“All right, that’s fine. Thanks, Samantha.”
“No problem.” Samantha slung an arm over my shoulder and led me down the step into the living room. Leaning over and whispering to me, she added, “Us girls have to stick together since we’re the only ones at the party.”
I peered around the room and noticed she was right. We found an empty place to sit and a robot came over and offered us each a beverage.
As Samantha handed me a drink and got her own, saying thank you to the robot, I asked her, “So how long have Dylan and you known each other?”
“Oh gosh…pretty much our entire lives. He’s always been like a big brother to me. When I was a toddler, my parents used to leave me in the glass-encased observation room to play because the day care centers would always close before they finished with their work. They didn’t trust a robotic nanny to watch me. So when Dylan’s mom would pick him up from preschool, he’d play with me in the same area. I would hate being alone in there and cried most of the time until Dylan showed up.”
“Wow,” I said, taking a sip of the sugarless drink that somehow still tasted good.
“Yeah, and we’ve been close ever since.”
“How much older is Dylan than you?”
“Two and a half years…but I’m the more mature one.” Samantha winked and then laughed, throwing her head back, a bit of her drink sloshing out.
“Hey, Sam!” shouted a short red-haired guy across the room. “Dylan wants to know if you are going to challenge him in All-Stars today.”
“Of course I am! Let him know I’m not going easy on him because it’s his birthday either!” Samantha shouted back across the room. Turning to me and talking in a normal voice, she added, “Gotta keep his ego in check.”
Samantha kept talking to me at a mile a minute. A few other people came around to say hi to her and joined in talking with us for a bit. I learned a lot from everyone, but not as much as I did from Samantha. She talked about school, complained about her parents, and about every other topic imaginable. I found out we were both alike and different in many ways. We had many of the same interests and were good at the same subjects in school, although many of the high school classes in Oceania were very different from the ones I had. Even with Samantha asking a lot of questions, it was easy to keep up the charade that I, too, was from Oceania. Most of the other teens didn’t ask questions. All they cared about was having a good time hanging out and joking with one another.
Time flew by so fast that a robot calling for attention interrupted both Samantha and me.
Dylan took the opportunity to stand on the coffee table and shout, “Hey, is everyone ready for the All-Star birthday competition?”
There were lots of hoots and hollers as the twenty people in the room raised their voices in reply.
“All right! Let’s get this started!” Dylan roared rowdily, pumping his fist in the air, and then jumping off the coffee table
I just started noticing the other guests begin to group up when Samantha looped her arm in mine and said, “You’re going to be on my team.”
Dylan tried to join our group, but Samantha pushed him away. “Oh, no you don’t. I don’t want you on my team. How can I beat you if you’re on the same side as me?”
“Oh, ho, ho, sibling rivalry, huh?” Max laughed and nodded his head like a bobble head. “This is going to be fun.”
Dylan simply shook his head with a glare of mock malice and backed up keeping Samantha in his sights as he joined another group.
Within minutes, four different teams comprising of five people had formed. Each of us was handed a simulation helmet and a solid-colored flag with a number on it.
Everyone helped to push the couches to the side of the living room and cleared the area in the center.
“All right, the first one is the motorbike racing event. Each of the contenders, put your helmets on,” instructed the robot in a monotone female voice.
A person from each group was chosen for the first event and were given the simulation helmet. Each of the guys stepped up and placed on their helmets. The rest of us gathered on the couches.
Soon, I understood why they had been moved to the side.
Once each player had secured the helmet upon his head, the entire thing branched out until a motorcycle materialized underneath the player. The whole motorcycle appeared to be a hologram but supported the riders beneath it as if it were solid. My eyes watched in awe as the glowing iridescent blue of the hologram filled the bikes with ever-increasing detail all the way down to the floor.
As each player became perfectly situated on their bike, shadows began to darken the room. My head jerked to the right where only a moment before there was floor to ceiling windows. Now each window had turned into a screen with a projection of a game called Sports All-Star 2275. Numbers at the bottom of the screen scrambled and settled on the corresponding number of the players from each team sitting before it. Each one braced themselves, ready to begin.
“On your marks, get set, go!” instructed the robot.
Everyone began rocking side to side on their bikes as the simulation the riders saw inside their helmets was projected onto the screens in front of them. Each group began rooting for their teammate as he jumped obstacles, and evaded puddles and other objects in his way. Samantha and I rooted for Max—our team member for the event.
All the while, I couldn’t help but be wowed
