Mechanical (14 page)

I sighed internally. Of course. “We weren’t
... doing anything,” I protested.

Hailey rolled her eyes. “Sure.”

“No really,” I laughed. “We were just
talking.”

Hailey gave me a look like she didn’t believe
me and then started eating. I noticed Jessica hadn’t said much,
when usually she was the one doing most of the talking. I looked
over at her and saw her staring down at her plate.

“Is something wrong?”

She looked up, apparently just now realizing
we were both staring at her. “Oh, no,” she said quickly with a
smile. “Just a little tired.”

For the rest of the lunch hour we sat
together talking about the usual stuff like assignments, gossip,
and Hailey’s numerous crushes. Eventually, Hailey stood up to go to
the bathroom and Jessica watched her walk away as though she had
been waiting for her departure.

“Drew,” she leaned over and said to me. “I
didn’t want to tell you this in front of Hailey. She’s like the
gossip queen around here and if she heard it would be all over the
school in a second.”

“What is it?” I asked concernedly, thinking
that maybe something had happened with Jessica.

Jessica’s expression turned to one of sorrow
and pity. For me? I was confused. “I can tell you really like
Michael ...” she began.

Where was this going?

“But I think you deserve to know.” Her gaze
shifted down to look at the table.

“What ...?” I asked, now a little scared.

“Well, I don’t know why he would do this
after he’s led you on and all. Ugh, I am so angry with him right
now. Boys are worthless, every single one of them. I mean,
seriously, couldn't they just be a little more mature?”

“Jessica, what happened?” I urged, my heart
starting to beat faster against my metallic ribcage in what I
assumed to be some imitation of human anxiety.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “I saw him with
someone else. He kissed her.”

Suddenly, I felt as if my heart had stopped
beating. The wires, screws, timers and whatever else was in there
had all instantly come to a halt. Michael? Kiss someone else?

Why
? I thought numbly. The cafeteria
around me seemed to blur together and the sound turned to a massive
hum. I was so confused. Why would this happen?

“...black-haired girl, really tall...” I
barely heard Jessica say above my whirring thoughts.

I stilled, focusing on what she said. “Tall?”
I asked. A tall, black-haired girl?

“Yeah, even taller than you. She was almost
taller than Michael and they did
not
look good together,”
Jessica said, in an attempt to make me feel better.

“Was her hair short?” I was afraid to ask,
but I did anyway.

Jessica nodded and gestured with her hands to
where the girl’s hair had fallen around her face. It was the right
length. “She was gorgeous, wasn’t she?”

Jessica paused.

“Was she?” I asked again.

She slowly nodded.

I felt as if I had just been slapped across
the face. It was bad enough to have Michael go off with some other
girl, but did it have to be her?
Why her?
I felt like
screaming. Why would she do this?

Because she was Yvonne. I felt as if someone
had driven a knife through my soul.

If I even had one.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Throughout the day my sorrow and self-pity
eventually turned to anger and by the end of the day, I was
furious. Not so much with Michael, although it did take two, but
mostly with Yvonne. She knew that I liked Michael. A lot. And she
had deliberately stolen him. Whether or not she planned for me to
find out (probably not), it was unfair and so ... like her. Why was
I even surprised? Michael was a challenge for Yvonne – something
that was supposedly mine and something she was determined to make
her own.

I stormed into our room once David drove me
back to the Institution. Yvonne was sitting on her bed reading a
magazine with a picture of a beautiful girl with soft brown hair
adorning the cover. It didn’t help my mood to notice that Yvonne
was at least twice as pretty.

“How could you do this?” I nearly screamed at
her.

Yvonne didn’t look the least bit concerned,
or even surprised, which made me just that much madder. She calmly
studied me.

“How?” I cried again.

“What are you talking about?” Yvonne asked,
her expression telling me she knew exactly what.

“How could you kiss Michael?” I snapped,
trying to lower my voice to a normal tone, hoping that maybe we
could discuss this civilly, but seriously doubting it.

