Three nights into my first Itex summer, I realized how much I missed home.
Mind-Sphere was a closed network for the talented minds of Diego. Outside of Diego, all I had was the World Wide Web. And absolutely no one checked www email.
The first night, my mom called me. Dad wasn't there, though.
"Hey Ame," Mom said. "You made it?"
"Yeah," I said. "I think I was, dare I say it, lucky."
"That's great." I could still hear her worry lancing through the crappy network.
"What's up on your side?" I asked.
She sighed, closing her eyes. "Sel's worried sick, but he won't even talk to me."
I put my router down. "Mom. I don't–"
"It's my problem. You don't have to worry about that," Mom said. "Tell me about Itex."
"It's different," I said. "A lot of the people have these abilities, but there are still normal people like me here."
"Abilities?" Mom asked. "Like the 'Roses to Snow' project?"
I nodded. "Yeah. They went a lot further than any of the original scientists thought they would go."
"Great for your field, honey. How are you coping?" Mom asked. "Are the people nice? Are you all ready for the fall?"
"Mom, don't worry about me. I've got it all down," I lied. "I miss you guys. And dad and Terrik, and even Johana."
"We'll visit you," Mom said. "After you're all set, we can plan a trip out to Itex City."
I shivered, wondering how safe it was to talk this openly in the dorm room. Diego cannot watch you here, I told myself. "I cannot wait," I told my mom.
"Well, it's getting late," Mom said. "Have a good night!"
"Call back soon," I said. "Hope Dad gets better."
"Bye."
"Bye." I ended the vidcall and plopped on my bed. The dorm was much smaller than my own bedroom, but Tag had warned me that my parent's stature wouldn't mean anything here. Worse than that, I only had a week before the dorms would be closed for the summer, and I still had no plans for lodging.
Somebody knocked loudly on my door. It was probably Tag.
"Come in," I shouted. After a beat, the knocking continued.
"Oh, sorry," I said, getting up to open the door. The dorm didn't have voice commanders in the rooms. Everything was manual.
"How's – You haven't even unpacked!" Tag exclaimed.
"I didn't pack anything physical," I said. I had moved all my Mind-Sphere stuff to the www, but that was all.
"Oh. Okay. What'd you have for dinner?" he asked.
My stomach growled. "Nothing."
Tag sighed. "You're completely unprepared. Let me get you something."
"But–" I protested.
"You obviously have nothing organized," Tag said. "I've been planning for months. Let me treat you for once."
As strange as it felt, Tag was right. This place was completely different, so why not change a few things. "Sure," I said. "I could get used to this."
"Don’t get too used to it, genius," Tag teased.
I stopped. "Don't… I don't want to… Just, let's not use those kinds of nicknames anymore, okay?"
Tag nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
"Late dinner?" I asked.
"Late dinner," he agreed.
The summer flew by really quickly. Tag and I spent most of our time chatting. For the first time, we were both poor as, well, students, so we mostly walked around the city. Mom wired me a little money, and after Dad accepted the fact that I had left for good, they were a little more relaxed with the allowance. But just for this year. Dad insisted that now I was out here, getting a job would be easier than falling down.
School. It finally came, and yet it came too quickly. Even though I'd already passed the twelfth-grade genetics final, I decided to take the class. Along in my portfolio were Calculus BC, AP Biology, and Biochemistry. Mom said those classes would have me set.
I didn't share any supplementary classes with tag. I didn't have any supplementary classes at all. Don't get me wrong, that was great. I even took up PE to fill a space, but it felt lonely sometimes without him.
School came and went and jobs became the focus of our lives.
Out of high school, Tag got a job as a roboticist for the Itex-Institute Maze, a rigorous test for the offspring of the "Roses to Snow" Project, also known as the Manifestations Project. Many of my classmates didn't make it back from that test, and though I protested, no one understood my aversion to fatal rites of passage. Maybe my effort to leave one made me unnaturally biased. I just felt like hopping from one to another was wrong.
I got a job at a recombinant lab, one with human subjects. As cool as pigs with wings were, there was something more fascinating about human studies. Yes, I joined the team that was designing humans with wings.
It was going to be awesome.
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