"Trust me, brother. You can definitely land her."
Four years. For four damn years, I had a crush on Helena Brown. Ever since I met her in freshman year, locking eyes for only a fleeting second. I fell for them. Drowning in her beauty and kindness. I barely managed to keep my sanity intact every time I saw her, taking short gasps of air whenever I wasn't around her.
The way her luscious brown hair flowed in the wind, and her bright smile shone under the sun, made her seem like a goddess. Many asked to be her lover. She had a few but broke off many times. Albrecht made a comment on that, calling her 'for the streets'. But not in my eyes.
"Come on, Siggy. Don't let us down." My twin encouraged me further.
Einar had always been the golden child. Quite literally. With his blonde hair and blue eyes, he radiated a shining light everywhere he went. Compared to me, even though I had the same hair and eyes, my glasses and the fact we weren't identical made me feel like I never had the same light as him.
"I don't know…" I scratched my hair, hesitating, "I just-"
"It's senior year brother. She's going off to college somewhere. This is your last chance mate." Einar spoke, "Hey, take it from me. This is my suggestion. What about you, Alby?"
The green-eyed boy looked at us confusedly, adjusting his jeans and senior jacket. For a public school, the senior jacket was nicer than expected. "What?" he asked, his german accent faint but noticeable, "What happened?"
"How's your love life? We have Siggy here ready to ask for Helena's number. What about you? I'mma ask Sebastian after this."
"Well. I have Luna…but she's a bit…rowdy. Loud. I don't think my parents would approve of her."
"You're not dating her, though," Sebastian spoke up, pressing his phone rapidly as the sound of something ringing echoed in the classroom. It's a break right now, and phones aren't allowed. But this man doesn't care, he's taking his chances, "Doubt you'll even manage to ask her. She's always surrounded by bad company."
"Hey! She's interested in me! You can't be talking Sebastian!"
"What makes you say that?"
"You're over here rolling for a god roll weapon in Earthwreckers! It's a zero-point one percent chance to roll it!"
Sebastian held up his finger, "So you're telling me there's a chance?" he chuckled. "It's my lucky day today. RNGesus is by my side! Trust me, a miracle is gonna happen today~!"
"Yeah, this man is gonna gamble his soul away at one point." Albrecht shook his head, "Getting a girlfriend is the least of his priorities."
"Hey, there's a difference. One way or another, I'll always win. Put me on my deathbed and I'm rolling five godrolls in a row."
While I just stood there, silent. There were no openings for me to join in. Were the videos I watched pointless in the end? 'How to make conversations interesting 101'. What a load of bullshit.
Before we knew it, a bell rang in the halls, signaling the end of the break. However, today is a special day, and we aren't returning to classes. "Well now!" Einar stood up from his chair. "Signing time! I've always wanted to do this."
"Oh right." Sebastian looked at the clock, "Ughh…I don't want to go out man…"
"Too bad bro." Albrecht kicked Sebastian off the chair, "Get up, stop gambling please."
"Noooo…."
My twin brother wrapped his arm around me, handing me a yearbook, "Last chance mate. You have to be the one to do it. Find Helena. And get her number. That's your task."
"B-But…" I hesitated for a second, as I peered at the task up ahead, I could feel the hole between me and the reward rapidly widening with every passing second, "I don't…think I can do it-"
"Oh, because of other people huh? Don't worry about that." Einar pointed to himself, "You know your boy gon distract them. I'll take their attention. You go for prom queen yeah?"
Einar always called her prom queen. I was surprised he didn't accept her invitation to prom. I can vividly remember the outrage and shock of the school as he went for another girl. But that mentioned girl had to leave early. To another country for her college. Well, that's dead for him.
But the idea of him taking everyone's attention was a bittersweet feeling for me. On the one hand, that's good for me. But on the other…I just…I couldn't bring myself to say it. As much as I know why. But I try to push that down, "Alright…Thank's Einar."
"No problemo Siggy!"
The four of us walked out of our classroom, peeking out the window of the building to find the younger students packing up for their classes, but the seniors were gathering together. Starting to sign everyone's book. We could hear some of them shout from below, "Where's Einar?! Bro, I need to keep in contact with him!"
"I need his number!" A girl shouted, "Can't pass on the opportunity."
Einar just palmed his face, "God damn it. I hate this part." but then he placed his hand on my shoulder, "But go! Find Helena! While I distract everyone else yeah? Just for you dude!"
The three of my friends ran off in another direction, waving me off as I stood there. Like a lost child. Even though his instructions and guide were clear and proper, it felt like learning rocket science to me. How…? How does he just do that?
'Damn it Sigurd! Keep it together!' I slapped myself in the face, hopefully, it worked as a wake-up call. As I turn around and head toward a staircase. My search for the girl of my dreams starts now. Hopefully, I could do the bare minimum and get her number. But honestly, a simple signature might be enough. But not for Einar.
***
Everywhere you go, you always see this book. Standing in the display by the window. An invisible yet prominent light shining from within. Almost every day, hundreds of people come inside the store to grab a copy.
The internet buzzed with websites and wikis dedicated to the book. Overshadowing the giants that had long reigned the websites for years. Toppled by the rise of this new novel.
In every forum, thousands of people talk about the story. Not caring for the sake of other people by sharing spoilers so easily as it was breathing. It raged through the world. This one novel. Had the world in a chokehold. There hadn't been a single soul living on earth that had never heard of this novel once.
"Apocalypse of the sole Human"
All over the world, there are millions of readers lost in the world of the novel. Many of those who finished were rambling to others like them about the story, their complaints, their favorite character, and ones they despise. The death scenes. Everything. It was not safe for anybody who wanted to jump on the bandwagon without spoilers.
However, this was exactly what the author wanted. Smiling in their home as they reveled in the popularity of their book. Looking through the internet was a wild experience for them. The fan arts, the theories, and the…wild side. It was all fun and games. And here comes the REAL fun part.
With a simple command, every single copy of his book began to hum with a small energy. Before growing exponentially in power. The runes on his books were now glowing, as millions of confused humans stared at their books. As it hovered in the air. He decided to leave it like that for a solid ten minutes or so. See how they react before the jump. He's gonna have a blast day with this. Oh, how long had he been waiting for this to happen.