24. Slapped

Paige nodded and told him that he had to go to the girls' toilet at lunch break to rescue the female lead from her. 

"Go in after you hear me slapping her and be the hero."

"Ok. I want to test something then too," Lance announced before they took different paths to the classroom.

Paige slept through the classes until her scene started. Everyone else went to eat, and Paige followed the female lead to the bathroom.

This scene was important; it was the second conflict between Natasha and the school bully, establishing her as the villainess. The female lead would just be slapped. But firstly, the male lead could rescue her; secondly, the female lead's brother would be outraged, seeing a slap mark on his sister.

This led to the introduction of a new character.

The female lead initially came from the countryside, living with her sick grandmother. So how did she end up in this prestigious school? 

It was because she rescued a runaway child who was being torn apart by a dog. At that time, she had thrown rocks and had actually managed to strike it. 

She carried the child back to her hut and stopped his bleeding. When he was found by his rich family and admitted to the hospital, the doctors said that without her lending first aid, he would be dead. The parents were thankful, yes. But they would never adopt her. However, the child became obsessed with her. 

Paige will meet him this weekend, as a consequence of today's scene, the crazy yandere number three, Meier. Meier had a matching storyline for a sadistic novel. Maybe he would have been the second male lead, but he died as a teenager in an accident.

He was now twelve years old and a sociopath. Let's say the dog had a very good reason for attacking him back then. 

When such a creepy child wants something, he will not necessarily get it. Meier did. And what he wanted back then, a few years ago, was to have that older sister who saved him as his real sister. 

It was not clear if he had ever developed romantic feelings for Natasha before his death because he was just too young for the author to write about this without going to jail. But he at least had a

platonic, yandere-like love for her.

She couldn't say she was really happy to act this out and would love to never meet Meier in her life. She glanced at the punishment for not slapping the female lead.

[Losing a hand]

[Oh come on, why threaten with body parts again? That's just mean.] 

[Punishments were upgraded again for the host not cooperating.]

She gave the system a middle finger again. Paige would make sure to slap the female lead hard; she could overcome anything but losing body parts; that was just insane.

She walked in and recited with crossed arms while staring at the floor. 

"Hey. Get the fuck away from Lance; he's mine."

Natasha had just retouched her makeup because she wanted to go after Lance and eat together. She was frightened by the bored voice coming from behind her suddenly.

Looking at Paige, she was not sure if she was being bullied because she sounded somewhat listless while talking. 

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked.

[Text!] Paige called the system, but the system had to calculate again because the reaction from the female lead was not like in the original.

There was a short, awkward pause until she saw the letters before her eyes again. 

"Have you heard what I said? Give me your seat and don't have delusions about him." 

Only now did Natasha register the contents of what she had said, and her eyes turned more fiercely.

"No. I like him, and I will fight for him."

Again, the text deviated. Originally she was his acquaintance, then friend, then lover. Now they were not even acquaintances. She should have said something like 'We're just seatmates.' 

Not a confession.

There was another pause, and the system calculated shortly before saying,

[Just slap her already]

Paige nodded inwardly and slapped the female lead hard.

The sound echoed through the girls bathroom.