Freddie commed while the elevator doors opened on the staff deck.
“What?” I screamed, making the Blurvan across the hall spin around so fast his lower half kept going before springing back with a rippling wobble. Wincing, I whispered, “Sorry,” to the Blurvan, then commed,
My pace slowed.
After a brief pause, he said,
he replied.
I was a second away from saying several nauseatingly sweet—and a few suitably filthy—things to him when Elanie stormed toward me, her eyes red and swollen and…are they wet?
I commed him quickly.
“Out of my way, Sunny,” Elanie barked when I stepped into her path, my arms stretched out wide.
“No,” I said sternly. “Not until you tell me why you’re so upset.”
Slowing to a halt, she stared at me for a long moment. Then she hung her head, buried her face in her hands, and started to sob.
I took her by the elbow, spun her around, and walked her back to my pod. “What in the worlds is going on?” I demanded after depositing her on the edge of my bed. “Why are you crying?”
Through her tears, she said haltingly, “He…he told me… He said he thought I was…b-beautiful.”
I frowned. “Who? Who told you that? And why are you crying over it?”
Blowing her nose on the tissue I handed to her, she blurted out, “His name is Blake. He was the bionic staring at me at the New Year’s party. I said hello to him in the hallwayone time,” she said, holding up a finger. “And now he won’t leave me alone. He keeps smiling at me whenever I see him, waving at me, asking me how my day is going. Why is he torturing me like this?”
“Torturing?” Something was wrong. This wasn’t like Elanie at all. She was distressed. She was crying. She was…emotional. I stumbled back a step, running ass-first into my dresser. “Elanie,” I gasped. “Good gods, have you upgraded?”
“Whatever,” she cried, throwing her hands into the air, the tissue landing in a crumpled ball somewhere on my floor. “Who even cares? It’s all so ridiculous.”
“You upgraded without telling me? Why? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Her shoulders slumped, her arms hanging limply from her sides. “But I hate it. I can’t think straight. Everything hurts.” She squeezed her belly. “And I feel so puffy all the time.”
“That sounds about right,” I said, oozing sympathy because puberty was one thing. Puberty as a twenty-eight-year-old bionic was something else entirely.
“It’s just, you and Freddie seemed so happy,” she said, cutting me off. “So I thought maybe I could be happy too. Well, guess what? Joke’s on me. I’ve never been so miserable in my entire existence!”
Joining her on the bed, I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “It’s all right, Elanie. It will be all right, I promise. We just need a plan. All this requires are some anti-nox tabs, a lengthy conversation, and alotof food. Would you like to get some ice cream?”
After picking the tissue up off the floor so she could blow her nose into it again, she looked at me, sniffled, and said, “That sounds really good.”
“I know, darling.” I pulled her in close. “It always does.”
One hourand two scoops later, I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for deck sixteen. Freddie had been waiting for me on twelve, but I hadn’t been to the pool on sixteen once since Makenna reversed the trick that had drained it dry. The pool that now was silent and blue and beautiful, with starlight through the flexGlass ceiling shimmering across the water.
Stripping down to my underwear, I dove headfirst intothe deep end. After coming up for air, I opened mySqueeapp and sent a message.
