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- So, next on the agenda was my school....
I swam behind Judy, Becca swam behind me, she didn't swim into the house, so for her Judy just suddenly picked up speed, trying to swim away from the house in the other direction. I suppose when we get to the surface some things will have to be explained.
'Judy-Judy, orphan on a platter!'
'Alvarez is so poor, she didn't even have enough for her parents!'
We froze outside a petrol station.
- Is this a gathering place for kids?
- Well... yeah. There wasn't much else to do, we weren't supposed to gather at the school, and this was an old car....
Judy nodded at a car that was rusting away from the petrol station.
- ...It was cool to play Max-tac and cyberpsych... And it was more fun....
- Wow.
I noticed the umbrella at the bottom and grinned.
- ...Umbrella...what could be more useless on the bottom?
- Um... water in a bottle?
We laughed quietly.
- Maybe in a normal lake yes, but here everything is poisonous, so bottled water... it can be useful if you have a chance to drink it somehow.
- Well... then I don't know...
Judy grinned and we spent some time outside the petrol station.
- Hmmm... why do you give off that deja vu vibe?
Judy asked a question.
- Well...there is one reason, but if you don't mind, I'm not ready to bring it up now...maybe later and all at once?
- Does it concern all of us?
- Well... not that it does....
I shrugged.
- It's more of a thought-provoking piece of information that concerns me. About my past...
- Hmm? Is there something we don't know?
- Quite a lot actually, and since this system allows for such a tight mind link, you'll find out everything anyway...
- Is it something scary?
- No... more like unusual. Very unusual.
- All right.
Judy shrugged her shoulders, too.
- Oh the doll... how many years has it been here? Poor...
'Judy, why don't you and I go out tomorrow after school?'
'Alvarez, where are you? We're losing without you!'
'I'm sorry, I can't tomorrow.'
- They tried to set you up on a date?
- Yeah.
Judy had a nostalgic smile on her face. It was a strange mood that lasted for exactly five minutes, during which I didn't try to distract her, just savoured her emotions.
- I didn't realise then that I didn't like guys at that point in my life... Although....
Judging by the turn of her helmet and the emotion of embarrassment directed at me, she was now looking at me.
- ...I probably just didn't meet my boyfriend back then....
- That's probably true.
I nodded my head and once again bathed Judy in the love I felt for her. And this time, I even swam over to her and put my arms around her waist. Judy put her hands on my shoulders and her mask bumped against mine.
- That's why you're doing this...
- Because I love...
- Fool...
We hung like that for a couple of minutes, and then Judy pulled away from me and quickly looked around and swam off in a direction I didn't recognise, and after a while we were in front of what looked like an average school.
- Your school?
- Yes... but it was boring here. Even in my time, there was more reliance on holograms and slivers, I guess you had an even more advanced system at the Corporate Academy....
- Yeah.
- Well... so did I, but my grandparents were quite educated and by the time I got to school I already knew more than my classmates... And the gap only grew with time....
'Alvarez, five points...'
Judy's pride and sadness at that moment was quite vivid.
'Alvarez is acting up again, we have to teach her a lesson.'
'But she's the best player on the team! If she leaves, we'll lose for sure!'
Sadness, resentment and misunderstanding appeared in Judy's emotions and I realised that this conversation was exactly what she was eavesdropping on.
'Okay, but if she keeps showing off, she's going to have to be taught a lesson!'
- And how?
- How what?
- Did they teach you a lesson?
- Well... they tried, but they didn't dare to gang up on me right away, so I gave two of the guys in the class a good beating....
Judy's pride and embarrassment.
'Bitch! You kicked Dick and Max's balls off! That's out of line! Take her down!'
A feeling of lingering pain and partly pride came over me.
'And why did you come home looking like that, young lady?'
A rush of fear and resentment at my grandmother, who had said it, burst from the memories and reached me.
'Honey don't...'
Grandpa stood up for his granddaughter and that made Judy feel relieved.
'...Did you win?'
'No...'
Now shame and guilt.
'But I managed to beat the balls off a few of the blokes before they mobbed me, and then I didn't hold back...did as you taught...'
Hope for understanding? Yeah, I guess the emotions that came up with the memories could be interpreted that way.
'So we'll be called to school soon...'
'Mm-hmm...'
'Well, don't worry, your grandmother and I will show them all where it's at...'
