Tina Chan - imperfect

“Why didn’t you answer any of my instafications?” Jennifer placed her hands on her hips and put on a little pout.

“I was going to, but never got around to it. Too much homework. Someone should tell Brunes to lay off the chemistry assignments a bit,” said Troop. In truth, he hadn’t even read the messages Jennifer had sent him.

A student exiting the library blundered into his path; Troop automatically shoved the offender out of his way. Then he inwardly recoiled at his actions the moment he realized what he had done. I’m growing into this Troop at Ludus High character more than I like .

Not even a year ago, the old Troop would’ve hesitated at the thought of pushing someone out of his way; now it had become second nature.

Jennifer babbled on, oblivious to the fact her words were going in one of his ears and out the other. “Anyways, Tompkins tipped me off Maya was the next VicDay person.” By this time, she had lost her pout. “You know you didn’t have to do that for me.”

Troop realized she was waiting for him to respond. “Do what?”

“You know, set Maya up for VicDay because I told you I didn’t like her. You spoil me too much.” Jennifer clung onto his arm like a burr.

He gently shook her off, ignoring the pout reappearing on her face. “The group voted for Maya,” he said. “I didn’t vote for her.”

“Oh.” The pout deepened and grew less cute. Then Jennifer spotted her friends gossiping in front of the vending machine. She twirled away from him and said, “See you later.”

Troop relaxed the moment Jennifer left his side; half the time he spent with her he felt like he was dealing with a three year-old who always got what she wanted. Lengthening his strides, he hurried to his math class. A Perfect was never late.

The bell rang a second after Troop crossed the threshold of the classroom. He slid into a seat beside Mason in the back corner of the room. Mason looked up in greeting and wordlessly passed Troop the answer key to tomorrow’s math quiz.

“Jack?” asked Troop.

Mason nodded.

“Thank him for me if you see him.”

Mason nodded again; his taciturn demeanor was a relief to Jennifer’s non-stop chatter. Mason brought out his electro-slate to take down some notes.

Troop didn’t bother to do so; he could always snitch the math notes off someone else.

She was the last to wake up. As usual. Jaiden was busy making breakfast and Chelsa was sitting on her bed, talking to him. Wait, Jaiden’s making breakfast? That’s my job!

Kristi bolted upright and said, “I didn’t mean to over sleep again. You should’ve woke me up; I promised to make breakfast today.”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Jaiden said. “What else is new? It’s okay—I got breakfast covered for you.”

“Did I ever mention how awesome of a brother you are?”

“No, but you can do so now.”

“Fine. Jaiden, you are an awesome brother. And now I’m going to brush my teeth because it feels like a rat had died in my mouth overnight.” By the time she had changed, brushed her teeth and braided her hair, Jaiden had finished making pancakes for everyone.

“Best pancakes ever,” Chelsa mumbled around a mouthful of pancakes. “Beats the instant oatmeal I normally have for breakfast.”

Kristi finished breakfast before Chelsa and Jaiden. She took a look around the room; nothing about the room hinted that its inhabitants were about to abandon it. The pictures and maps were still pinned up on the wall and all of Chelsa’s accessories were spread throughout.

“Is this one mine?” Kristi pointed to the dark green backpack.

“I think so. The lightest one is yours because, no offense…” Chelsa trailed off.

“I know. I’m just a soft city kid.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“It’s true though. I’ve never left my town before.” She shouldered her backpack and her knees almost buckled. This is the lightest one? How much do the others weigh? This must be at least fifty pounds. Kristi resolved to at least be able to carry her own weight. She bit her bottom lip and allowed no sounds of complaint to escape her.

“You done?” Chelsa nodded to Jaiden’s plate. He handed the empty plate to her and she deposited it in a bin beneath the cot after washing it. “Let’s get going.”

The sky was still dark and the roads were almost empty. The slimmest rays of sunlight peeked out from behind the mountaintops, hinting at a spectacular sunrise to come.

The plan was to follow Route 56, which connects the North Region to the West Region. Route 56 was a decently maintained road; most of it was paved, though parts of it were little more than a dirt path. Much of the road wound through the countryside, where only animals dwelled. The vast majority of the travelers using the road traveled by solar or hydro-cars. Others traveled by foot, droid-horses or hydro-bikes.

Thanks to Chelsa’s shortcuts, it didn’t take long before they left the city where Kristi had grown up far behind. Soon, she was surrounded by open space on all four sides; her hometown became only a silhouette in the distance.

She looked up; the sky began to brighten like a flower blooming. The thin stream of traffic thickened on Route 56—the result of people commuting to work.

They Kristi shifted off to the sides of the road in order to avoid getting caught up in the flow of movement and risk being separated from each other. The sun broke through the clouds, painting the sky a gorgeous red-gold color.

No one spoke. The only sounds to be heard were the crunch, crunch, crunch from their boots grinding the gravel beneath their feet. Yet somehow, the silence didn’t feel awkward or forced.

Kristi squinted; there was something long and tall coming up ahead. The object spanned the entire road. She slid Chelsa a quick look to see if she’d noticed it as well.

“It’s a tollbooth,” Chelsa said. “I want both of you to keep your heads down and let me do the talking when we reach it.”

Both ends of the tollbooth were submerged in a large, rushing river. There was no way to avoid passing through it, unless one wanted to risk crossing the rapid-filled water. Kristi estimated the rivers to stretch the width of at least three hundred yards; the length was immeasurable—it gushed far out of sight off into the distance. She looked down at her feet when they got near the booths.

“How many people are traveling with you?” asked the tollbooth-collector.

“Two,” replied Chelsa.

“IDs, please.”

Chelsa handed him her electro-slate and two plastic cards. He matched Chelsa’s electronic ID to her face and grunted, “I need to see Kelly and Zach’s faces.”

Kristi looked at the tollbooth-collector for a millisecond before ducking her head again. Jaiden did so likewise.

“They’re both shy,” Chelsa said.

“I can tell. Nine points.”

Once Chelsa had transferred the points, they were on their way again. Kristi turned to Chelsa and asked, “Since when did you get Jaiden and me fake ID cards?”

“Since you decided you wanted to travel to West Region. How did you expect to pass through checkpoints without an ID?” Chelsa handed them each their cards. “You should probably keep this on you at all times. I forgot I still had them on me; I would’ve given them to you earlier.”

Kristi scrutinized her card. The girl in the picture did look a little bit like her. They shared the same hair and eye color, at any rate. Her full name was Kelly Harrison; she was seventeen years old, born in the North Region and had an ID number of 012935.

“Can I see your card, Jaiden?” Kristi asked.