26: IMPERFECT FACADE
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5:37 P.M. // 10 - 25 - 2023 // ???
Starring Reyenal Ato
Featuring Cedrance Manamune and Gwen Olynn
//
“Did you… even get a driver’s license yet?” Cedrance gave me a weird look as I glanced back down at the GPS. The forest ahead of us seemed unending going back as it was going in.
“Nah,” I responded nonchalantly, and said nothing more.
“How do you know how to drive?”
He didn’t have to know that I used to drive all the time to school. Also, it was way too quiet in the car. “You guys okay with some music?” I ignored his question.
I glanced at the rearview mirror to the passenger seat, and seeing Gwen staring vacantly into the other window I quickly grew uninterested. The humming of the engine, the leisurely pace of the car bumping over things on the road, the setting sun ahead. It was quite peaceful for the first time in a while. “Can I take that as a yes?”
Over to my right, Cedrance was sitting straight up, hands on his laps, his head not even resting on the back of the chair for some reason. With his eyes pointed straight ahead, he looked very stiff. I rolled my own eyes and tapped the hologram watch, swiping away the GPS which then floated into a green bar at the top of the screen. Recently I had learned that I could change the theme color of the hologram like one could with a phone; now it was now dark grey, the perfect resting color, and a wallpaper of my current favorite K-Pop male idol group in this world, Azurose. My soul eased as I brought my gaze upon them one by one for five in total.
A sigh of happiness left me.
I swiped again onto the next page and opened an app folder. Part of my past time besides drinking boba was creating good Spotify playlists. The sound of air conditioning, the warmth it brought throughout me, I reached into the cupholder beside me and brought the cup to my mouth, taking a long sip of the cooling Watermelon Green Tea. Then I tapped onto the watch interface and opened the Spotify app. Tap, tap, tap, scroll, tap, I opened the one titled ‘socially ACCEPTABLE music’ and chuckled mildly at the name. After checking for the audio’s connection to the car, I pressed play.
…
Chords of guitar strums filled the car, tickling the back of my ear, and I closed my eyes for a second as we entered into a relatively empty plains. “Reyenal, why can’t you just teleport us like earlier?” I turned my head to Cedrance slightly, still in my happy zone as the light and slow thumping beats of the song kept the rest of my attention in blank unfocus.
“I’d hate to break it to you.”
The sun was setting below the trees ahead, and the little grey crystal resting against the window on Cedrance’s side shimmered and flickered before fading back into its dull state. I reached over and flicked his forehead, then pointed to the Travel Shard. “Idiot. See that right there? What does it look like to you?”
His eyebrows moved together as he frowned looking back at me, a very annoyed face; his hand reached for the spot I had flicked at him which made me realize what I had done.
“But you’ve kept me in the dark.”
“Ahh, my bad, my bad bro.”
I tried to smile it off, but he only gave me a funny look. “Reyenal… why are you helping me?”
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‘Reyenal Ato’ has been completed the following action:
[Baffle Cedrance Manamune]
Results: Cedrance’s hostility is temporarily stifled, but his suspicion rises. He has noticed a change in Reyenal’s personality and attitude.
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“Too long you’ve never told me…”
It was my turn to be temporarily baffled.
“The reason for why you cry.”
Then my eyes slowly shifted back onto the bumpy, unpaved road, one riddled with cracks and stones and other foliage, the smile gone. A breath of cool air left briskly, and I inhaled sharply through my flared nostrils.
“Please, say anything, I’m listening to you, so…”
The next words that escaped my mouth were not mine. “Is it wrong for me to do what I want?” Neither the apathy nor the clipped words were how I spoke, nor the mildly sharp way that was pointed into Cedrance. “Don’t be mistaken. I still don’t like you. Yet you question the one time I feel generous.”
“Tell me… what is the point of this mys-te-ry, if the world just goes on by… anyways.”
“So why do you hold back your words? I see just the smallest bitter smile.”
“Secrets we’ve kept, memories we’ve made.”
“Don’t tell me they were mistakes.”
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Cedrance’s displeasure towards you rises.
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The wind began to blow, as did all of the tall grasses around, and the leaves in the distant trees. Like magic the fall fallings were lifted into the air piece by piece. I returned the screen to navigation, my body returned to me.
“So you haven’t changed,” he said finally.
No response came to me, so I said nothing. The music kept on playing as we neared the next patch of trees ahead. It was neither calming nor overbearing, simply noises in my head.
“‘Don’t want you, don’t need you’, I don’t even know what you’re trying to say.”
“‘Come closer, stay away’, give me a break!”
“Say something that makes sense!”
“How in the world did we get so lost, I see it’s a loss!”
“Show me it all, the burdens you keep from me.”
