Krystal Nicholson sat down in the chair next to Jade. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she’d been crying. “Jade, you’re the only one I can trust at the moment.”
“I thought you couldn’t be friends with someone as poor as me.” Jade replied as Gavin and I watched the spectacle unfolding.
Krystal sobbed at Jade’s response, but managed to speak clearly anyways. “Yes, but times have changed.” She muttered. “Gavin, I’ve trusted you for a long time and you were there when I lost my grandparents. You even brought me to Christ but I have something to say that I’d prefer you not be present for. Could you please leave?”
I didn’t let Gavin speak. “You sat down here to share in our company, which we will not drive away one even as low as you, but you do not have the right to ask any of us to leave. Whatever you will say to any of us, you will say to all of us.”
She grimaced. “You don’t have to be so strict, I know my place.” Her chest heaved in and out as tears welled in her eyes. I felt no remorse; I knew she was the kind of person who could turn tears on and off. “I’ve made a few mistakes. I…” She couldn’t quite articulate her words, at least not enough to appear fluent in English. “I’m…” She struggled again.
Gavin’s eyes showed concern but it was Jade who spoke. “You’re what?”
“Pregnant.”
Silence told the story Jade, Gavin, and I. I couldn’t believe this stuck-up rich girl came to sit with people she claimed to hate to admit the presence of an illegitimate child growing within her.
“I thought you would understand but I guess I was wrong.”
“No, we’re just confused. It seems odd that you would sit down to announce you’re pregnant to people you barely know.” Gavin calmed her.
“I don’t have anyone left. My friends have abandoned me and when the school finds out, they’ll expel me; the private school has a strict no pregnancy rule.”
“So why us?” Jade wondered, as did I.
“I thought you would be cordial enough to accept me.” She sniffled.
Jade shrugged. “That’s good enough for me.” Jade’s ability to befriend anyone astounded me. She and Krystal Nicholson began a conversation as if they’d known each other their whole lives. I almost envied Jade’s ability to converse with the snidest individuals.
Gavin and I stood up to get a head start to our next class; the extra time helped with my limp. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been so eager to get to class since the rest of the day dragged by. The only eventful thing to happen was the history teacher announcing a field trip to go see the president’s speech the next day. As boring as witnessing a political speech could be, Gavin and I were looking forward to the day long excursion from school. Even a president being fed a speech written by an underpaid intern was more interesting than listening to the math teacher gripe over his female problems.
The next morning, I dressed casually in comfortable clothes. I had on male cargo pants and a black tee-shirt, not to mention the coat I was almost never without. The pants were a little baggy but with a cloth belt, they fit me enough to not look shabby. I only wore them because the pockets were deeper than any on pants for my gender; I didn’t need to carry much with me and anything I would take would go in my laptop bag. The pockets just attracted me despite their uselessness.
School lasted about half an hour for Gavin and I and would’ve been the same for Jade if her grades were three point seven points higher but she had to stay at school all day.
Gavin and I followed the class onto the Mag-lev train. We’d been assured the ride would be short; surely it was nothing compared o Gavin’s trip to and from Norway. The Mag-lev trains were part of an intercontinental web of crisscrossing tracks. Tunnels and bridges spanned the former obstacles to all but air and water vehicles. The largest of these tunnels was the Trans-Atlantic Sea Floor Tunnel.
Technology let the trains travel at well over the speed of sound, but they moved the fastest in the tunnels this was because the tunnels were drawn into a vacuum, thus reducing friction to near nothing. The trains were levitated and propelled by electromagnets so the lack of air resistance made an enormous impact on the speed the trains could travel at.
The train ride lasted less than an hour but still took longer than it could have; from south-eastern Virginia to Washington D.C., the ride could have been less than ten minutes.
Gavin and I were among the last off the train. At the place where the speech was to be given, people were beginning to assemble, yet the class was spreading thin. The class hid in the growing crowds. Gavin and I took our seats in a section of the metal folding chairs that wasn’t yet heavily populated. There was only a reporter sitting in the row in front of us but that was all until a girl a few years younger than me sat down next to me.
