CHAPTER NINE

Bodyguard

“Wake up, sleepyhead. You’re going with me to school.”

I opened my eyes and Pell jumped up and down beside my bed, pigtails flying like pinwheels. How did I even get to the bed? Valex or Len must have come in, shut off the DVD, and carried me. Usually I hated it when someone entered my room, but the thought of them looking after me actually gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Then I thought of my parents and the sadness rushed back in in full force.

“What’s wrong? You don’t wanna go?”

Let’s see—new school, new people and, judging from Pell’s video game, highly advanced classes way over my head.

“Actullay, no.” Valex and Len had said nothing about going back to school. Why didn’t they tell me? Seemed like they weren’t prepared for a lot of things after I woke up—including how to deal with an emotionally challenged teenager from another century. I had to remind myself they were doing the best they could. They did take me in, after all.

“That’s what Mommy said you’d say.” Pell giggled. “That’s why she sent me.” She grabbed my hand, and her little fingers crushed mine together with surprising strength. “Come on. I’ll take good care of you.”

“Great.” I shook my head, sitting upright with my legs dangling. I’m gonna look real cool with a seven-year-old bodyguard. “What’s for breakfast? Soy slush?”

“Actually,

“No, sillybot.” Pell pulled me off the bed and led me into the kitchen. Today she wore a pink tunic with striped gold and purple leggings, reminding me of an Oompa Loompa. Would I have to wear something equally as hideous? “It’s soycakes with sappy sauce.”

“Sounds delicious.”

Len stood behind the counter flipping what looked kind of like pancakes, except they were green, making my stomach quiver. I was afraid she’d mention last night’s breakdown, but she smiled instead. “Good morning, Jennifer. Are you hungry?”

“Not really.”

My negative attitude didn’t seem to affect the bright smile on her face. “You should try eating some breakfast. You have a big day ahead of you.”

I took a seat next to Pell. “Yeah, what’s this about school?”

“Ridgewood Prep starts today, and I thought it’d be good for you to throw yourself right in, make yourself busy. Besides, the longer you go without school, the harder it’ll be to get back into it.”

“Ridgewood Prep? It still exists?”

“Of course. It’s the best school in all of New England. Your parents had good taste.” Len placed a plate of green soycakes in front of me. She overturned a plastic container and white goop plopped on top of the stack. Pell rubbed her hands beside me. “Yummy sappy sauce.”

I picked up my spork, hating how she talked about my parents like they were on a vacation and not piles of dust. “You’ve already enrolled me for this year?”

“You were already enrolled. All I had to do was update your file.”

I sporked a soycake. Great. All my bad gym grades are still there, frozen for eternity like me. So much for starting with a clean slate.

Len gave Pell a smaller plate and she dived right in, using her fingers to spread the sappy sauce. I made a mental note not to hold her sticky hand if she offered it.

“What if I refuse to go?”

Pressing the panel for the stove, Len came and sat down by me with a serious look on her face. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Unlike Pell, who has to work hard to get good grades for a chance at a job in the upper levels, you have it made. Your parents set aside a trust fund, which only grew over all the years you’ve been in cryosleep, accumulating interest. You have close to twenty billion credits, enough for ten lifetimes. You’re the richest girl in New England.”

Numbness tingled through me. It made perfect sense that my parents would plan ahead and secure my future. Just thinking about them made me sick with melancholy.

“Okay, then I’ll stay home.”

A tight smile formed on Len’s face. “Great. C-7 would love your company. You can help him clean the house.”

Looking over my shoulder, I saw C-7 perk his head up. A shiver ran through my arms. I had nowhere else to go. School at least seemed normal.

“On second thought, I’ll go.”

Len patted my hand. She’d just subtly talked me into going. Mom would have just pushed me out the door and said, “Tough luck.” Len was much sneakier. I’d have to watch myself.

Valex rushed in holding his briefcase and kissed Len on the cheek. “Got to go.”

The way Len looked at him reminded me of the way my mom looked at my dad—like they were the only two people in the room. Len offered him a plate. “Aren’t you going to eat breakfast first?”

He checked the wallscreen. “I have a meeting first thing.”

Len held the sappy sauce container over the soycakes and a little of the syrup dripped out. “Please? For Jenny? It’s her first day of school.”

Boy, was she good.

Valex glanced at me and smiled. “Oh, all right. I can be a few minutes late.” He took a seat next to me and picked up a clean spork. This is where he differed from my dad. A few minutes late to my dad would have been like the end of the world. But Valex didn’t seem to mind.

He’d be late for me.

I felt special for the first time in a long time. I didn’t deserve this attention. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He punched me in the arm. “First day of school, huh? Show them what you’ve got.”

I wasn’t sure what I’d show them, but one thing was for certain— they wouldn’t see my fear. High-school kids ate fear like gummy worms. My stomach ached. Either I’d eaten too many soycakes, or the nerves were already getting to me.

Better change the subject. “So, what do you do for work?” With the clothes they wore today, he could have been a tight-rope walker for all I knew.

Valex patted his face with a napkin. “I’m a lawyer.”

Melancholy pinged inside me. “Really? My dad was a lawyer.”

He smiled with pride. “I know. I work in his law firm. The Street-waters have passed it down from generation to generation. That’s one of the reasons why it’s an honor to meet you—the daughter of the man who started it all.”

“Wow.” I thought back to my dad’s dreams for his business to continue into the future. He may have been a bit of a workaholic, but his vision had survived the test of time. I was so proud of him.

Len stacked the used plates for C-7 to load in the dishwasher. “I’ve laid out some clothes on the couch. My older sister, Istell, has a daughter who’s just left for the high-rise academies. She said you could have all of her school clothes.”

