(Welcome to the World) Chapter 4 Complete

Jack Fletcher winced. A brilliant, bright illumination surged all around him. It seemed a lot like that once scene from the Matrix- except there wasn’t an androgynous girl and there wasn’t a wanton supply of guns streaming from infinity to beyond. Does that make this purgatory? Purgatory seems a hell of a lot brighter than one would think… must be heaven then. Then again, if heaven was lit like a 24/7 convenient store, then heaven must suck.

It was times like this that he wished he could close his brain off- or at least his ocular nerves. He instinctively closed his eyes. He thought evolution had a nice run since the beginning of the world to the late 21st century, but it was getting a little outdated. That’s why there were less evolution-dependent robots to do everything else for humanity right?

While Jack bitterly cursed the obscene amount of light around him, a pop-up displayed,
“Installation Complete” with a spinning, black and white, houndstooth-patterned circle. As it flashed in an evanescent gray, the entire screen faded away.

Jack felt like he opened his eyes for the first time. The world expanded quickly as he watched buildings seemingly appear from nowhere. His senses were being hammered with information; the sweet aroma of honey-baked bread fresh from the oven, the sounds of people chatting away like old friends, and most importantly, the feel of cobblestone on his feet.

Rather than stirring awake, Jack Fletcher attempted to deaden himself asleep. His attempts to drown out the sound of loud beeping were met with a dim glow self-contained within his own eyes. Though subtle, the grey-hued pop-up displaying “Wake-Up Alarm: 8:00” translucently shimmered directly into his retina.

As he reluctantly forced himself to get up, Jack managed to get the absolutely smallest sliver of an eye open. He let out a few grumbles and threw a blanket over himself. In some sort of distance, there was a light pitter-patter of feet in the hallway. In chorus with the beats, there was a crescendo of, “Waa-,“ sound that he could follow through the wall. The door swung open with a frighteningly loud, “-aaake up!”

Standing in the doorway was his six-year old sister, Juliana. Doe-eyed, she waddled up to his bed and yanked his sheets off. While staring right at his face, she pointlessly asked in a voice roughly 10 decibels above acceptable, “Are you awake?” Jack sheepishly nodded his head as he rose up. With way too much energy, Juliana ran away and slammed the door roughly infinite decibels above acceptable.

“Find: Cane.” He ordered.

His eyes glowed as a neon green arrow pointed him to a direction. As he scanned the room, an orange glow illuminated a metal cane nearby. He propped himself up, one leg at a time, and hobbled over to a mirror where he gazed at himself. He slapped his right leg and made a loud thwack. Almost naked, he stroked the disfigured scar going straight from his foot to his hip. No response- no pain, no feelings. As he rested on the cane, he slowly dressed himself and threw on his school blazer. He admired the navy blue cleanliness, the rigid beige pants that disguised the disfigured scar, and the overall fact that he looked- normal.

As he entered the kitchen, his mom was busily scrambling eggs in one hand while making sandwiches with the other; an amazing technique that she must have learned through years of motherhood. Of course, Juliana was sitting at the table staring at something- most likely early morning cartoons.

As he sat down, his mom gently laid breakfast for her two kids, then with her now-free hand, she tapped the side of a metal disk attached to her ear.

“Command: Linker- On.”

A near-invisible screen popped up in front of her. Sheets upon sheets of expense reports reflected off her eyes as she quickly went through preparing for the day’s work. Without even looking at her son, she ordered, “Jack, fix your uniform. You don’t want to give a bad impression on the first day.” As Jack played with his eggs, he lowered his head.

“Do I have to go to school?” Jack attempted to ask.

It was between a half are-you-serious look and a half it’s-too-early where he received the answer to his question. Despite that, his mom motioned her device up with her hands and the screen hovered around her forehead. She sat right across from him and gave one of those overly caring, motherly looks.

She urged, “Honey, I’m sure you’ll find friends.”

“Not like I ever had any to begin with.” Jack wallowed in his own self-pity.

His mom raised her arm like one of those ancient war posters of the working women and enthusiastically declared, “You will! Just put a lot of effort into it.” Jack shook his head and slid his plate aside. For someone who was already thirty-seven, she sure had a lot of energy. Jack glanced at Juliana. Like mother like daughter he thought to himself. His mom was still smiling as she tossed him a brown bag of today’s lunch- sandwiches. He couldn’t handle the amount of energy flowing through the room- it was as if someone had found the fountain of eternal youth in there and forgot to share it with him.

He peeped out a, “I’m going,” without looking back.

The bus stop wasn’t far- as indicated through the neon green arrow pointing him in a direction like a GPS device. As he approached the stop, he sighed. Today was going to be the first day of high school, a new life, a springtime of youth, and yet, he wanted to stay in. Why was that? Did he hate himself that much or did he hate his own disability. Sometimes, he wished he born only a few years later- that way he wouldn’t have to live with his issues. Would that change his perspective in life? Maybe. Did that change the fact that he didn’t have friends? No. He shook his head from that depressing thought. Like his mom said, he just needed to make an effort- change himself, be a little more cordial to others. Maybe find a girlfriend. He scoffed out loud at the thought of that.

