Chapter 13: "Maybe I Should Just Snip Lip"
"Hi, William! Of course you can join us."
The blonde cheerleader — Beatrice, queen of fake tans and inflated confidence — all but pressed herself against him as she spoke, her voice sugary enough to give someone diabetes.
Amanda, standing beside her, could only watch in quiet envy.
Deep down, she longed for that kind of attention — to have someone like William, a clean-cut white guy with sharp features and calm eyes, look at her the same way.
Unfortunately, at this school, good-looking white boys didn't exactly line up for Asian girls.
---
"Uh… and you are?"
William's calm question landed like a slap.
For a moment, Beatrice froze — mid-flirt, mouth half open.
He doesn't know who I am?
This had literally never happened to her before.
"I'm Beatrice!" she said quickly, flashing her brightest, most camera-ready smile.
"Captain of the cheer squad. You seriously don't recognize me?"
William tilted his head, expression unreadable.
"Sorry. I don't really follow the football team."
Then, without hesitation, he gently pushed her aside.
"You're blocking my view."
The air went dead silent.
The cheerleader blinked in disbelief — like her brain had just blue-screened.
Did he just reject me?
Me?
William ignored her completely. His focus was already on the quiet girl behind her.
---
"You're Amanda, right?" he asked, walking right up to her.
"Can I get your number?"
The question hit her like a shockwave.
"M–me?" Amanda stammered, pointing at herself like she couldn't possibly be the intended target.
"Yeah," William said simply.
Her brain promptly short-circuited.
It was like her body was moving on autopilot as she fumbled for her phone, tapping out her number before she even realized what she was doing.
"Cool. I'll call you later."
William gave her a little call-me gesture before walking off.
Amanda just stood there — stiff, wide-eyed, and blushing so hard it almost looked painful.
Did that really just happen?
And then, just as he reached the corner, William turned back with an easy smile.
"Oh, by the way — you look a lot better without your glasses."
---
The words hit like an emotional nuke.
Her heart practically exploded in her chest.
Even Beatrice's smug mask cracked as the other girls instantly swarmed Amanda like a flock of gossip-hungry pigeons.
"Oh my God, Amanda! When did you start talking to William Blake!?"
"Did he seriously ask you for your number!?"
"Girl, spill it right now!"
Meanwhile, William, walking away with a small grin, was having his own internal monologue.
Amanda — rich, beautiful, and a future nightmare for Lip.
If I don't handle this now, he's doomed to be whipped for years.
So really, he thought smugly, this isn't seduction. It's… preventative maintenance.
A moral obligation.
---
Later That Day — Gallagher House, South Side
Classes were boring as hell, so after the last lecture, William didn't bother calling Amanda.
Instead, he decided to test a theory — one that involved his new "system."
There was only one perfect test subject.
Lip Gallagher.
If Amanda's attraction to Lip is a "fate flag,"
then maybe… I can snip it at the source.
North Wallace Street, 2119.
It had been a few days since the "Frank Incident."
William wondered how the old drunk was doing — or if he was still alive.
He knocked on the door.
It opened a few seconds later.
Ian stood there, looking mildly surprised.
"You? What are you doing here?"
Since that night when Fiona had broken down sobbing in the living room, Ian and Lip had assumed William would stay far, far away from their family.
"Fiona's not home," Ian said automatically.
"That's fine. I'll wait."
Of course, William wasn't here for Fiona.
Ian hesitated, then shrugged and let him in.
Inside the cluttered living room sat Mandy Milkovich — loyal, reckless, and hopelessly in love with Lip.
The girl who would one day give everything for him… only for him to forget she ever existed.
The girl who'd spiral so hard she'd end up with an abusive boyfriend, and later, working the streets.
Yeah, William thought grimly, she deserves better. Hell, she deserves a chance to survive.
"Hey, Ian. Lip around?"
"He's upstairs," Ian said. "Why? You need something?"
William smiled faintly.
"Yeah. I think it's time we had a little… talk."
Ian blinked, puzzled.
Hadn't William said he came for Fiona? Why was he suddenly asking for Lip?
"Mind shouting him down?" William asked instead, glancing up toward the second floor.
If he hadn't broken up Karen and Lip earlier, William figured Lip would be under the tracks right now, watching trains or god knows where — probably screwing.
Ian shrugged, still a little unsure, but obliged: "Lip! Someone's looking for you!"
Mandy — who'd been sitting nearby — tugged Ian's sleeve. "Is that your brother Lip?"
"Yeah," Ian said. "You didn't know?"
Mandy shook her head.
A few moments later heavy footsteps thudded down the stairs. Lip appeared, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Who's looking for me?"
Ding!
[Task detected: Intercept Lip and Mandy's tryst.]
[Reward: Immunity to all poisons.]
William stared at the system notice, dumbstruck.
Immunity to poisons? He thought of scenes from Wolverine movies — poisoned, suffering, then healed. That would be ridiculously useful.
He looked at Mandy, then at Lip, and his mind immediately began scheming. How to break them apart?
It wasn't simple. Going after Mandy directly was a terrible idea — she was head-over-heels for Lip; she'd latch on and wreck anyone who tried to take her. Trying to awaken her "career ambition" was equally hopeless — in William's memory of the timeline, Mandy was a one-track heart, and work never won over love for her.
Still, a pattern was becoming clear: tasks were triggered when Lip encountered women who, in the original plotline, would ensnare him. But it wasn't consistent — the Steve/Fiona mission hadn't triggered at the moment they met, either. The system's logic was strange, erratic.
"Hey, William? You need something?" Lip asked, sidling up beside him.
William hadn't actually come down just to test theory — he needed Lip for a job. He raffled off a quick lie. "Yeah — got a little favor. Two hundred bucks if you help me out. Interested?"
Lip's face lit up. "Two hundred? Hell yeah. What do I gotta do?"
"Let's talk upstairs," William said, looping an arm around Lip's shoulder as they climbed the stairs together.
As they went, William's thoughts turned darker, practical. If he couldn't make Mandy lose interest any other way… well, there were worse, crazier ideas. For a terrifying second he even entertained the thought — permanently neuter Lip. The image flashed across his brain and wouldn't leave.
He shook his head once, hard. The notion was obscene, monstrous — and yet the tiny, desperate part of him that planned for every contingency couldn't help but gnaw on it.
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