CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Rebel

“What happened to your face?” Len gently took my chin in her hands as the door closed behind me. For a second, my eyes blurred and she turned into my mom, reaching toward me through the turn of time.

“Jennifer?”

I shook my head. Boy, had Exara given me a good whack. “I’m fine. I tripped and fell, that’s all.” It was partially true, so I didn’t feel as bad saying it.

Len came into focus, her dark eyes and long straight hair the opposite of Mom’s. How could I have imagined it was her?

“You poor dear. That must have been embarrassing.”

I bit my lip and nodded, not having to fake my shame. That much was true.

“C-7, get Jennifer some ice.” She brought me over to the couch. “Besides that, did you have fun?”

I thought about watching Maxim sing, dancing so close, the kiss. Which answer would stir up the least amount of questions? “I guess.”

“Good.” She sighed in relief, like we’d both dodged a bullet. If anything wasn’t happy in Len’s world, I don’t know what she’d do.

C-7 came back with an ice pack that had its own temperature gauge on the side and handed it to me. His eyes stared right through me. Somehow he knew that injury wasn’t from a tumble on the cafeteria floor. My chest tightened and I held my breath. He tilted his head and blinked. “I hope you feel better, Jennifer.”

Phew! He didn’t say anything. “Thanks, C-7.” I was really thanking him for his silence, and I hoped he knew it.

Len held the ice up to my chin. The cold numbed the throbbing pain. “Do you want to stay up and watch a documentary about the new recycling policies?”

That sounded tantalizing. I tried not to outwardly cringe. “No, thanks. I’m really tired. I just want to hit the sack.”

“Okay.” She tried to hide her disappointment by fidgeting with the ice pack, but I saw a twinge in her face.

Guilt burned in my neck and cheeks. Len was trying so hard, but she couldn’t get through to me. She’d never be my mom. I took the ice pack from her hands so she didn’t have to stand there holding it up to my cheek.

Len reluctantly let the pack go. “Tomorrow morning I’m making soycakes with sappy sauce.”

Wasn’t that every day? I nodded, wanting to make her happy. Somehow I even summoned a smile. “I’ll be there.”

“Great.” She reached out to hug me, then brought her hand back and settled for touching my shoulder. Thank goodness. Only my real mom could properly give me a goodnight hug. “Good night, Jennifer.”

I took the ice pack in my hands. “Good night, Len.”

I rushed to my room and tore off my dress, throwing it under my bed to keep it from reminding me of that night. There was no way I could sleep after my first real fight. The discs called to me. It was time I stopped watching the reruns. Popping the next one in, I climbed on my bed and hugged my legs against my chest.

A Jeep rode on a trail in the bush. I got all excited. It was a National Geographic African safari. A whole new season I hadn’t seen yet. The narrator came on the speakers. “African elephants are the largest terrestrial animal living on Earth today. Their society is grouped in family units, the head being an older female called the matriarch.”

Watching the majestic animals tend to their calves brought me a joy I couldn’t explain. It was pure, unlike shopping for crap I didn’t need or sneaking out with Angela. This feeling was way more profound, a primal need to return to my roots, even though my ancestors were from Canada and far from the African bush.

These animals had as much of a right to exist as all the humans in the world. We weren’t any better or more important. This new world was animals zero (well, one if you counted Jumbo), humans fifteen billion. I had to even the odds.

Maxim said my purpose might be staring me right in the face and tonight it was. I had been confused and thought it was him, when really I was destined for much more. Sitting on my bed, I vowed to return to Martha’s apartment and ask her for the information to get in touch with the Timesurfers. I was ready.

The next morning I announced over soycakes and sappy sauce, “I’m going out today.”

Len dropped her spork and glanced at Valex. Obviously this issue hadn’t arisen with Pell.

Pell licked her finger. “Where you gonna go?”

“Study group.” I hoped that was enough information, but if they were anything like my parents, they wouldn’t let me get away that easy.

Valex cleared his throat, reminding me of my dad when I asked to borrow his credit card. Even Mr. Easygoing had his limits. “Who’s in this study group of yours?”

Damn! I needed a name, so I said the first name that came to mind. “Maxim.”

Len looked like she’d choked on piece of a soycake. “Maxim Fairweller?”

How did they know him? Why, was he so bad? “Yeah, why?”

Len tried to hide something in her face by wiping her mouth with a cloth napkin. “Nothing. I’m just making sure it was the young man I know.”

I started to get really suspicious, like a whole conspiracy was against me. “How do you know him?”

“From a parent volunteer group. He has a younger sister in Pell’s class.”

I was busted. They’d talk about it the next meeting for sure, and then Len would know I had no plans with Maxim. Unless I buzzed his miniscreen. Would he cover for me after what happened? I had no idea, but I had to find out. I’d already blurted his name across the breakfast table.