“Oh, tell me more, want to know more!”
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2:01 P.M. // 10 - 27 - 2023 // Arc - E-Wing, Multipurpose Lecture Hall
Starring Kali Lapuz
Featuring Zendolyn Ato and Regan Yglesias
//
“Remember, your essay on Common Thievery Tactics is due Monday,” the professor called out over the rustling of backpacks being stuffed with papers and laptops. I swiped away the watch hologram and pushed the highlighter back into the pencil case. Zipping it up I threw it into the open backpack lying by my left foot, and then put in the large textbook which closed with a soft thud. “We’ll be returning to the Criminology room when we next meet. Check the Arc app for the reminders. See you guys later!”
Professor Thimes closed her own textbook, and for the millionth time I witnessed the book float into the air and neatly land inside of her bag. A useful ability for someone who worked in Forensics, being able to move things around without dirtying the scene. The problem was that this lady in particular was overzealous with her ability, which ticked me off mostly because part of her constant demonstrations was the fact that she used the textbook for everything. Then she left the room, followed by a couple more faster packer-uppers.
I didn’t like this teacher.
Throwing the backpack over my shoulder and stumbling sideways under its weight as I stood up, a groan escaped my mouth.
But damn was she hard.
Beside me Jessica or whatever her name was huffed. I glanced over, and saw the slight folds beneath her eyes. She was just as exhausted as I was. “Kali, where are you going next?”
“Oh,” I tried to say, but my throat gurgled with mucus, which I swiftly grunted out. “Umm, I’m going to the gym after this. Where are you going?”
“Dude,” she said, walking behind me as we began descending the steps. The girl was tailing behind me and was, I felt, way too close. “Library. F***, I need to get this essay over with. I have so many random quizzes to study for, and like, homework in every course, bro…”
“Aren’t we just doing trig or something?”
“Yeah, but like,” she sighed with an exasperated and exaggerated kind of tone, “man I’m just 15, I should be taking regular old electives, and instead I already got all this majoring and minoring bull… bullshipoodles!”
I let out a small laugh of pity and nodded my head, stopping behind another guy as the traffic of students clogged the passage of movement to the door. “Girl, you’re so relatable for that. I guess Arc is just built different. Homework for days, and everything is hard.” I half-sobbed and she returned it with a wheeze.
She wasn’t entirely off, as Arc still mostly followed an average high school schedule: mandatory homeroom in the morning for basic history, mathematics, and English all combined together, a break, and then the schedule could vary from there. An elective class that could technically be considered a major or minor, clubs, sports, an extended break, literally anything. Then there was lunch. Glorious lunch. And after lunch, there was another elective, break, school event, club, blah blah. Finally there was mandatory physical training with the homeroom class. Of course, it could all change on a dime just like it did during practical exams week.
Usually schedules were pretty manageable and sometimes even light; in my situation, where Kali had opted for Criminology 101 and an advanced Biology class before I was shoved into her world and body, there wasn’t much room for break. The Hiking Club was Regan’s choice.
“You sure you don’t want to come with me? You’re like, really smart,” Jessica eyed me for a second, and then back to her watch as if she hadn’t just been staring at my hair. “Emily said she’s coming too.”
A frown. “Wait, I didn’t know you had her number. How did you guys meet?”
“Oh, one of my friends invited me to the Criminology group chat,” she replied nonchalantly.
My eyebrow raised. “There’s a Criminology chat?! I’m not in that group chat. Oi, add me. Add me to the chat!”
As we finished talking the line finally got out of the building, and then we waved each other off as we exited. The sun was still high in the sky as I walked over to the gym; I had declined Jessica’s offer to go to the library. I honestly didn’t even like her nor Emily too much anyways.
From the many other buildings, students began flooding out of their classes, a few I recognized but most I didn’t care for. The noise all around was growing with talk and laughter, friends pushing each other sarcastically, boys and girls holding hands, drooping expressions, louder and louder until the silent school was alive again. Today was a Friday. I sighed wearily, no one to talk to, life was boring. So I started reviewing my in-class notes.
The watch hologram came to life in front of me, opened to the Criminology group chat I had just been added to. With no interest for it I switched the app to the Arc app, and then pressed around until I found my class homepage.
[Reminder: “Your essay on Common Thievery Tactics is due Monday. Prompt: Research and argue your case on the most effective way to rob a bank. Consider Risk and Reward. Provide evidence from credible sources and reports of real cases. Have a good weekend.”]
Cursing, I swiped at the screen and it sputtered off. All the people walking by me paid me no notice. To my right a door opened as someone walked in, and the smell of chlorine hit my nose. I scrunched my face hearing the sound of a giant splash, and looked beyond the fence to the four girls jumping into the gigantic pool one after the other. One of them screamed as the other immediately began to chase after them, swimming in beautiful butterfly strokes that could impress the likes of professional athletes.
