Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Science Fiction

Eve of Sixteen  

  "It's not your birthday yet, Storm." Mom stated as I was anxious of getting through my last day of being fifteen. I checked the time and it was 6:55 in the morning, just five more minutes until I head to school. The morning was silent as it can be and long not to disturb the peace with my neighborhood's slumber. I bounced up like an energized kitten while I stood beside the door.

"What do you want to do for your birthday?" Mom asks softly.

"Just want to enjoy my time with you and get my face painted with frosting." I replied with a smile.

"Storm, we've been doing this for ages, don't you wanna do something new?"

"Nega-I don't know!" I shrugged my shoulders. "My friends always left me reclusive after school."

"Do you want them to come over to celebrate?" Mom's smile beamed at me very gently. She was a soft mom until one of us was in peril.

I reply: "Who want to go to their friend's house on a school night?" I raised my brow out her with a silly grin.

"Wanted to interval until Friday?" Mom asks.

"Maybe..." I said pondering to decide to a do sleepover party. I checked the time on my watch to see it was 6:59 a.m. "Anyways, I got to depart, farewell mom."

I heard her say: "Goodbye" when I left my abode. My abode was about two stories up including the latest tech too. The suburban area of Elite Town. The urban area has towering residential apartments and tidy factories that doesn't execute pollution.

I paced myself to a steady jog. The academy was about two blocks away and it begins at 7:45 a.m and denounces at 2:20pm.

"Hey Collette!" One of my friends, Rayla ushered beside me with her built in rollerskates. She had blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She is robot, however, she acts like she's human. "Do you want to race?"

"So I can witness you trip and fall flat on your face again?" I grinned full of humour.

"Maybe this time, Collette, I won't. Let's see if you can beat me to it!" She commented and her face marked an evil grin. She retrieved her rollerskates. We all halted simultaneously and had gone into a sprinting position.

"One...two...three, go!" She hollered as we began to blaze down the sidewalk. I didn't attempt to stare at her, I just kept my eyes ahead. My breathing rhythm wasn't panting, but my heart thumped like a drum. Half way towards our academy, fatigue washed upon me, my throat began to be a furnace. All these contradictions didn't stop me and never did in my former races against Rayla.

"Passing ya!" Rayla declares while she passes me. My only response was a sinister grin. We were closing in towards the entrance of Stormalite Senior Academy. Rayla was a foot infront of me and cut me off to cease me from getting pass her. I felt like a bot that runs at a constant pace.

Some students started to watch us as we step upon the premises. Rayla skid and tripped then fall flat onto her face. She grunted in pain and I felt her embarrassment. I halted myself then helped her up. We were both gasping. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"I think so." She said quietly. We head inside the school then we separate. The only time I hang out with her was outside of the academy. Centuries ago, the classrooms expand into different subjects. There's still history, math, science, but there's no language art classes, however, Stormalite civilians love to read novels from the past and understand the themes and concepts of the novels that teaches you.

My classes were mostly into science, math, and astronomy. My professors are very descriptive of guiding in a lesson on a holographic projector known as the HOLO. We were able to class a planet by the way it was formed and evolved into its present day self. Years before, students had to take home their work and complete it before they return. I'd heard this was known as homework. We didn't have to dealt with that, but our ambassadors made sure that we understood what they were saying. There is no paper, only technology and the 'Internet.'

My final class of the day was physical education. Today, we get to test our elasticity and agility. It feels like we were in a secret agent movie centuries past. It always goes by fast. My favorite part of this class that we literally get to move around.

I'd started to walk out of my final class until Professor Laton called my name.

"Something the matter, professor?" I asked.

"I'd witness you racing with Rayla out there and you were a pretty good runner, how about you go to the racing competition tomorrow?" He suggests an offer to me.

"Well thanks! When and where?" I asked.

"Tomorrow!" That's my birthday! "There's going to be an assembly for the whole academy outside on the track. You'll be a competitor instead of a spectator." He smiled.

"Well, tomorrow is my birthday and mom and dad doesn't want me to do the same ol' tradition they'd celebrate in the past years, thus why not give it a shot?" I smiled back.

"Be there by 8:30 in the morning with your gym clothes on. The award if you participate, you will be able to watch your classmates without doing anything. If you win, you get a medal, trophy, and a certificate to go to Space Center Facility.

"Off Stormalite?" I asked. I was abstaining myself from getting jubilated.

"Off Stormalite." He admitted.

"Cool." My smiles turned light. "I will see you there." I turned around and started to exit the academy.

"Hey Stormy!" Sunny screamed out my nickname which everyone looked at me. She was my human friend. Her parents told me once at a plaza that Sunny has highly functional autism. She can be hyper and studious. My face flushes with humiliation and spun around and said: "I am only few feet away from you, thus keep your voice down."

"Sorry!" She apologized. "Are you excited that you're going to be sweet sixteen?!" She jitters with excitement. I am afraid that she is going to launch and bounce of the walls.

"I am going to be competing in a race tomorrow at the school's assembly." I replied.

"I am going to be one of the racers!" She cheered. "Let's see who's the best!"

"Let's see." I don't want to be competitive towards my friends because you never know who is going to be your worst adversary in games. It can be thy foe or thy companion.

"See ya tomorrow, Stormy!" She said before we split because we live on different roads and different homes. Rayla caught up to me, we'd chat most of the way home. I stayed mostly in my room, dozing off while I gaze at the stars of the HOLO until it was time for supper.

Father energizes himself by using a Bed Pod and he mostly cooks for mother and I. Today was breaded fish with a side salad. I think dad should be a Stormalite chef, but I kept my opinion to myself.

"Have you decided anything for your birthday tomorrow?" Ma asks.

"I am competing in a racing competition at school tomorrow around 8 in the morning."

"You're just like your father." Mother comments.

"I do have 24 chromosomes from you and dad." I stated.

"Smart aleck." My dad murmurs loud enough for us to hear. My mom snorted with laughter and I let out a smile. "We are going to be there. We will smack you if you aren't in the top five."

"Honey, stop!" Mom playfully smacked him against his back.

"I mean it." Dad said sternly than a grin appears on his face indicating he's pulling my leg. "You scared me for a second." My only reply. "And Professor Laton saw me race Rayla to school this morning."

"Who won?" Mom asks.

"Me." I'd admit. "Rayla fall flat on her face again."

"You tripped her?" Father jokes.

"She just clumsily skids and trips even when she's walking." I stated.

"Is she competing in the race?"

"No." I shook my head. "I think she doesn't want to be mortified if she trips on the track. She will only do that in my presence."

"What happens if you win?" Mom asks.

"Medal, trophy, and certificate to the Space Center Facility."

"That's where I once worked!" My dad blurts out. "My favorite child!"

"No, she's my favorite child." Mom smirks.

I implied: "Well, I am the only child and I equally love you both."

I went on the rooftop and gaze at the stars after supper. I can see the distant planets as tiny twinkle orbs. Why does it have to be so far away? No, they're not. We are close to each other. In this vast dark universe, it's like we're in different rooms not far apart. They might be hostile or passive, but we are clusters on the same cosmos. We are part of something far bigger even if we're small. Stars and planets twirling as a ballerina like other galaxies.

A shooting star blaze across the dimming sky. I didn't wish for anything. For wishes to come true, you have to seek them out. If I wish to win a race, I have to have velocity and skill to seek it. No matter how big or small the wish was, there's always a price behind it.