Falling into Fiction

01 The Renaissance Nerd

I recommend reading the series first. At the very least the first book. There is talk of character death at some point in these chapters though, a death that doesn't occur until a later book. Seriously, you've been warned. Just read them all.

Also, I really think this first chapter needs to be improved... like, a lot. I want to go back and rewrite it at some point to make it a little more interesting. A little spicier, if you will. I just have absolutely zero time to do that right now. Yay college (sarcastically, of course). Just give it a chance. The second chapter is when our girl actually gets thrown into the book.

Enjoy :)

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This is it. The last thing I need to do to earn one-hundred percent completion of the game. Well, nearly one-hundred percent completion; you can't actually finish the game if you count the randomly generated quests it has on a never-ending loop.

RT, RT, RT. RB. LT, RT, LT, LT.

"WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING LYDIA?!"

My best friend jumps at the sound of my voice, which is directed at the tv screen.

"GET UP! GET UP!"

I can see the funny look she gives me out of the corner of my eye, but I can't pay attention right now. I saved the main quest for last this time, wanting to finish every other side and miscellaneous quest before finishing off the big kahuna of dragons.

I screech at the tv once more when I see the top half of Lydia's body in said big kahuna's mouth. All I can do is watch in horror as her lifeless body sails through the air and lands on the ground, unmoving. In a fit of rage, I turn off the Xbox and slam the controller down on the coffee table.

"What happened? I thought you were about to finish it?" my best friend asks hesitantly.

"Kayla, the whole point of this was to a) finish every single quest in the game and b) finish every single quest in the game with Lydia alive and well. Lydia just turned into a dragon food, thus making her unalive and unwell."

Kayla leans back on the couch and throws her head back in exasperation. "So what now? You don't have to start over do you? Last number you told me you were at was 250 hours."

"No." I purse my lips in thought for a second. "Even though that was my first death and it makes it incredibly unsatisfying now, I'm not going to start over. I'll just do the last battle again."

"But not now, right? We're kind of supposed to go meet Grace and Caleb at the mall." Kayla stands quickly, hoping I'll follow her to the front door.

I look between the tv and Kayla's retreating form, back and forth. A pouty frown crosses my face before I sigh and stand up too. Kayla is already in the car by the time I get to the doorway, and I look back one last time at the Xbox. I'll be back for you, I mouth silently.

"Monica!" I hear from the car. "Get your ass in here and let's go!"

***

The mall is packed today. We don't really come here too often, partly because it's thirty minutes away and partly because it's expensive as frick. I bought a pair of thirty-dollar sweats here one time, and when I got home and showed my mom, she told me I could buy men's sweats from Walmart for so much less.

No thanks.

"Monica, could you help me with math homework tonight? Mr. Reynolds is kicking my ass in that class and I don't think he cares that I'm borderline failing." Grace scrolls through her phone for a second before saying, "Just kidding. I'm failing now." She leans forward and her head hits the foodcourt table with a soft thud.