The sun's gentle rays against my eyes woke me up. Like a doll, the robot girl sat completely motionless. But now there was a pulse and my monitor was displaying her BIOS after requesting a diagnostic scan. I answered each automated question. Her eyes changed colors and after answering the questions, they settled on blue. According to the manual, blue meant repairing. After a few moments, my monitor displayed an estimated time for repairs.

My alarm went off, scrambling to my backpack, gathering my things, glancing back at the girl, then at my alarm clock. Having to choose school. barely catching the bus and made my way towards the back. As I entered, all eyes turned to me with accusatory stares, as if I had committed a crime. Their eyes burned from the relentless glare. Even my friend turned away. He read the confusion on my face and finally snapped, You're helping a robot! Do you have any idea what those things did to us during the war?

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In all the excitement, I had forgotten that my friend had lost his father to a robot. His reaction was not unwarranted and for a few minutes, we just looked into each other's eyes, not saying a word, exchanging looks of frustration and understanding. His eyes raged with hatred. To him, it felt like a betrayal.

When we arrived at school, like a cruel joke, the professor was teaching about the war. My heart sank, and so did my head.