Chapter 89

"So, next we have plans for my school..."

I swam behind Judy, Becca swam behind me, she didn't swim into the house, so for her Judy just suddenly picked up speed, trying to swim away from the house in the other direction. I guess when we get to the surface some things will have to be explained.

"Judy-Judy, orphan on a platter!"

"Alvarez is so poor, she didn't even have enough for her parents!"

We froze outside a gas station.

"Is this a gathering place for the kids?"

"Well, uh. Yeah. There weren't many other places to meet, not in front of the school, and there was an old car..."

Judy nodded at the car that was rusting away at the side of the gas station.

"...It was cool to play max-tac and cyberpsych... And it was more fun in general...

"Wow..."

I noticed the umbrella at the bottom and grinned.

"...Umbrella...what could be more useless on the bottom?"

"Uh. bottled water?"

We laughed quietly.

"Maybe in a regular lake, yeah, but it's poisonous, so bottled water-- it can be useful if you have a way to drink it somehow.

"Well, uh. I don't know."

Judy grinned and we spent some time next to the gas station.

"Hmm. why do you give off that deja vu vibe?"

Judy asked a question.

"Well... there is one reason, but if you don't mind, I'm not ready to bring it up now... maybe later and all at once?"

"Does this apply to all of us?"

"Well, uh. not that it's a concern."

I shrugged.

"It's more just a thought-provoking piece of information that concerns me. About my past...

"Hmm? Is there something we don't know?"

"Quite a lot actually, and since this system allows for such tight mind linking, you'll find out everything anyway..."

"Is it... something scary?"

"No... more like unusual. Very unusual."

"All right..."

Judy shrugged her shoulders as well.

"Oh, the doll. how many years has it been here? Poor thing."

"Judy, why don't you and I go out tomorrow after school?"

"Alvarez, where are you, we're losing without you!"

"Sorry, I can't tomorrow..."

"Did someone try to set you up on a date?"

"Yeah..."

Judy smiled nostalgically. Such a... a strange mood that lasted for exactly five minutes, during which I didn't try to distract her, just enjoyed her emotions.

"I didn't realize at the time that I didn't like guys at that point in my life... Although."

Judging by the turn of her helmet and the emotion of embarrassment directed at me, she was now looking at me.

"...I probably just didn't meet my boyfriend then..."

"It's probably true."

I nodded and again bathed Judy in the love I felt for her. And this time I even swam over to her and put my arms around her waist. Judy put her arms around my shoulders, and her mask bumped against mine.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I love."

"Fool..."

We hung like that for a couple of minutes, and then Judy pulled away from me and quickly looked around and swam off in a direction I didn't recognize, and a short time later we were in front of an average school building.

"Your school?"

"Yeah, uh. but it was boring. Even in my time, training relied more on holograms and slivers, I think you had an even more advanced system at the Corporate Academy..."

"Uh-huh...

"Here we go. so did I, but my grandparents were quite educated and by the time I got to school I already knew more than my classmates... And as time went on, the gap only grew..."

"Alvarez, five points..."

The pride and sadness Judy felt at that moment was quite vivid.

"Alvarez is showing off again, we need to teach her a lesson..."

"But she's the best player on the team! If she leaves, we'll definitely lose!"

Sadness, resentment and misunderstanding appeared in Judy's emotions and I realized that this conversation was exactly what she had been eavesdropping on.

"Okay, but if she keeps showing off, she'll have to be taught a lesson!"

"And how's that?"

"How's what?"

"Did they teach you a lesson?"

"Well. they tried, but they didn't dare to attack in droves, so I gave two guys in the class a good beating..."

Pride and embarrassment from Judy ...

"Bitch! You beat Dick and Max's balls off! That's not by the book! Take her down!"

A feeling of lingering pain and partly pride came over me.

"And why did you show up home like that, young lady?"

A rush of fear and resentment toward my grandmother, who had said it, burst from the memories and reached me.

"Honey don't..."

The grandfather stood up for his granddaughter and that made Judy feel relieved.

"...did you win?"

"No..."

And now shame and guilt.

"But I managed to bust a few guys' balls before they pounced, and then I didn't hold back. I did everything you taught me to do."

Hope for understanding? Yes, perhaps the emotions that surfaced with the memories could be interpreted that way.

"So we'll be called to school soon..."

"Uh-huh..."

"Okay, you don't have to worry any further already, your grandmother and I will show them all where the crayfish are..."

"You old fool, what are you teaching our girl?!"

