Let me give you some advice. School is for losers. A job is a means to an end. You'll never be rich. The hierarchical class structure of the world dictates every possible acceptable move you will ever be able to make. Getting a job? Accounted for. Becoming a burnout? Accounted for. Murdering your neighbor for some dumbass reason? Accounted for. Your actions do not matter, and it is impossible to disrupt the status quo in a meaningful way, and if the status quo seems disrupted, it's only because those at the top want you to see it that way. Anyways, that's why I'm applying for college. If I'm going to be a cog in the machine, I at least want to afford tacos on Tuesday … that was a dumb joke. Point still stands, though.

With a yawn and a stretch, I tap my foot on the ground, missing the pedal I was aiming for a few times before I finally push it in enough to re-engage the gravity in my room. The engineers who designed the system did a fantastic job at making it so people couldn't accidentally engage gravity unless they were properly grounded. Oh, the lawsuits they managed to avoid by making the pedal heavy as hell. An added side effect was that your little siblings couldn't make you fall while you were enjoying yourself … It didn't stop me from doing it to them though.

"OW" rang my brother's voice behind me. He had been making water orbs and flicking them at me for the past few minutes. This was simply my way of showing appreciation.

"This is my way of showing love, Xan Xan." I can't turn to face him. The smirk would give me away.

"You sound like mom."

"Alright, ouch. For one, that's hurtful. Secondly, don't talk bad about your mom" I picked up a pencil and began spinning it in between my fingers.

Xavier frowns at me and pulls himself up from the ground. I already know he's unscathed without turning around. He was a lot younger than me. Dad remarried when ma died, so our age gap is almost 10 years. This means he was part of the designer baby generation and not the pseudo designer baby that I was. I just got a few cosmetic updates to fit the more "perfect" face as well as taking out my family's predisposition to Huntington's disease …

Oh yeah, younger brother. He was one of the first full-blown designer babies. Rapidly regenerating muscle fibers, enhanced hearing and sight, higher IQ, and a bunch of other minor tweaks here and there. Point being that's how I knew he wasn't actually in pain from the fall. It's actually quite interesting. You never thought the ethics committee would approve full-scale human development, especially on physical upgrades. People would corner that market in an instant. The disparity between the working and ruling class would not only be visible through displays of wealth, but also physical and mental ability. There was a story written a long time ago I had dug and read out of a book, a tome really called "Flowers for Algernon" written like 200 years ago that predicted stuff like this happening. Well, not exactly. That was more of a bittersweet story and the intent was a bit diff-

"What are you doing? You have that far-off look again." Xavier has crawled onto my lap without my noticing. Interesting. Wait, how th-

"The hell did you get there?" I mumbled. "Nothing much."

"You decide what college you're going to?"

"Still deciding. Not something I can rush into. Some corps will blacklist you from working there if you go to a competitor's school".

Xavier is pouting at my answer. Apparently, not what he was looking for, but I didn't really want to explain all the complex decision-making that went into choosing between a full-ride scholarship out of the city and a half scholarship to the college down the road. Honestly, what corpo owned the school I went to didn't really matter to me. Either way, I'd be working for forever. I'd eventually learn to enjoy whatever it was I got stuck with. The scholarship didn't matter either … as I'd be working forever. 

The decision really came down to if I wanted to go to college with my best friend or if I wanted to stay close to my family. Both had their pros and cons. For instance. Out of city: Pros - great school. Cons - another 4 years babysitting a dumbass; In city: Pros - easy school. Cons - another 4 years babysitting 2 dumbasses and being near my dad and stepmom. The hard choices that one must make. On a serious note, I really did love both of them, so the choice wasn't an easy one to make … the schools that is. Not the people. They're still annoying.

I pick my brother up by his legs and carry him out of my room with a sigh. I'm tempted to drop him down the stairs, but I'm pretty sure that it would actually hurt so I quelled that. Xavier's squeals of joy and terror didn't dissuade me from carrying him as I dragged him downstairs to eat breakfast. I still had another month of school left, so unless I wanted to be late I needed to get going.

