JESSICA : N/A

HOUR -9 : 7:00, MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2122

RICHMOND 1 : HOME 1 : THAT DAY

So the Immortalia Online beta was kind of a shitshow. Not much of anything content-wise to do, or see, or be. But hey… It was a beta. What could I have possibly expected? More than I got, as it turned out. But the full game would be out in less than twelve hours.

When the VRMMORPG finally went live at noon tomorrow, we’d all see what Actendonysoft really had in store for us. Or I guess today, technically, I guess. On 4/20, of course. It was supposedly ready months ago. But, as they said in the delay announcement, they were just classy like that.

With long-repressed thoughts of that whole shitshow of a press conference fresh in my mind, I shut my laptop. Throwing it into my backpack, I got to bed nice and early at just 4 AM. The sun wasn’t even out yet. But I knew I needed to get more than my usual sleep. Big day tomorrow, after all.

And then there’s a button. Nothing else to do in the skate park, Jessica presses it.

She hears the kind of heavy, echoing switch sound that only ever happens in movies. That’s how she knows it’s real.

Once the lights dim, many voices begin emanating from the still-black projection in turn. They start off staggered, but quickly devolve to all just talking over each other.

“Unfathomable enemies!”

“Labyrinthine puzzles!”

“And do you like classes? Oh, we’ve got classes! More than you can shake a stick at.”

“You can actually build your own… Character in this game.”

“That’s right, there’s, there’s a number of different races to choose from. You can be a dwarf, you can be an elf, you can be a half-orc, a human! Ri-it’s, it’s kind of whatever you wanna do.”

“And some people are going to look at that and go ‘Ooh, I’m gonna get really serious with my character’.”

“And, the graphics. That’s really what it’s all about and uh-”

Before she can deny that she knows she’s trying to make herself accept the truth any further, Jessica Simmons trips over a pipe.

Falling over, I woke up, as usual, to the sight of the picture. The picture in the frame. The one on my desk. The desk next to-

“JESS, BREAKFAST TIME!!!” The voice of the asshole in the picture echoed through the paper-thin walls, despite my closed bedroom door.

Grumbling, I lopsidedly rolled myself out of bed while yelling back to the jerk in the picture. “Oh shut up, you fucking Lice Host!”

James called back after a few seconds of stunned silence. “Woah. I mean like… What?”

I grinned, blushed, but didn’t answer.

He followed up first. “That was a good one! Did you just think of it?”

Having gone to bed fully dressed for today, I shouldered my backpack and left my room. “Last night. I was just waiting for you to be a dick so I could use it.”

James seemed disappointed for some reason as I entered the kitchen. “Well, it’s a good one no matter when you thought of it. Cuts deep, you know? ‘Lice host’… My sister diminished my status to lower than that of a scalp parasite… How should I take that?”

I smirked. “Like a dick?”

He burst into laughter. It doesn’t take long for it to become clear just how sarcastically he’s doing that.

I started to eat the vaunted breakfast he made me get out of bed for. Untoasted bread and an apple. “Oh shut up, James.”

James mimed wiping tears away from his eyes. “Aren’t you too old to be calling me that?”

“Don’t you have too long of a dick to be calling me ‘Jess’?”

He put a gloved open palm to his mouth. “Are you picking today to reveal your tsundere nature?”

I froze mid-bite. “How do you know that word? I mean you’re using it wrong. But how do you even know that combination of sounds?”

He slumped out of his shit-eating grin. “Isn’t that the ‘little sister’ thing?”

“No.”

“Then what’s that called?”

“You’re asking me?”

James just blinked at that.

And happy day, I thought of something to add before he did. “Are you picking today to reveal your incestuous pedophile nature?”

James’ shock turned far more genuine.

Now it was my grin’s turn to eat shit. “That’s how you fucking do it.”

Finally, something penetrated his fugue state at how awesome my comeback was. “What have I told you about that word?”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Tsundere? That it meant you wanted to take our relationship further than just siblings?”

“Shut up. You know what I mean.”

“I just glared at him.”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

Of course I knew. Who didn’t? “Oh fuck you, is this about BFS again?”

James slammed his hands on the table. “OF COURSE THIS IS ABOUT BFS AGAIN!!! Just because I put up with you watching anime, doesn’t mean I’m going to tolerate you parading around with a swastika on your arm.”

Of course, I knew exactly what he was talking about. “James… What, the fuck, are you talking about?” On the off-chance he was bluffing…

He folded his arms. “You really expect me to believe you don’t see the parallel? You?”

Fuck. “Fuck…”

“That’s not an apology.”

“Who said I was apologizing?”

“It was implied by you losing the argument.”

My ass. BFS was almost entirely out of living memory. And my own generation was born not only post-collapse, but post-recovery. Even the people who used to conjure him to be assholes, moved on to other, hotter buttons long ago.

And now, ‘fuck’ was just that weird thing people used to say sometimes that meant both a lot of things, and nothing at once. A word relegated to old people’s memories of what even older people used to say on one of those pre-collapse TVs. The ones that were just big screens you had to plug other stuff into. And so, not unlike those TVs, ‘fuck’ had entered the realm of cultural obscurity populated by the likes of ‘Consarnit’ and ‘23 Skidoo’. But something about it just resonated with me.