He Judy was already experiencing a boost of energy from such words from her grandfather and even her grandmother's slight lashing out at her grandfather didn't spoil the mood, which began to rise dramatically.

"I'm teaching her "that family is sacred. and yes.""

Grandfather's voice became stern.

"Just because we won't give you a hard time in front of those idiots' parents doesn't mean there won't be a head-butt at home, but we should still get the official version first, as well as talk to you in more detail..."

"And your grandparents are world wise!"

"You bet!"

Judy's pride in having such grandparents was incredible, as was her love for these two.

"And how did it end then? You know, the fight?"

"Not really."

Judy shrugged.

"...Grandpa and Grandma were really called to the school, they told me how bad I was, attacking the poor kids..."

Judy snorted.

"The truth is that in the course of the process it turned out that they did not have time or just did not think to harmonize the versions. So it turned out pretty quickly that they were lying, so they believed me, and I didn't lie and told it like it is..."

"I see... I looked at the sensor on my arm."

"Hmm. time is passing very quickly."

Judy repeated my gesture and nodded her head.

"Uh-huh...

You could feel the sadness of it without the tuning.

"Do you think we have time to visit one more place?"

Judy looked once more at the sensor on her arm at my question, then doubtfully at me and nodded her head.

"I think so..."

She quickly swam toward Becca and caught her hand and checked the sensor, then nodded, and I noticed that I could see two faintly glowing flashlights through the mask. So her eyes were burning and Becca wasn't bored talking to the girls on the surface...

"Okay, she's got more air than we have left. so there's one more place we can definitely visit, and I suggest City Church..."

I nodded and we floated toward the largest building in the city.

When we got near the church, I heard a bell ringing in my ears... so long. strident and a little creepy.

"You know... as a kid, I always thought the bells of this Church sounded creepy. And now, with this technology, it's like I can hear them ringing again. It's still as creepy as ever."

"Yeah... I can hear it too. that, uh. crackling."

"Uh-huh...

We were quiet for a while.

"Do you think we can get in?"

That question from Judy made me smile slightly and I shrugged.

"Let's see, after all these years there must have been a failure somewhere... or at least that's a pretty good chance of happening."

"Well. let's check it out."

Judy and I swam around the church.

"You know, as a child I was always amazed by our priest, it always seemed to me that he knew everything about everyone. Such a piercing gaze, understanding and forgiving, I wanted to tell everything I had done at once... and when I found myself at prayers..."

Judy shook her head, and it was as if I heard what she was saying...

"...I was getting uncomfortable. How could he speak in front of such a crowd? Why doesn't he get lost or confused? I had a couple of times when I was telling poems in class, even though I thought I'd learned them all well, and here..."

I was overcome with conflicting emotions that I couldn't make sense of.

"Oh, here comes the failure..."

I pointed to the roof of the Church, part of which had fallen through the building. It was through this hole that we ended up getting in.

"And it's the same here..."

I felt nostalgia and some shame coming from my girl.

"What are you ashamed of?"

"Well. I snuck in here one night, I wanted to feel what a priest feels like standing here."

She pointed to where he usually stood.

"and talking to people and saying prayers. but at night it was so creepy and I couldn't stand it, I screamed!"

"Аа-а-а-а-аааа-ааа-ааа!"

The lingering panic and fear were washed away by the shame Judy was feeling now.

"And what happened next?"

"Nothing. I just ran away, but every time I went to church thereafter, I felt like the priest was looking at me, looking at me in a judgmental way..."

I nodded my head.

"Okay, uh. we gotta go."

Judy looked at the gauge on her arm and headed toward the hole in the roof through which we'd left just as we'd gotten in. Becca was waiting for us outside, and together we swam across town toward the rope I'd used to climb down.

However, not only me, but Becca, of all of us, only Judy went down without any use of the rope.

"Well..."

Judy, when we reached the cable, turned to the town and looked longingly at it.

"...farewell to my hometown."

"Why goodbye?"

I put my hand on Judy's shoulder.

"If you want to, we can come back here more than once..."

"Does that make sense? I've been wanting to come here for a long time, but I just never got around to it. I mean, there was someone I really wanted to be here with, and here we are."

She waved her hands as if to say that we're here with her. just the two of us. the three of us. I almost forgot about Becca.

"Why are you so cheerful?"

"Uh, no, I'm just, uh. just joking in my head about how I almost forgot about Becca following us around."

"Huh... that's right..."

And we began to rise to the surface...