Nerve

one

- emma -
{ unedited }

"Are you a watcher or a player?
Are you a watcher or a player?
Are you-"

THE COMPUTERIZED VOICE halted to a stop as soon as I tapped on the "player" option. Hoots and hollers screech from Holly's mouth once I finally have officially signed up for Nerve.

"Oh, my gosh Flo, this is gonna be sick!" Holly cheers, as Nerve downloads my personal information. "I can't believe you are just now getting on."

"Yeah, me either. I wish you would've told me about this sooner Holls." I laugh in agreement, my gaze flickering to hers.

"Well I obviously had to give myself a head start before I let the pro-risk taker join and beat my sorry ass." We both laugh, as I observe that Nerve has finally finished downloading. "Now what?" I ask, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"Well, the watchers will give you a dare once they think of one. You're brand new, so it'll take some time for them to discover your username." Holly explains, "Hang on a sec, let me give you some publicity." She winked, a smirk playing on her lips.

Holly reached from her back pocket and pulled out her phone, opening up Nerve. "Hey fellow watchers, it's your girl, Holly! I'm excited for the dares you have prepared for me today, but first, why don't you hit up my friend Emma with some action? She's a new player and ready for what you guys have in store. Check her out at e_efloww6! Until the next dare!" She chirped, blowing a kiss into the camera before shutting off her phone. "That should do plenty, now come on!" Holly jumped up from her seat excitedly, "Let's go out and enjoy those dares!" She tugged on my arm, lifting me from my bed. I mirrored her actions by jumping off of the bed as well, passing through my kitchen making sure to say goodbye to my mother.

"Mom, I'm going out with Holly," I inform her, before bounding to the front door.

My mother looked up from the sink, setting down the plate she was washing. "Okay honey, I won't be home tonight — I have to work late. Be safe!" She gave me a small wave while giving me a weak smile.

"I will, love you mom," I smile back as Holly opens the door.

"Love you too Em."

As I stepped out into the fresh air, I thought about my mother. How she works so hard day and night to make sure we can afford to live in our apartment. Recently she's been picking up extra shifts so that she can buy us both plane tickets so that we can meet up with my little brother, Ethan. He lives all the way down in Colorado with my grandma. My mom sent him over there when he was four so that he could get a chance to grow up in a good, safe neighborhood and be able to live in a house. We promised him that we would let him return home once my mom had a stable job and home. It's been five years since then.
She wanted to send me with him too, but I knew I couldn't leave her. I decided I would help her raise the money.

Now that Holly has showed me Nerve, we will definitely be able to pay for a real house, and have a real life with our family.

Holly and I reached the bottom of my apartment building before my phone immediately buzzed.

"Ooh! Must be your first dare! Check it!" Holly exclaimed, jumping around eagerly.

I rolled my eyes at her and unlocked my phone, my first dare popping up.

"SPRAY PAINT BUILDING WALL $200."

"Spray paint? I don't even have any with me." I shook my head with a shrug, looking to Holly.

"Yoo-hoo!" Holly cheered, shaking a neon blue paint can in front of my face.

My eyes widened. "What — where did you get that?" I laugh, taking the can from her hands.

"You've got way too much of that art stuff in your room you know," she winked, ruffling a hand through her hair as she explained. "So I took some from your room, just in case of course." She shrugged.

I blinked. "What?"

"You know, for all that art stuff you do and whatnot." Holly placed a hand on her hip, "You really want me to repeat myself?" Holly chuckled, "Now accept the dare before you lose!"

Rolling my eyes, I hit the ACCEPT button, and watch as I'm given three minutes on the clock. I quickly hand Holly my phone to record before running over to the building neighboring my apartment building.

"What do I put?" I ask myself, the timer counting me down. I hesitate no more before pressing on the top of the can, dragging the blue paint around over the wall. I try my best to include every detail and make sure every line has a purpose. Not knowing how it'll turn out in the end, I put down my spray can. With a minute to spare, my dare is complete.

"DARE COMPLETE."

Cha-ching. My phone buzzes, as I watch $200 gets added to my bank account.

"Woah," I awe, as Holly approaches.

"Oh yeah." She agreed. "Sick graffiti, by the way." We both look at the blue mess of color on the silver side of the building. Together, the messy and curved lines created a tiger face. It was abstract of course, but simple.

"Thanks," I laugh, tossing the paint can in air with a spin. My gaze suddenly drifted, meeting the eyes of a man in uniform.

"Hey! You girls!" The man suddenly broke into a sprint, advancing towards us quickly.

"Shit."
"Fuck."
Holly and I curse at the same time.

The man wearing his police badge was gaining on us quickly as we froze in time, when suddenly, Holly and I's phones buzzed.

"SUCCESSFULLY RUN AWAY FROM THE POLICE $800."

With a quick glance over at each other, we both press ACCEPT and run for our lives.

"Hey! Get back here!" The man yells, running after us. "Requesting backup on a chase over two teenage girls for vandalizing public property," he murmurs into his walkie-talkie.

Holly and I race through people walking on the sidewalk, hitting a few every once in a while. "Sorry!" Holly would scream, while bumping into another civilian. I laughed, my dark hair being pushed to the sides of my face.

We ran until we were near a local emptied out park, and stumbled upon descending concrete steps. Holly leaped down the several of them, while I decided to sit on and slid down the railing. Immediately after, our legs took off once again as we went through different parts of the park. I noticed a small area dedicated to skateboarders, and headed towards it. I turned my head to see Holly following and the policeman nowhere behind us.

Suddenly, I stumbled over my own feet and nearly had fallen if Holly didn't grab my arm.

"Hold on there Eflow," Holly chuckled, lifting me to my feet. I smiled and wiped off my jeggings, looking up and spotting the police officer — looking for us.