Chapter 1 – “Hello Are You There?!”

Written By: Paradox

Edited By: Edet and Tyhuko

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Hello everyone ,

This is my first time writing a web novel. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions, criticism, ideas, etc. I will try to address them the best I can. This will help me a lot because I am not very good at English. I hope you enjoy my novel.

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True Identity

Chapter 1 – “Hello, Are You There?!”

“I love you James, please go out with me!”

“I’m sorry, I have no feelings for you….”

Sigh, that’s the third confession this week. I’ve gotten so many confessions throughout my highschool career and it’s become so goddamn annoying. You would think after denying so many confessions, the girls in this school would get the idea that I won’t go out with any of them.

Everyone is so superficial, just because I’m good looking, they start acting friendly towards me. And just because some of them are also kind of pretty, they expect me to like them back…. Society is just so fucked up.

Well whatever I’ll just walk back to class now.

IF I had the time and IF I were to even consider dating someone, they would have to actually know everything about me. Then, and only then could I accept them. I won’t date someone just because they like my outward appearance. I think if people knew what my life was actually like, they would pity me and that’s what I can’t stand. Also, I don’t think as many people would talk to me, wait that actually might be a good idea…. Well whatever, in order to avoid people from feeling pity for me I put up a facade so nobody knows what my life is really like and how I really am.

When I was 12 years old, my parents died in a plane crash. They were going on a trip for their anniversary and wanted to have some alone time. They left their 12 year old son and 11 year old daughter at home alone. But unfortunately there was a malfunction which caused the plane to crash when they were traveling to Japan. The search team never found the plane my parents were on. All we know is that the plane is somewhere in the pacific ocean.

When my sister and I heard the news, my sister was crying so much while I didn’t cry at all. At that moment, my life changed drastically and I decided that I would keep my promise to my parents. Before they left, my parents told me, “Take care of your little sister while we’re gone James.” I decided that I would keep that promise for the rest of my life.

After the funeral, our grandmother, our last relative, decided to take care of us. She tried her best to take care of us. She did everything in her power to give us everything we wanted. But, unfortunately she also died last year because of old age. Now I have to keep the promise with my parents even more.

When I got back to class my classmates were as noisy as ever. I walked back to my seat in the back corner near the windows. Usually there’s a big group around my desk but luckily there was only my best friend Nick.

“How did it feel getting confessed to by Jenny, the 5th top rank beauty in our school James?”

“Same as always, I rejected her.”

“Come on man, when are you going to relax a little and actually go out with someone one of these days?”

“You of all people should know why I don’t want to… relax a little Nick.”

“Hmm, ‘cause you’re gay?”

“NICK!!”

“HAHAHA, I’m just kidding James, calm down man.”

“…”

Nick is my childhood friend, he is one of the people who actually know about my situation. He used to be my neighbor when we were younger so we played together. Since he actually knows about my situation I consider him one of my true friends. Everyone else, well, I guess you could call them acquaintances.

“Oh yeah James, did you hear about the first virtual reality game coming out soon? It’s called Absolute Authority. My friends and I plan to play together, you should join us.”

“Umm, I’ll think about it. I got to see if I can afford it in the first place.”

“Oh come on man, you have been working so hard lately, I think your sister will understand you taking out a little money so you can buy the VR Headset.”

“It’s not a little money, the VR Headset is $1500, how is that a small amount? I could buy so much with that amount of money.”

“Well I guess that true… But think of it as an investment because you can also sell your items and gold for real money on the online auction. Then if you make good money out of the game, you can quit your job. What do you think?”

“That sounds good, but you never know if I will actually make good money off the game. Well, whatever I’ll think about it.”

“Alright man, think about it. I have to go now since school just finished, talk to you later.”

“Cya….”

I left the school and started walking to my job at the grocery store.

Truthfully, I really wanted to play this new game but I have decided to restrain myself from buying it. The reason is, I don’t even know if I will have enough time to play the game let alone afford buying it. I’ve been so excited about this game for a long time and I basically know everything you can about this soon to be released game.

Getting excited about the game just from thinking about it, I decided to listen to the GR radio station that
is dedicated to video games. They were talking about how Absolute Authority or in short AA has 97% realism and how the game will be the best thing ever. Before going to an advertisement the radio station made an announcement.

“Important announcement everyone, everyone call the GR radio station right now! If you’re the 1000th caller we will send you a VR headset and a copy of the game Absolute Authority once it comes out! So just call us, there’s no harm in just calling and you might just be the 1000th caller.”

After hearing the announcement I decided to call seeing no reason not to. But I wasn’t really paying attention because chances of me actually winning were like 1 in a million or even smaller. So I have just decided to keep on walking towards my job.

Suddenly a female voice started to announce the winner.

“We have a winner! Caller number 1000 what’s your name?”

…

“Caller number 1000… what’s your name?”

…

“Hello, are you there?”