She had dirty blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Her Caucasian skin was brushed with a healthy glow and I could tell from her pleasant smile that she was a friendly preteen. Though she was only twelve, she seemed to have already seen the hardships of life; she was surprisingly mature for her age.
“Hi, I’m Valerie Griffin. What’s your name?” She asked cheerily; I saw sadness concealed behind her bright face.
The thought of adding to the storm cloud above her head wasn’t something I wanted to do by not returning the greeting. “Hi, my name is Sruun.” I paused because I couldn’t remember how introductions were supposed to go. “Are you here with a school?”
“No, I uh…” She needed time o formulate an explanation. “Don’t laugh at me, but I want to be a politician.”
I smiled. “It’s better than wanting to be a convenience store janitor.”
She laughed but any further conversation between us was cut short by the President of the United States of Planet Earth stepping on stage.
“Good morning,” Began President Smith. “As you all know, I’m here to discuss the current stance on several issues-”
“I want to hear his stance on deep space colonization.” Valerie whispered in my ear. Frankly, I didn’t share her enthusiasm. Deep space colonization was a dull topic since it was mostly a philosophical debate on whether or not the space stations on the edge of humanity’s existence should be colonized by hopeful settlers, political refugees, and convicted prisoners. Incessant debate about the problem wasn’t going to do much to solve it though, since chances were that eventually those science stations would be settled to create stable outposts for further exploration. All politicians had to do was open their minds enough to realize their argument was futile, but then again, politicians are generally too mindless to be capable of doing so.
“I know you have many questions and upon concluding my speech, I’ll be glad to answer as many of them as I can.”
A girl a few months older than Valerie ran on stage, followed by three secret service agent in desperate pursuit. Just before reaching the president, she tripped over a ragged yellow baby blanket clutched in her hand. Catching her before she fell, the president turned his ear to hear what she had to say. With a chuckle, he stood up and turned back to the microphone.
“As many of you know, this is my daughter Orchid. She just came running to me because she says she’s afraid of those Carrion things on the news.” He chortled again. “We don’t need to fret over the existence of those Carrions! Even their name tells how dead they are! They’re rotting decaying corpses for the buzzards to pick at!” On the screens that showed the president for those that couldn’t see him, the words “All laugh” flashed twice. Teleprompting the audience to laugh was a testament to how idiotic the big cheese could be.
Most of the rest of the speech was political mumbo-jumbo. Valerie got the answers she was hoping for on colonizing non-celestial bodies at the edge of current human expansion; she found his response fascinating if not slightly infuriating.
During the president’s rambling, I had to prod Gavin in the ribs twice to keep him awake. I hated doing so because he was better entertained examining the inside of his eyelids but I felt awkward sitting beside a sleeping mass. For a time, I almost wished I’d stayed at school, though if I had, I’d surely moan over the essay I’d have to write on the speech. At least sitting outside in a s tiff metal chair watching the speech meant I wouldn’t have to pay attention.
Thankfully, the reporters each had their laptops open so I knew having mine open wouldn’t draw attention to myself. Glad for the freedom, I spent the day drafting more songs. Music was a bit of an obsession for me. Actually music was just a hobby that played off my true obsession. My true obsession was dancing across the ivory keys. I could live without music but to exist at all without my fingers’ harmony, that wouldn’t be living at all.
I kept the volume muted but still could perfect the medium that allowed my fingers to play in their playground. I’d been planning on amusing myself the whole day that way but my attention was stolen once by a reporter’s question.
“Do you have a plan prepared for the situation with the Catrions?” The reporter emphasized the given name of the creatures.
“As I’ve said, they don’t appear to be a threat so why should I prepare for anything?”
“So all the missing persons and deaths they’ve been attributed o mean nothing to you?”
“No, they do not.” President Smith stated. “There have been no confirmed cases of the presumed Catrions causing any harm. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just superstitious talismans of horoscope readers, much like Bigfoot.” The president’s words would soon have repercussions, even I could see that.
“Sir, Bigfoot exists.” Another reporter commented.
“Since when?” The president snapped. Any pity I had went to the reporter; if he told the president of his world off, secret service might tackle him.
“Bigfoot has been a registered species within the scientific community for a quarter of a century.”
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