His eyes moved from house to house. It was a little indecent, but thanks to the wide InfraNet, nothing was secure, even houses. He could see who lived in each house, blood types, children, etc. Originally it was meant so that emergency responders could fix problems faster, but now anyone could do it.

“ETA Private School #236 Bus” Jack commanded.

Practically instantly, a gray pop-up displayed the words, Ten Minutes, and showed a timer at the corner of his vision. He sat on the curb as he creepily scanned the house in front of him. He went through tax reports and people living inside- only to find out there was someone from the same exact school as him. He became more interested until he heard a voice from behind him.

“Hey. Can you stop scanning my house?” It asked.

Jack froze for a moment. He knew he had been caught- no less by the kid from his school and someone living right next to him. He panicked as he tried to formulate some sort of escape or reason for his random snooping. Jack thought for a moment that in normal society, he could have easily said something like, “Sorry, I was just bored,” or “What are you talking about?” or even, “Oh, this is your house? My bad,” but instead he chose option D, a.k.a. the-last-one-you-should-ever-pick. He aggressively replied, “Yeah. What’s it to you?”

The boy replied, “Well- I guess you can, it’s just… you know, my house. That’s creepy.”

That’s right it is creepy! In fact, for that one moment, Jack wished he was so infinitesimally small that he could disappear- but alas, he was a kid, not a scientist. Jack lowered his head again in his own self-pity and responded, “Sorry.” There was an awkward pause. By awkward, actually a solid two minutes passed before the other kid asked, “Am I that interesting to stalk?”

Jack was taken aback by the question. What would be the proper way to reply? If he had answered with a no, it would be insulting, but if he said yes, it would still be just as creepy. Why was being social this impossibly difficult? Couldn’t he avoid the entire thing if he just decided to run, change names, live a new life, and go to a new school? As Jack thought about it, he could barely articulate †˜ers’ and †˜ums’. He couldn’t even look at the other boy and decided the pavement- yes, the pavement would be more comfortable to look at.

The other kid once again broke the silence with another question, “Jack Fletcher huh?”

“How do you know that?” Jack frantically asked as he looked up. He forgot all about it, but just like how he could scan houses, the same factor held true for people. An ID-like card displayed above the other boy’s head like a tag from a video game. On the card read the name, Andrew Molay.

Jack could only continue with, “Sorry- I- I don’t know. I forgot about it.”

If the awkwardness between the two of them had a taste- it would taste so incredibly dense, it would be like a bucket of thick honey. Not the artificial one that exists now, but the real one that’s produced despite that extinct quality which honeybees have. Jack took a breath of air and almost tried pretending that the previous few minutes of their conversation never happened.

Like a savior, Andrew broke the silence again, “You’re a linker-born too?”

Jack panicked. This one was a simple one and one with a single answer. Was Andrew just trying to be friendly or did he already consider Jack to be a complete idiot? Was he the judgmental type? If so, is there any reason to even try to give some semblance of being not socially awkward at this point? Jack grit his teeth and breathed in deeply as if he were preparing to skydive for the first time or attempt a world record on longest breath held.

“I’m sorry I was bored cause there was nothing to do and I saw that we were at the same school so I was interested; I live in the house two blocks down and my name is Jack Fletcher and I forgot about ID cards since I don’t meet a lot of people, but I am a linker-born so I guess I should know and I hope you’re not judging me right now.” Jack shouted in the almost impossible speed that side-effect are announced on medicine commercials.

Andrew froze for a moment- trying to take in the surge of information that smacked him across the face after only hearing one or two words from Jack. Jack tried to see if he could gleam some sort of reaction, whether positive or negative, but there was none. Andrew blinked as if he were waking up and responded, “Right” as he nodded. Then Andrew gave his response.

“It’s okay cause I do the same when I’m bored and I also saw we were from the same school so I wanted to talk to you and since you know my house already, my name is Andrew Molay and a lot of people forget about ID cards, but that question was silly since you clearly have the device and I don’t judge since it takes too much effort,” Andrew shouted back in the similar impossible speed.

Jack and Andrew gave each other a good look. It was then that Jack let out a soft laugh which was followed by Andrew. The two of them let out a laugh that cut that dense honey-like awkwardness cleanly.

“To be honest, I was worried that you were just a stuck-up snob,” stated Andrew.

“I’m just bad at these things. I haven’t really met a lot of people,” replied Jack as he nodded.

“We’ll have a lot of opportunities soon enough.”

“I guess so,” Jack responded robotically.

“And have a lot of fun.”

