Not today. (Skip to the first day of school.)

Monica’s hand was on the car door handle when she heard her mother say, “Let’s go over the list one more time.” Monica groaned and plopped back into her seat with both arms crossed around her chest. Her first day at her new school was quickly turning from nerve-racking into annoying. Her mother threw her hands up in defense. “Hey. You can never be too careful, right? There’s a lot of wackos out here,” she said, citing the incident from a few days ago.

Monica groaned again as she tried to hide the blush across her face. Her first time wearing holo-clothes went for a bit longer than expected. A middle-aged woman stole her clothes, probably to sell them to some weird guy in a back alley, leaving her in an imaginary skintight jumpsuit that was being projected by four little wristbands. She could feel everything that brushed against her. The coffee table. The car seat. The simulated wind on her front porch. She was glad that her father didn’t see her like that.

Wanting to get this day over with, Monica pulled her backpack from behind her seat and unzipped it to confirm that she had everything. “Bag, books, lunch, and ‘gym clothes.’ See, Mom? I’ve got everything.” Her mother looked into her backpack, a bit more concerned than her daughter, and asked, “Where’s the fourth one?”

“What?” Monica asked back.

“The fourth one! Your fourth wristband! I don’t see it!” her mother exclaimed.

“WHAT!?!” the teen shrieked. She began digging through her backpack, throwing everything she could onto the dashboard. Her mother was right. She had only brought three wristbands with her. Monica was feeling faint. She clutched onto her mother’s arm for support. “Mom, what are we gonna do? I CAN’T GO TO GYM NAKED! THAT’S THE ONE PLACE WHERE THEY DON’T ALLOW THAT IN THIS GODFORSAKEN WORLD!!!”

Her mother thought that this would be the best moment to burst out laughing, “Monica, don’t worry! I was only kidding. Look.” She reached down to grab something around her ankle and handed it to her daughter. It was a black wristband with the letters “L F” for “Left Foot.” Her mother continued, “I found it on the floor after you had already packed up. You’ve really got to be more careful.”

“Mom, please don’t do that to me.” Monica said as she tried to prevent herself from hyperventilating.

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart,” her mother said, “I just wanted to have some fun with you on your first day of school. I didn’t mean to scare you so badly.”

Monica was about to say something when the car behind her honked. Traffic was abysmal as hundreds of old-fashioned cars tried to navigate their way on the few traditional roads the school was connected to. It seemed that their time was up and they would have to make way for the next line of Namish parents who were dropping of their kids. Monica quickly shoved all the contents back into her backpack but made sure that her holo-clothes were in a separate zipper, neatly tucked away.

Monica opened the car door and waved to her mother, “Bye Mom!”

“Be sure to bring back your clothes this time!” her mother said with a smile.

“MOM!” The teen slammed the door and ran as fast as she could from the loading zone. This was a bad idea considering she had no idea where she was going. She looked around and tried to get her bearings. Higher New York High was a sight to behold. There was a main building that was big enough to be a highschool itself. It even looked like a normal highschool, except it was super clean as if it was just made yesterday. Monica watched the building shine as rays of light hit it from the cloudy sky. As if to make it weirder, there were taller stark-white buildings shaped like eggs or dough scattered around the campus, separated by grass, trees and flora. She wondered if those buildings were a part of the school. There wasn’t much else they could serve around here.

Monica checked her watch. It was about ten minutes before her first class started but she had no idea where to go. Then, it hit her. “I have no idea where to go,” she said aloud before shielding her eyes. On cue, a Guider appeared in front of her and asked, “May I have your school ID please?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have one yet,” Monica said as she tried to adjust her eyes, “I’m Namish. My school burned down so I’m here as a transfer student.”

“Ah, I see. We got the memo about you yesterday. All Namish students at Higher New York High are to report to Gymnasium 1A for an introductory ceremony. The ceremony itself starts within ten minutes,” the Guider explained. “Follow me.”

“Thanks-wait! Gym?” Monica paused for a few seconds. “Uh….. We don’t need to strip down for this ceremony, do we?”

“Not unless you want to,” the Guider teased. So, I’m getting teased by a hologram. Monica let that thought sit in her mind as she followed the Guider. I guess since their AI is so advanced that they can get offended by the word ‘map,’ who’s to say that their minds are not complex enough for a sense of humor?

The Guider led Monica around the main building. The glare from the apparent fresh coat of wax on the floor and walls made it difficult to look at her surroundings. Not to mention, the fact that everyone she ran past by was completely naked and was looking at her like she was the weird one.The teen kept her eyes at the ground and tried not to think about all the parts that jiggled and swayed.

She soon found herself looking at a sight she thought she hadn’t seen in an eternity: a gym filled with fully-clothed students just like her. Monica took a few breaths, said goodbye to the Guider, and found a place to sit down. The gymnasium itself looked pretty normal too, except for the dual holo-projection screens that gave a up close view of the podium in center-court. Monica tuned out the chatter and idly started scratching her seat. There was something off about the material. The stands were sturdy but it also felt incredibly light compared her old gymnasium. It was like sitting inside an amusement-park’s interpretation of a high school gym. The eeriness of it all was beginning to make her skin crawl.

Then, a woman came up to the podium. She was middle-aged, african-american, and had a stern look in her eye. Most importantly, she was clothed in a plain light-blue business suit. It was difficult for Monica to tell whether or not she was wearing holo-clothes, given her inexperience with them. The woman tapped on the podium’s microphone to get everyone’s attention, “Good morning, students.” She paused and waited for a response to which a third of the crowd answered with a ‘Hello.” or ‘Good morning.”

The woman continued, “I am one of the vice principals here at Higher New York High, Ms. Amy Valem. We are so sorry for what happened to your school and we understand that you are all going through a difficult time adjusting to this new place. We know that many of you would much rather be in bed than having to interact with the likes of us. We know that many of you view the outside world as dangerous but rest assured, our highly-educated security system is here to protect you. You might think that you are going to be viewed as ‘slow’ because of how advanced our society might look but, in fact, our curriculums are quite similar. You are safe; free from judgement and intolerance. No one here will persecute you. We only ask that you would do the same. If you follow that, I’m sure that you will thrive on this campus, as I quote from a good book, ‘It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’” That got a few claps from some members of the crowd, even some cheers. Monica had to mentally take a step back. Wait. Did she just quote Dumbledore?