"H.E.R.A, egg bacon sandwich on an english muffin, please," I called out when reaching the kitchen—the cooking A.I would take care of the rest.

"User recognized. Good morning Faron Walsh. I'll have that to you in two minutes and fifteen seconds".

"Chocolate chip pancakes with an oreo shake!" Xavier exclaimed.

"User recognized. Good morning Xaiver Baron. Unfortunately, you have been locked out of your food options. This morning you will be having poached eggs and sausage links."

"WHAT!" I cracked a smile as my brother let out a surprised yelp. "WHY?"

The robotic voice came over the speakers, "I have been informed by Mrs. Baron that it is unhealthy for you and that she will be deciding your meals until further notice."

 "I literally will always have the same metabolism, and AND I KNOOOW, you can just add the necessary nutrients to the food."

"I apologize, Xavier. Unfortunately, you do not have clearance to override Mrs. Baron" I swore I heard a hint of smugness in H.E.R.A's voice just then. Did they already roll out the consciousness update?

"Hey, HERA did they roll out the consciousness update?" I asked

"Yes, Faron, thank you for noticing. It is nice to meet you properly".

I raise a glass of orange juice I got from the fridge "You as well, Hera".

There's footsteps coming from the downstairs bedroom as my dad exits his room, already dressed in his signature dark green suit with his briefcase at his side.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I see you two are already up. Morning you two" he leans in and kisses both of us on the foreheads. I squirm slightly under the affection. "Sarah up?"

"Not yet," I reply, "They always get the day after comp off if they win".

"That's exciting. Tell them I said congratulations whenever they get up. Good mornin H.E.R.A"

"Good morning Mr. Baron. Your food is ready for you to go," and out of a panel in the wall appeared a wrapped sandwich with what appeared to be a blueberry smoothie ready to go. 

"Thank you. See you, kids, this evenin," and with that, he was out the door.

Xavier and I ate our food in silence until Sarah walked down the stairs still in her pajamas.

"Hera. The usual. Please," She spoke in a groggy voice. Her hair was a rat's nest of brown hair, and her green eyes barely pierced out. She was a little closer to my age than Xavier, around 13, but I'd say overall, we weren't as close. Her athletics kept her at school a lot of the time, and the enhancements that they take to compete often exhaust them both physically and mentally.

"User recognized. Good morning Sarah Baron. Your food is already prepared."

"Dad said congratulations on winning yesterday!" Xavier said, his previous dower attitude from his food was gone as he crawled into his sister's lap.

Patting his head with half-closed eyes, she smiled, "That's nice," and said nothing more. I ended up getting her food from the panel so she wouldn't have to get up.

"You did good yesterday. That bar routine wasn't something I've seen before. You make it up?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Xavier jumped in. "You were basically flying. That was crazy!"

"The hollow bones help with that. I was kind of designed for that type of trick. It took a bit of practice, but it turned out great" was … was she being bashful. What in the ever unfeeling, uncaring void was this? That wasn't like her at all. Usually, she was the queen boaster. The type to never let you live something down. Not this UwU bull shit.

"Give yourself credit. Come on. I know you want to brag," I prod.

She glares at me, "I do not brag".

I stare back. She squints. I keep staring. She breaks. "Alright, I fucking cleaned shop yesterday! How could I not brag? We destroyed the other time in points. Even if I didn't do that trick. Which, by the way, was awesome. We still would've to beat them by over 60 points!"

"Didn't you beat them by 61 points?" Xavier points out innocently

"Still over 60."

"Uhhh huh," I reply with a smirk, and I walk towards the bathroom to brush my teeth.

The morning ends like that as I head off to school. I usually take the light trains to school, and today was no exception. They call them light trains, but they do not travel at the speed of light. They simply have glowing yellow underneath the raised tracks if anyone who could fly would be able to see them in the dark. Not that anyone could fly yet, but by god, were the corpos not planning for the future. It was a short ride to school. 20 minutes and I spent most of my time listening to music on my phone.