“I guess so.”

“And join clubs.”

“I guess so.”

“And meet a lot of girls.”

“I guess so.”

“Wait, you’re not gay are you?”

“I guess so- wait.”

Andrew smirked, “Is that why you creeped on my house? I mean it’s not bad, but it’ll be harder to hit on both a girl and guy at the same time.”

Jack responded, “I told you I was bored!”

Andrew gleefully said, “Oh ho! So you’re not emotionless. That’s good.”

Jack felt like he spent way too much effort in that entire affair. He panted and sweat ran down his cheeks as if he had just ran a mile. He shook it off and sighed.

“I was just giving you a hard time,” Andrew said as he lightly boxed Jack’s shoulder.

For the first time, Jack felt relieved that he was forced outside into the real world and met someone else. As Jack hobbled over, Andrew finally noticed the issue with Jack’s leg. Curious, Andrew asked, “What happened?” Jack shook his head. This was the last thing that he wanted anyone to talk about- and even considered making a cover story. Andrew let his question die out by immediately shifting the topic to gaming. For someone whose mind seemed to go at a million miles an hour, it seemed that Andrew knew exactly where to go and where to stop. Gaming was the one solace that Jack had and if there was any skill that he could be proud of, it would be that.

As they continued talking about games, Jack almost unconsciously entered the bus as he continued talking with Andrew. There was this mysterious magnetic-like attraction he felt for Andrew, as if he knew that they were going to be friends. As Jack hobbled on the bus, he looked back. His mom was getting ready to drive Juliana to school. She saw her son and the boy go onto the school bus while talking nonstop. She gave Jack such a relieved smile that Jack couldn’t help but smile back. It was then that Jack was truly excited for his school life.

Typical, Jack thought. Since no one really knew each other on the first day of school, everyone decided to play the game of fate. Almost everyone had a seat to themselves, forcing someone else to join them. Were they all misanthropes like himself or were they just that selfish that they wanted to sit in a whole seat? Regardless, Jack immediate thought to grab a seat and just talk to Andrew across the aisles. As he walked down the aisle, there was a loud, “Hey Andy! Over here!”

Like a lost puppy, Andrew immediate ran over and plopped a seat next to the guy shouting at him. It was understandable that a guy as likeable as Andrew would have a lot of friends- especially ones in the vicinity of the neighborhood. Andrew gave Jack a pitiable, apologetic glance caught up with the guy. As Jack found a seat three seats behind, someone was sleeping there.

As he stood nearby, he sent of a mental command to his cane which then collapsed itself enough to become a baton. Jack felt a little betrayed in that, despite Andrew, or Andy becoming his friend, he didn’t choose to sit near him. He thought for a moment- were they friends in middle school? Was there anyone from his middle school that he could pretend to be friends with until he met back with Andrew? Obviously the person next to him was not exactly the ideal person to socialize with, since whoever it was, was asleep.

The person sitting next to him had a blazer covering him or her from being visible. At least if it was a cute girl, he could admire- no. That’s creepy. He looked around the bus, scanning people with the hopes of finding someone who matched his private middle school number #1023. Data streamed down his eyes as he continued to cycle through and realized- no one. There was absolutely no one he knew and thus, he couldn’t pretend to know who they were. He thought that he could just get up, jump into another seat, and try to be significantly less awkward than he was with Andrew. Then again, he also knew that there was no chance it wouldn’t be awkward. After all, everyone in the bus knew he decided to sit next to that person with a blazer over his… her… Jack looked down- a plaid skirt. Her? Cross-dresser? No. Her. Has to be. Her head.

As the bus continued to move on, there was a time and place for everything, and now would just be a bad choice. It was Andrew’s fault. It had to be. If Andrew had decided to sit next to, or nearby, Jack. Jack wouldn’t have to deal with this awful seating arrangement. As Jack disregarded the mysterious sleeping girl, he decided to extend his friendship across the aisle. It was a guy rapidly moving his hands through the air as if he were a cat with a ball of yarn. While all Jack was sure he was playing some sort of first person shooter or reaction-dependent puzzle game, it didn’t change the fact that the guy looked absolutely ridiculous.

With all the strength that he could muster, he asked, “Hey. What are you playing?” No response. He tried to continue with, “Excuse me?” Again, no response and a lost cause. Jack looked around the bus, looking for someone to talk to, but everyone was engrossed in their own worlds. Jack took another glance at the newly dubbed, cat-boy, decided to join him. There were about a thousand and one virtual games he could play since that was really all he ever did in his overly-ample free-time at home.

“Game, Sort List, MMORPG” he commanded.

His screen turned into a giant sheet of various game titles with short snips of gameplay being displayed as he glossed over each. As he prepared to enter one of the many virtual reality massively multiplayer role-playing games, something fell into his lap.

