Memory

2 - Virtually

Silence. That is what the school has been giving everyone. There have been no updates on what the rest of the school year was going to be like. Nothing on if they would even go back to school. Not that Memory was complaining. She was happy to be at home with nothing to do. No obligations, no schoolwork or homework, and no idiotic teenage boys.

Except, she did miss her friends. Devin, Zac, Maya, Ashlynn, Ian, Teagan, and even Derrick. It sucked not being able to see them in the hall between classes, or after school in the bus line. Most of all, it hurt not being able to see them at all.

It had been three weeks since the end of Spring Break, and Memory was bored. She had played every game she had, bought new games because she got tired of the old ones, and even tried games on the computer. A lot of the popular games were multiplayer, which meant that Memory needed other people to play with, so she played some older ones.

Memory and her friends stayed in touch for a while. They called and texted all the time. Mom and Daddy said that she was constantly wrapped up in her phone as if her phone had become her life. They were not entirely wrong.

Finally, the school broke its silence and sent out an email to all the parents. All students were going virtual. This meant that the students were required to get on the computer every day and work on school from home. 'Required' was applied loosely in this scenario. Grades could not go down, only up. So if the students decided not to do their work, it would not count against them.

Memory did not want to do her schoolwork; however, her parents thought differently. There was a chance for her to get straight A's on her report card. At least it gave Memory something to do with her life.

It was awesome, though, being able to sit outside or on her Xbox all day. Memory began sleeping in and staying up later, much to her parent's disapproval. Without school, there was no reason to get out of bed. Games like Sims, Minecraft, Call of Duty, Fall Guys, and the Resident Evil and Kingdom Hearts series became her go-to entertainment. Even Netflix and YouTube became her best friends.

In the middle of a boss fight on Resident Evil 7, Mom came into her room and unplugged the Xbox console from the TV. "Hey! What did you do that for?" Memory yelled. Immediately, she hit the center button on the controller so she could pause her game.

"You don't get to play any more games until you complete your schoolwork for the day. And the next time you want to have that tone with me, you'll be grounded."

"That's not fair, I've already done my school work today," Memory stated boldly.

"Really? Let me see."

Memory stared at Mom in horrified dismay. She was not expecting her to reply with that. She was hoping that Mom would believe her lie and let her go back to her game. Of course, that did not happen either.

"I can't show you." Memory looked down at her computer, which was laying on her desk. "You wouldn't understand."

"Don't tell me what I would and wouldn't understand. Hand me your laptop."

Memory did as she was told and handed Mom her computer. She looked down at her shoes and hoped that Mom would not find anything incriminating on it. After a few moments, Mom slammed the computer shut and threw it onto Memory's bed.

"You want to try that again?" Mom sounded angry, which told Memory that she knew.

"No, I didn't do it. But what does it matter anyway? It's not like my grades can go down. It doesn't affect me. My grades are fine, I don't need to make them better."

Mom was silent for a minute. When she eventually spoke, it sounded like Memory broke her heart. "I'm disappointed in you, Memory. I thought you were better than this. More importantly, I can't believe you would even lie to me. Give me your phone and the power cable to your Xbox."

Memory decided that it was best not to argue with Mom. She did as she was told and soon after Mom left, Memory began crying into her pillow. The disappointment card hurt more than anything else her mom could have done to her. So, she cried until she became angry. She hated Mom for doing that and hated herself for lying.

A few hours had passed before Mom came back into her room. "Here's the deal your father and I made. You are to only have your computer for schoolwork, nothing more. Once your schoolwork is done, you are to turn your computer into either me or your dad. If neither of us is here, you will have to wait until one of us is here before you can do your schoolwork. I will be going through your history to make sure you do nothing else other than school. We are allowing you to have your phone, on one condition. You can only text and call. You are not to play games or download anything. If you try to bypass it, I will know. If you try to play games, I will know. As for your Xbox, your power cord and controllers will be locked away until your punishment is over. Do you understand? Any questions?"

In response, Memory just nodded her head and took the punishment. It was better than arguing with her or asking a ton of stupid questions. So for a week, Memory played with her stuffed animals, made forts out of blankets, and read books to try to keep herself entertained. There was not much else she could do while she was grounded.