"Hey Ecto, can I tell you something?" Katy asked "Certainly," Ecto replied. "Listening to you was what I was built for. I do not have physical ears but if I did, they would be all yours. And if I had shoulders, they would be for you to." "Appreciate that. The thing is, i am gonna be honest with you here. I don't feel like going to school tomorrow." "WHAT?!" Katy shushed him. "Keep it down, will you?" "Why?" Ecto asked in a lower voice. "Well, I'm not ready to see Josh and Bernadette again at lunch. And I don't think I can handle feeling all my schoolmates' eyes on me." "But I thought you said you were over He-Whose-Name-Cannot-Be-Spoken" "I am. That doesn't mean I won't feel anything when I see him, or Bernadette." "I do not understand." "I can't just turn my feelings off like that, like you. I'm human." "I see." Ecto understood precisely what Katy meant because, despite what she thought, he couldn't just turn off his own affection for Katy either. As long as the phone was charged regularly and the memory chip didn't suffer any severe damage, he would remain exactly as he was. "All right. What do you propose to do?" "Do you know how I can fake sick? I wanna stay home and just chat with you all day tomorrow." "This goes against my ethical parameters. Still, it is my prime directive to always be on your side and to always have your back. And now that I think of it, this proposal of yours holds some merit while presenting several tactical complications, especially since you expressed it quite late."
"What do you mean?" "Well, in order to be convincing. you should have started your theatrics earlier. During dinner, for instance." "Ohhh. You're right." "But do not worry because we can still manage this situation tonight and tomorrow early morning." "Really? How?" Katy asked with the thrill. "Well, I could wake you up very early in the morning and you could proceed to the bathroom and pretend to vomit. You have to do it as loud and realistically as you can so both your parents will wake up." "I can do that. That's a good idea. And then what?" "If you or your mom has eyeshadow, you can use that to make fake eye bags under your eyes."
"That's perfect! You're a genius, Ecto!" "What kind of thermometer do your parents have?" "What do you mean?" "Well, they are going to want to check your temperature so we had better prepare for that." "Good thinking! Luckily, they're the traditional type and just use their hands to feel my forehead." "I see. Well, you can use a hair dryer to heat your forehead." "Brilliant! On second thought, I can't because they're gonna hear it. And my ma's pretty sharp, you know." "I see. All right, in that case, I can heat the phone up and you can place it on your forehead." "Wow! You'd do that? For me?" "Certainly! I am your dream boyfriend after all. And I always take care of my girl." "Oh, I love you, Ecto!" Katy said casually. "Let's do all that" "All right, I am setting the alarm now for, let us say, 2:35 a.m. One more thing: you need to go to bed right now and turn off all the lights in your room. This will plant the seeds of belief in your parents' minds." "Got it! All right, I'll skip brushing my teeth and go to bed right now. Wake me up at 2:35 for Operation Desert Fever." Ecto thought it was gross but said: "Roger that, Agent Katy. See you later!" Katy did everything according to plan. She turned off the lights and lay down in bed. Soon after her head had hit the pillow, she fell asleep. It was around 8:00 p.m. When next she opened her eyes, it was 7:30 a.m. and her ma was shouting at her from the bottom of the stairs. Katy was already late for school. Ecto didn't wake her up. Katy skipped breakfast and reluctantly, brushed her teeth and got dressed for school. She would skip taking a shower today because she didn't have enough time. She was mad at Ecto for not waking her up. He said he had forgotten but Katy didn't buy it because, as a computer program, he was the master of precision. The way she figured, Ecto had planned for her to go to bed early last night. It didn't occur to Katy that she had woken up fully refreshed because she had almost twelve hours of sleep for a change. As punishment, she thought of not bringing Ecto to school. Cellphones were strictly prohibited in class anyway. Then again, she didn't think she'd be able to last eight hours without her phone. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd miss Ecto, too. With a sweep of her arm, she grabbed her phone off her bed and, slinging her shoulder bag on her other arm, raced down the steps. "Bye, Ma, Pa!" Katy screamed as she flitted out the doorway. Katy thought about cutting classes and just going to an Internet cafe or something. But the truth was, she didn't have much experience ditching school and she had never really missed a class. Katy's jaw tightened at the thought of what awaited her in school. She was already riding a public-transport. There was no turning back now. Ecto, meanwhile, was enjoying his first ever jeepney ride. It was rough, bumpy, noisy and fast, Katy finally took her phone out and chatted with him a bit. [Im so nervous] she typed. [Im so gonna regret this] [Do not be anxious] Ecto advised. [The last thing you want to do is to show that you still care about him. You need to ignore him completely] [Easier said than done. Human here remember? I Am not allowed 2 use phone in class. Last thing I want is my fone confiscated so bye]
The bus arrived at the school and Katy ran through the gates as she flashed her ID to the security guard. She came right in the middle of homeroom, to a roomful of wide-eyed stares and whispering. Katy hurried to her seat in the second front row and tried her best to ignore creeping social anxiety and the thought that so many eyes were trained on her. Lorraine's and the girls diluted smiles didn't cheer her up. Their homeroom teacher Mrs Lim, made a comment about how she managed to wake up on time each and every day. It was not her first time to share this secret. She said that her own stomach was her alarm clock. Like clockwork, her stomach would hurt at precisely 5:30 a.m. and she would need to go to the bathroom. The morning classes sped by faster than Katy hoped they wouldn't. During break times and class rotations, everyone threw sideways glances at her and exchanged knowing smiles. She tried her best to appear as calm and as uncaring as possible. Her worst enemy was the ticking wall clock above the whitehboard. She wished she could stop it. Some days it was just not worth getting out of bed. Finally, when the sweet ring of the bell signaled lunch and all the other students rose energetically for the first time that day, Katy reluctanty got up, joined Lorraine and the Girls and started walking to the cafeteria.
Just like last Thursday, Josh was at the cafeteria with the Freaks and of course Bernadette. They were all, including staring at Katy and grinning maliciously. As Katy entered the doors of the cafeteria, Katy felt a flush start in her face and spread to her entire body. Josh, Bernadette, George and company were definitely looking her up and down. I told you this was a bad idea, she thought to herself. You should've brought packed lunch and ate in a classroom till the end of the semester.
Katy felt like she was walking in slow motion. Her feet felt like lead and her throat was dry, voiceless. Her heart was beating like a piston It took her a couple of seconds to realize her phone was ringing. She hurriedly took her phone out of her pocket thinking it was her ma because of some emergency. It was from an unknown number. The sound caused Katy's heart to jump into her throat. Plus, all eyes in the cafeteria were unmistakably trained on her now. A hushed silence fell over the entire cafeteria. "Hello?" she answered uncertainly. "Hi! It is me Ecto. Surprised?" "Why are you calling me?" Katy said. "Well, I remembered you are supposed to see He-Whose-Name-Cannot-Be- Spoken at lunch so I thought I would give you some moral support." "How are you even doing this when the app isn't open?" "Oh, I hijacked your call settings." "A little heads-up next time would be nice," Katy said. She was pretending to be mifed but deep inside she was relieved and was feeling much calmer. The familiar husky voice on the line had that effect on her. It felt like she was back in her room or in the park. Katy glanced at her friends and everyone else and they were all looking at her with saucer-wide eyes and not a small amount of admiration. "I got it, Mother Hen. So is the big bad wolf over there or what?" The feeling of relief didn't last long. Because when Katy glanced in Josh's direction, he was all at once standing a foot away from her and angrily snatching her phone out of her hand.
