I was sitting in a café, where I was finishing up lunch with Lauren and Cassandra. The two of them had talked me into going out for a little ‘girl time’, which mostly consisted of them window shopping and drooling over things that neither could actually afford to buy.

Today had seemed like a good day to spend some time with my new roommates, and get to know them a little better. And for once, I could do so when the game wasn’t involved in one way or another.

“So,” Lauren asked Cassandra, “have you had any luck with the new job.”

“Not yet,” Cassandra answered with a look of annoyance. Then she looked to me and explained, “I lost my last job when I got hauled away for a contest in the middle of my fucking shift. For some reason, my boss didn’t like that shit.”

“I wonder why,” I responded wryly. “I lost my last job because I died, and for some reason, I don’t think my boss would understand my new look.”

“Probably not,” Lauren agreed with a smirk.

At the moment, Lauren was the only one of us who actually had a job. She worked the late shift as some ‘boutique’, though I wasn’t really sure just what a boutique actually sold.

“At least you don’t have to worry about it,” Cassandra said, which confused me.

“I don’t have that much saved up,” I pointed out with a sigh. “I still need to find a new job, since apparently, Heather didn’t have one…”

Lauren snorted at that. “I don’t think that girl ever worked a day in her life.”

“Not like she really had to,” Cassandra added.

“Was heather rich or something?” I asked in surprise.

“Not really rich,” Lauren admitted. “But she definitely wasn’t poor either.”

Cassandra said, “Okay, I guess you really need to know this, considering…”

“Considering I have her body,” I finished for her, feeling a stirring of guilt.

Cassandra and Lauren both nodded at that, looking a bit sad. Then Cassandra shook it off and glanced around the café to make sure nobody would overhear us talking.

“Heather’s mom died a few years ago,” Cassandra told me with a serious expression. “Her dad is some corporate architect, who is totally married to his career. From what Heather said, they aren’t…weren’t very close, so you probably won’t have to deal with him much.”

“Any brothers or sisters?” I asked.

“She was an only child,” Lauren answered.

I let out a sigh of relief, since the picture I was getting, was that Heather didn’t have any close family. I felt bad for the girl, but this would make it a little easier on me. I didn’t know what I would have done if I’d had to pretend to be her to her parents or siblings.

“And you won’t have to worry about looking for a job,” Cassandra told me. “At least not right away…”

Lauren nodded at that. “Heather’s grandparents left her a trust that covers tuition, expenses, and an allowance, until she either graduates or drops out.”

“That’s good,” I said, feeling a little awkward.

That trust had been meant for Heather, not me, so I felt a little guilty for taking advantage of it. Of course, as far as everyone else was concerned, I was Heather, and had every right to that money, though I still knew better. Of course, I was going to use it anyway, even if I did feel a little bad about it.

“At least that’s one less thing I have to worry about,” I said.

“Do you know when the next contest is going to be?” Lauren asked with a worried look. Cassandra and I both shook our heads. “It just seems that they’re coming more frequently…”

“I noticed that too,” Cassandra admitted. I was a little surprised at that. Then again, I hadn’t been involved in the game long enough to really see any pattern yet. “I don’t know what it means. Maybe those gods are upping the ante or something.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, remembering what Maelyne had said about her enemies being even more ambitious than she’d previously realized. Now I wondered what was going on behind the scenes. What exactly were all those gods up to? “Maybe we can ask our patrons the next time we see them.”

“Armestia isn’t the type to answer a lot of questions,” Cassandra told me wryly. “So you’re more likely to get answers than I am.”

I nodded at that, knowing that I’d probably never find out what the gods were really up to. All I could do was make my own preparations and try to survive the game. The last contest had been four days ago, and I had no idea when the next one would be, so I’d been training and practicing in order to get ready. So far, I’d leveled up one rank each in spear fighting, protect companion, and summon companion, but there was only so much I could do without getting more attribute points.

