I wake up at approximately 7:00 a.m., the designated time. I must prepare myself for my classes today. I head out of my room and into the kitchen where Mother is programming a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon.
“Good morning Jia,” she says, “How did you sleep last night.”
I reflect for a moment. I was not disturbed at all by nightmares or overly distracting dreams.
“I slept, well,” I reply, “And you?”
Mother smiles, “I slept well. Thank you for asking Jia. You are a good daughter,” she pauses for a moment, “Jia will you please go make sure Dylan is up? You two have a little less than an hour to be ready for school.”
I give a nod and head off to Dylan’s room which borders mine. I open the door just a crack and peek in. Dylan’s room is highly untidy, unfit for guests or anyone. Clothes are scattered around the room when they should have been put in the wash tube. And of course, Dylan is still asleep even with the voice that going off on his data bracelet letting him know it’s time to be awake. How disrespectful that he is not listening to his superior.
I walk over to his bedside and rip the blanket off of him.
“Dylan!” I scold, “You should be up! Your data bracelet has been going off for the past fifteen minutes, and you have ignored it! How disrespectful! We have been given tech to help us be more efficient and productive and you have been ungrateful!”
Dylan rolls over in his bed.
“Jia,” he grumbles, then is suddenly aware of the situation, “No, no, no, no! Why am I such and idiot? I’ve been horribly disrespectful! I just wanted five more minutes! I’ve been greedy. I am sorry, I will be more grateful next time, I promise”
Despite hearing Dylan’s genuine tone, I still roll my eyes.
“Whatever,” I sigh, “Anyway we need to get ready for school. Mother has programmed bacon and eggs for breakfast.”
Together, we walk to the kitchen. Mother smiles at us and hands us our plates.
“Eat up. You must be productive in classes today just like everyday.”
Dylan and I both smile and take our plates.
Each of our plates has a pile of warm, fluffy eggs and two strips of bacon. I want to wolf down the bacon and eggs immediately, but that would be greedy. That would make it seem like I take the food we are provided for granted. We are lucky that tech even allowed the human race to live given how much we had already destroyed the planet. Sure, for a while they had to cut back on the population growth, but there were too many of us. If it wasn’t for tech, the planet would be in ruin. I am grateful that tech has saved us.
With these thoughts in mind, I slowly eat my breakfast. The egg are perfectly made, just like everything tech provides. The bacon is nice and crispy. I yearn for more, butI should be grateful for what I have. We have been taught that it is unnecessary to kill more animals than the regulated amount solely for human greed. I am grateful that tech has enlightened us.
Once I’m finished with my breakfast, I put my dishes in the return tray to be sent off, cleaned and reused. I then proceed to get ready for school. I put on my uniform, a nice light gray as the main color with a deep blue ribbon around my waist that separated my torso from my skirt, high kneed, white socks, and gray shoes.
In the Old Times, some schools used uniforms as well. There were also schools that did not. Some schools were what they called co-ed, which as I was taught meant both boys and girls went to. There were also schools that were either all girls or all boys.
The co-ed schools and non-uniform schools proved to be a problem. Girls and guys were too distracted by each other, and having no uniforms caused problems with dress code. The schools that didn’t have uniforms also seemed to be schools that were co-ed. Needless to say, girls and guys needed to be separated. Now we have a much more efficient education system with less distractions.
The decision to change the systems was made by tech. They brought in reports and data, and it showed that this could benefit education if there were less distractions. Some people did not like the decision, however. They argued that there could be benefits in the system that was outlawed. They refused to have their children wear uniforms and go to either an all boys or girls school. Even some children protested saying that they didn’t want to leave their friends. A good amount of couples still in school also protested. Needless to say, the rebellion was soon ended, and they were all taken in for reprogramming as it should be. They needed to know that tech is always right. Always supreme.
Once Dylan and I are ready for school, we walk to our air-bus stops. We each have separate stops of course, given that we are required to go to separate schools.
When my air-bus arrives, I let it scan my face.
“Jia Texa,” it analyzes, “Welcome.”
The bus doors open, and I go to my assigned seat. I don’t have to go far. My seat is towards the front of the bus given my family background. I sit next to no one.
Everyone else has someone that they are assigned to sit next to. Not me, however. All the people that need watching are assigned to sit in the front of the bus. However, I am only watched because of my family history. I am told that I’m a good kid. Due to this, the tech found the best decision to be to not put me by a troublemaker but on my own. I am glad that tech made that decision. Who knows how I could have been influenced if tech had not saved me? I am grateful to tech for making a decision that fits my best interest. Tech is good. Tech is generous.
I expect to be on my own the entire ride, just like every other day. However, today is different. When we get to the last stop, everyone gets on as usual. I notice though, that there is a new girl. I expect her to sit down somewhere else, anywhere else for that matter…but she takes a seat next to me.
I smile at her, and hold out my hand, “Hello,” I greet her, “My name is Jia Texa. What is yours?”
She looks at me and cautiously takes my hand and shakes it. “I’m Gena, Gena Varrick.”
I give Gena another smile “Well it is very nice to meet you Gena.”
“Likewise.” Gena says.
There is suddenly awkward silence. What do I say now? I’m still not entirely sure what to think of this girl. She seems nice enough, but her seat is assigned toward the front with me, after all. That must mean she or her family did something to get her placed here. It’s also most definitely not that there are no other seats available. There are plenty of seats open in the back and middle areas. Yes, she or her family must have done something, but what?
I can’t just ask her. That would be very rude. I consider for a moment telling her why I’m up here. She must be wondering about me too, what I did to deserve a front seat where there are more cameras. Of course, it was my father that got me placed here, but she doesn’t know that. I decide not to tell her and decide to not question why she was assigned up in the front with me. Maybe one day, but not today. Today we sit through the rest of the ride in silence.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVrhyxPPqn
