Chapter 1: Chapter One
The party was packed like sardines with people who talked over one another, passed alcoholic drinks around and made out like nobody else was in the room. The air stank of cigarettes and as Alice made her way further into the home, she instantly regretted making the decision to come to this party.
Her friends were quite persistent though. They knew that if they got her to tag along, her doting father would inevitably send all of them in his car to the party. The downside of that was that he was also picking them up because he didn't like it when they stayed out too late. What often happened was that her friends would ditch the return trip and find other rides during the party to prolong the fun without being restricted by a curfew.
Alice knew she should've been more like her friends, especially at a tender age of 16, but she actually saw much merit in the idea of a curfew. It kept her safe from many things that could go wrong, and the rule that her father made her promise to follow - no alcohol - was something she knew was reasonable. He set great rules, but at the same time, he knew she deserved to have some fun, so the compromise was made. In fact, rules like these somewhat prevented anything bad from happening since she had heard way too many stories of sexual assault.
More than anything, she resented how she had to go so such lengths just to ensure nothing terrible happened to her. If it did, she knew she would be blamed for the crime that occurred.
So as she weaved her way through the crowd, she ignored various catcalls thrown her way and looked for her close friend, who was the host. It took her about a few minutes before he finally showed up, a bowl of popcorn in his hands.
"Guys!" he said, "Welcome!"
"Popcorn? Any for me?" her friend exclaimed.
"Yeah, let's share!" he said, then nudged his head towards his room. "Let's get out of this commotion. It's not a crowd for girls like you bunch. We can watch Netflix up in my room."
The girls nodded and followed after him. Walking into his room, Alice made herself comfortable on the bean bags at the foot of the table while her friends piled onto the bed behind her. They turned on the television and put some horror films on, and the room was filled with eerie music in no time.
The movie started out quite boring, but as it progressed, Alice found herself unexpectedly drawn into the world of the characters. She didn't even notice it when a boy plopped down on the bean bag next to her.
"You're beautiful," he said. "I'm Leonard."
She stared at him. He looked like any normal boy. "I'm Alice."
"I know we've just met, but will you go out with me?"
She huffed. "Is that the pickup line you tell every girl?"
"I don't say this often actually. But I've noticed you for a while already. I like you, you're a good girl."
Just then, the screen glitched and turned black, showing an error for poor internet connection. The entire room groaned.
"You guys have used up all my data. Thanks." And he laughed.
"Isn't Wi-Fi supposed to be unlimited?"
"I don't stay home often, so I didn't need that."
"But you always have parties."
"Most of them don't use my Wi-Fi. Watch one of the movies I downloaded instead."
Alice sighed. "We looked through them earlier, none of them look interesting."
"Well, you don't have much of a choice, do you? You girls can rejoin the guys downstairs if you want. Not a great crowd though."
"If only I could watch the movie we were watching just now," Alice said.
"If I got it back on for you, would you go out with me?" Leonard asked.
Alice laughed. "As if you could get it back on."
"Wanna try me?"
Alice glanced at her friends, who were nodding their heads furiously in expectation. "Yes," she said. "It doesn't mean anything. Because you wouldn't be able to get the movie back on."
"You wait here," Leonard said. "I'm heading next door." Then he disappeared out of the room. Alice stared at her friends blankly. And as if they were all telepathically connected, everyone shot to the window to pry it open and see what Leonard was doing.
In a little, he showed up and with one quick pull, launched himself over the fence to the neighbour's lawn. He stayed low and crept around, reaching towards the lattice at the side of the house. He scaled it and when he was at the second storey, he slid the windows open and inched himself in.
"Fuck, he's gonna get caught!"
"What is he doing?" Alice asked.
After a while, Leonard returned to the window and tried to crawl back onto the lattice but in the next split second, he lost his footing and went crashing onto the ground. He screamed silently and Alice's girlfriends covered their gasps behind their hands.
"Look at his arm!"
"He dislocated it!"
He squirmed around on the ground for a while before he returned to the fence and kicked a small hole on it, widening it. He pushed himself through and walked back into the house where the party was at. It didn't take long before he returned to the room.
"I have the neighbour's Wi-Fi password," he said, still clutching onto his injured arm.
"Wow. Give it!" one of the girls cheered and entered number by number into the network settings as he repeated it. One try, and they were in. She brought the movie back up and it continued right where it left off.
Alice gawked at him as she stared between his broken arm and his bright smile. "Are you crazy?" she asked him.
"Well, I kept my promise. You keep yours."
"You have a broken arm! We need to get you to the hospital or something."
"This? It's nothing. What matters now is whether you say yes or no."
Alice laughed as her girlfriends made whooping noises behind her on the bed. "You are crazy!"
"Alice, I've been watching you since we were children attending the same classes, but you never noticed me. I like you very much and I promise you I will cherish you. Will you go out with me?"
Alice shook her head.
"Please?" Leonard begged.
"Fine, I will!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone