——The Squip's (Eric) POV!——

Y/n walked into the crowded hallways with me trailing behind her. I had expected for her to be ignored due to her lack of popularity (her words, not mine), but I was surprised when some random people said hello to her.

"For your information, I actually have no clue who any of those people were." Y/n mentally explained as she walking into her biology class and took her seat in the second row that was next to the windows.

I quickly tapped into my database to check the reasons on how she had already gained popularity without her doing anything. "That's because people saw you get in Jake's car, and leave Rich's car," I informed. "They realize that they will have to be kind towards you because the popular kids have taken an interest in you."

Y/n tapped her pencil on the desk. "That's possible? Jeez, I didn't realize how easy it was to gain popularity..."

"That's because it's not, you just happened to have me to guide you through the easy part."

"Easy part...?"

"To remain popular you will have to remain relevance, which might require you to do some bold- maybe even dangerous things," I explained in a monotone voice. I didn't really feel like standing so I walked over to the windowsill and sat down on the short shelf.

Y/n's gaze soon fell on me. "Aren't you going to break that?" She mentally chuckled.

"Nope," I smiled. "My form isn't currently physical and the moment, so I can't put weight on anything."

"Huh, that's neat."

The teacher finally entered the classroom and started to hand out the test. She hadn't even started the test and I could already feel her stress levels begin to rise.

I decided to take action. I glitched over to Y/n and hugged her, well, sort of.

"How are you... why are you..."

"I have access to your nerves to I can make you feel as if I am touching you when in reality I can't unless I'm in my physical form," I said, using her nerves to seem as if I was hugging her tighter. "My database shows that body-to-body contact, such as hugging or holding hands can lower stress levels." I lied.

Well, technically I wasn't lying, hugging does indeed lower stress levels, although that's not why I was doing it.

I can't exactly explain why I did it, I just felt like I had to. A hug seemed to be the perfect choice of action in that situation.

Wait, 'felt like it'? I'm a computer... I shouldn't be able to 'feel' things... right?

I snapped out of my thoughts and paid attention to Y/n. Her stress levels started to lower back down to normal. Good, I was beginning to worry-

JESUS CHRIST! STOP! I CANT WORRY! I'm a computer! But then again, I am a supercomputer, so maybe emotions were an early update for the new Squips? I want to message HQ but if it's not an update, then they might believe I'm defective and shut me off... I definitely don't want to do that... I should definitely check the past updates to see if I'm defective or not... I really don't want to be turned off...

Wait...

'Want'...

What do I want?

To be honest, 'want' is an interesting word for my situation... I'm supposed to fulfill whatever my host/hostess wants, so I shouldn't have my own desires, right?

I shrugged my meta thoughts off and continued to focus on Y/n.

"Are you alright now?" I asked.

Y/n let out a long breath. "Yeah, thank you, Eric, I really needed that." She thought. Y/n slightly lifted her hand and placed in on my arm that was wrapped around her as reassurance.

Her sudden touch caught me off guard. Even though I was a piece of technology, I still had human-like anatomy, so I could feel my computer heart rate pick up. My skin tingled when she touched me. My heart was beating so hard that I thought it would fly out, even though I knew it was physically impossible... I could feel my heart briefly flutter. There were butterflies- no! LIONS, in my chest, but it was a desirable feeling.

Increase in heartbeat? Flutters in my chest? Butterflies?! There has to be something wrong with me... There must be an answer for these 'feelings' and what they mean.

My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the teacher. "Alright class, start your tests in 3, 2... 1!" She called as everyone grabbed their pencils and began to answer the first question.

"As I said before, I'll just tell you the answers," I informed as I unraveled my arms from Y/n's torso. "Number one is C..."

After about 15 minutes, Y/n was the first one done so she took this time to read the book that she always carried around, while I took this time to research the web to figure out what strange emotions I was feeling.

It's not like I didn't like them, they were actually quite pleasant, like the hole through my electronic heart was finally getting filled up with it's missing piece. But I was still so utterly confused on what I was feeling to the point where I just had to research.

I discreetly pulled open one of my pop-up screens and searched up what I was feeling. After clicking on about 3 links, until I finally found a solid answer.

"A crush?" I muttered to myself.

Y/n snapped her head in my direction "Did you say something?" She asked.

A blush of embarrassment flooded my cheeks. "N-no!" I glitched. I hated lying to Y/n mainly because whenever I lie, there is a visible and audible glitch that comes from me. I don't think Y/n had figured that out yet, but I still remained incredibly tense.

Real smart, now, a crush? I thought about how plausible it was for myself to have a crush, on Y/n? My hostess? The person I'm permanently linked to? The woman I have to serve?

I looked back at Y/n, she seemed to have returned to her book so she didn't notice my gaze that was upon her. I looked at Y/n's face. I tried to reason with myself on how and why I might feel this way.

But everything I came up with ended with nothing.

I've barely known her for 24 hours, why does it feel like I've known her for years...?

That's a stupid question, this is the first time I've ever been activated, so of course, it feels like I've known her my entire life. Being activated by her was the start of my life.

But how could I have grown feelings for her in that short period of time?

Don't be silly, it's not like I love her, I probably just have a small crush on her because she's kind and beautiful. Nothing more.

"Hey, Eric? You alright?" Y/n's voice ringed in my head.

I looked back over to her. She was looking at me with her beauti- normal E/C orbs, she was gazing at me in a way that to anyone else it would look like she was just looking out the window.

"Of course I am." I glitched, trying to sound as confident as possible. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you've been staring at me for a while now, you look very deep in thought, and your expression shows worry, so, are you sure you're alright?" She asked again.

I nodded. A large amount of heat rushed to my cheeks. She's worried about me... that thought made my heart flutter, and a goofy grin kept tugging at my lips. "Y/n, I assure you I'm quite alright, I'm just going through my database to see what the easiest way to fulfill your goals." I glitched once again.

"Alright, why are you glitching so much though?"

I tensed up at her question. "Uh, I'm glitching because... Oh! There is another Squip nearby with such a different motivation than our- yours." I was surprised I didn't glitch when I said that.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"Yes, now don't worry about me." I smiled at Y/n. She slightly smiled back which made my heart flutter. Damn it- why does she have to be so cute?!

"Okay...- When is class over?"

I quickly accessed the school's schedule. "10 minutes, also, Jake is going to-."

I was cut off by a crumpled up paper hitting the back of Y/n's head.

"Do that..."

I let out an annoyed sigh as Y/n leaned down to the floor to where the paper fell. She picked it up and unraveled it to read out a message.

Y/n,

You, me, sitting together during lunch, this isn't really much of a request.

-Your soon-to-be-boyfriend, Jake.

I could tell that Y/n's blood rushed straight to her cheeks. It was indeed adorable, but seeing her get flustered over someone who wasn't me filled me with a pit of rage.

"What should I write back?" Y/n asked with the biggest grin on her face.

Well, at least she looks happy. I can't let my emotions get in the way of her goals. So I give her the best answer.

"Don't reply, just smirk at him and then ignore him until lunch," I answered. To be honest, she won't have to ignore him, I'll just temporarily activate Optic Nerve Blocking to block Jake from Y/n's field of vision. "And yes, you are eating lunch with him, just don't give him an answer." I spat out.

Y/n put a hand up to her face to cover her big smile. Her flustered face still showed, just not her smile... To be completely honest, it made me a little depressed when Y/n tried to hide her gorgeous smile, it slightly cracked my heart internally.

——Y/n (Your) POV!——

Jake! Jake Dillinger! THE Jake Dillinger just asked me to eat lunch with him! In the social food chain at our high school, I just went from a nobody to a somebody! A little ant to a lioness! I'm going to be popular...

With Jake!

My face wouldn't stop heating up. I've had one of the biggest crushes on Jake ever since freshman year, even back then he was cool and attractive! I kept trying to hide my blush and my giant grin so nobody would see it.

Oh my god, it's Jake-

"We get it, it's Jake Dillinger. He's oh-so-very hot, can you please think of literally anything else so I don't have to hear any of this?" Eric complained.

"Sorry sorry sorry SORRY! I'm just way too excited about this." I mentally squealed.

I saw Eric roll his eyes and start to just walk around the room. Behind the curious bean I was, my gaze followed him to see what he was doing, which did result in me turning in my chair to watch him.

I watched as he walked around many students but stopped in front of Jake's desk. For biology we had joint desks where two people sat, my desk was usually empty, so most of the time I was left by myself.

But Jake, his desk partner almost always changed, there was no assigned seating in our class so it was practically a free-for-all to sit next to any of the popular kids. So with that, Jake seemed to be sitting next to a kid who I believe is named Jason, he's not exactly popular, he hosts parties and stuff, but he's not exactly worshipped like Jake and the others are.

As I was saying, Eric stopped directly in front of Jake and his desk. Since he's literally invisible to everyone else, Jake didn't react, of course. Eric scanned him up and down, even walking circles around Jake. He had a disgusted expression plastered on his face, it was clear he was heavily judging the male in front of him.

I saw Eric's mouth move to say something to himself, but he was too far away for me to understand what he was saying. "I can already tell that this dick just wants to get into her pants... I could treat her so much better than this douchebag."

"Did you say something?" I asked. Eric glitched in front of me. A giant blue blush flushed right to his cheeks.

"No-O!" He glitched. Okay, I knew that was a lie, I saw his mouth move to say something. I think him glitching might also have something to do with it...

"That's a lie, I saw you say something."

"Urk- I guess I'll tell you later." He mumbled. Weird, but I chose to ignore it.

I looked back down at Jake's letter that was in my hand. I smiled at it and placed it in my pocket.

"Okay, class! Everyone leave your tests on your desks, and have a wonderful rest of your day!" Mrs. Edwards waved.

I stood from my desk and strode out of the classroom. As if on cue, Brooke and Jenna were waiting for my class to end and so they immediately started talking to me once they saw my face.

"Oh my god! Oh my god, okay so!" Jenna began as she threw her arms around me into a big hug. "Elizabeth let 4 guys do whatever they please with her on the bus this morning!"

"Call Elizabeth a slut."

"Wow, what a slut." I rolled my eyes with a smirk. To be honest, that is a very slutty thing to do. I've actually met Elizabeth, and I already had a burning hate for her anyway, so calling her a slut wasn't much of a crime.

"I know right! And apparently, she's in one of the male bathrooms doing who knows what!" Jenna continued.

"I think we can all take a guess on what she's doing, Jenna." Brooke laughed as she nudged Jenna's side.

"Wittily agree."

"Yeah, it really isn't much of a mystery." I laughed with them as I motioned