'You old fool, what are you teaching our girl?'
Judy was already feeling a boost of energy from such words from her grandfather and even her grandmother's slight lashing out at her grandfather didn't spoil the mood, which began to rise sharply.
'I'm teaching her that family is sacred... and yes...'
Grandfather's voice became stern.
'Just because we won't give you a hard time in front of those idiots' parents doesn't mean there won't be a head-butt at home, but we should still get the official version first, as well as talk to you in more detail...'
- And your grandparents are worldly intelligent!
- They are!
The pride Judy felt at having such grandparents was incredible, as was her love for the two of them.
- And how did it end then? You know, the fight?
- Nothing really...
Judy shrugged.
- ...Grandpa and Grandma did get called to the school, and they told me how bad I was, attacking those poor kids....
Judy snorted.
- It turned out that they didn't have time or just didn't think of it, to coordinate the versions. So it turned out pretty quickly that they were lying, so they believed me, and I didn't lie and told it like it was.....
- Right... I looked at the gauge on my arm.
- Hmmm... and time is going by very fast....
Judy repeated my gesture and nodded her head.
- Yeah.
You could feel the sadness in her voice without being tuned in.
- Do you think we have time to visit one more place?
Judy looked at the gauge on her arm again, then hesitantly at me, and nodded.
- I think so...
She quickly swam towards Becky and caught her hand and checked the sensor, then nodded, and I noticed that through the mask I could see two faintly glowing torches. So her eyes are burning and Becca's not bored talking to the girls left on the surface....
- Well, she has more air than we have left... so there's one more place we can definitely visit and I suggest the town Church....
I nodded and we sailed towards the largest building in the city.
When we were near the Church it was as if a bell was ringing in my ears... so long... taut and slightly eerie.
- You know... as a kid, I always thought the bells of this Church sounded creepy. And now, with this technology, it's like I can hear them ringing again. It's still as creepy as ever.
- Yeah, I can hear it, too. It's a little tinny.
- Mm-hmm.
We were quiet for a while.
- Do you think we can get in?
Judy's question made me smile slightly and I shrugged.
- Let's see, after all these years there must have been a hole somewhere... at least such a development has a pretty high probability.
- Well...let's check it out....
Judy and I swam round the church.
- You know, when I was a kid I was always amazed at our priest, I always thought he knew everything about everybody. Such a piercing gaze, so understanding and forgiving, I wanted to tell him everything I'd done at once... and when I found myself praying.....
Judy shook her head, and it was as if I could hear what she was saying....
- ...it made me uncomfortable. How does one speak in front of such a crowd? Why doesn't he get lost and confused in words... I gave a rooster a couple of times when telling poems in class, even though I thought I learnt everything well, and here....
I was overcome with conflicting emotions that I couldn't make sense of.
- Oh, here's the failure.
I pointed to the roof of the Church, part of which had fallen into the building. It was through this hole that we got in.
- And it's the same here...
I felt nostalgia and some shame coming from my girl.
- What are you ashamed of?
- Well... I snuck in here at night once, I wanted to feel what a priest feels standing here....
She pointed to where he used to stand.
- ...and talking to people...saying prayers...but it was so creepy at night and I couldn't stand it, I screamed!
'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'
The lingering panic and fear were washed away by the shame Judy was now feeling.
- And what happened next?
- Nothing... I just ran away, but every time I went to church thereafter, I felt like the priest was looking at me, and looking at me judgementally....
I nodded my head.
- So... we should go...
Judy looked at the gauge on her arm and headed towards the gap in the roof, through which we had left just as we had entered. Becca was waiting for us outside, and together we swam across the city toward the cable I was using to get down.
Not just me, though, but Becca, of all of us, only Judy had gone down without using the cable in any way.
- Well.
Judy, when we reached the rope, turned back to the town and looked longingly at it.
- ...goodbye to my hometown.
- Why goodbye?
I put my hand on Judy's shoulder.
- If you want to, we can come back here more than once ....
- Does that make sense? I've wanted to come here for a long time, but I've never been able to do it... I just didn't have someone I really wanted to be with, and now...
She waved her hands as if to say that it was just the two of us... The three of us... I'd almost forgotten about Becca.
- Why are you having such a good time?
- I'm just joking in my head about how I almost forgot about Becca following us around.
- Huh... that's right...
And we began to rise to the surface....