Against Garrett’s wishes, the girl glanced both ways across the empty street and started running over towards Opal and Garrett.
“Well, if she’s got time for socializing, I suspect that she’s finished her Life Plan,” Opal smirked at Garrett and tucked back a loose strand of her apple-red hair into her ponytail.
“Yeah, she probably put me down as her future husband too.” Garrett slowly inched toward the other side of Opal, placing her between him and his ex.
Opal narrowed her emerald eyes and tapped her foot against the pathway. “Garrett, have you even read the restrictions on what is and isn’t allowed in your Life Plan? You can’t plan super specific things like who you will marry. You can only plan when you’ll be married.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. Come up with some excuse for us to leave, because she’s coming this way,” insisted Garrett through clenched teeth.
“Hi, Garrett!” exclaimed the girl in excitement. The girl’s hazel eyes twinkled like a diamond as she gazed longingly at Garrett.
“Hi, Miranda.”
Smiling over at Opal, Miranda greeted her, “Oh, hi, Opal. How are you?”
“I’m doing fine, I…”
“We have somewhere we need to be. We were on our way home, so we need to get going.” As the sentence went on, Garrett picked up speed and started fidgeting. “So, sorry we can’t stay and talk, Miranda. See you around.”
Before she could say anything in protest, Garrett took off down the pathway at the fastest walk he could muster.
“I, uh…” Miranda replied to his fleeting image.
Patting her shoulder in sympathy, Opal explained, “He’s just in a really big hurry. His parents wanted him home a while ago and they’re pretty strict.”
“Uh, huh…” was all Miranda said.
“Well, I have to go. I’ll see you in academy, Miranda.” Without another word, Opal left Miranda on the pathway, dumbstruck.
“Garrett Nathaniel Gibbons!”
Hearing the furious voice of his mother, Garrett threw down the book he was reading and replaced it with his academy textbook.
The door flew open, creaking against its barely oiled hinges. “How many times do I have to tell you that you are to be here to feed Mr. Snuggles and tidy any mess he’s made before your father and I get home? He left another ‘gift’ by the front door again.”
Garrett glanced down at Mr. Snuggles, their pet cat rubbing against his mother’s legs and giving him the cat’s version of the stink eye. Mr. Snuggles was supposed to have been his pet, but the cat liked his mother more than he ever did him. “I’m sorry, Mom, I had to go somewhere today.”
“Mhm.” Garrett’s mom folded her arms and tilted her head to the side, her straight black hair falling slightly over her shoulder. “How is your Life Plan going?”
Garrett opened his mouth and rattled off a response. “It’s going well. It’s pretty broad right now, but I’m still fixing some things. It will definitely be completed on time.”
Sighing, Garrett’s mom unfolded her arms. “Garrett, why is it that I don’t believe you?”
Scratching the top of his head and wincing, Garrett responded, “I don’t know, Mom. Maybe you should have more faith in your one and only beloved son?”
Shaking her head, Garrett’s mom began closing the door, muttering to herself about trying to teach and discipline her son.
Once Garrett was certain his mom was down the hall and out of earshot, he slid off his twin-size bed and stumbled across the room, trying to avoid his belongings scattered on the floor. Finally making it to his desk, he twisted the top of a silver cube centered atop it. The top folded down and expanded into a keyboard. An internal orb extended up and then a projection popped up and asked for a login. Garrett typed lightning fast on the keyboard and was allowed into his account. Clicking on the icon in the bottom left-hand of the screen, a black window with a spiraling set of stars centered itself across the entire screen.
After the loading ceased, a picture appeared on the black screen.
“Opal?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” came Opal’s voice, loud and clear as crystal.
“Opal, I don’t know what to do. My mom’s asking about my Life Plan again.”
“Garrett,” Opal stopped drying the inside of the dish she had just washed and placed it on the counter. “Why don’t you just write your Life Plan? Everyone else is nearly finished with theirs. You’re going to have to do it sooner or later. It might as well be now.”
Garrett rolled his head in exasperation, “Opal, can’t you just do it for me?”
“Garrett, I told you before, no.”
“Please?”
“Garrett!” Opal switched on the visual portion of her sciorb, replacing her picture with the live image of her face so Garrett could see her annoyance. “I’ve told you that it isn’t possible. The Council would know, and you would be placed into the Undecided regardless.”
In defeat, Garrett fell back into the chair behind him. “I just don’t know what to say to my mom when she keeps asking about it.”
“What about the truth?”
Garrett gawked at the screen, his thick, black eyebrows rising to the ceiling. “Are you kidding me? She would kill me for sure, you know that. Both my parents are strict, but my mom’s the worse of all.”
“Why is it that the parents who don’t care whether or not their child does well are always the one who has the child that is the overachiever? And the ones who do care are the ones with the kids slacking off?”
“Well, maybe our parents should have switched us at birth, then they could have had all they wanted.”
“No, that wouldn’t have worked.” Opal couldn’t help smiling at the
