Tina Chan: imperfect

Fifteen hands shot up into the air.

Jaiden pretended to look shocked and said, “What? No one knows the answer?”

Grinning, he closed his eyes and randomly pointed at a girl wildly waving her hand. He called on her.

“They are the North Region, South Region, East Region and West Region,” said the girl.

“Very good. And can you tell me which region we live in? You better know this or else…” Jaiden wagged a finger at her.

“North Region.”

“Correct. Who can name the countries of the world?” Jaiden asked. He chose a boy with sandy hair to answer.

“United Regions, South Union, Asian Republic, and the Unified Provinces of Europe.”

“That’s right. Okay, here’s a harder question. Whoever answers this question right gets brownie points. Who are the leaders for each of the named nations?”

After a moment of hesitation, the boy with the sandy hair raised his arm up again. Jaiden called on him without missing a beat.

“President Ducix runs the United Regions. Chief Imperate is in charge of South Union, Empress Regina rules the Asian Republic and, uh…” the boy trailed off, flushing with embarrassment for forgetting the name of the Prime Minister who ruled the Unified Provinces of Europe.

In the meantime, several other students had raised their hands, ready to be called on by Jaiden. Jaiden let the boy have another fifteen seconds to come up with an answer before picking on a girl with a French braid running down her back.

The girl blinked her unnaturally blue eyes and said, “Prime Minister Rector commands the Unified Provinces of Europe.”

Jaiden nodded his approval. Using his index finger, he powered off the smart-screen and wrapped up his class. “I hope you’ve all learned a lot. If you remember at least eighty percent of the materials we just went over, you should be well prepared for tomorrow’s test.” He paused to confirm the time on his watch. “Class has been concluded.”

The kids packed up their belongings, thanked Jaiden and left. Kristi took a look at her own watch; ten minutes left before she had to leave. Her tutoring class would be taught in one of the spare classrooms.

Jaiden finished gathering his belongings and noticed Kristi hovering by the door.

“Did you get your hydro-bike fixed?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t tell Maria and Don about it. I assume you want to keep it this way?”

“Yeah,” Kristi said, nodding a little and grateful that Jaiden understood she didn’t want Don and Maria to be concerned with her wellbeing. “Do you know if anyone still uses a TV set in town?” Kristi asked, a picture of the TV she had found earlier flashing into her mind.

“I don’t think so, but I might be wrong.”

Kristi mentally rolled her eyes; Jaiden was never wrong.

“I have to go now. Professor Smetana is probably wondering why I haven’t shown up at the lab. I promised her I would return to the lab as soon as I completed my service hours.”

With that, Jaiden left the library, giving Kristi a slight pat on the shoulders as he walked away.

Well. That was Jaiden: wanted by everyone because he was good at everything. Kristi left the library then stepped down the hallway and into the empty classroom.

The smart-screen in the room was an older model, and it took four attempts before Kristi got the machine to spark to life. Even after coaxing the ancient screen to turn on, it was several minutes before Kristi was able to connect her electro-slate to it. She irritably tapped her foot, waiting for the lesson to finish downloading.

The kids she was tutoring were level two; most of the children were six to seven years old. Kristi counted the number of kids seated at the desks. Five in total. Not a bad number. She told herself she preferred her classes to be small.

I get to do more one-on-one teaching this way, she thought, refusing to acknowledge the reason why her classes were generally smaller than the other tutoring groups was because not many parents felt comfortable with the idea of having their Perfect youngsters being taught by an Accident.

The lesson finally completed its download. Kristi turned to her group and said, “Hope everyone’s interested in learning about polynomials today because that’s what we’re doing.”

Kristi plopped down onto a soft, cushioned chair, exhausted from teaching. Dealing with kids she knew who were going to one day turn out smarter than her took a heavier toll than expected. Although her students were generally well behaved, they were still only six year olds, and had the tendency to wander off topic.

She trudged to the bathroom and turned on the steam-powered jets. The pounding water massaged away her tiredness. Citrus scented bath foam rejuvenated the spirit and once she’d toweled dry her dark, wet hair, Kristi began to ponder what to do with the rest of her day. I suppose I could go revisit the hidden room in the wall. After all, it isn’t everyday something interesting like this happens. I would be dumb not to make the most of it.

She exited the bathroom and dug her bag out from underneath her bed. Then she hunted around the house, packing anything she felt that she should include on her mini excursion.

“Water, granola bar and electro-slate,” Kristi said, counting each item on her fingers. “That should be all I need.” She pulled her drawstring bag closed then headed out the door.

There was an air of stillness on the streets during this time of the day. The adults were at work, the younger kids had their extra curricular lessons and the older kids were usually off doing whatever they did with their free time. Many teens liked to visit the indoor surfing complex, although Kristi never discovered why being chased by a wall of water while crouching on a Plexiglas board was considered fun.

She traced her path back down the alley, making sure to be wary of the electro-slate bandits. Kristi skipped around a puddle, not wanting to get her new sneakers muddy. Her peripheral vision caught something reflecting off the puddle. Looking down at the tranquil water, she spotted something that shouldn’t be there. Beside her stood a furry creature.

Caught off guard, Kristi almost stumbled into the puddle. She caught her balance against a solar lamp and looked around. A spotted tail slid behind a bush. Warily, she shuffled towards the barberry shrub, keeping an eye out for any movements.

A pair of gold eyes peeked out from behind the bushes. A few seconds later, the tops of two tawny fur-covered ears emerged from the upper portion of the plant.

“Where is your owner?” Kristi asked the creature. “Are you a lost droid-pet?”

The upper half of the animal emerged from behind the bush. The droid was a leopard bearing a magnificent, glossy pelt. Exotic droid-pets cost a hefty amount of points, and the owner was probably worried about the leopard.

Kristi lowered her voice to a soothing tone. “Come here, let me take you to the lost and found center.”

The leopard inched towards her, but paused halfway. Its ears twitched back and forth, listening to sounds too subtle for the human ear to catch. Then it turned its back on her and bounded away, melting into shadows as fast as a sonic-plane.

The droid-leopard encounter took up more time than Kristi liked. She had a bit over half an hour to find the room, explore it and return home. Curfew wouldn’t be enforced for another couple of hours, but none of her family members knew where she was going and Kristi didn’t want them to worry about her if she didn’t make it back before dinner.

She broke into a faster pace and located the alleyway where she had almost gotten robbed. Kristi checked her surroundings; she was alone.

“I didn’t notice the indent in the wall before,” Kristi murmured.