Bile crept up my throat. B.O.S.S. The GC’s security force scared me—galactically. People who were arrested by B.O.S.S. were either never heard of again, or were reassimilated—turned into shells of their former selves. B.O.S.S. did whatever it wanted, and no one could stop it. No one.
My worrisome contemplations were diverted by a slight catch in Hal’s step every time his left foot made contact with the ground. Step, hitch, step, hitch, step, hitch… It was hypnotic. A little Lube-All in the hip socket would fix that, I thought. My ruminations on robot maintenance came to a halt when Hal stopped, abruptly, in front of my classroom. Several students cast furtive glances at me as I took my seat, probably wondering what tortures I’d been subjected to.
For the remainder of the period, Mr. H divided us into small discussion groups on gender-specific roles in society and, more specifically, in tiers. I kept quiet, surreptitiously doodling tattoo ideas for my wrist.
II
Derek, Mike, and I headed to Mickey’s for lunch. The nanosec they were out the door, kids whipped out their Personal Audio/Video receivers to check messages and watch broadcasts. A barrage of verts about everything from the latest tunes to the best acne meds filled the half block between school and café. The noise was overwhelming, so I switched on my PAV to block them out. Once inside Mickey’s, we managed to muscle our way into a window booth.
“Heard you got to visit Marchant’s,” Derek said.
“Yeah, I got carried away with my views on tattooing and the government. I suppose I should watch my mouth.” I glanced around. You never knew when or where the Bureau of Safety and Security had surveillance turned on. There were some dead zones in the city, but Mickey’s wasn’t one.
“You and Sal coming to Soma on Saturday?” Derek asked. “Riley and I are playing again. It’s going to be a steady gig, if we’re lucky. Wei’s coming.” He beamed.
I was thrilled that two of my best friends liked each other—a lot. As a matter of fact, Derek and Wei had been dating since my sixteenth birthday, and from what I’d noticed, I thought they were getting serious. “As far as I know we’ll be there.” I fingered the half-of-a-heart charm dangling from my necklace. Sal had given it to me for my birthday. My half said “I LO”; his half said “VE YOU.” Absentmindedly glancing out the window, I saw Sal and Wei walking by with a girl I didn’t know. My shoulders tensed. I’d seen her before, hanging on Sal in the hallway at school. She was definitely upper tier, like Wei, but unlike Wei, she had all the attitude of privilege. “Who’s that?”
“I dunno.” Mike shrugged and went back to eating.
“Oh, I know that girl. She moved here earlier this year from New York,” Derek said. “Her father’s some big-shot Media consultant. Wonder what she’s doing with Sal and Wei?”
I was wondering the same thing when I saw her grab Sal’s arm. A twinge of jealousy pricked me. I shook it off. Maybe I’d ask him about her later. Maybe not. I loved Sal, and he said he loved me. And he’d shown it by being there for me these past few weeks. Hard weeks. But the one thing I’d been able to do after my mom Ginnie’s murder was count on Sal to be my bright spot.
After school, Sal was waiting for me on the front steps. “You working this afternoon?” he asked.
“Nuh-uh. You?” He worked with his brother on personal transits, retrofitting them with Resistance-friendly security devices, like antisurveillance covers and such for NonCons, a covert arm of the Resistance. I’d gotten to ride in one. It was ultra.
“Nope. John’s got an appointment with the big trannie dealership in Evanston, so I have the afternoon free.”
Tucking my arm in his, I smiled. At least he wasn’t off on any NonCon business for the rest of the day. Sal usually disguised himself as a homeless person and helped with vert interruptions, when the NonCons would silence all of the verts and broadcast short messages of the Resistance. The NonCons were like foot soldiers for the Resistance, and it was public and dangerous work. I had to admit, sometimes, when I didn’t know what he was off doing, I worried about his getting caught. I guessed that was the price one paid for attempting to uncover all that was wrong with the government.
We headed out to meet Dee at the trans stop closest to Dickens Elementary. Snow was falling, and I stuffed my hands in my pockets, having left my gloves at home, again.
“You need those clips like little kids have,” Sal said. “The ones that fasten their gloves to their coats.”
I stifled a giggle. I’d been trying to keep a good upset on about the girl I’d seen him with earlier, but it wasn’t working.
“And,” he added, “a hood on your coat, because you never ever remember your hat.” He put his stocking hat on my head, pulling it all the way down over my eyes.
“Hey!” I tossed it back at him.
One thing led to another, and we’d thoroughly pelted each other with snowballs before he pulled me close and kissed me. Nothing was cold after that. I swear, when his lips are on mine, summer runs through my veins.
“We’d better hurry. Dee will be waiting, and it’s getting colder.” As if to punctuate my statement, a frigid gust shrieked down the street, stabbing right through me. Sal put his arm around me. “Who was that girl you and Wei were with at lunch?” I asked.
“Paulette Gold. Why?”
“Oh. I saw you with her a few weeks ago, in the hallway. Remember? When we were fighting? She stuck something in your pocket.” I refrained from mentioning how she’d looked like she was trying to crawl inside his skin. I hated thinking about that time, when we’d just started kind of dating. Right after my mom died, everything was such a mess. I was a mess. And then I met Sal, a NonCon. He’d told me things I didn’t want to hear, like about the Media controlling our society. About the GC and their oppressing the people. About my family—my mom and my dad. And he had been right about everything. We’d made up, but it still hurt to relive that.
After a long moment, he said, “Oh, yeah, that. It was the security code for her dad’s Janji. John had it in the shop for some repairs.” He took hold of my shoulders, bringing us face-to-face. “Hey, Nina. She’s just some girl. You, however, are my girl.” And he kissed me again.
I believed him. It still didn’t quite quiet my nerves about this girl, but the kiss certainly helped. I could’ve stayed there until the spring thaw. After indulging myself in a much-too-short dose of Sal, I said, “We’d better go. Dee’s probably turned into an icicle by now.” When it came to my little sister, I was hyper-responsible. With good reason, I thought to myself.
Sure enough, when we reached the transit stop, Dee was huddled in the doorway of a nearby store. “Geez, Nina. I could’ve frozen to death. What took you so long?”
“Why didn’t you go into one of the shops?” I asked.
“’Cause they’re ultra boutiques, and the salespeople watch me like I’m going to steal something.” She wrinkled her nose. “Just because people are low tier doesn’t mean they’re thieves.”
“Don’t let it bother you, Deeds.” I sighed, knowing exactly how she felt. “Some people are jerks. Plain old jerks.”
“Hey, how about some hot cocoa from Rosie’s?” Sal asked. “My treat.”
In fifteen minutes, we were cozied up in a booth, sipping steaming hot cocoa and munching on cookies. There were only three other people inside, an older couple and a man at a table by himself.
Rosie joined us. She’d offered to teach me Cliste Galad martial arts after Holiday break. But right now, after all I’d been through, what with killing Ed, I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn to be a finely tuned murder machine. But then Wei was practically a Cliste Galad master, and she wouldn’t hurt a fly—unless there was no other way. I was still processing my feelings about what I’d done to Ed. I cringed at the thought of learning other ways I could’ve dispatched him.