11. CONTINUED DAY OUT

I drove off in the direction of the mall, with Jack. It wasn’t a very long drive but I wasn’t in a rush so I drove under the speed limit. We talked about my school with Jack, I was telling him about how it was. I described everything clearly for him so that he could try to picture it. He asked about my friends and I told him about Mya and Brendan.

“Kid, don’t tell me that you only have two friends at school”, he said with a disapproving tone.

“I do have two friends only. Some students tolerate me but some really look at me like I’m some kind of disturbing bug, although I’ve never talked to them. That’s one of the reasons why I always wear hoodies and keep my head down.”

He considered that and took a moment going over what I had just said. I didn’t know what he was thinking about, it was annoying that I couldn’t read his mind. For all I knew, I don’t think he had a mind since he was just a computer. He was way better than a normal computer because he could reason like a living being.

“Ok, kid. But how do you feel about all that, you know, always being able to read their minds?” he asked.

“I’m used to it now, it doesn’t bother me much anymore like before. I used to lock myself in my room every day after school so that I could have some peace and quiet for a few hours.”

“I can’t imagine that one, how you felt I mean. But now you seem like you’re enjoying it”, he said with a light tone.

“Well, you could say that. It’s better than before, way better. I just know how to control my emotions better now, but my friends don’t know about me, about my abilities I mean.”

“You mean, you’ve been with these guys all these years and they don’t know about you? Don’t they ever visit you at home?” he asked with surprise.

I laughed at first and then answered, “Well, I’m not supposed to let anyone know, remember? Anyway, when they visit me, there’s nothing to make them suspicious about anything because we live normally just like anybody else.”

“Your room? There’s your capsule there. Not to mention the lab and all its components in it”, he said.

“Jack, I have a bed in my room. My capsule in my room isn’t like the one in the lab, it’s built in and hidden perfectly. No one would be able to find it. And the lab, no one knows about it except for the people that live in the house. That’s why you see the elevators hidden and only exposed by punching in the co-ordinates by that wall.”

“Wow, your dad really knows his thing. What a scientist”, he exclaimed.

“Yeah. And anyway, people just know me as the daughter of a billionaire, nothing more to it.”

We then got to the mall and I went to the second floor parking lot to secure my car there. I took Jack from the stand and put him in the protective cover for the tab. We went into the mall and I froze where I stood. Jack was pretty much surprised to see it too. The mall was fully packed and a lot of people were carrying shopping bags from one store to the other.

“Kid, you could have given me a heads up on how full the mall is going to be”, he said accusingly.

“Jack, I did tell you how full the mall gets during the weekends. So, let’s not play the blame game”, I said with raised eyebrows.

I realized that talking to Jack was drawing attention to myself because most people looked at me like I was crazy, talking to a tab.

“Ok ok, but I hate standing in a crowd like this. It makes me anxious about you, and me for that matter”, he said.

“Why?”

“Remember what Jay said? Yeah, I do too. So, if we are to be discovered, they’d take you and destroy me because they know I might be able to tell your dad about your whereabouts”, he answered.

“Right. Ok, got it. Let’s just go to the restaurant next to the cinema and wait for Ashton there.”

“Good idea. Speaking of Ashton, that guy seems to like you”, he said.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“Too much”, he emphasized.

“How do you mean?”

“I can’t say it, kid. You’ll see for yourself when the time comes”, he said and then went off.

I walked off in the direction of the cinema. There was a small coffee shop opposite the cinema and I settled into one of the seats.

The waiter came to my table to ask for my order.

“Nothing for now. I’m just waiting for someone”, I said dismissively.

He walked off back into the shop and I settled Jack onto the table. I didn’t wait for long because Ashton appeared after a few minutes I sat in the coffee shop. He didn’t seem to see me so I communicated with him mentally.

I’m by the coffee shop opposite where you’re standing, I told him.

He turned around instantly and saw me. I stood up and walked to the cinema entrance where he was standing. I still had my hoodie on and I kept my head down walking in his direction. I got there and I lifted my head to look at him.

“Hi”, he said with a smile.

“Hey”, I said and smiled back.

“You look radiant, and if you don’t mind, please keep the hoodie off when you’re around me”, he said that. He then took the hoodie off of my head.

I was still looking down when he took it off. He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head, with soft eyes, and said, “Is that ok with you?”

“Umm, I’ll try keeping it off, for now.”

Jack then came back when I fixed my hoodie to stay back from my head.

“Oh, hey Jack. It’s nice to see you again”, Ashton said to him.

“It’s great to see you too, kid. How ya doing?” he said with a smile.

“I’m great hey. Looking forward to the movie?” Ashton asked.

“I sure am. So, we’d better get moving to get the tickets”, he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Good idea. Let’s go then”, he said.

We went off to join the queue of people waiting to buy the tickets. I still wanted to watch Step Up All In but I didn’t say anything. It didn’t help though, because Ashton picked that up from my mind. He turned to face me and thought, Step Up it is then.

I smiled up at him and his breath caught. He then turned away to where he was facing. I was amazed that he was dazzled. Jack then talked to me.

“Hey, kid, what movie are we watching?” he asked.

“Step Up All In”, I said and smiled at him.

“Why that one?” he asked.

“Well, I love dance movies so that’s one of the reasons why.”

“Kid, I know you love dancing but can we go this one day without any dance moves getting into your head?” Jack commented.

Jack knew that I love dancing. I love dancing because I’m good at it, although I didn’t want to perform in front of a crowd. I knew that I was good enough but being in front of a crowd is one of the things that I always tried to avoid.

“You dance?” Ashton asked.

“Yeah, in my room.”

“And she’s good at it too”, Jack added.

“Jack”, I cautioned.

“Sorry, kid, but it’s true. Everyone in the house knows that, even your dad”, he said.

“How did they get to know that?”

“Well, remember that day when you were dancing in the living room? When your dad and Jay were out?” he asked.

“Yeah. What about it?”

“I was there, remember? Although I was away, I was there. So, I took the liberty of recording the dance session you had and then showed it to them”, he confirmed.

“Jack!” I exclaimed.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, kid. When you’re good, you’re good. There’s no point in denying that”, he said.

“That’s true, Lina. If you’re good, don’t hide it”, Ashton commented and then continued, “So, Jack, do you have that footage right now with you?”

“Sorry, kid, I left it at home. I’ll show it to you some other time”, he said.

“No, you won’t. When we get home, I’ll hack into your system and delete it”, I said in a serious tone.

“Too late, kid. It can’t be deleted because I saved it in an account that can’t be hacked into by anyone”, he said. "Well, except your dad."

I groaned loudly and let it slide.

We got to the counter when our chance to buy the tickets came and we bought two. We were lucky because the movie was starting in a few minutes. So we purchased some popcorn and soft drinks for the duration of the movie. I bought crème soda and he went for coke. I put salt and vinegar spice in my popcorn and he put in butter-salt in his. He carried his load and Jack while I just carried a box of popcorn in one hand and soft drink in the other.

We went into the movie house and settled into the seats a bit far from the screen. I had a small stand that I had carried for Jack’s sake so I positioned it in between my seat and Ashton’s for him to get a good view of the movie. We then waited for it to start.