“Oh ...” Yvonne drew out the word. “I see.
You’re jealous.”

I stared at her in shock. “Jealous? How about
angry? Why would you do that? You knew I liked him.”

Yvonne shrugged. “I didn’t know you liked him
that
much. You said you weren’t a couple.”

Her words were spoken with soft nonchalance,
but hit me like a smack in the face. And Yvonne knew it. I had said
that, but we hadn’t even had enough time to become a couple. So how
could that even count? “You knew I liked him,” I repeated.

Yvonne was starting to look uncomfortable.
She ran her fingers through her hair, a habit she did whenever she
was annoyed. “Oh please, Drew, this is so ...
human
, for
lack of a better word.”

I simply glared at her.

“Besides, he would never like you if he knew
what you really were,” she added, watching me closely.

I stopped for a moment.
But he does
know,
I wanted to scream back. Then my heart sank to the bottom
of my chest, a realization dawning on me. That’s why he had left.
That’s why he had kissed Yvonne. He didn’t want to have anything to
do with an android. Who would? My head hurt. My heart hurt. I felt
hot tears well up behind my eyes, but I held them back. “It was
you
who said that fishing around for guys on the human level
was beneath you. Beneath all of us,” I snapped back.

Anger flashed in Yvonne’s eyes and she stood
up. “I get what I want, Drew,” she spat through clenched teeth.
“And don’t you forget it.”

“Even when it means betraying your closest
friend?”

For a second, regret flashed in her eyes, but
in an instant, it was gone, replaced with a fresh round of anger.
“I know how to get what I want and I’m not afraid to get it.” Her
voice was cold and merciless.

“Well what
do
you want, Yvonne?” I
yelled. “You always say you know how to play it right. You know
what to do. You always get the tiniest thing you want.”

She glared at me, living hatred seeming to
burn through her eyes.

“Your choices come with consequences, but
that’s something you don’t seem to have learned.” I was almost
shouting now. “You think you can steal Michael away from me, and
come back here, and everything will be the same?” I glared at her
incredulously. “What about when you’ve gone too far? Has that ever
even occurred to you? That maybe you’ve been hurting others?” I
suddenly stopped, not wanting to do this anymore. A tense silence
hung in the air while I stood there, breathless.

For a moment, I thought Yvonne was going to
apologize, but I guess I had mistaken her shock for remorse because
in the next second she lashed out again.

“
You’re
weak,
Drew.” She flung
the words at me. “You could be one of the most powerful people in
the world, but you’re too afraid to use what you’ve got.” Her dark
eyes blazed with anger and her voice was edged with disgust.
“You’re no better than the
humans
,” she said as if she were
comparing me to a roach. And with that she turned and left the
room.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I walked numbly through the school doors, not
even wanting to be there at all. It’s sad how the loss of a love
affair (however small and short lived) can completely deplete your
motivation for going to school, or anywhere else for that
matter.

Hailey commented that I didn’t look too good,
which made my day just that much worse. She was probably saying it
in my best interests, but still, Jessica patted my arm knowingly,
trying to comfort me, but it was also embarrassing to let her see
me get this way over her
brother
.

Basically, I was miserable.

I avoided Michael all day, ducking into
bathrooms and behind people if I saw him passing by in the hallway.
I was doing fine, but dreading the upcoming period of English
class.

The only upside of the day was that Caroline
came back. She had been in the hospital for a few weeks and was
finally well enough to return to school. She was still fragile and
people were told to be careful around her, but she was greeted with
ecstatic friends hugging her and making sure she was okay. Even the
principal welcomed her back to school in the morning assembly.

After the hype died down, Caroline formally
thanked me for what I had done, claiming that I had saved her life.
I had gotten quite a few comments about it and was beginning to
feel slightly self-conscious, unsure of what exactly I had done
that was so life-saving.

