Chad and the Incel

5th Post: Rate my looks

Noah's hand wobbled as he held his phone up. The same words repeated in his head.

'I'm not taking a selfie because I'm a narcissist. This is important research.'

He took a photo and glowered at it. He took another photo. Then another. Eventually he had taken ten photos and hated all of them. He took one last photo and sighed. It would have to do.

He uploaded the photo to Incels.me while holding his breath. His nerves were set aflame and he felt like pacing through his house. He expected low ratings on his looks from the other incels but he knew he needed to see those bad ratings, anything to take him out of the fairyland he'd let himself fall in thanks to Chad. He lied down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering if he would ever get any sleep. Half an hour later, his drooping eyes gave him his answer.

When he arrived at school the next day, his jitteriness was not lost in Chad. 'You okay?' Chad asked as they sat down to eat at lunchtime.

'I'm fine!' Noah snapped at him.

'Jeez, who woke up on the wrong side of the-'

'I have no patience for clichés right now, Chad Thundercock.'

Chad's cheeks cherried up. 'What did you call me?' The speed of his heartbeats would impress a bullet train.

Noah's face turned into the colour opposite to the pill mentality he followed. He looked around the cafeteria and thanked the laws of nature that everyone was too busy talking to each other to overhear what he said.

'I didn't mean... it was an accident. I've heard people call popular guys Chad Thundercock, so it just kind of slipped out. It's just a meme.'

A high-pitched and overly loud laugh came from Chad's throat, his mind repeatedly telling his cheeks to turn down the heat and said cheeks refusing to listen. His eyebrows raised and pushed themselves together, creating wrinkles on his forehead.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Becky walked up to Stacy's table, which was full of equally blonde and tan girls. She gestured to the one empty seat at the table.

'May I sit?'

'Um, I guess?' one of the girls responded. 'Why, though?'

'I would like to get to know Stacy more.'

The girls at the table went, 'Oooh!' Stacy's face went hot enough and her eyes grew big enough to make the sun jealous. Becky noticed this.

'I see,' she said. 'I shall keep my reasoning between Stacy and me.' As Becky sat down, Stacy looked away.

Another girl said in a nasal voice, 'I've got to admit, it's unusual for someone like you to want to be friends with someone like Stacy.'

Becky smiled. 'Yes, friends. Well, Stacy approached me first.'

Never mind the sun, at this point Wolf-Rayet stars were probably envious of the heat coming from Stacy's cheeks. The other girls leaned towards her. Becky crossed her arms as if expecting an answer.

'Well, um, well, uh, I saw a photo of a fangtooth fish on her exercise book in science class,' Stacy explained.

After a moment of silence came laughter. 'That's the reason?' the nasally voiced girl asked. 'What the hell is a fangtooth fish? Sounds gross. As if someone like you would like something gross like that! And wait, since when do you take science classes, Stacy? You do realise that's not compulsory for seniors, right?'

'Uh, well, it's a...' Each word Stacy said went quieter until nothing but her breaths could be heard. Becky gave her a warm smile and the other girls a cold glare.