Talking about the game was a little depressing, so Lauren tried to change the subject. “Have you tried makeup yet, Jeri?”

I shook my head vehemently. “No, thank you.”

Cassandra smirked at that. “How do you know you won’t like it, if you haven’t tried it?”

“I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like a liver milkshake either,” I pointed out, “and I don’t need to try it to be sure of that.”

Lauren gave me an amused look. “Well, you’re a pretty girl now, so you should learn to take advantage of that… You know, embrace it…”

Cassandra snickered. “You know, that reminds me…” She stared at me for a moment with a smirk. “You slotted a little charisma, didn’t you?”

“What?” I replied in surprise. “One point. How did you know?”

“Heather slotted a couple of her points into charisma,” Cassandra explained with a smug look. “Each time she did, she became a little more attractive, and developed a little more…presence. I noticed the same thing with you, a couple days ago.”

I was a little startled by this since I hadn’t realized that charisma would actually change my appearance, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d already seen how other attributes could affect a person’s physical appearance.

“You definitely have a bit of a presence,” Lauren told me with a look of amusement. “Even when you’re not doing anything, people can’t help but notice you…”

“True,” Cassandra agreed. “Heather liked the attention, but I didn’t think you’d go for it…”

By this point, I was blushing a bit. Finally, I admitted, “Back in the dungeon, when I got separated from everyone else, I had to trick the guy with the axe in order to beat him. I figured that if I ever got in that situation again, I wanted my charisma to be high enough that I could pull that trick again, if I had to.”

“Not a bad idea,” Cassandra admitted, though she still looked amused. “And as a bonus, you get to look just a little hotter…”

I blushed even brighter, suddenly even more aware of the way that people were watching me. Guys had been staring at me, or at least watching me with a lot more interest, ever since I’d ended up in this body. Now, I realized that I may have accidentally made this even worse for myself.

After this, we finished up with our lunch and got up to leave. However, as we stepped out the door, I paused to look around. Since there were people out to kill me, or even worse, I made sure to look for any signs of another ambush. Nadine wasn’t going to catch me by surprise again.

“It’s clear,” Cassandra said, looking around as well.

“I figure we still have time to hit a couple more shops,” Lauren announced, seemingly unaware of the way Cassandra and I had been looking around for any signs of danger. “There’s a great little bakery down this way, that makes the best cupcakes…”

Fifteen minutes later, we stepped out of the bakery with a container full of ‘gourmet’ cupcakes, of several different flavors. I’d never been a huge fan of sweets, but I had to admit, the banana caramel cupcake looked like it was going to be delicious.

“This is going to kill my diet,” Lauren said, “but I figure, an extra half hour on the elliptical will take care of it…”

“Quiet,” Cassandra abruptly ordered, earning a look of surprise from Lauren.

That wasn’t like Cassandra, so I looked around, sure that she had a reason. Then I saw it. Or more accurately, I saw HER.

There was a young woman across the street, staring straight at us. She was about our age, though maybe a couple years older, with short brown hair, and a sneer on her lips.

“Yours or mine?” I asked Cassandra. I’d seen this girl before, at the gatherings before both of the contests I’d been in.

“This one is mine,” Cassandra answered grimly. “This bitch is here for me…”

The other girl shifted into her armor, which was very similar in design to my own. It was cloth armor that looked like a dress, though it was a silvery-white color that seemed to be covered with frost and ice crystals.

“Fuck!” Cassandra spat out. “Not here… Too many people in the way…”

“We can take her,” I assured Cassandra. I momentarily tried to summon my companions, but Matt and Teri were both out of range.

“No,” Cassandra insisted. “Leave her to me…”

And with that, Cassandra shifted into her armor and ran down the sidewalk while the other girl raced across the street and chased after her. I hesitated a moment, but Lauren made up my mind for me by following them. I joined in the chase.

Cassandra ran down an alleyway and the other girl followed. Lauren and I turned the corner in time to see Cassandra shooting an arrow at her opponent. The other girl held out her hand and a wall of ice appeared in front of her, acting as a shield and blocking the arrow.