Pell chimed in, “You mean Rainy? She’s my friend.”

“Yes, Pell. Rainy Fairweller.” Len still looked uncomfortable about me studying with Maxim.

So what? He had a younger sister Pell’s age. That didn’t make him an axe murderer. “So, I can still go, right?”

“Of course.” Valex finished off his last soycake, chewed, and swallowed. “We want you to have friends.”

Len shot him a look from across the table, but either he didn’t see it or he chose to ignore it. Whatever the case, their strange behavior sparked more curiosity about the one guy I should stay away from.

Pell seemed oblivious to the strange looks her parents were shooting across the table. “Rainy breathes in a tube.”

“What?” At first I thought she was joking, but the serious expression on Pell’s face told me otherwise.

Len nodded. “Rainy suffers from respiratory infections. She was born immature, and her lungs weren’t fully developed. Along with an inhaler, she carries a nebulizer on her back.”

My heart broke. Maxim hadn’t even mentioned his sister. I thought his life was perfect, but I guess he had problems as well. Were Valex and Len acting funny because of Rainy’s condition? Or was it something beyond that, something tied to why hanging out with Maxim made them think twice?

After breakfast, I went back to my room and flipped the lid on my miniscreen. Nice going, Jennifer, now you have to ask Maxim for help. Can you just say “awkward?” I punched the numbers on the shiny card into the cybernet, but nothing happened. Had he changed his number after what happened?

It was only one kiss. It wasn’t like we got married and divorced. Maybe I got the number wrong. I pressed the buttons again deliberately, making sure every single digit was correct. Still, nothing happened. I fell back on my bed and threw the card across the room. It bounced off the far wall and landed face-down on the floor. Big help he was.

From my sideways position, a slender entry point on the side of my miniscreen was visible. I hadn’t noticed it before. It was the same size as Maxim’s card. Bingo. I flung myself across the room and scooped it up. Within seconds, I inserted the shiny card into my miniscreen.

The screen showed a dot-dot-dot across it, like it was dialing, or thinking, or whatever miniscreens did. Suddenly, Maxim’s face came on and I realized I hadn’t even combed my hair yet.

“Jenny?” He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. His usually wavy hair had a sexy curl to it, and purplish circles ringed his eyes.

“Hi, Maxim.” Calm down. Just talk business. Whatever you do, don’t mention the dance, or the kiss.

“How are you feeling? Is everything okay?”

Like I’d wallow in grief all weekend over him. I tried to keep my voice casual. “I’m doing fine. Great, really. Listen, I need a favor.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Anything. Just ask.”

Yeah, go ahead, slather on the pity. It just made me feel worse. “I used your name for an alibi. Then, I learned my…guardian is friends with your mom, so she’s gonna know. I need you to cover for me.”

“Wow, you’re quite the rebel, aren’t you?”

Actually, if my real friends heard anyone say that, they’d laugh their butts off. “Um. Yeah. Right. Anyway, we’re supposed to be studying this afternoon at the school library, okay?”

He nodded. “Got it. Studying at the library. No problem.”

“Great.” I breathed with relief. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”

“Sure. Any time.” His eyes sparked with hope and I wondered just what he hoped for.

Don’t think too much into it. End the conversation. Now. “See ya.” I moved to press the eject button, but his voice stopped me.

“Listen, Jenny?”

My finger hovered over the key. “What?”

He ran his hands over his face. “I wanted to talk to you about—”

“Don’t worry about it, okay? I’m over it.” My voice had an unusual edge to it. I sounded like my mom when she was on the phone with a telemarketer.

“You’re over it?” Hurt weakened his voice.

“Yeah. That was so last Friday. Come on.”

He seemed disappointed, but I wasn’t about to give him therapy. He’d have to talk to Exara for that. “Gotta go. See you in homeroom.”

I ejected the card before he could respond. Sure, I felt a bit mean, but I didn’t want to talk about how he thought of me as a friend all day. Yeah, a friend with benefits. Trying not to feel too bitter, I pocketed his card and packed a bag for Martha’s high-rise. This time I took my old pocketknife for self-defense.

I jumped on the hoverbus to Martha’s apartment. I felt guilty lying to Valex and Len, but visiting Martha was something I had to do. I didn’t think they’d understand. Besides, if the Timesurfers were as secret as Martha said they were, I didn’t want to involve my substitute family. No reason for them to get in trouble on my account.

When I got off the hoverbus, the platform was empty. No sign of the green-haired gang. I remembered the way, blocking my nose against the smell of old carpet and oil. If this place was considered an upper level, I couldn’t imagine what the lower levels looked like. Probably something like a third-world country.

Martha answered on the first beep and let me in. “Look who got into a fight.”