“Do they look anything like what Pell’s wearing?”

Len laughed. “Some of them do, but it will be much better than wearing your own clothes. Think about what a pilgrim would look like walking around in your old school.”

I smiled despite my gloomy mood. “I’d probably think she was there as part of a historical reenactment during assembly time or a play.”

“Exactly. You want to fit in, yes?”

I stuffed a bite of green soycake in my mouth. It tasted like a spinach wafer with white sugar to help it go down. I swallowed hard. “I guess.”

“There’s not much we can do about secrecy. Word gets around, and I’m sure the other kids can guess who you are, but at least you’ll look normal.”

I thought of the Barbie cheerleaders and Chad. Nothing could be as bad as they were. “It’s okay. I can take some teasing.”

Len leaned across the table and took my hand. I froze, putting up a wall to block out all the emotion waiting to burst me into tears.

“I want you to be able to make friends. You have a new life ahead of you. Seize the day.”

“Carpe diem.” Pell announced beside me.

I gave her a stare. Since when did seven-year-olds speak Latin?

Len smiled. “That’s right. Now let’s give Jenny some time to pick an outfit, then off to the hoverbus you two will go.”

Panic inched up my spine. “You mean you’re not going with us?”

Len looked directly at me, as if I was the seven-year-old. “It’s only down the hall and on the platform. Don’t worry, Pell will show you the way. And once you get to school, the counselors will be available if you have any questions.” She stacked up the dirty dishes on the countertop. “I have a presentation at work today. I have to go in early.”

I sighed. Just like my mom. Some things never changed.

I finished most of the soycakes, thinking I’d be the most nutritious teenager on the face of the Earth, then I remembered that everyone ate this way. Geez.

I’d give my right leg for a plate of scrambled eggs and hash browns. Oh, and ketchup. Yeah, ketchup would be perfect. I imagined turning over the bottle, or squeezing out one of those fast-food packets. Shaking, my head, I stopped fantasizing. I had a hideous outfit to pick.

C-7 stood by the couch like a butler, rubbing a cloth over the glass countertop. His robotic fingers clinked eerily against the glass. “Good morning, Jennifer.”

I made sure to circle way around him, thinking of all the cyborg movies I’d seen where they went crazy and attacked people, taking over the world.

“Hey there, C-7.” I gave him the evil eye, trying to see if he’d react, but he returned to his dusting.

“Good luck at school today.”

“Thanks.” I looked over the outfits, flipping over a few silver triangle dresses that looked more suitable for microwaving leftovers than wearing to school. I settled for a royal-blue tunic with a gold belt. Sure, I’d look like some futuristic Roman god, but at least the blue would bring out my eyes.

I slipped into the bathroom to change, wondering how to lock a door that dissolved with the press of a panel. Oh well. Let’s hope C-7 doesn’t decide to take over the world while I’m in my undies.

The futuristic shower looked like a torture machine, so I decided to fool with that when I got home. Enough new things for one morning. I kicked off my PJs and slid on a pair of clean, futuristic undies and the tunic. The fabric felt soft and light on my body, instantly regulating my skin temperature. The tunic was more comfortable than it looked. Smoothing out my hair, I decided I looked presentable enough.

Pell waited for me in the living room, typing on a miniscreen. Looking over her shoulder, I saw a bunch of trapezoids with algebra. Super. What would I have to do today? Rocket science?

I sighed, anxiety creeping up my legs, giving me that bubbly-nervous feeling in my stomach. What did it matter? These weren’t my friends at my school. Okay, so it was my school, but no one that I knew still went there. Who cared what these futuristic teens thought of me?

An alarm went off on Pell’s miniscreen, and she shut the lid and looked up at me. “Time to go.”

We walked to the front door panel and Len gave Pell a kiss on the cheek. “Show them how much you’ve been studying over the summer.”

“I will.” Pell beamed and grabbed her lunch container.

Len turned to me. “Your parents would be proud of you.” She squeezed my shoulder and handed me a lunch container and a miniscreen. It was strange to have Len make me breakfast and see me off to school. Mom always rose at the crack of dawn and left before I’d even gotten up. In a way, I missed Mom’s workaholic lifestyle. All this attention made me feel like I was five years old again.

Pell pressed the door panel and the particles dissolved to a chaotic corridor with kids of all ages rushing to school and men and women commuting to work. Pell took my hand and led me through the crowd to a dock where a hoverbus picked us up.

We sat beside a businesswoman clicking on her miniscreen and talking to an input device in her ear.

“Your stop comes after mine.” Pell instructed me with her little legs dangling and kicking the seat in front of us. “Watch the screen for Ridgewood Prep. Exit fifty-seven.”

She plugged her ear device into her miniscreen and typed away, her little fingers flying over the keypad so fast they blurred. I gazed out the window at the metropolis sprawling out before us, a sea of skyscrapers so close you could jump from one to the next. Hover-cars sped in zigzags across the sky, and a dense cloud of smog made the sun seem hazy and distant. As we rounded a corner between two high-rises, a crystal-topped skyscraper with vines and leaves growing underneath the glass came into view.

“That’s a greenhouse.” Pell nudged my arm and pointed to a series of buildings on the right. “My stop’s the next one.”

The screen by the driver flashed Elementary Academy of New England. The hoverbus stopped and Pell jumped out of her seat. “Good luck today, sillybot.” She pecked my cheek with a kiss and jogged down the aisle.

As much as I joked about her being my bodyguard earlier, when the hoverbus took off again, I missed her. It was the first time I was completely alone in this new world.