But I was glad she had come back and our
little group was now full again. Hailey, Caroline and Jessica
gabbed on like usual and I would throw in comments here and there.
I was just happy to see her again. But my good feelings died on the
spot when I heard the bell signaling the next period, and I had to
go to English class.

I walked slowly down the hallway, even though
I knew that getting there late wouldn’t make much of a difference.
When I finally entered the room I was scolded by Miss Clark for
being tardy, but I didn’t care. I noticed that the free seat was
across the room from Michael and quickly thanked God that I didn’t
have to spend the class sitting next to him.

I felt Michael’s gaze follow me as I sat down
and noticed him making frequent glances in my direction, but I
ignored him. The class was painfully slow as I forced myself to
avoid looking in his direction. Afterward, I got up as fast as I
could and sprinted for the exit. I didn’t look back to see if
Michael was following. Part of me hoped he was, but I pushed that
thought away as quickly as it had surfaced. He didn’t want me. He
had made that clear.

When I heard Michael’s voice call after me my
heart leapt, half of me feeling relieved, but the other half
screaming at me to be angry with him. I sped up, but there were too
many people in my way and Michael easily caught up to me.
Irritation settled over me like a heavy cloud.

“Hi Drew,” he said in his usual happy voice.
“I’ve been trying to find you all day. Where’ve you been?”

“Hello Michael,” I said, not looking at him.
I was still trying to speed up and leave him behind.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nope.”

He looked confused. “Well, you seem
upset.”

I didn’t reply.

“Are you upset?”

Again, I didn’t reply. I walked up to my
locker and grabbed my books from inside, but Michael followed
me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, more intently this
time.

“Nothing.” I started walking again and he
followed.

Just then, I saw my next class come into view
and I made a beeline for the doorway.

“Um, see you later Drew,” Michael called
after me, but I didn’t reply.

When I glanced back to see if he had gone, I
saw him walking away. His expression was a blend of confusion and
hurt, but before I could begin to feel sorry about rejecting him, I
told myself not to care. He had hurt me. All I was doing now was
dealing with that hurt.

But as I was just about to walk through the
door, a figure at the end of the hallway caught my eye. The figure
was taller than the rest and easy to spot ... David. What was he
doing here?

Chapter Thirty

I started walking quickly down the hallway
towards David. I eyed him suspiciously when he looked my way. “What
are you doing here?” I asked once he was in earshot.

“I have something for you.” David thrust some
papers into my hands. I looked down at them. Ugh. Not again.
Couldn't they at least give me a longer notice? “Her name is Gloria
Stewarts,” he whispered.

“Why tell me now?” I hissed. “You could have
told me this morning or a few days ago.”

“We were going to tell you tomorrow,” David
explained.

“Well, why didn’t you?”

“We just received notice that this is her
last day at school. It’s now or never. Get her to the Institution
today,” he said quietly, and with that, he turned and left the
building.

Annoyed, I watched him go then looked down at
the picture. I knew Gloria to be the quiet girl who always sat in
the back of my Spanish class. I hurriedly stuffed the papers in
between the pages of one of my books and headed to class. How was I
supposed to get Gloria to the Institution? I spent the rest of the
period thinking about that instead of the lesson, and by the end of
the day, I had a plan. It was a pretty lame plan, but a plan,
nevertheless.

“Gloria!” I called once I saw her outside the
building, starting to walk home.

She looked up and saw me, seeming confused
about why I was talking to her. I wondered if she even knew who I
was. I groaned inwardly. Embarrassment and anxiety were human
emotions I was starting to become very well acquainted with.

“That road is really backed up with
construction,” I told her, feeling the lie burn on my tongue. “When
I drove by it this morning there was no room on the side of the
road for anyone to walk.”

“It was fine this morning,” she said, her
eyebrows furrowing in puzzlement.

“Well, I got here late,” I explained.

“Oh.” She didn’t sound convinced.

“I just wanted to let you know so you don’t
get caught up in all that,” I said, trying to sound friendly. “Do
you want to walk with me? The long way around passes by my
house.”