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Chapter 1: Player

   The sky was cloudless. In the distance I could see the buoyant clouds resting above the trees, wishing that a couple could find their way to me. The sun was right in the center of the sky, signifying it was noon. The purple finches resting on your slippery elm tree singing loudly today. A warm smile grew on my face, it was almost like they knew today was one of the biggest milestones in my young adult life.
   Right when I walked through the archway the prudent smell of pancakes hit my nostrils. Mom was always so busy, but she always made sure to prepare something special for her children when the time came.
   My smile slowly disappeared when I noticed that she was in her scrubs.
She must've noticed my thin smile, when she said "I'm sorry hun, Rodger wouldn't let me take the day off today. Apparently everyone with kids who are graduating is taking the day off today."
A frown grew on my face, "so you're not even gonna be there for graduation?"
"Oh you bet your ass I am, but it's just class day-"
"Dad's gonna be there though, right?"
"Right" she sighed, continuing to decorate my pancake which was not yet visible to me.
  I knew it was just class day, but I knew seeing all of the other families crying and laughing with their kids made me wish that my family was as tight-knit. I really hope my dad would at least show up.
  Taken aback by my thoughts, I didn't even realize the 3-tiered pancake cake my mom was carrying towards me. Decorated with sliced strawberries, bananas, fresh-picked blueberries all gently placed around a perfectly swirled mountain of whipped cream. I noticed how carefully my mom drizzled the maple syrup, making sure not to ruin the delicate frame of the whipped cream.
  My previous thoughts became a distant memory, I really was so grateful for everything my mom has done for me.
  "Happy graduation day my little brainiac" as she kissed my cheek, not forgetting to squeeze me into a bear hug.
  "I love you."
  "I love you more honey" she looked at the silver digital clock placed above your microwave. It read 6:40.
  "I have to get going, see you in 7 hours" she said grabbing her keys and purse and rushing out of the front door.

  -6/11/18
12:30pm
From: mom
   Hey boo~Rodger is being a major pain in the ass. I'm gonna be a little late but don't worry I'll make it to your ceremony. LOVE YOU