“Clear,” he once again commanded. The screen cleared up and in his lap was a school blazer. He was wearing his, so it definitely couldn’t be his. Jack looked up. †˜Girl, definitely a girl,’ Jack thought. She was still asleep.

Jack took this moment to admire her. Long strands of raven hair flowed down her shoulders and barely swung over her chest. Jack’s eyes analyzed every inch of her body from her head to her chest- and chest… and chest. In fact, that was all Jack really cared to look at. While through her uniform, Jack could tell that she was very petite, she was also very well-endowed- to say the least. It was that one attribute that attributed to Jack’s newly formed staring problem.

He barely managed to tear his eyes away from her body long enough to look at her face. She had a doll-like appearance as her entire body shared an almost sickly white hue. She wore a red hairband to stem back the tide of hair pouring over her face. At the same time, every bit of her seemed to be absolutely perfect- on the verge of angelic. As he continued looking at her, an ID screen popped up over her head. Andrea Mizushima- a half German, half Japanese girl of the same year as him.

Jack then looked at himself through the bus window. He wondered if a guy like him would ever have even a snowflake’s chance in hell. He gave himself one of those looks that everyone does when they look at themselves in the mirror. While at first, he considered himself a self-titled Adonis, but after just two seconds of contemplation, he knew that to be an absolute lie. His hair was brushed to the side, but remained a chaotic jungle of short, brown scruff. If his battle against the forces of acne could be described, he would say every popped zit was nothing short of a pyrrhic victory. His facial hair was in that strange period of deciding to rapidly grow in some areas while remaining bald in others- only to flip within a week.

After looking at his chapped lips, he licked them only to further chap them. Anything south of his neck was all the more worse. Years of immobility as well as just sitting at home playing virtual games have taken a toll on his body. The cost was quite literally a few pounds of flesh. Ever since he was younger, he had been deemed as †˜unfit’ by the state because regulations were made to hold back and reduce the rapidly expanding obesity issue. Even if he wanted to do something about it, his legs wouldn’t let him enjoy the same things as the people like Andrew or cat-boy.

Thinking about the past tended to bring waves of depression over Jack- and now was not any different. He let out a sigh and continued looking at himself. Then he noticed a bright flash in the corner of his eye. Though he couldn’t see it initially, the girl was wearing something attached to the base of her neck and attached to her linker device. He wanted to touch it.

It looked a little different from the other models. Jack wondered if this was a new linker device for those born a little earlier than him or- no, it couldn’t be. The ID card displayed “Jan 2032” meaning she was born later than he was. He took another peek at cat-boy who was now drinking milk out of a carton- even more like a cat. Cat-boy was still playing a game and more importantly, he had a linker device identical to his aside from color. As Jack continued to look at cat-boy’s linker device, an ID popped up displaying the name, “Joshua Sanchez,” but cat-boy just fit better.

It was possible that Andrea was part of some lab-test which gave her a new linker, but beta linkers tended to be followed by some lab-coat brandishing government official.

“Critical- Disconnect” he ordered.

Repeated, obnoxious flashes of orange, yellow, red, and black strobe-lit his eyes with giant †˜warning’ banner streaming across. Below it were warning instructions in every known language- even a few dead ones. All it basically said was that any working data would be lost, some programs could be corrupt, and in the worst case- permanent linker damage. Due to the nature of those flashes, Jack thought they should have added an extra warning for epilepsy- but by now it would have been too late.

As he took it off, he looked at it carefully. The entire world had completely changed without the linker device. While data almost constantly assaulted his eyes on a regular basis, he could now see the world for what it was- the world. It was a refreshing pace compared to the increasingly need-it-now self-gratification that he was used to. As he looked down, the silver colored linker had a serial number as well as an engraving of †˜Generation VI’ on it. It seemed a lot like the hairband on Andrea’s head as it was acted much like a choker of sorts. He looked at Andrea’s device. He couldn’t exactly brush her hair aside to look carefully, but through the mirror, he could barely see that it was in fact, the same generation of model. Jack shrugged and wondered if it was a new app or cosmetic addition. As he prepared to put his linker device back on, he felt around for the hole on the back of his neck. As soon as his finger grazed over the hole, he inserted the back of the linker device in. Just before making contact with his neck, it raised a thin spike and stabbed into him. As the linker situated itself, he set the disk-like prongs onto the sides of his neck.