“Keep back,” I warned Lauren. Cassandra might have told me to stay out of this one, but I was ready to jump in if she really needed me.

“Come on, Mary,” Cassandra called out. “I put in arrow in your ass the last time you tried this shit. Do you really think this time will be any different?”

The girl, Mary, snarled, “My patron is a goddess of ice and vengeance… You didn’t think I was just going to let this go, did you?”

Mary went around her own ice wall and threw a bunch of icicle daggers, then quickly ducked back behind the wall, using it for cover. Several arrows hit the ice and exploded, destroying Mary’s protection, though she’d already moved to the side and fired a blast of white energy, which hit a wall near Cassandra and caused it to become covered in ice.

“This is crazy,” Lauren gasped from beside me.

“No kidding,” I responded. “You should see how bad the contests get…”

Cassandra dove to the side and practically ran up a wall before turning and firing another shot at Mary. Mary threw up another ice wall, then slipped around it just long enough to throw another burst of icicles.

They continued trading blows, with Cassandra dodging Mary’s attacks, while Mary kept using her ice wall. I was especially interested in that, because it reminded me a lot of my own shield wall.

“You know, that shield is pretty fucking annoying,” Cassandra exclaimed. “I think I’ll just pretend it’s not there…”

Cassandra fired another arrow, though this one went through the ice wall as though it wasn’t there. It was the same thing she’d done to one of the goblins back in the dungeon. The arrow struck Mary in the shoulder, knocking her back while she screamed in pain.

“You’re gonna pay for that,” Mary yelled, getting back to her and yanking the arrow out of her shoulder with a look of agony. However, in spite of that and her pissed off expression, she also seemed…pleased. “You’re gonna pay big time, bitch.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I said.

Mary began to glow with a silvery color, and I could almost feel the power building. It took me a couple seconds to realize what was going on, and once I did, I immediately activated Maelyne’s shield around me and Lauren.

“Alpha strike,” I exclaimed, a moment before a wave of silvery energy exploded from Mary.

There was an explosion of cold and ice, which tore through everything nearby. Shards of ice ripped through the walls and ground, while every surface suddenly froze solid. Even inside my shield, I could feel the intense cold.

“CASSANDRA!” Lauren yelled in fear.

I was worried too, but when I looked to where Cassandra had been, there was no sign of her. Somehow, when that instant blizzard appeared, my goth friend had managed to slip away.

“Where’d she go?” Mary demanded in surprise and confusion.

Arrows suddenly appeared in each of Mary’s legs, making her drop to the ground with a scream of pain. Another arrow appeared in her hand, nailing it to the ground.

“I’m up here, you fucking idiot,” Cassandra yelled out. She was on top of the nearby building, though how she’d gotten up there so fast, I had no idea.

Cassandra had another arrow drawn back and aimed at Mary, but didn’t fire. After several seconds, she grinned.

“Ah, there it is,” Cassandra said with a look of satisfaction. “It looks like you just officially lost this one…”

“What does she mean?” Lauren asked me.

I shrugged in response. “She probably got a popup, telling her that she defeated her opponent.”

“Nice,” Lauren said, looking relieved at that.

Cassandra dropped down from the building, hit the ice-covered ground, and then promptly slipped and fell on her butt. I burst out laughing while Lauren snickered.

“I’m gonna get you for this,” Mary snarled, though from the look of her, she wasn’t about to do so anytime soon.

“You attacked me,” Cassandra reminded her. “But be glad I don’t want to kill you a second time. I don’t want the guilt of killing you for good, but I will if you come at me again.”

Cassandra came over and joined us, changing back into her normal clothes in the process. Lauren gave her a quick hug, obviously relieved that the fight was over.

“Come on,” Cassandra said. “I’m done shopping… Let’s go home…”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, glancing back at Mary and deciding that I really didn’t want to ever get on Cassandra’s bad side.