"You know she wouldn't have missed your graduation on purpose, Rodger is a real dick" Rocky said, swirling her cola inside her cup with her bendy straw.
"Exactly-she wouldn't miss the most proud moment of your life for no good reason. I know your moms fam."
"Shut up Logan, your dumb humor isn't helping" Rocky retorted as she rolled her eyes.
"Guys stop. I know she didn't mean to, but it's the fact that she did. I don't know I'm just upset I guess."
"You have a right to be" Logan said as he struggled to put curly fry in his mouth.
"Oh my God you're so pathetic" Rocky exclaimed as she shoved the curly fry into his mouth.
"Wow thanks I really appreciate that, bitch."
"No problem, cumsicle" she said winking as she leaned back into her side of the booth, eyes instantly gluing back to her phone.
  I couldn't help but laugh. People would never guess that they actually loved each other, considering they constantly screamed at each other not caring who was watching.
"Playing Pulse again?" Logan asked a preoccupied Rocky.
"Pulse?" I wasn't  sure what he was talking about. Then again, I rarely knew what they talked about when it came to phone games. I'm more of a social media type of girl.
  "You really need to get out of the house more" Logan said.
I rolled my eyes, "well are you gonna explain to me what it is or not?"
"ROCKY" Logan screamed, startling the old couple that was seated next to us. He quickly mouthed sorry before receiving a dirty look by the waitress.
"Oh, huh? Hi douchebag what do you want?"
Logan let out a loud huff.
"Explain to me what you're doing" I said as I lightly tapped the edge of her phone. I noticed that she was on some sort of livestream.
"Watch me" she said slyly as she handed me her phone. I could see the screen clearly now. I saw on the top of her screen in bold 'DARE ACCEPTED BY BBYROCKY'.
"That must be her screen name on this game," I thought. I also saw three little emoticons evenly spaced out on the bottom of her screen: a heart, a speech bubble, and an eyeball. Above each were numbers, I'm guessing that represented the amount of each.
"What does this mean?"
"It's the viewers icon. She has 7.5K viewers right now."
I couldn't help but wonder what the fuck this "Pulse" thing was and why Rocky had so many people watching her.
I was going to bombard Logan with questions until Rocky shouted "Get this!"
I gasped. Rocky walked up to a rugged old man and smacked her lips onto his. I cringed when I saw the man abide and place his huge tattooed hands onto her waist.
"Thank youuuu" Rocky dragged as she pulled away from the man.
"Call me anytime baby" said the older man. God, this was creepy.
  I was suddenly distracted by the 'cha-ching' noise produced by Rocky's phone. I looked at her screen and it read, again in bold, 'DARE COMPLETE! PLAY AGAIN DAREDEVIL!' Right after she got a notification from her bank.
'Hello, Ronda. $500 has been successfully added to your bank account!'
"What the?" I said, quickly interrupted by Rocky.
"That dude was creepy as fuck. Did you get the idea of what Pulse is, though?"
  She was standing in front of you with her hand on her hip, scrolling down the comments with the biggest smirk on her face. She looked like she was a pure rebel, confidence oozing from every pore on her body. People were already looking at her due to her eccentric and, well raunchy, choice of fashion, her bold move just added on to the judgement. The thing about Rocky is that she loved it. She loved the attention, wether it be good or bad.
"Hellooooo, Earth to plain Jane" she laughed as she waved her hand in my face.
"I am not a plain Jane and I still don't know what Pulse is," I scoffed, " what, do you just do a dare for money and for views?"
  Rocky slid back into her booth, locking her phone for the first time since us 3 entered the diner.
"Well yeah, but it's more complex than that" she continued, "see I'm what they call a player-" she paused, distracted by Logan's giggling.
"Hey, hey you did it to yourself" he said through laughs.
   I couldn't help but to join in. Rocky was known for her notorious dating and banging streak. She was still one of my best friends, however, and I couldn't judge her for what she wanted to do.
"As I was saying," Rocky continued, "there's 3 categories you can join : the player, the watcher, or the deadman aka snitch. The player does the dares for money, and the watchers choose the dares and watch them come to life. If the player chickens out or fails the dare, they lose all of the money they've earned."
"How do you become a deadman?" I asked curiously.
  "You know the saying 'snitches get stitches,' right? Well basically if you try and rat the game out to the police you become a deadman. Nobody's sure what happens to them, though since the games relatively new."
I was taking in all of this new information like a sponge. I don't think I've ever been more interested with something as much as I was with this game. It was just a big, intriguing mystery.
"Wait, how haven't the police caught onto this yet? Since people have obviously snitched" you asked even more curious.
Logan finally joined in, not surprising you since this was his area of expertise.
"I pondered on that thought too. Well I did my research on the deep dark web and found out that this Pulse game has no real server. So the police literally can't track down the headquarters of this stupid game and it would be too much work for them to find it. To them, it doesn't matter until people die."
I can see how bothered Logan was with this game. It was ironic that him, Rocky and I were best friends and yet we each sat on different spectrums when it came to this game.
"It's not stupid" Rocky argued as she went back on her phone.
"Um yeah it is? First Pokémon and now this, I wonder what's next" he huffed, earning a laugh from both me and Rocky.
"Yeah, yeah. Well I guess some people aren't meant to be players. That's why there's watchers" Rocky said half distracted by her phone. It looked like she was scrolling through the comments of her recently posted broadcast.
  "Oh my fucking,this asshat!"
  "What's wrong?"
  Rocky began, "this scumbag just knocked me down to #3! FUCK YOU YOONGI93 I HOPE YOU GET HIT BY A FUCKI-"
  "Watch the language or get out" yelled the waitress from behind the counter, the same lady who gave Rocky a dirty look earlier.
"Sorry," Rocky apologized facing her then turning back to you two, "I just kissed a scummy biker and even before that ran through city traffic and this guy gets ahead of me by squeezing a grandmas ass? AAAHHHHH" Rocky screamed into the sleeve of her faux fur coat.
While doing that Logan gave me the 'see what I mean look', I'm guessing he was talking about when he referenced the game as stupid. I gave him a thin smile.
Slightly calming down from her mini tantrum, Rocky begins, "you guys should become watchers and help ya girl out."
"Why can't I be a player" I bursted out. I wasn't sure why I said that, but I felt a big wave of relief hit me after I did.
Logan and Rocky both looked at each other in confusion, then looked at me stunned. Was it really that big of a surprise that a wanted to be a player?
"Leyla I don't think you're cut out for that. No offense, obviously you're my best friend, but it's really intense. You gotta have balls" Rocky said reassuringly. Her tone reminded me that of a therapist or something.
"I don't see why I have to sit on the sidelines and watch people go live their lives. I wanna be part of it too."
  I'm not sure where this was all coming from, but I couldn't say I hated it. Sure, Rocky was right when she said I wasn't cut out for it, but that only made me wanna do it even more. I wanted a change, and being a player could definitely be the change I was looking for.
  "Logan, Rocky, say farewell to the old Leyla" I said as I left the diner with the same amount of confidence Rocky had before.

HELLO, WELCOME TO PULSE.
   CHOOSE WISELY, FRIEND.

YOU CHOSE: PLAYER. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO PLAY?

PLEASE TYPE IN A USERNAME:

WELCOME TO PULSE, LEY_00! ARE
YOU READY TO BE A DAREDEVIL?

A/N: Hi everyone! So I hope you enjoy this series, it's based on the movie Nerve obviously hahaha but it's gonna be with BTS instead! I'll update as soon as I can, won't be lazy if I get good feedback I promise hahaha. If you have any questions feel free to comment, and please don't forget to follow! Bye lovies<3