“Command- Critical- connect” he said aloud. The machine roared to life as it began making beeps and clicks similar to those ancient machines called desktop computers. Fan-like metal disks on the back spun around so rapidly that it seemed like they would generate miniature hurricanes. A mesh of carbon nanotubes generated themselves over the ports, protecting both the user and the machine. More clicks and the side prongs automatically pulled themselves away from Jack’s neck. They a wall of nanometer thin blades that jabbed into Jack’s neck immediately. A slight pinch and a single drop of blood. He rubbed his neck and stretched. He heard the girl stir awake and looked at her. Her brilliant green eyes looked straight back at him. Her mix of both Japanese and German made her seem so exotic- like a rare, elusive animal just waiting to be caged. As she continued to look at him, a notification icon popped up at the corner of his screen. She was now about to look at his ID, not that it really mattered. Even though it was commonplace, it was practically impossible to actually find the person ID-ing the other unless the other person, like Andrea was doing now, was staring directly. It was as if this entire system was designed to ruin anyone with a phobia for needles or thinks the world is watching them. More so the latter since it was now possible to actually tell when the world is watching them.

With the first female contact, in what seems to be forever, Jack once again had his words stuck in his throat. Though not as painfully sudden as his interaction with Andrew, Jack blurted, “Sorry. You were alone, I didn’t mean to stare, I was just interested in you.”

†˜Those words… those words were absolutely stupid. You’re absolutely stupid.’ Jack mentally reprimanded himself.

Andrea gave him a few blinks and went back to sleep as if nothing happened. While for the past- entirety of the trip, Jack tried to get people to respond to him, he was really glad she completely ignored him. He let out a sigh of relief and slowly inched himself away from her direction. There were a few options for him at this point. Either continue to stare at Andrea- namely her chest, enjoy in the fine stitching that underpaid workers in Cambodia did to form the seats of the bus, or watch cat-boy continue to play with his imaginary ball of yarn. The latter seemed radically more interesting than the other two.

The bus came to slow stop as the overly-protective crash prevention device on it forced the bus to lock into an airplane like landing pattern. Jack figured Andrew was already off with his other friends, leaving him all alone. Maybe cat-boy would be someone to talk to now that everything was over- or even Andrea… no. Not any more at least.

As he got up, Andrea propped herself up and marched along right beside him. Not a single word was uttered giving Jack a little hope in that she entirely forgot his introduction that evolved into a confession of sorts. It seemed that everyone turned their heads to look at her as they trooped out of the bus in a single line.

Jack heard familiar voice calling, “Yo Jack.”

Andrew stood there smiling as he waved to Jack. Jack could barely contain a smile as he gave Andrew a high-five. As they made their way to school, Andrew rapidly, “You sat with Sleeping Beauty, right?”

“Sleeping beauty?” Jack questioned back.

Andrew answered, “I’ve known her since middle school and starting last year, she was almost always asleep. The teacher thought she had narcolepsy or something. She’s a beauty right?”

Jack mumbled, “I think she’s cute.”

“Cute? You mean hot. Come on man.”

“I guess.” Jack, typical to his manner, wishwashily said.

“Too bad though…“ Andrew continued.

“What is?” Jack inquired.

“No one is allowed to get near her- at least guys anyways.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story, but just watch out.”

With the seating arrangements made for the first day of school, Andrew was away at the front of the classroom. Regardless of whether it was a curse or blessing, Jack found his seat at the opposite place in the far corner. In a way, it seemed almost romantic. Not a single soul could see what he was doing and whatever his hands were doing, he could easily hide it behind whoever was in front of him. All thanks to the AVR technology, it only gave him new, fantastic ways of escaping the humdrums of everyday life. The issue would be whether if the teacher could ever find out or he would be in the clear.

Nevertheless, the time to find out would be now. More importantly, there was no way of asking Andrew why exactly no one was supposed to get near Sleeping Beauty. Jack looked to his right- thanks be to the gods of whatever religion left managed to explain life on Mars, but someone destined for her to be there. A beautiful girl who was on the same route to school as he was, sat alone so he could get near her, and sat next to him in class. Could this really be some weird twist of fate after years of this tortuous existence with a metal pole? Could this be the beginning of his springtime of youth?

In all cases, it could have been- if her nickname didn’t define Andrea so literally. Even in the middle of class, she seemed to have been asleep. Jack wondered what her life was like outside of school- whether she was one of those extremely low-class families who barely make ends meet. He formulated an entire world about her- someone from a low-income family without any parents. Perhaps she was the eldest daughter from a giant family of kids with a crazed mafia debt-collector who continues to drain their very existences. In order to save herself and her family, she takes on constant late-night jobs to pay for the bills- and… sells her body? Maybe that’s what that neck thing is for. The mafia track her like a caged lab rat or something.

Jack shook himself of that thought. At this day and age, no one is that reckless- or stupid. Everyone’s personal medical diary is posted on a regular basis and there is no way someone is going to ignore that. At least as far as he knew, the world managed to solve most of its own issues. Still, he was curious about that part of the linker device that attached to the middle of her neck.

As he mired in his own inquiries, a surprisingly built man marched his way through the door. Jack wondered if this man would even fit. After a few seconds, an ID popped up above the man and read, †˜Paul Thompson, E.S’. As Jack continued to watch the ID card, the †˜E.S’ part turned into the words, †˜Education Specialist’ to signify that he was a teacher.

