Chapter 14: Slap-Parker-for-free

"...and then, when I saw that Ben guy leave the apartment without you, I got suspicious as hell and then...and then I counted to ten in my head" Tim is telling Parker what happened from his point of view while the nurse checks in on Parker’s health.

The nurse looks fed up with Tim’s endless yapping, but both she and Parker are invested in the story. Exaggerated or not, Tim was a really good story teller.

"I started to freak out when I didn’t see you, so I ran as fast as I could into the building" Tim says with elaborate movements of his arms.

"You said you had an EpiPen?" the nurse interrupts the guy’s heroic story telling and he groans in frustration.

"Yes, I do. I tend to have severe allergies myself, so I keep one on me all the time" Tim explains quickly and the nurse nods.

"And then," he dives back into his storytelling with more vigor, "I saw you gasping for air. I knew it was a clear allergic reaction that’s similar to the kinds I usually have when I eat nuts. Bro, you didn’t look good at all and when I administered the EpiPen, you briefly passed out--"

"He passed out?!" the nurse exclaims.

"Yes, ma’am. Can you please let me complete my story?" Tim asks with a tired groan and the nurse sighs. The woman mutters something under her breath as she shakes her head at Tim.

"As I was saying, you passed out and I freaked up. But during all that, I slapped you thrice on the cheek and you woke up. It was insane!" Tim exclaims.

"You slapped me...thrice?" Parker asks. He’s speaking for the first time as he rubs his cheek.

He had only felt two slaps from Tim.

"Yeah, and I promise I didn’t enjoy slapping the hell out of you, neither am I thinking about doing it again" Tim says and Parker squints his eyes suspiciously. He has been enduring a lot of slaps these days. The first two were from Jessie, and now he’s gotten another round of slaps from Tim. Was this a second chance slap Parker-for-free system?

[System: if you keep getting yourself in the position to be slapped, you will be slapped.]

"You’re lucky it’s nothing too severe. But it’s odd to see anyone get away with an allergy reaction like you did, you have to be really careful" the nurse says and Parker keeps rubbing his cheek.

He can feel the phantom palm there, the reminder that Tim hit him. Sheesh. He has only lived two days here and has already gotten five slaps.

"You’re good to go, Parker" the nurse says and Parker gets out of the bed. His knees wobble at first, but Tim assists by catching him.

"Hey...uh, Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we free to go? I don’t remember paying the hospital bills" Parker whispers to his first and Tim slaps his forehead. "Oh yeah, my mom was here earlier. She paid and took our things to the university."

"Things? Wait...for the school trip?" Parker asks.

"Yup. She’s on her way to pick us up, she also spoke with the bus driver to delay on our behalf" Tim says casually and Parker’s jaw drops.

"Your mom can do that?"

"I’m pretty sure my mom can turn water to wine if she wants, but I’m just exaggerating" Tim says and Parker starts to reflect. Oh...so that was why his wealth shot up to a hundred. He rubs his chin as he starts to wonder what a wealth status of one thousand would do for him. He’d first of all buy the apartment he and Ben lives in, then he’d kick Ben out.

[System: why hurry revenge when you stroll through it?]

Parker squints, and it’s not because the sun is too bright, but because the system suddenly sounds really evil. Stroll through revenge? What the hell does that even mean?

"Parker, hi!" a female voice calls and Parker’s head snaps in the direction of the girl. It’s Mina Tanaka, the busty asian girl Ben started dating a few weeks back. Parker is aware of how high-class Mina is and how long it took Ben to get her.

"H-hi M-Mi-Mina" Parker stutters, cheek turning deep red with embarrassment. Mina giggles and runs past him. What is she doing at the hospital?

"Woah...you were stuttering like an idiot" Tim says and Parker jabs him in the ribs with his elbow.

"Ow! I was just stating the obvious" Tim says while rubbing his throbbing ribs. "Wait here, I’ll go see if mom is here yet" Tim announces before heading for the driveway. Once Tim is at a small distance, Parker starts to wonder why he was suddenly back to stuttering and blushing. Wasn’t he past that?

[Stats: Charm – 200. Wealth – 100. Intelligence – 700. Confidence – 100.]

"My confidence dropped?" Parker asks under his breath.

[System: the mistake you made would have cost you a major health set back, instead of permitting that, I dropped your confidence and intelligence.]

"My intelligence?!" Parker says too loudly and everyone around looks at him with annoyance.

"But you said my intelligence has to do with my age" Parker whispers to avoid attracting attention again.

[System: well you ate the fried rice your mortal enemy didn’t offer you twenty years ago. Do humans class that as intelligence?]

Damn it. The system was right. Well, lower stats is better than no life. Parker presses his lips together with the determination to boost his numbers. He just has to make sure he doesn’t fuck up again.

"My mom is here" Tim calls as he waves his hand and Parker gets out of his seat to meet Mrs. Lane in her car.

"Oh, Parker, are you alright now?" The older woman asks with concern and Parker almost shrinks into himself. He still has 100 points of confidence left, yet it feels like nothing. Oh boy. This trip he’s about to go on is about to be a long, long one.