That was why I decided long ago to claim it. This would be my thing. The one nerdy personality quirk I would allow myself to indulge in. I figured that was my limit to still otherwise fit in at high school without attracting a bunch of bullshit from anyone with anything to prove.

Remembering my special eccentricity for today, I strapped on a belt with three balls. Each was red on the top, white on the bottom, with a silver button in the middle, all separated from each other by a horizontal black outline. Having thought of a way to summarize my feelings on the matter, I looked dismissively back at James. “Fuck you though. That trumps your thing.”

“Oh, don’t you start using that word too.”

I adopted a thoughtful expression, trying to hide the fact that I’d just made him accept as a compromise, the only thing I actually wanted. “Ok, so what’s the plan for today again?” And just like that, my plan was complete, permission accomplished, bait set, nothing left but to see if he’d bite…

Taking on a serious, even cold expression, he gobbled it right up like a sucker. “Jess, we don’t have time for this. Did you pack your stuff?”

“Yep.”

“Everything you want to keep?”

“Don’t rub it in.”

“Ok, great. So I need you to take that, go to school-”

“But why can’t I just come along? I can help.” And also, fuck school.

“You are helping. We’ve been over this. You’re my distraction. Anyone who gets suspicious will quickly find you, and see that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, like any other day. It’s an important role. The fact that it keeps you out of danger is wildly besides the point.”

“I can help from school. Just take one of the spider-bots you gave me for my birthday last year and-”

“NO. And if I even thought for a second that you’d modify them like that, I would’ve never bought them… For… Jess, open those pokéball things. I know they’re hollow.”

I smirked as wryly as I ever had to anyone but Thomas as I opened them. All empty.

Narrowing his eyes, he grumbled out a resignation at finding my stash right now. “Do you have your classes for today?”

“What? They’re the same as they are every Monday. How do you think school works?”

“Then do that. Go to class, go to lunch, go to recess, I don’t care what your normal thing is. Just do it.”

I sulked.

He didn’t care. “Then, AFTER school’s been out for exactly fifteen minutes, go around to the back parking lot and request a Rydeshare to Charlie’s. I’m paying extra to have one on standby for your account all day, so you’ll be on your way less than ten minutes later or my money back. When you get to Charlie’s, stay there. That’s exactly as much, and as little, as I need you to do until I arrive. Understood?”

I sighed, trying to think of literally anything to egg him on with. “Charlie’s is a bar, right? I’m underage. What if she kicks me out?”

James eventually replied after silently staring at me like I was stupid. “…Don’t be stupid. Now, in your own words, what will you do today?”

“Go to school, go to Charlie’s, go to bed apparently like the little baby I am who can’t even take care of-”

“Correct. And if you see a middle-aged blonde guy with a mustache, you..?”

“Run?”

“Good girl. If Mikey gets suspicious, he might go after you to get to me. And if he does that, it means your distraction is already compromised. So if you see him at any point, get away and call the Rydeshare immediately.”

“I don’t know about that. Wouldn’t rolling be a better way to outrun him?”

“Wouldn’t not bringing up your figure be a better way to avoid the sore subject?”

I tried to shrug away how much it really did bother me. “It always comes up anyway. Besides, it’s one of the kinder bits of ammo people tend to fire when they want to hurt my feelings.”

“That’ll happen when you go around being a prickly asshole on purpose to keep people from getting close enough to betray you.”

Oh fuck, I didn’t realize I was that transparent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just not special enough for anything positive to be worth mentioning.”

He eyed my pokéballs with skepticism. “You sure about that?”

“Accessories don’t count.”

“What about the fact that you can read in your sleep?”

“Come again?”

“Do you deny these allegations?”

“What? That I can read in my sleep? No. I mean yes. If I’m asleep, then my eyes are closed. So of course I can’t read.”

James shook his head. “When you’re dreaming, smartass. Can you read in your dreams?”

I felt my eyebrows climb my forehead. “I… Don’t know? I can’t remember ever reading anything. But I also can’t…” Wait. “Actually, I think I read something on the board in a class I was naked during. But my literacy obviously wasn’t in the forefront of my mind at the time, so I didn’t look into it. Why?”

James nodded smugly. “Well, less than 1% of people can do that. So you’re special.”

“Then how did you know I could do it?”

“Because I know you’re special, dummy.”

I… Wasn’t sure what to say to that. Such a weird thing to call me out on. And I couldn’t exactly argue with his point. I couldn’t even get past how weird it was for him to even bring up. Before it got more awkward, or he could remember what I made him agree to, I grabbed my shit and set out. Operation Normal Day was a go.

With a stern expression and purposeful step, I walked to school. Same as always. No one talked to me. Same as always. What wasn’t the same was my pit stop to populate the Pokéballs with the little spider toys I hid in the last place anyone expected. In the unused locker next to the only one that was supposed to be mine. Never mind the rest of it, just having these here risked expulsion.

Somehow, I already knew it would be one of the safer risks I took today.