Bethany entered the room greeted the rest and then started looking around for a free bunk, the only available bed was the one above his. As she looked around she finally noticed the free bunk, and then Adrian standing beside it. She looked back at their roommates.
“We’re stuck with the kid?” She said. The rest of the room fell into an awkward silence, none of the others had ever called him kid in his presence, but he knew that even they referred to him as such when he wasn’t around, he could see it in their eyes. How they averted their eyes when talking to him, how they went quiet when he entered a room. The only one that called him like that in his presence was Bethany. And just like that two years of being the little kid, even with everything he tried to make them see that he was just like them, two years of being alone, slowly losing his best friend, all of it was just too much, and something inside him snapped. Adrian walked right up to Bethany, she saw him coming and stood her ground as he approached. Adrian stopped right in front of her, he was so close that he could feel the heat of her body, he looked her in the eyes. Adrian was 186 cm tall and was just slightly taller than Bethany’s 181 cm. He glared at her for a moment, she showed no outward appearance of being bothered by Adrian’s closeness, but Adrian could see something in her eyes, he recognized surprise. She was surprised by his actions.
“I have spent the last two years putting up with your insults.” Adrian said softly. Bethany tried to say something, but Adrian interrupted her. “No. Perhaps you didn’t insult me directly, calling someone a kid isn’t any kind of a grave insult, but your tone, your attitude, they left no doubt to your intentions. You wanted me to feel inadequate, to feel as if I didn’t belong among you. And you did succeed, but no more, I have proven beyond any doubt that I do belong here. I was better than you, and I will not suffer you demeaning me anymore.” Adrian finished hotly. The rest of the room was silent, some had shameful expressions while others looked uncomfortable, Bethany had grown slightly red, she just stared at Adrian, not really letting herself believe what was happening. Adrian looked at her for a breath longer then stepped past her and exited the room, he entered the men’s bathroom, through the door on the left he saw the showers and through the one on the right toilet cubicles, he entered one closed the door behind him, and sat down hard on the toilet seat. He put his head in his hands and released the breath he was holding since he exited the room.
“Well that was interesting.” Adrian heard in his head.
“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me.” Adrian replied.
“At least you finally stood up for yourself.” Iris said.
Adrian sighed, his brain and his implant had integrated fully in the past two years, and he no longer needed to vocalize his commands, nor did he need to speak out loud in order to speak with Iris.
“I didn’t mean to blow up like that. It’s just that everything piled up, and I just…”
“I know Adrian, and you really needed to tell them how you felt.” Iris said.
“I could have found a better way, I acted exactly like a kid.” Adrian said tiredly, and Iris didn’t offer anything else. Adrian thought about going back there, and a feeling of dread filled him, they will never accept him now. He would spend a year living with strangers.
After a couple of minutes of gathering the nerve to go back out there he was interrupted by Iris
“Do you plan on hiding here forever?”
Adrian stood up and exited the cubicle, he exited the bathroom and entered the main room, some of his classmates were sitting on the couches, talking or watching the TV’s, others played pool. Adrian went towards his room. When he entered he saw that there were only six of his roommates Paul, Helen, Sakura, Noah, Marcus and Alexander. Adrian went and sat on his bunk, he noticed that Bethany’s bag was on the top bunk, he hoped that she would switch with someone, but it looked like he wasn’t that lucky. A minute later Paul made his way to Adrian, he stopped in front of him and coughed uncomfortably, while Adrian just looked at him expectantly until he finally started talking. “Uh… Adrian, I just wanted to say that we, all of us,” He gestured with his hands to the others. “are really sorry, about Bethany, I know that she is sorry as well, she didn’t mean anything with it, she might have been a bit put out for graduating second but she didn’t really mean it.” He paused for a breath. “I-we just want you to know that we don’t consider you a kid. It’s just that, you are a bit hard to talk to. And well… we just wanted you to know that.” Paul said. Adrian looked at him bewildered. “It’s alright.” Adrian said. Paul smiled and went back to his bunk, Helen, Sakura and Alexander were laying on their own bunks, reading from their datapads, or plating games, while Noah and Marcus sat on the lower bed of their bunks and talked softly, Paul went to his bunk and laid down. Adrian sat on his own bad leaning on the pillow.
“Am I really hard to talk to?” Adrian asked Iris. He was the only one of his classmates that had an Ai with his implant, and he wasn’t allowed to talk about it to anyone, only those older than 24 were supposed to have implants.
“I don’t have any difficulties talking to you, but then I grew up with you.” Iris said jokingly. “But, you can be a bit intimidating to other humans.” She added.
“Intimidating? What? I’m always keeping to myself. I’m the farthest thing to intimidating there is.” Adrian said.
He heard Iris sigh, over the years she had taken up many little habits and complexions that made her sound more human. “Have you ever watched a recording of your simulation battles?” Iris asked.
“No, why?” Adrian asked.
“You should, if you saw the way you are when you are in command it would be clear to you why they find you intimidating. When you are in command you shut off everything else, you don’t let anything interfere with your mission, no emotion. You look rather impressive, and cold.” Iris said.
Adrian thought back to the simulations, he knew that he could focus on the task at hand with exclusion of everything else, it was one of the things that made him good at learning. During the simulations he always tried to find the best possible path to accomplish his mission, he tried to emulate the way Laura looked when she was in command. He tried to mimic her presence.
“Well okay, I’m intimidating in the simulations, that doesn’t explain why they kept their distance from me.”
“Well… You do project this serious air around you, even when you are not in simulations.” Iris said.
“What? I don’t.” Adrian said.
“Sorry, but yes you do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner then?” He demanded.
“You never asked.” Iris said. Adrian fumed at her, Iris had become very good at speaking and thinking like a human, but there were still moments when things just didn’t make logical sense to her, things that she just failed to notice. Adrian sighed, there was no point in being angry at her, and it was his fault. Adrian was so entranced in his conversation with Iris that he didn’t notice Bethany entering the room until she was standing just beside him. Startled he looked at her, she looked at Adrian and he could see several emotions pass over her face too quickly for him to discern them.