Chapter 1: Welcome to The Game

Daniel's mouse cursor hovered above the neon red button that read 'Player' before moving his mouse slightly to the left to the neon green button that said 'Watcher'.

He moved the mouse back and forth repeatedly seeming to go over the consequences of each choice. He wasn't quite sure about this anymore.

He moved his cursor to the X on the top right corner of the pop up screen and waited for a few minutes before a small click could be heard from his mouse. A smaller pop up screen appeared in the center of the black and neon colored window.

Are you sure you want to exit?Links from Player Zoe_Pk3 will no longer work. You must get a link from another Player if you wish to come back.

Yes                                                             No

Daniel clicked his tongue as he clicked on No. The page redirected him to the two menacing buttons with a single sentence bringing the two together.

Are You a Watcher or a Player?

Daniel stared at his screen as he thought back to the information Zoe had shared.

Yesterday

Zoe and Daniel were standing by the small, two rowed bleachers as they talked about nothing in particular. Occasionally, they would watch the ongoing sports festival when it wasn't the Fashion Department that was competing.

They enjoyed the competition and the beautiful day it was. There wasn't a ray of sun in the sky, the clouds were light, and the wind was decent.

Zoe turned to Daniel and cleared her throat before she spoke. "So."

Daniel turned his attention to her and looked at her with inquisitive eyes.

"There's this new game that I've been participating in and, I think you'll like it."

"Oh yeah? What's it called," Daniel asked.

"It's funny actually, the game doesn't have a name. Strange since it's fully developed with minor changes here and there." Zoe smiled instinctively and playfully wrapped her hair around her finger.

Daniel opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it when he heard a phone chime. Zoe snapped to attention and pulled her phone out from her shorts pocket.

She stared at her phone for a good minute before she scanned the area, multiple people were walking towards the bleachers. The Architecture Department had beat out the Dance and Music Department by two points.

Zoe shouted for everyone's attention. The people in her immediate vicinity regarded her, people joining when they realized the small group that had formed around her.

She placed her phone down on the second row of the bleachers with her pop socket supporting it as the camera faced her and Daniel.

She faced him and placed her hands on the side of his face. "I just want you to know that I'll apologize profusely after this and I'll understand if you don't want to talk me ever again."

Daniel smiled in a confused manner before Zoe gently placed her lips to his. Daniel felt his eyes hold surprise before he adjusted to the kiss. He stood still, not reciprocating, waiting for Zoe to pull away.

Daniel could hear the hollers and wolf whistling as Zoe continued kissing him.

Zoe pulled away after five seconds leaving Daniel dumbfounded. He heard the clapping and hollers again as everyone went back to doing what they were originally.

What the hell was that about?

Zoe trotted back over to her phone and showed Daniel the uproar of tiny, multicolored hearts floating on her screen. The incoming message almost made Daniel stumble.

Congratulations Player! Now depositing 305,296 won (251 USD).

Daniel blinked as he tried to process the amount of money Zoe got from a simple kiss. He felt stupid. Stupid for thinking the kiss had some kind of meaning. He knew he didn't like Zoe that way but, it hurt to know it was just for some quick cash.

"Hey, uh," Zoe looked at Daniel, giving him her full attention. "Is that the game?"

Zoe nodded her head. "Yeah! You wanna try it out?"

Daniel nodded hesitantly.

"I'll send you the link! It's the only way to reach the site, sadly."

I wonder who Zoe got her's from.

"Okay. That's fine with me! Mind explaining it a bit?"

"Sure, no problem!"

Zoe tapped on her phone a bit before Daniel felt his phone buzz in shorts pocket. He quickly pulled it out and checked his lock screen. It was the link to the Game.

"Okay," Zoe said. "It's pretty simple actually. You have two options, Watcher or Player. The Watchers are the safer option since all they do are send the Players challenges and watch as they try to complete them. They remain completely anonymous and are fairly hard to trace- Don't ask me how I know that. Where as the Players have a more... difficult role. Players are given challenges with an allotted time span to complete them. If you complete the challenge with the given set of rules, you get the offered amount of money transferred to your bank account. The more risky the challenge, the bigger the money offer. If you get a challenge that seems too risky, you can choose to decline and wait for a better one but you'll get no money. If you accept a challenge and fail...well, nobody that I know has had that happen to them."

Daniel nodded his head. He was trying his best to soak up everything Zoe had just told him.

"But, even if you pick either option, you can still watch the other Players as they fight for first place. You often see them getting wiped out. In which case, their usernames disappear from the leaderboard."

This was a lot to take in for poor Daniel.

"Well, if you do decide to try it, pick either option, it'll explain it better than I did."

Daniel sighed and nodded.

"I'll definitely think about it," Daniel said.

Now

Daniel moved his mouse cursor back over the Player button. He seemed to contemplate. There were too many benefits with being a player and not nearly enough to being a Watcher.

He made made up his mind. He closed his eyes and clicked the Player button. A smaller pop up screen coated the middle of the page.

Allow this page to access your personal information for a better understanding of your character?Yes                                                             No

Daniel clicked Yes without thinking. He grabbed his phone and school bag and headed out the door. If he had stuck around just a small bit longer, he would've seen the Game's unnerving message.

Welcome to the Game Daniel Park

.....

Yes yes hello good peoples (◕ᴗ◕✿)

This is my new Lookism story. It's gonna be a DGaniel and a Janiel story. I have the story line plotted out already and on top of that, I'm currently working on a new chapter for One More Time.

Anyway, lemme know what you think of chapter 1! (◕ᴗ◕✿)