His voice boomed as he ordered, “Everybody settle down.” His headset glowed as he made a few motions on an invisible keyboard.

“I’m sure you all just ID’ed me,” Thompson commented as the number of notifications that streamed through his HUD suddenly soared, “I’m sending a roll call out. Send it back. If you don’t, you’re not here.”

Jack looked at Andrea. Was she really going to stay asleep even through roll call or was she going to magically wake up, then send it back. Jack was too preoccupied with wondering about Andrea to realize that there was a blinking neon yellow exclamation mark.

The teacher roared, “Jack Fletcher. Are you here?”

“Here!” Jack instinctively peeped. His back suddenly arched up and all of his possession spewed out like a notebook and textbook fountain. His heart wanted to pop out of his chest and hide in the bathroom as the teacher stared at him.

“Next time, make sure you send the roll call back.” Thompson said without batting an eye.

“Yes sir!” Jack shouted like a green soldier on the eve of beginning boot camp.
Everyone had a nice chuckle as the overall tense mood of the room was eased up by Jack’s almost purposeful screw-up. As Jack began picking up his books, someone in front of him helped him out. Jack looked up and instantly recognized him: cat-boy.

Cat-boy joked, “Great way to start the year.”

Jack smirked- not at the joke cat-boy made, but that he already screwed up once before the school year began. While superficially, it was like a smirk, in truth, it was more like a plea-for-help kind of deal.

With a cat-like grin he continued, “Jack Fletcher huh?”

As Jack nodded, cat-boy’s eyes widened, “You’re the one the scanned me huh?”

†˜Damn,’ Jack thought- another awkward position and another person finding out his identity. This was definitely not the ideal situation he thought he’d be in high school. The one good thing about scanning in public is that no one knows you scanned- and if you are caught for scanning it only means one thing: you were staring at them for no less than five seconds. While that might not seem like a big deal, if there is anything people want more of now, it would be privacy. It was just now common courtesy to not stare any longer than four seconds unless it was required- as in the case of Mr. Thompson. Jack looked into those curious eyes as he tried to explain himself.

Jack took a deep breath and instead of explaining, he blurted, “I wanted to make a friend so you were there and I kept staring at you because you look like a cat and you were playing a game like a cat, drinking like a cat, and acting like a cat, so I named you cat-boy.”

Jack sucked his own lip in and closed his eyes. As he heaved a sigh, he shook his head in disgust of himself. He only realized he basically kept calling Joshua a cat. He expected Joshua to turn away in a medley of shock, confusion, and a dash of animosity towards Jack. Who cares right? Jack had his own little island at least- and he could admire Sleeping Beauty over there.

“You’re interesting!” Joshua chuckled to himself and looked away as Mr. Thompson once again demanded everyone’s attention with a booming, “This is your homeroom. I will be covering 19th to 21st Century US History and Biology. You will alternate rooms every other day as indicated in your syllabus I just sent to you,” he said as he motioned a passing move to everyone. As Jack’s linker device “caught” Mr. Thompson’s paper, rooms were conveniently highlighted in red. “We have a lot to cover so let’s begin.”

Mr. Thompson pressed a button on the desk. The lights dimmed and a burst of light created a hologram displaying the year 2015 with the words †˜Generation I’ on it. While he seemed to go into detail of the first device, Jack’s attention was on Sleeping Beauty and more on, how on earth she sent her roll call sheet in if she were asleep. Once again, Jack speculated that the neck device was actually a way to do whatever she wanted- like bounce a roll call back. In truth, that wasn’t new, but took some amount of advanced AVR hacking ability. Not to mention it was both entirely difficult and completely illegal. Maybe the neck device acted as a quick-fix. Jack wondered if he could just begin playing video games at this point since all of this part of history is repeated from grade school through university.
As Jack listened to Mr. Thompson droning on and on about that revolutionary Generation V/VI moment where all AVR were attached to children, something was passed back from cat-boy- a piece of paper?

A little scared and a lot more confused, he wondered what the reason was for sending a piece of paper instead of a virtual mail back. Was it one of those love confessions that he heard so much about from his mom? Maybe it was an invitation to some secret cat society he didn’t want anyone to know about.

Jack carefully extracted each corner and read it: “The roll call installs a backdoor program to alert Mr. Thompson if we’re playing games or chatting. Let’s talk like this. They won’t know – Cat-boy”

Jack could barely keep in a smile- this was the only way to communicate in class now. There was a flurry of messages between the two. Joshua Sanchez, a.k.a. cat-boy introduced himself, said how he loved cats, loved everything about cats, and even drew pictures of cats on the messages that he sent Jack. Jack almost laughed out loud as he looked at fairly well-drawn comics of cats eating Mr. Thompson. Jack continued to look at Sleeping Beauty. As he found himself enamored in her beauty, another ID screen popped up above her head. Her entire life’s folder was out on display for him to see- and then he finally noticed it: cat-boy and Andrea were from the same school. He had to know more.

