Tina Chan: imperfect

The eerily empty streets beckoned her to run faster; she already had two late marks for this month’s Sunday Gathering attendance. Kristi was tempted to skip out on today’s sermon; she loathed listening to yet another boring speech about the boring community in the boring room.

A solar-compressor loomed ahead. She skidded to a stop, pausing just long enough for her to dispose her energy bar wrapper. At last, the Gathering Hall came into view. As quietly as possible, she attempted to sneak into the room unnoticed.

Speaker Quincy was at the podium, towering over the rest of the audience on the raised stage at the head of the Gathering Hall. He droned on about something Kristi had absolutely no interest in. Unfortunately, as passionate as Quincy was about his speech, he noticed her as soon as she crept past the doors.

“Acting is one of the greatest sins one can commit. In truth, acting is simply lying with actions. When one does— KRISTI !” he suddenly barked out.

Half of the attendees jumped in bewilderment.

“ Young lady , why are you late for such an important Gathering? I would expect a child of sixteen years to be much more responsible.”

Speaker Quincy’s pug nose twitched with resentment. He had gone through multiple surgeries in effort to make his nose look like less of an eyesore. As far as Kristi could tell, though, his efforts were in vain.

“Not that I expect a child with genetic disabilities to attend an intellectual meeting,” Quincy said to himself, but loud enough for most of the attendees to hear.

Glenn snickered loudly. He was leaning against the wall with his oh-so-perfect hair and his oh-so-perfect eyes. The usual gaggle of lackeys was sprawled in the pews around him. All of Glenn’s followers had three things in common: they were rich, they were good-looking, and they were stupid.

Kristi slunk to an empty seat near the back of the room and proceeded to sulk.

The Gathering Hall could easily seat five hundred people, though only three quarters of the room was filled today. The ceiling was three stories high and had a magnificent mural of the Evolution of Science painted on it. Marble pews ran down the hall; a plush, velvet carpet rested between them, snaking its way to the head of the hall. It gave the room an intimidating feel.

After making sure Kristi had been thoroughly embarrassed, Quincy resumed back to his speech. “As I was saying before, acting is a sneaky sin. Although we all know acting is lying with actions, many of us unconsciously act all the time. Of course when you act, you don’t do it with a malicious purpose; perhaps you pretended to be happy when you received an unwanted gift, or maybe you have acted excited about attending an event you really weren’t enthusiastic about. Nevertheless, those are all sins, no matter how small.”

Kristi assumed an interested look, even though her mind was really wandering about. Sorry, Quincy, for acting interested during your speech about the sins of acting. But then again, do you see me wearing a halo? I didn’t think so.

She chuckled at irony of the situation and was shushed by the surrounding people who gave her distasteful glances. Kristi slouched in her seat, not wanting to attract any more attention. Life was harsh being different.

The small, glass bell rang, signaling the end of Sunday Gathering. Kristi hurried out the door. It was almost twelve o’clock and the energy bar she ate for breakfast didn’t satisfy her stomach’s need for long. To her annoyance, Glenn and his cronies must have snuck out of the sermon early because they were waiting for her by the entrance. It was common knowledge among the citizens Kristi hated Sunday Gatherings; she was always the first person out of those double doors that lead into the Gathering Hall.

Glenn had a nasty smirk pasted across his face. Lunch would have to wait.

“Think you’re better than everyone else, being able to come to my dad’s speech late, don’t you?” he asked.

Henry and Michel, his two staunchest supporters, nodded their heads in agreement. Henry resembled a grizzly bear to some degree; his hulking figure certainly helped with that image.

“What do you want, Glenn?” Kristi said. “It’s not my fault I was late today.

Glenn arched an eyebrow. “Are you implying it was my fault that you were late? If so, would you be so kind as to explain why it’s my fault I made you late?”

“I could’ve gotten here on time if I had my bike,” Kristi lied.

“It’s your own fault you don’t have your bike,” Glenn said. “Maybe if you were more careful when riding it, you wouldn’t have run it into a fence.”

“Glenn, would you just cut it out and leave me alone? I know it was you who slashed my bike’s tires.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. According to the records, it was your stupidity that caused your bike to be currently unusable.” Some Perfects streamed out behind Kristi. Glenn winked at a group of girls, eliciting a chorus of giggles from them.

Kristi tried her best to rein in her temper. If she started a fight in public, she would get sent to the detention center.

“Tell me you did not hack into the records,” she said.

“Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t change the records.” Glenn gave Michel a meaningful look.

Michel sneered at Kristi. “You poor thing, running around getting yourself in trouble. What are you going to do next? Ride your droid-horse into a wall?”

“Glenn!” Speaker Quincy called out. “Get over here now. We have a college tour at Westland University in two hours.”

Glenn mockingly tipped an imaginary hat at Kristi. “Until next time.”

Kristi watched the three boys file into the solar-car. Her electro-slate vibrated against her jeans, announcing she had an instafication.

“On,” she commanded the electro-slate. “View instafication.”

The message popped into view.

To: Kristi Shea

From: Leo’s Bike Shop

Message: Kristi, your hydro-bike is ready for pick up at any time.

“Dad’s not too happy with you.”

Kristi spun around to face the voice. Jaiden stood behind her, scrolling through his electro-slate while he spoke. “You know how he dislikes negative attention being cast upon our family.”

Kristi laughed without the slightest hint of humor. “What else is new? He’s always complaining about my mistakes.”

“Although it may seem like he’s being tough on you, he does care about you.”

“Not enough to allow me to skip Sunday Gatherings.” Kristi stowed away her electro-slate. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

Jaiden glanced at his smart-watch. “Yeah. I have to assist Professor Smetana at the lab in an hour. Stay out of trouble, will you?”

“It’s not like I purposely go chasing after trouble. By the way, how many points do you have on your electro-slate? I might need to borrow some of yours.”

“A bit over eight hundred points. Why do you need some?”

“Glenn had Michel hack and alter the damage report I submitted to hide the fact that my hydro-bike was vandalized. He didn’t want to be found guilty of slicing the tires. So now it’s my fault my hydro-bike isn’t functioning. Insurance doesn’t cover self-damages.”

“All this bullying needs to stop,” Jaiden said. “I think I’m going to confront Glenn tomorrow.”

Jaiden was a year older than Glenn, but Glenn’s dad held a considerable amount of authority over the town. Getting on the bad side of the Quincy family may not end up well.

“Please, don’t,” Kristi said. “It’s not worth it.”

“We’ll see,” Jaiden said.

He wordlessly sent Kristi some of his points and then left; Professor Smetana expected her lab assistants to be punctual.