After dinner with Dad, who, by the way, still has that ridiculous brown wig on... I was fiddling with my fancy new holographic phone. The whole idea of touching the air feels so weird to me.
One thing I noticed is that these things are quite rare, even at school. I don't think most people get the latest models as 16 year olds, even of regular phones.
Dad definitely over-estimated my classmates, but still... it's a new Lexi flex I can enjoy... compensates... because now I'll be forced to score lower grades.
You know, it reminds me of a scene in some old movie my dad showed me. One of those '2010s classics' he won't shut up about. There's this boy there who has super speed, and signed up for a race at school.
He would have beat the others easily but powers were banned, and people who wielded them went into hiding. Therefore, so that he doesn't seem suspicious, he had to force himself to get second instead.
[Author's Note: the movie is Incredibles... dunno if it's 1 or 2]
That's me now. The super-speed kid, only my power is… being too Aura. (The elements are out of the question anyway)
I have to actively hold myself back, deliberately underperform, stutter over answers I know perfectly well. It’s like running a race with weights on my ankles, just to ensure I don’t cross the finish line first. The goal isn't to win; it's to blend. To be just smart enough to get by, but dumb enough to be approachable.
It's exhausting, and frankly, infuriating. The thought of all the missed 90s, all those perfectly clear answers I have to muddle, makes my brain ache more than the subjects.
But second place, or in my case, the "75+" range, is safe. It's unremarkable. It's Lexi.
I was talking to Dad about all this, and he was the one who actually came up with the movie analogy. It's pretty good. I don't know why I relate this much with a random scene from some 40 year old movie...
Anyway, back on topic, Mom decided to FaceTime us after dinner. She first called my Dad's number, but his response was quick. "I'll call you back."
I was just sitting there, watching him disappear into a room. I was just sitting there, watching him disappear into a room. The door clicked shut, muffling his voice as he probably explained what was happening. A few moments later, he reappeared, a wide, slightly sheepish grin on his face. In his hand, he held what looked like a relic from a museum: a chunky, 30 something-year-old iPad. One of the originals, probably.
The screen was slightly yellowed, and I could already tell the battery life was going to be like only 2 days, as compared to the standard fortnight. He probably kept it just for these calls with Mom, but I'm not sure.
"This was my college tablet, actually..." he said, looking down at it with a slight beam as he unlocked it. "I still use it... they don't track these old devices." He opened FaceTime, whose icon, bafflingly, was green. It was probably an ancient version, a relic from a time before sleek, blue, standard app designs.
He tapped a contact. A moment later, a familiar voice, tinny and slightly distorted, crackled from the iPad's ancient speakers. "Hey, Dad! You finally figured it out!" It was Zinnia, her voice already loud, even through the decades-old tech.
"Hey, kiddo," Dad replied, his voice softening. "How are things?"
Zinnia's face popped onto the screen, filling the yellowed display. She was holding her own phone, undoubtedly a more modern model that made Dad's iPad look like a cave painting. Her background was blurry, probably a filter, but I could still make out the distinct glow of her own holographic bracelet. She grinned, a flash of white teeth. "Good! Just trying to convince Mom that a 3 AM snack run is totally justified. How's Aura?"
My breath hitched. Dad shot me a quick glance, a warning. He quickly covered the camera with his thumb. "She's... doing good, Zin. Just getting ready for bed. Why don't you tell me about your day?" He shifted the iPad slightly, angling it so Zinnia couldn't see me, even though I was already well out of frame. Lexi doesn't exist on these calls.
Dad looked emotional. "I missed a lot, didn't I?"
"It's all still shocking to me. First you died, and I found out it was fake... then Mom and I helped fake Aura's... whose backstory... man, what a backstory." Zinnia replied, her tone softening. "Honestly, getting a job is the least of my problems nowadays... don't worry about me."
He mustered a sad smile. "I'm proud of you, Zinnia..." he said, softly. "You have this resilience... I've admired that about you since you were a kid."
I watched, unseen, as Dad and Zinnia talked. In the background of Zinnia's screen, I could just make out Mom, lurking near the door. She wasn't participating in the call, but she was watching them, a soft smile playing on her lips as Dad spoke. She was trying to be discreet, but I caught the subtle tilt of her head, the way her gaze lingered on Dad.
Zinnia didn't know what to say next, her voice fumbling and stuttering. As I watched, she walked over, placing a hand on Zinnia's shoulder. "That's your gene..." she said. "I still can't believe everything that's happening... I don't know what we're going to do."
She paused for a moment. "But that's just me... I'm afraid. You should have seen your daughter... she's been handling a lot of things for me, unafraid."
Dad's smile grew wider, while Mom seemed lost in thought, a familiar look. "What are you thinking about, Cadence?" he asked, an eyebrow raised playfully.
Mom's pause seemed a few milliseconds too long as she seemed to be choosing her words. "It's nothing, or... everything."
"Can I tell them?" Zinnia asked Mom softly. Mom nodded, saying "Yes."
"This evening, at around 5:00, Carly and her brother came over," she began, as she kept watching Mom for any signs of disapproval.
Dad immediately looked at me, but tried to make it as subtle as possible. I sat quietly, listening to what was going to unfold.
"Carly was kind of suspicious and angry the whole time... she asked me and Mom more about what happened to Aura... she seemed fine earlier, and not at all sick. That was the bullet I shielded Mom from."
Dad nodded, gesturing for her to go on.
"I told her the same thing we said on TV, and I quote: 'She wasn't feeling well after the science camp, and all through camp she really wasn't well-rested. I said, 'Aura has always taken this medication, but she didn't do it at camp,' that's what the doctors said. You may have noticed that Aura was also absent a lot at school... well... the fact is, she was radioactive, Carly. I don't know if I'm allowed to even say this, but her elements were a lie.'"
Radioactive? My elements were a lie? This elaborate fiction they’d spun for Carly, for the world, was built on radioactivity. And Carly, my best friend, had believed it.
I glanced at Dad, who was watching the screen with a grim expression. He knew this lie, this ridiculous story. This was the version of my 'death' that everyone, including Carly, had been fed. A plausible, yet utterly fabricated medical condition that explained my sudden demise and my previous absences.
And the part about me being radioactive? That was a new, horrifying embellishment. It also made me wonder if Aurelia had actually done something to me at the lab. They gave everyone health checkups but that's about it.
Zinnia continued, her voice calm, recounting the rehearsed lines. "I explained that the medication was to suppress her body's unusual elemental reactions, and that without it, her health deteriorated rapidly. The workshop accident was just a coincidence, a way for her body to finally... give out, after she stopped taking her meds."
Carly must have been devastated, confused, and probably angry that I hadn't told her. But how could I? I hadn't known myself. As Zinnia said to Carly, "Mom and Dad had kept it from Aura. They wanted her to have a normal life, so they didn't tell her.
Zinnia's lips curved up a bit. "Looks like you two got along better than I thought..." she said, before her voice switched to serious. "I told him it was something to do with the cloning process... which is what Dad told me in secret. But as much as it felt wrong to do, I made him think this second lie was confidential information which even Carly couldn't know about. Because that's what Aura would have wanted."
I excused myself to use the bathroom, then I don't know what they said next.
It all felt more 'way-too-long improvised scene' than mission impossible... but good thing the audience is just traumatized teenagers.
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