Jack sent a message: “What do you know about Andrea?”
Cat-boy: “Same middle school”
Jack: “I mean about her”
Cat-boy: “Called Sleeping Beauty in 8th Grade”
Jack: “Why?”
Cat-boy: “Look at her”

Jack was frustrated. He wanted to know- not only about her, but what that thing on her neck was. Cat-boy clearly knew a lot more than he seems to exude.

Jack: “What’s with her linker?”
Cat-boy: “The neck thing?”
Jack: “Yeah”
Cat-boy: “Idk, after the neck thing, she slept a lot”
Jack: “Why is no one supposed to get near her?”
Cat-boy: “Aurora Corporation”
Jack: “Giant weapons developer?”
Cat-boy: “Yeah. The CEO’s son, Zen Arius, has his paws on her”
Jack: “So?”
Cat-boy: “So? The last guy, Freddy, asked her out. Bad things happened”
Jack: “Like what?”
Cat-boy: “He lost his mind- crazy. People say Aurora has some sort of hacking weapon- just erases your mind- clean- nada, nothing.”
Jack: “That’s illegal!”
Cat-boy: “Aurora backed by the government”
Jack: “So. Andrea?”
Cat-boy: “Dad’s the VP- slave dog- wags tail at anything”

With the loudest boom Mr. Thompson shouted, “Alright you kids. That was just the overview. We’re going to go over each generation. Study your notes, read the book, and don’t screw up. You have ten minutes until the next class.” Kids in the class seemed to have enjoyed the first lesson. Jack looked up and saw what a holographic 3D image of remnants from a war.

As soon as Mr. Thompson finished speaking, the lights clicked on. Andrea suddenly popped up from the desk and stared at both Jack and cat-boy. She seemed to be in that same trance-like daze as she was before, except this time, her eyes slowly grew wider as if she suddenly realized something.

It was that look- something in those emerald eyes that left a nasty knot in Jack’s stomach. It was as if someone had grabbed both ends of his intestines and slowly choked the little sack of stomach until it hemorrhaged its innards. She frowned as she stared at him even more closely before looking away. Her breathing grew erratic as her nostrils flared up and her large chest heaved at every huff. Did she suddenly remember his odd confession to her? Is that why she gave such a disgusted look? Is it possible that this Sleeping Beauty considered him to be that poisonous apple?

A laundry list of worries and possibilities swam around his head as he always considered that worst case scenario situation. She suddenly stood up. Everyone turned to face her as the sound of her seat made a back-clenching screech. Her pale hands wavered a little as if she were too weak to even pull herself up. In a few seconds, everyone went back to what they were doing, but both Jack and cat-boy continued to watch. She faced the door and ripped her neck attachment off- at least now they knew it was an attachment. Without as so much as a squeak, her tiny body seemed to quake with every step she took out of the door.

Cat-boy’s flip was instantly switched. He quickly asked, “Wanna see where princess went?”

Jack, still trying to figure out what he just saw, nodded his head. He wasn’t sure what just happened, but it definitely wasn’t good.

Jack snuck around the corner. He had to keep his distance while cat-boy continued on ahead. Even though his cane was made out of new carbon-based lightweight material and muffled with a virtually weightless, dense foam, his cane managed to make a clacking sound on the carpet floor. His slow stumble made it hard to keep up with cat-boy, but luckily cat-boy always waited until he had caught up before continuing. He saw a digital timer that counted down how much time he had before class began again. Two minutes had passed- and there was no end in sight.

As he dragged his limp leg around, he wondered if it would be possible to catch up by bouncing on his cane like a crutch. As his left leg began burning from the sudden movement, he bitterly muttered whether it was worth pursing Andrea or going back. As far as he could remember, it had been ages since Jack had made any serious effort to exercise- or move for that matter. His nerveless right leg and his already underdeveloped left leg weren't exactly built for moving. He observed cat-boy’s long, slender body slunk around so smoothly. His ability to move so fluidly was something out of some sort of action comic or a spy movie. The light around them reflected off of his brown, but slightly golden eyes. His raven hair seemed to be kept short, but extended out of his head like some sort of Chia pet.

As he wandered around the halls, Jack still held onto the cable that Andrea had previously slammed onto her desk. As he continued through the increasingly labyrinth-like school, there was significantly less lighting available until everything was just pitch black. He could raise his own vision’s gamma, but in order to do so, he would have to order it- and that in of itself may be a bigger problem. He pushed through the darkness until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He muffled his own shout and saw a light shimmer of golden.

“Shh. They’re right there,” cat-boy whispered.