“It was nothing.” I looked away, unable to lie to her too. “Just a mean girl at school.”

Thankfully, she let the subject drop. “I didn’t think you’d come back.” She looked so happy to see me, I felt guilty asking her for more information. I didn’t want her to feel used. I really was glad to visit her.

“I’d love to spend more time with you. How’s Jumbo?”

“He’s sleeping.” She nudged him with her toe and he purred softly. “Sleeps a lot nowadays.”

I couldn’t imagine investing all of my money in a pet and then having the pet age before my eyes. “I brought you something.” I held out one of the precious discs from my collection. “It’s a National

Geographic episode about African lions. I know it’s not housecats, but it’s the closest thing to it.”

“Oh, Jennifer, how kind.” She took the disc and held it up against her frilly yellow apron by her heart. “I think I have an adapter somewhere around here. I’ll watch it tonight.”

“I thought Jumbo would like it.”

“He’ll be jealous, but he’ll live.” She walked into the kitchen and my stomach knotted up dreading her tea. “Black, green, or cranberry?”

Oh, more options this time. “I’ll try cranberry.”

As Martha puttered around in her kitchen, I bent over and reached toward Jumbo. Just one pet. I wanted to feel animal fur under my fingertips, hoping it would bring me back to my previous life. A miniature furry time machine.

Jumbo cringed back, hissed and showed his teeth. I bolted back up. Guess not. Rejected by the hottest boy in school and the only cat left in the world. My weekend sucked.

Martha came back in with two china cups of steaming tea. At least my tea smelled better this time. I took a sip, allowing the bitter taste to rest on my tongue so it didn’t choke me. Martha sat next to me, swirling her dirty water with her silver spoon. “So, did you think about it?”

“About what?”

“The Timesurfers.”

Wow, this was going to be easier that I thought. “Actually, I did.”

“Good. A girl your age needs to make decisions about her life.”

“I want to meet them. How can I get in contact?”

“Here.” She stuck her hand into a pocket in her apron and pulled out a small black card, the same size as the one Maxim had given me. “Code word is web of life. It’s an older code, but it should still work.”

“What do I say?”

“Tell them your history and you’re interested in their programs.” She sipped her tea. “You can say I sent you.”

I took the card in my hands and rubbed my finger over the imprinted number. “Wow. Thank you, Martha.”

“You bet. Anything to help a fellow cryosleeper.”

I pretended to sip my tea. “You never did tell me why you were frozen.”

Martha raised her eyebrows. “Motorcycle accident.”

“A motorcycle hit your car?”

“No, I was on one. No helmet, of course. I was pretty wild back in the day.”

I tried to picture sweet little old Martha on a motorcycle, and my imagination didn’t stretch that far. “What happened?”

“I was speeding. I was late to my boyfriend’s birthday party. We were all going to surprise him, and I had the cake tied to the back of my bike.” She smiled. “Ryan Summers. He was a keeper, all right. Blue eyes, blond hair, and smelled like the woods after a rain.”

I thought of Chad, then Maxim, then forced my brain to stop thinking. “Sounds handsome.”

She laughed to herself. “He was. If it wasn’t for the roads being slick and that damn squirrel.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

I could see it mattered to her. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Nah. It’s good to talk about it sometimes.” She put a hand on her neck, rubbing her skin. “The motorcycle flipped and I was thrown off. I remember flying through the air like a bird. Time stopped. You’d be surprised how many things I thought of in that instant— worry for the cake, love for my parents, my life with Ryan. It all flew through my mind before the ground came up. I broke my neck in the fall. I could see just fine, the wet road, the overturned cake, white frosting melting into the grass, but I couldn’t feel anything. My entire body went numb.

“The doctors said I could live my life as a quadriplegic or freeze until some new scientific development on regenerating stem cells was made. Ryan said he couldn’t live seeing me like that. He eventually got a scholarship to study law and stopped visiting.” She waved her hand. “I don’t blame him. His whole life was ahead of him, and my life was at an end. Or so I thought. My parents paid for the cryos-leep procedure, and the rest is history.”

The tea churned in my empty stomach like acid. I frowned and shook my head. “That’s horrible.”

She patted my hand. “That’s life.”

Martha’s story summoned courage inside me. If she could go through so much, I could get over Angela dating Chad. I could put away the sadness of missing my parents and Timmy. I wasn’t about to live my life in a small apartment with a cat. I needed to go out and do something to change this screwed-up futuristic world. “I’m going to call them. I’m going to see what I can do.”

Looking years older than she had a few minutes ago, Martha placed her empty teacup on the arm of the couch. Jumbo jumped into her lap and purred. She smoothed over his fur with her crumpled, knobby hands. “Good. It took me too long to figure out that time only goes forward. It doesn’t go back. You can either catch up with it or let the loss swallow you whole.”