GAME OVER: a Be More Chill fic

Level 20

(A/N: regarding the multimedia: 1. I'm sorry, and 2. you're welcome. I couldn't help myself. also if it's showing up more than once I don't know why)

Jeremy woke up Monday morning to an increasingly annoying alarm and three text messages.

PLAYER 1: morning <3

SHORTY to YOU, CHRISTIIINE, PLAYER 1 and JAKEY D: hey assholes meet me by the buses

DAD: Cell phone dying, call my work phone if you need me.

Jeremy replied quickly to all of them  -- Michael with a "morning!!", Rich and his father with an "ok". He rolled out of bed, yawning deeply as the Squip appeared in the doorway.

The Squip looked as tired as Jeremy felt, and like something out of a cartoon. He wore a baby blue bathrobe and held a mug of steaming coffee, his hair up in rollers.

Jeremy couldn't help but laugh. "You look ridiculous."

The Squip's image shimmered for a moment, and he was back in his usual attire, looking bright-eyed and wide awake again. "I figured you could use a laugh on a Monday morning. After yesterday, you've set the bar pretty high for a good mood," he smirked.

"Yeah. Thanks for that warning, by the way," Jeremy added.

"Just doing my job," he winked. "Michael is likely to ask you about that, though -- how you knew his father would be there -- so you'll have to lie. Say you heard him coming up the stairs."

Jeremy agreed to this and got ready for school. He was out the door in half an hour, hair combed, clothes on, teeth brushed; looking good, feeling great.

He hummed and danced along to the song playing in his head as he walked, but stopped abruptly when he remembered the Squip didn't like that. Sorry.

"It's alright, Jeremy," the Squip reassured him. "Now that your goal has changed from being chill to being with Michael, he's the only one you have to impress. You can be as much of a nerd, dork, or loser as you like."

Jeremy smiled in an undeniably dorky fashion at that, because he knew the Squip was implying that Michael wouldn't care how uncool Jeremy acted. He liked him for who he was, and that was enough.

"Precisely. Oh, speak of the Devil -- "

Jeremy's phone rang. Michael's picture lit up the screen, and he answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jer, what's up?" Jeremy could hear the unease in Michael's voice.

Now Jeremy was nervous. "Just walking to school, uh, you?"

"Driving," Michael answered simply. "I figured now would be a good time to talk alone-ish." He paused. "I was thinking about yesterday, and... how did you know that my dad was going to butt in on us?" The words spilled from his mouth like blood, involuntary and bitter.

Jeremy looked at the Squip, who nodded. "Oh, I heard him coming up the stairs. Why?"

The Squip rounded on him. "Why would you ask why? Stick to the approved dialogue, Jeremy. I swear..."

Michael sounded a bit unnerved. "No need to get defensive, dude. I'm just... I'm just paranoid since the whole Squip thing, you know?"

"Yeah, no, I get that," Jeremy nodded. He echoed the Squip's next words, feeling more ashamed with every syllable: "But you can trust me."

God, he hated lying to Michael.

They changed the subject and ended up on small talk, with Michael struggling to keep the conversation going and Jeremy offering only the simplest scripted responses. He had no choice but to say whatever the Squip wanted him to; his mind was too full of guilt to form anything coherent.