Jack held his cane up in the air and waddled up to cat-boy. Somewhere in the darkness, he heard the sound of Andrea’s voice- and another guy. As tempted as he was to look over, the five second rule remained. If he was detected, it would be pretty obvious that someone was spying on them. He closed his eyes, kept his breathing as soft as possible, and faced the other side of the wall.

The mysterious guy quipped, “Took you long enough. You disappointed me today.”

She screwed up- today? She was asleep- Jack thought to himself.

“You know what I want,” the guy continued.

Cat-boy handed Jack something- a mirror. He motioned to look through the mirror. Jack tried it out on cat-boy. He held his attention on him for that five second limit- and no ID popped up. Who was this guy? Something like this wouldn’t have even crossed his mind and there certainly was no reason why someone would try to find this out. As Jack watched the conversation unfold through the mirror, cat-boy whispered, “That’s Zen Arius.”

“I- you know how I feel. Can we just do that in net? I’m not ready.” Andrea struggled.

Andrea’s voice sounded like a gentle breeze whispering along, while Zen’s voice was more like that of a great leader or charismatic king. “Do you really think that matters?” He declared.

“You know what happens if you don’t right?” he continued.

Dejected and downtrodden, Andrea could barely peep out a meek, “Y- yes.”

Though lighting was absolutely horrendous and Jack could barely make out any facial features, he could tell Andrea was scared. She was shaking even more than before and wrapped her arms around her body. Her entire body was tensed up and she was slowly edging herself into a corner. Jack grew ever more curious as to what was about to happen and desperately wanted to look directly at them. Cat-boy’s eyes widened as he too grew just as curious as Jack. It was then that Jack realized what this entire encounter summed up to.

With a loud, metallic thwack, he saw Andrea being tossed at what sounded like lockers. Her entire body became stiff as a board as she remained in shock. Zen pinned her against the lockers and grabbed her neck forcefully.

“Not here- please-“ Andrea begged.

Zen scoffed, “Shut up.”

Andrea began whimpering. The sound of ripped clothes echoed in that small, dark room and joined alongside her silent cries for help.

†˜No,’ Jack thought, †˜I can’t let this happen.’

As he put the mirror down, cat-boy firmly grabbed his shoulder. He shook his head and explained, “You don’t want to get on his bad side. Trust me.”

Jack’s blood pumped rapidly through his body and centralized around his fist. He tried to calm himself down, but this- this could not pass. “I don’t care. I’ve led a shitty life since I was born. It got even shittier later on. The world can shit on me for all I care- but this… this can’t pass.” He resolved. Cat-boy sighed and shook his head. His grip loosened enough for Jack to shrug it off.

He resigned, “Your albatross.”

As Jack scuttled up, he saw a belt carelessly tossed onto the floor with a bra practically ripped to shreds as if a beast were let loose in the school. That beast was named Zen Arius. As Jack leaned on his cane, he stared at Zen. After a notification hit him, Zen immediately turned around and saw Jack standing there.

He demanded to know, “What are you doing here- Jack?”

Jack gave cat-boy a wayward look- now that he forced himself into this mess, Jack realized he had no idea as to what he was going to do after stopping Zen. While it would have logically made sense to give an excuse as or pretend to “happen” to come upon those two, logic wasn’t the first thing Jack had thought of, considering that Zen was clearly taller, stronger, and significantly more demanding. Jack panicked and his fight-or-flight reflexes kicked in, but only the first half of that.

Jack responded, “I’m here to stop you.”

“Stop me?” Zen laughed, “From what?”

Jack could see Andrea still trembling in the corner while covering her now bare breasts.

“I- uh…” Jack stammered.

“It’s against school policy,” cat-boy reassuringly said as he essentially saved Jack’s tail.

“You…“ Zen shouted with a tinge of worry.

Cat-boy smirked as he asked, “Wouldn’t it be bad publicity if, I don’t know, Arius’s son was found doing things like this? The media would have a field day.”

Zen glared at both cat-boy and Jack. Cat-boy stood there with his hands in his pockets. He finally arched his back up straight and suddenly grew a few inches. Zen shifted his look from cat-boy to Andrea and then to Jack. Jack stood there in a mix of his own amazement of his fearlessness and utter fear of Zen. Zen let go of Andrea, fixed his tie and walked toward cat-boy. As he passed by Jack, he whispered, “Watch it cripple. You’re on my shit list.”

He then looked at cat-boy and said, “Joshua- they say curiosity killed the cat.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you Aurora’s future CEO.”

As Zen walked away, cat-boy smiled, “Go help her Jack.” As he said that, cat-boy walked away right behind Zen.

“AVR Setting- Night Vision.”

Jack’s eyes began a bright green as his vision was readjusted for the darkness. He saw Andrea still cowering and wondering who Jack was.

“Are you okay?” Jack pressed.

Andrea looked into Jack’s glowing, green eyes. She gave a weak smile as she held onto Jack. Her body almost immediately gave out afterwards.