nerve || s.m

one

"Are you a player or a watcher?"

"Chantal, what are you doing?" I asked her. She wasn't on the screen, but I heard papers shuffling in the background.

"Sorry, I'm getting the lab report from the printer." She called back.

"So are you a player or a watcher?" I asked mimicking the robotic voice.

"I don't know, I'll decide tomorrow," She yawned. "I'm going to sleep."

"Same, night."

"Night."

I ended the four hour face time call, and went back onto the site. There were recent dares that were completed.

Most of them didn't look too bad.

One video for example, showed a man cliff jumping into a clear blue ocean. Another video showed a girl riding a roller coaster.

I thought of the money. My family isn't poor, but we're not rich. Both my parents work over time to send me to university, and I know how hard that is. I even thought of getting a job, but they won't let me, because they want me to focus on my education.

It's really easy money for petty dares.

But I shut off my laptop and went to sleep. I'll think about it tomorrow.

-

The next morning during first period, Chantal sat next to me and showed me a video on her phone.

It was a girl sky diving. It was something you'd see in vlogs.

At first I didn't get it, but then I saw the watermark at the bottom of the screen.

Nerve.

"I'm guessing you chose to be a watcher." I said so only Chantal can hear.

She nodded, quickly putting her phone away as our teacher walked by.

"I bet $5 on her." She said nonchalant.

"What the hell man?" I said a bit too loud.

"It's just $5 chill."

"You could've bought pizza and fries with that!"

I received glares from other people in my chemistry class. My teacher didn't seem to mind as he was too busy confiscating phones.

"It's really entertaining though." Chantal leaned back into her seat.

"Yeah, but-" I was interrupted by the obnoxious bell ringing.

Chantal grabbed her bag and ran off, "I'll catch you at lunch." She called back.

I shook my head, chuckling.

She's wasting her money on this stupid game.

That afternoon, My group of friends met up at this cafe we always go to.

"Graduation's coming up." One of my friends, Lucas said before taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

"You know what that means," Chantal nudged me. "Senior pranks."

I rolled my eyes, "No one has time for that. The past graduating classes flopped their senior prank."

"Geez, Cal. What crawled up your ass?" Chantal scoffed.

"I'm sorry I'm just stressed about university," I sighed. "I need this scholarship really bad."

"Loosen up a bit." Lucas said.

"Yeah, this is our last year." Chantal joined in. "Besides, you're smart, you can probably get into any university you want."

"I know, but I can't afford it."

"Who cares? I'm sure you'll get the scholarship. Just enjoy our last year."

I shook my head, "Not with the SATs coming up."

Chantal rolled her eyes, "You need to have fun my friend. You're too boring."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "What do you mean boring? I can have fun."

"When was the last party you went to?" Lucas asked.

"Ha! Last week." I said with confidence.

"Tell me you're not referring to your cousin's birthday party." Chantal pleaded.

"That would be a get together." Lucas pointed out.

"Same thing!"

Chantal and Lucas burst out laughing.

"You definitely need to get it together." Lucas said. "Be more reckless, irresponsible.."

"I can be reckless." I grabbed my phone and answered the question that has been in my head since last night.

"Because unlike you," I looked at Chantal. "I'm a player, not a watcher."