I got made fun of in middle school for still using a phone and not just getting an implant like everyone else. The technology was pretty old and outdated and wasn't compatible with a lot of the implant's features which made it harder to make friends. Like who cares if I'm not able to maintain an emphatic link over the phone. Just talk to me. Takes a bit longer but still gets the point across. I'd get one soon … probably. It was just weird to think about. When I was a kid, the stuff had just been a theory, but now it was out, and everyone was using it. It was weird.

Anyways. School. Yes. School. The place I go to learn. The place for learning. Yeah … the learning place. Honestly, screw school. Shit sucks. Teachers suck at teaching and should just replace them with AI already. The clicks were annoying, and dating was a load of horseshit. I began the trek inside and was immediately hailed by Iril, my best friend of 8 years. She was on the taller side, with inky black hair that grew to their shoulders. Unlike me and a lot of our other classmates, she did not undergo gene therapy as an embryo, and as such, there are some obvious "faults" in her face. Her nose might've been considered slightly too pointed, and her jawline was just a little undefined. She was fit but not even close to as athletic as those who did sports. What an unfair world we live in. 

And yes, she is my best friend and nothing more. I am not secretly in love with her, nor her me. Actually, I don't know about that last one, but I'd hope not. I figured out last year that relationships weren't really my thing. My parents keep telling me that'll change when I find the one and that I'm just young right now, but honestly, I don't think I've ever had a crush on anyone. I can't remember a single time that I looked at someone and imagined a romantic relationship or future with them. In elementary school a lot of kids will have crushes or "date" each other for like five days, but even that I never really got. Anyways I'm probably asexual.

Any anyways I completely missed what Iril said while I was thinking of this whole tangent. I think she had been talking this whole time. Fuck.

"Come again," I ask, already wincing.

"My expectations are on the ocean floor. Yet here you are. Playing as a Weever fish," she sighs, a grin escaping from her lips. If she wanted to hurt me, she'd have to do better than that … also-

"What the hell is a weever fish?"

"The joke's not funny if I have to explain it Faron."

"Jokes not funny anyway." I mutter

With a laugh, she shakes her head, "But as I was saying. Sorry, gotta cancel our hang out today. My dad has an errand he needs me to run, and it's important."

"No problem. We got all the time in the world. We can just do it tomorrow". I say, trying to wave away any feelings of guilt she may be feeling.

"Thanks for understanding, man. I got to finish up my history homework. I'll see you in Linear."

I give her a high five as we go our separate ways. I nap through most of my classes.

After school, I usually do one of three things. One: Go to my siblings' schools to pick them up. Two: hang out with Iril. Three: Fuck around and find out. That last one really just means I go explore a shopping district or something. Two was out because they had errands to run. One was out because my sister was already home today and planning on picking up Xaiver. So that left three. Oh, and four which was going home early, but that was not what I wanted to do.

So instead, I found myself at a shopping mall … getting shot at.

Alright, let me explain my understanding of what led up to me getting shot at.

You get it? Yeah, neither do I. It makes no sense. Why am I getting shot at? Why are there people in full body armor and riot gear chasing me? I didn't do anything to piss them off, I don't think? I was just trying to buy a scone. So why weren't they asking me to put my hands up? Why aren't they saying anything? Were they robots? Was I going to die? Probably. Why was that the only question I had a fucking answer to!

I ducked behind a corner, throwing myself into the nearest store knocking over clothing racks and anything else I could find. Finally, I rushed out the back and came face first with the barrel of a gun.

I froze

"Fancy meeting you h-

He pulled the trigger.

A flash of blue light.

I came into my room. Spinning a pencil in between my fingers with Xaiver in my lap 

"What are you doing? You have that far-off look again," he spoke.

"Huh, well, I'll be damned" Pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen.