I stared at her with the intensity of a hawk eyeing an owl. Cold, calculating, assessing. Not a swirl of guilt and fear, not a worthless smile, not a speck of kindness.
It was easy.
Pamela Isley was nothing like Barbara. She was not a too-kind, snarky girl who was willing to reach out toward me.
Pamela was abrasive, she was bold, she was an opportunist; more importantly, she held an edge that I was more than familiar with. If Barbara was an image of everything I was not, Pamela was a mirror of some of my worst qualities.
She was Perfect.
I was not going to feel horrible about using her in my grand escape from the bottom. No, in fact, I was certain she would be using me in return. She was the type to use everything she had to her advantage.
I only feared that she would accept my confession with the notion of stringing me along to further her own goals. Having her accept and no longer being capable of using her would be such a waste. Although maybe having her accept would bring about changes to my System.
Whatever the goal of this System is, I'm fairly certain that its only purpose was not just watching me fail at confessing over and over... No, even if it did bring about changes, I would rather use the System as it is.
Change was a variable, and that was not something I wanted to mix into my plans when they were already so easy. I would just have to figure out how to "confess" while also making it clear I wanted her not to accept.
Okay... that might be a bit difficult to pull off, but it was easier than... what I was doing before. Better than the bitter swirl in my chest and the disgust boiling in my mind. It was also well worth the effort.
[Target: Pamela Isley (???)]
[Reward For Acceptance: Chlorokinesis (5/10)]
[Consolation For Failure: Phytocommunication (4/10)]
Brand-new rewards waiting for me. I took a look over them with a contemplative frown.
The rewards were odd, or maybe it was just my brain forming connections that were not really there, but both of those skills were directly related to plants. If there was one thing I knew about Pamela Isley, it was that she cared deeply for nature in all its forms. So was it a mere coincidence that both of her rewards were related to plants, or was I learning a fundamental part of the System?
It's hard to say. Barbara's rewards were a confusing mix if that was true. Two tinker skill sets, peak-human conditioning, and finally God-Speed-Impulse. Did she have tinker skill sets because she was a genius? Conditioning and Impulse because of her own athletic prowess?
It was plausible. I let out a sigh and pushed it to the back of my mind. I was tired of waiting, and it looked like Pamela had finally given up on the crowd as they left for their own destinations.
I hopped out of the window and landed in the courtyard and winced as my knees nearly buckled. Okay, even a small fall was not going to work for me right now.
I shook off the pain and approached Pamela with an easy-going smile. She was frowning with a microphone clutched to her chest. A sharp edge to her eyes, but directed only vaguely at the various students leaving. Still, it looked like she was in a world of her own.
I really could not understand how she mixed menace and dorky together, but she actually managed it.
"Tough crowd?" I asked with a guileless smile on my face.
She broke her gaze and looked over at me. The frown deepening and a glint of recognition played out as she took my form in. That almost made me frown in turn. Why did she know me?
"Oh, now the Horndog has shown up. Great, my day was not bad enough. What? Done harassing Babs for the day and figured another redhead would work?" she spat out with a glare and a sharp smirk on her face.
The easy-going smile on my face slid away, and I frowned in turn as I figured out what to do.
She knew about my infatuation with Barbara. That made sense; I did confess in a messy public way. It was the familiarity and the outrage that had my hackles rising. She called Barbara "Babs," and while that might be a light nickname a classmate gives, the outrage on Barbara's behalf painted a different picture.
The frown on my face deepened at that tight feeling in my chest returning as thoughts of Barbara were back on my mind, but I pushed it back quickly.
Her relationship with Barbara was completely irrelevant; I had a task to do, and I saw a new way of doing it.
"Ouch, you caught me. My fascination with redheads has gotten the better of me, and I'm here to confess my undying love to you. Pamela Isley, I love you deeply and utterly," I droned out with sarcasm and a roll of the eyes.
She rolled her eyes in return but continued giving me an evaluating look. I, on the other hand, was distracted by the ping ringing in my head and the screen flashing in my vision.
[You can do better than that, young man! A confession should be sincere and genuine! Consolation prize rewarded but ranked down.]
[Accept Phytocommunication (3/10)]
Now that was interesting. I could make a joking confession, and it would still count, but I would rank down whatever reward I was given. Would the penalties grow harsher, or would it remain at just a single rank down?
"What do you want, Horndog? I have better things to do than waste my time with a moron like you," she shot out as she tapped her foot on the ground with impatience.
I felt my lips twitch, and I felt both annoyance and a dry sense of amusement. She really was too abrasive for my tastes, but that was why she worked.
"Well, I wanted to get some details from you about Barbara," I hedged with a shrug. Sure, I had no idea she was friends with Barbara, but since she is, I could use that.
Even if it might hurt hearing about Barbara every once and awhile.
She rolled her eyes and gave me a disgusted eye roll.
"And why should I share something like that?" she spat out. Again, I felt my lips twitch. She may be as prickly as a porcupine, but she was still here listening to me, meaning she was open to what I asked, even if it was a betrayal of Barbara. She just wanted to know if what I was offering was worth the effort.
She really was an opportunist.
"Well, I know your little crusade is short-handed, so I figured I could help out," I spoke out with a smirk as I looked over the near-empty courtyard.
This time she scoffed.
"I don't need another idiot around to shout slogans, Horndog, so nice try, but no treat for you. Shoo," she spoke out with a disdainful air as she gestured for me to leave.
I could leave; I had what I wanted for today, but she was a target, and I needed a reason to be close to her. So I gave her a smirk and leaned closer to say something. She almost took a step back, but I was not close enough to be uncomfortable yet.
"I said your crusade, not this little gathering. We both know this is the mildest shit you do, so I'm offering to help out in a more practical form. I may not look it, but I'm fast," I spoke out lowly with a knowing smile on my face.
She paused for a moment, the disdain and disgust fading as she looked me over with a calculating look on her face. It was a good long moment before she smirked back and loosened her aggressive stance.
"Well, a dog can learn new tricks. If you're a fellow crusader, I'm sure Babs would not mind me spilling a few secrets," she smiled back with that sharp glint I was familiar with in the mirror.
She was Revolting.
She was perfect.