"Finally, the great Lucas decided to show up!" said a tall, dark-haired boy sitting on one of the couches in the karaoke room. I recognized him as Jason, a boy from the popular group.

"I just... needed some air." I replied.

When I sat down on the couch next to Jason, he put an arm around my shoulders with surprising intimacy, as if we were cameras, and whispered:

"Hey, Lucas. Help your friend out here. Gwen's cold as ice, man. I was thinking... you can help me out, you know? I can talk Betty to you and Glory to Flash. If you can get them out of here, Gwen can open up to me and..."

Something inside me flipped. The idea of "helping" Jason win Gwen over was repulsive to me. I may not have been popular in the real world, but I still had my wills and principles, and one of them was not to let a third-rate character get close to the main character, now that I could.

I moved away from Jason and took his arm off my shoulders.

"Leave Gwen alone, Jason. She's not someone you can treat like other girls." I said, looking at him angrily out of the corner of my eye.

Jason raised his hands in surrender, and a nervous smile appeared on his face.

"Hey, it's okay, man, no problem. If you're interested in her, I won't fight you." He shrugged and leaned forward, picking up his drink to hide his discomfort.

I took a deep breath and looked back at Gwen, who was still focused on her phone, seemingly oblivious to our conversation.

I didn't know how much time I had before something else happened, before the system or this universe threw something in my way, so I had to act fast and talk to Gwen to get things moving.

Just as I was about to tell Flash to excuse me because I was going to talk to Gwen, she got up and left the room. For a second, I wondered if she had noticed that I was looking at her a lot, but I had the slight impression that I saw her holding the phone to one of her ears. She had probably stepped away to take a call and hadn't said anything.

In a way, that was even better for me. Gwen was alone now, and I couldn't miss the chance to talk to her.

"Flash, excuse me. I'm going to get something to drink." I said and then gave a quick wink with one eye and Flash got the message.

"Go ahead brother!!! She's all yours!"

As I walked out into the hallway, I had no idea which way Gwen had gone, but I saw a sign pointing in the direction of the restroom, so I figured she had gone there to hear the call better, after all, the outside of the karaoke bar was very noisy.

I followed the sign to the restroom, turned the corner to the right of the main hallway, and found a discreet, well-lit area with vending machines for drinks and snacks.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Luckily for me, Gwen was standing next to the vending machine, her phone still pressed to her ear.

It was then that her eyes met mine for the first time. Her eyes were very beautiful, an almost grayish blue. I hesitated for a moment, but it would be awkward if I turned around, because it would be clear that I had followed her uninvited. So I looked away and walked over to the soda machine, where I stood and pretended to think about what drink to buy.

When she finally hung up, her eyes met mine, and she asked:

"Aren't you going to sing, Lucas?"

"Yes, but my throat is dry, so I came to get something to drink."

Gwen smiled out of the corner of her mouth. "I see... I thought you were worried about me leaving out of the blue, but I only left because I didn't listen to MJ when she called me."

"You read me perfectly." I said, putting a hand on the back of my neck and laughing nervously.

"I have a good intuition. It's almost like a..."

"Sixth sense?" I asked.

"Yes, exactly. How did you know what word I was going to use?"

"I think I can read other people well too. "

"You must be a good observer." Gwen commented with a discreet smile.

"Ah, well... I've always been more observant than communicative, so..."

I just couldn't tell her that I had developed my talents for observation because I was often barely able to talk to the nurses at the hospital because I was on too much medication.

*

At the end of the karaoke night, I needed a place to sleep. I could ask one of the guys to put me up for the night, but I had their number in the phone book of the old button cell phone in my pocket. So, before resorting to that last option, I decided to go to the building where I used to live before I went to the hospital in the real world.

My parents bought an apartment in this building before I was born and moved in. That's where I lived all my life until my home became the hospital. So part of me hoped it wouldn't be any different in this universe.

When I reached the street of my building, I saw how similar everything was, except that the streets were much dirtier and the walls of the buildings were full of graffiti. When I got to my floor, I easily found my apartment. There was a 56 just above the peephole on the door.

I put my hands in my pockets, but I didn't have any keys with me. However, there was a black carpet on the floor in front of the door.

"My version of this universe wouldn't be that stupid, would it?" I wondered as I bent down.

A smile appeared on my face as I lifted the black mat and found a key underneath.

"Yes, my world self was a bit stupid. At least that explains why I'm so popular here..."

I stood up and put the key in the door lock, and it fit perfectly. I turned the key, and the door was unlocked. When I opened the door, I found myself in a small apartment, and this was also my small apartment in this universe, because there was a large family photo of me and my parents to the left of the entrance.

"Hello? Anyone home?" I asked as I shut the door.

No greetings came. I decided to take a closer look at the picture of my parents in the alcove next to the door.

"The best parents in the world. Rest in peace..." I read what was written in pencil at the bottom of the photo. "I am an orphan in this world... That's... Shit, that sucks. Normally I would think that as long as my parents are okay in the real world, I'd be happy, but this is the real world for me now... System, I want to distract myself now. Is there any way I can get card point in other than ways quests? Something more direct?"

[Currently, the only guaranteed way to get cards is through quests. However, there is an alternative way to try your luck at getting cards.]

"Try my luck? How would that work?"

[You can purchase the Daily Roulette feature for 300 Card Points. This wheel can be spun up to 10 times a day, and each spin will deduct 20 Card Points from your balance. Combining all the chances, you have a 10% chance of getting a card. This feature allows you to receive cards at random, with the possibility of receiving Common, Uncommon, and even Rare cards.]