My eyes strayed away to the two guys, tall and fit, crossing by, and lingered for a second too long as they realized I was staring at them. The one on the left waved, and I felt a small blush grow on my cheeks as I waved back, and then kept going. The gym was only a few steps away. Oh hell no, that was embarrassing. I pushed away a strand of hair over my ear and brought it to the top of my loose bun. Yep, greasy. How was their hair so nice?
I needed to work on my appearance.
Another person brushed by my shoulder from behind as he turned sideways to fit in between myself and a large and loud group of students, and I momentarily glanced at him.
Oily black hair mostly hidden beneath a grey cap with an unreadable logo, tinged white at the edges that peaked out, like damn was that all dandruff on those tips? Dark circles beneath his eyes, a grey T-shirt over a black long sleeve skin tight shirt, baggy jeans, Airpods in his ears. His backpack was a basic black with some frayed spots and some random brown stains on the bottom. He was fairly good looking, but in a much more reserved and less obvious way, and measured to barely half of the guys from earlier. He also needed to work on his appeara—wait a goddamn second, was that “Zen?”
The boy was caught off guard by his own name and froze, and someone bumped into him. He quickly took a step backwards and apologized awkwardly, waving his hands in the ‘no, it’s okay’ motion, and then sheepishly made eye contact with me as the girl rolled her eyes and left. A look of recognition flashed over his face, and he swiped at his shirt, conscious of his shabby appearance.
“Kali?”
A little smile crept across my face. “I never thought I’d see you outside of work. You going to the gym, too?”
Zen nodded, “Yeah, it’s upper body for me today.”
“No really? Same! Wanna spot for each other, then?”
He looked down at his watch, and tapped something. “Sure, but I’m not that strong. Let’s go inside, I’m gonna get changed.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
…
“Woah, man,” I said with a sort of awe and pity, “you weren’t kidding when you said that, huh?” My hands relaxed from the bar as he pulled himself out, sitting tiredly on the edge. This kid’s reps were 5 pound plates on either side of the iron bar for 30 pounds in total.
“Yep,” Zen managed, and then stood to walk around me for his bag. He pulled a water bottle out and took a long swig.
“It’s my turn now,” I said, scooting in towards the bar. “Can you switch out the plates for 15’s?”
Zen sighed as he lowered the bottle from his lips. “Alright.”
I was starting to notice a speech pattern. “You definitely gotta work on your chest and shoulders, Zen. Didn’t you say one time you were a crossbow user?”
He looked at me as he was toting over two 15 pound plates. Replacing them quickly, he said, “Yeah. That’s my weakest area. How about you?”
“Abs. I literally can’t do a plank without collapsing after a minute.”
“Hah,” Zen shook his head. “That’s probably my strongest. I can’t do anything except planks. I’m like a toothpick.”
Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around. “Yeah, and I’m kind of like a—HOLY S***!”
“Look who I found!” Regan hooted, looking as happy as ever. “You were working out and you didn’t even tell me? Oh, and who are you?” She looked behind me to Zen, who’s emotionless face hadn’t changed ever since I began talking to him.
“Hi,” his head tilted a little, “I’m just Kali’s coworker and spotting buddy.”
“Oh, wait, I think I’ve seen you before, then?” She thoughtfully scratched her head for a second, and then gave up on remembering. “Anyways, can I take her for a second?”
He shrugged easily. “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Zen put the water bottle back into his backpack, and then slinging it over his shoulder he simply left without a word to me, or even a glance back.
“That was Zen, right?” I returned my attention to her.
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“When he said that he was your coworker, it was kinda obvious who he was.” She sniffed. “He’s kinda rude.”
“For real,” I agreed with her, but only to a partial extent. “Maybe he’s a shut-in of something?”
Regan harrumphed childishly and puffed out her cheeks. “Kali, you still haven’t said anything yet, ya know, about why you didn’t tell me?”
I scoffed. “You found me anyways. What’s school like for you, now? You know, adjusting to new classes and all that, now that you’ve… well, Awakened?”
She blinked, and her smile faltered. “So you’re telling me you haven’t read the giant, like, article, that I wrote to you?”
“Hmm?” I tried not to show anything on my face. “Oh, did you? Sorry, Regan, all the homework’s been getting to my head.”
“You know you can tell me about it then, right?” Her face was worried now, that unfaltering positivity of hers cracking. “Or maybe texting me at all?”
The look she was giving me hurt.
“You talk less than before,” she continued, “and also you haven’t visited me for two days. Be real with me. Are you okay?”
I could only look at my feet.
“Is it because of me?”