Chad and the Incel

4th Post: Incels are the real oppressed group

Going to the local library became a regular occurrence for Chad and Noah. They went there every afternoon after Chad's detention, deciding not to give up on their romantic conquest just yet. Every time they would start off reading books and discussing plans for winning their respective girl's heart but they inevitably veered off course and began chatting about whatever they felt like.

Noah told Chad more about manga and recommended some. The list of recommendations was initially intimidating in its length, but Chad couldn't help but stare with a warm heart when Noah talked about something he loved.

It didn't take Noah long to notice that Chad wasn't fully listening, so he came up with a new course of action. He collected a pile of manga from the library and read the blurbs aloud to him. The ones Chad looked interested in were put in one pile and the others were put in a different pile. He pushed the interesting manga towards Chad and suggested he pick one to read for the day. The one Chad picked first was entitled, 'My Girlfriend is a Giant Robot But She's Also My Therapist'.

Noah beamed at him. 'I've read the light novel for that.'

'The what now?'

'You know, light novels. They're short novels that usually come in series.' As he went on and on about this particular light novel with a manga adaptation, Chad paid more attention to the boy's glowing face than what he was actually saying. That last light of concentration was extinguished when he saw a girl walk past him with a smile on her face.

She had frizzy strawberry blonde hair and wore rectangular glasses that perfectly balanced the roundness of her face. In her thin but muscular arms, visible via a singlet top despite the weather, were three thick books she carried easily. Her lips had seductive curves to them, aided by ample use of apricot lipstick and matching lip liner.

After heading to one of the shelves/lockers, she turned her gaze to Noah, who also smiled at her, and dropped her own smile. However, she didn't frown. In fact, her expression was neutral and free from judgement. Noah did not see it this way.

He looked at the manga in his hands and used those hands to hide the cover. He hung his head and scowled at the lines in the oak desk.

Chad turned his head and saw Noah's tense shoulders. He leaned towards him and whispered, 'Go for it.'

Noah's head jumped up. He looked at him like he'd just suggested he commit genocide. 'Me? Why me? She's going to choose you.'

'I wouldn't be so sure of that. And if it doesn't work out, you got some practice before trying to get Stacy.' Chad felt a twinge of guilt saying this, not knowing if Stacy could possibly like a guy, though that guilt certainly wasn't enough to stop him from trying to encourage his new friend. 'Put these books to good use.'

With a sigh, Noah stood up and plodded towards the girl. He stood behind her for a moment, mentally preparing what to say to her. He continued standing there for enough time to make Chad make a shooing gesture.

After a few more seconds the girl noticed someone was behind her and turned around. 'Hi, do you want to talk to me or something?' she asked after she gave way to him and he stood still instead of looking at the books. Her voice sounded like someone had converted honey into audio.

Noah's shoulders leapt up and he began to sweat. Even though she was smiling at him, he thought he could sense the stone-cold judgement in her eyes. She hated him. She was disgusted by him and wanted nothing to do with him. He was but a piece of snot that had stuck to her wrist when she sneezed into it.

He turned around and marched back to the desk. Chad gave him the eyes of someone seeing a kitten in the rain. Noah shoved his books and manga away from him before picking up his headphones from the desk and putting them on, taking a few deep breaths.