked particularly eager to go first.

TWEET!!

SPLASH!

Chet was last in line, but he still could watch his fellow landlubbers lurch and flail in the lanes. Everyone had terrible form, and no real opportunity to improve it at this point in the year.

SPLASH!

Tim Thomson hurled his heavy, stocky body into the water, soaking everyone behind him. He fell into the swimming pool like a cannonball and swam like one too.

"58 seconds! Do it again!"

SPLASH!

Mit Nosmoht fell in like a candlestick, his long legs awkwardly paddling and hitting each other. The cold water constricted his chest, and he made agonizingly loud gasps when he breathed.

"49 seconds! Quarter minute less for a passing grade!"

SPLASH!

And so it went. There were some guys with decent times, but only one or two were confident enough with their times to forgo the second and third attempts. The girls were having a similarly tough time, but more of them could reach the cutoff time for passing, which was generously lowered for them.

"Come on, everybody! We can do this! Let's go!"

The girl TAs took to yelling to encourage the class. The guy TAs eventually joined in, but were less supportive.

"Is this all you've got?"

Chet looked at the surface of the water with a neutral expression, then gazed at Bert on the other side of the pool. He was only fifty yards away, but the distance looked like double that. He shrugged his shoulders, took in a breath and plunged in.

SWOOSH

The cold gave his body a shock before he could stretch out his limbs and align himself horizontally with the water. His testicles shriveled like dried grapes when the water seeped through and soaked the fabric of his swim trunks.

Okay, we can do this, Chet told himself, as he scooped and pushed the water ahead of him back with his hands. His legs were definitely propelling him forward, but there was a lot of wasted movement. He heard Sydney cheering, and hoped that part of it was directed towards him, but he didn't have the time to stop and look.

A wave caused another swimmer pushed him to the right a little bit. The swimmer's long arm came down on the surface of the water and slapped water into Chet's face.

"Fuck!" Chet stopped momentarily.

"WATER you doing? Let's go!" Bert laughed.

Chet redoubled his efforts as the end of the lane was in sight. Finally, he placed his hands on the concrete and lifted himself up, with his foot on the gap for excess water to spill over.

"45.2 seconds. Cut it down by 10 and you're good for a C."

Chet wiped the water from his goggles and silently walked to the other side of the pool to take his place in line. His feet stepped on something slimy, but he tried to push the sensation out of his mind.

"Okay, that took longer than I thought, and most of you are going to have to go again," yelled the coach. "Class is over in twenty minutes, and if you haven't passed by the time it's over, you can stay after to finish if you don't have a 7th period."

The second round of tests went as poorly as the first one, and a lot of the boys and girls decided to quit early and submit in their times for grading. By the time it was Chet's turn again, half the class was gone.

"Okay, let's do better this time," Chet quietly whispered.

"Look at this guy, talking to himself."

I'm going to ignore that.

SPLASH!

Chet took broad strides with his arms and fluttered his legs like a pair of propellors. It was a good start, but then the water started to have more resistance, and his movements were more sluggish and ineffectual.

Shit, I'm tired.

He maintained his posture and continued to thrust away at the water. The words BITCH MODE hovered in front of him, in the air. All he had to do was swipe at it with one of his hands and it would activate, take control over his body and complete the rest of the test with perfect form. But he was already halfway through the lane, and it would be a waste.

Water started leaking into his left goggle, so Chet closed both of his eyes. His right hand hit one of the floating lane markers.

"You're drifting!" Holt called out, bored.

Chet snapped his eyes open again and adjusted his course larboard. A few more paces and he was at the end of the pool again.

"49.6 seconds. You wanna go again?"

"Yeah!"


"Alright-y."

Fuuuck! How did I do worse this time? Chet screamed internally. He stood again at the back of the line, thinking through his options.

I can use Bitch Mode, and pass this test easily with an A grade. But I'll lose all the XP from the mission, which is a decent amount. Not passing this test won't be a big deal, since Sydney is busy with the girls, and it's not as if she's going to look up my score. I can take the L while keeping the points, which will help me level up."

The minute hand was close to 12, marking that the end of the hour, and thus, 6th period was near. Most of the class had gone to the showers already. The three male, and two of the female, TA's walked over to Kayla and said something before walking out of the pool room. She nodded and walked over to the boys' side of the pool.

Hey, what's going on?

"Alright, since I'm the only TA without a 7th period, I'm going to stay behind so you can finish your 3rd tries, so line up single file to one lane," she yelled across the room.


"Thank you, Kayla-" the boys sang in unison, forming a single line instead of three. Chet was in the back again.

SPLASH!

The boys hopped in one by one for their final attempt at passing. Some managed to. Others didn't, and cursed the fact that they wasted their time sticking around. Kayla clucked at the few who took it out on her personally.

Fuck! Now Sydney's definitely going to know how bad I suck. I guess I have to use it, Chet grumbled. Now it was just him and her in the room, alone. He looked across the lane.

Kayla was definitely smiling at him. She must have caught a glimpse of his bad swimming, or heard his bad score get called out. He made a gun with his index and thumb and pointed at the words 'BITCH MODE' as they reappeared in front of him.

"Pew!" Chet whispered to himself as he made a 'bang' motion with his hand.

Splish!

Chet's body dove into the water with minimal drag and friction, and his torso rose again as his body leveled out perfectly horizontally with the water surface. Chet felt almost as if he were being lifted up by a pair of hands into the proper position. He kicked off the wall like a torpedo.

His right arm cupped the water and pushed it past him as his torso twisted and brought the other arm up for the next stroke. His legs and feet kicked the water efficiently, bending the knee for the down-kick and straightening for the up-kick. Friction developed around his foot just enough to launch him forward.

It felt weird having air rush in and out of his lungs without his conscious effort while being aware of the fact he was breathing. Chet never experienced this combination of conscious and involuntary respiration before in his life, and it felt like he was hooked up to a system of bellows and pumps in his mouth and chest.

I'm a complete puppet, Chet thought.

Kayla, for her part, was staring dumbstruck at the approaching figure in the pool. Chet's posture and form were so perfect, his body almost looked beautiful in its power and control.

She was squatting at the edge of the pool, knees apart. She was right in front of him, so as he swam towards her, his made a straight line to where she was.

SLAP!

His right hand dove out of the water and grabbed a noisy hold of the concrete, inches away from her. Tiny droplets of water splashed on her and flicked her stomach. She took a step backward in surprise. His head rose from the water.

Chet gasped, both for air and from the shocking sensation of having voluntary control restored to him again.

"21 seconds."

The Australienne stared at the stopwatch, wiped the surface clean to confirm it again, then resumed staring in disbelief. It was faster than hers. While there were guys who could accomplish that, she never dreamed in a million years Chet would be one of them.

"How," Kayla sputtered, completely baffled.

"What?" Chet asked while tilting his head and letting the water run out of his ear.

"How do you keep doing this? Your score is amazing..." she whined.

"I dunno. Maybe everyone else isn't trying as hard."

"So you actually are trying? You made it seem so effortless."

Chet looked behind him before moving closer to the girl. "I mean, it's kind of a show I put on for you. I thought you'd like it."

Kayla smiled and brought her luscious eyelashes together with a teasing squint. "You think I like arrogant guys?"

Chet paused for a bit, letting his response soak in his head for a bit before finally deciding to go through with it. "Yeah, you're kind of with the most arrogant guy in school."


"Josh?" Kayla asked with surprise. Of course he could have only been referring to Josh, but it was surprising to hear Chet bring up her boyfriend or relationship at all. Frankly, it was kind of the elephant in the room for the past few days, but it still felt so sudden. She relaxed her shoulders.