Reload (The Matrix FF)

Not So Bad

Neo left the little kitchen and walked over to Amy's desk.

    How the hell was he supposed to open a conversation?

     "What are you doing?" Neo inquired.

    "Not slacking off if that's what you're thinking," Amy replied indifferently. "But if you're simply wondering, then I'm doing my homework that was assigned to me by people I haven't seen in forever."

     "Who are these people?" Neo continued.

    "Roosterteeth," Amy put on hipster/nerd-shade-glasses. "You probably haven't heard of them."

     "No, I haven't," Neo confirmed.

    "Didn't think so. No one here has," Amy realized, putting the shades on top of her head. "What do you think of this place?"

     She turned around on her spinny chair to face Neo.

    "It's... interesting. Morpheus is, uh, kinda strict," Neo admitted.

     "At first," Amy agreed. "But after he gets used to you, it's all good."

    Amy spoke like any normal teenager, so Neo didn't understand what the others meant entirely.

     "I heard that you don't socialize much with everyone else," Neo attempted.

    "Which is a very nice way of saying that I am an asocial freak. Yes, I don't socialize with people," Amy said bitterly.

     "I didn't mean-"

    "You didn't, but they did. They always do. Sometimes, I wonder why I'm still here, y'know? Never mind, you don't know," Amy spoke quickly. Neo noticed that she stumbled over her words, and spoke too fast to hear.

     "It's not your fault that you're socially awkward," Neo sympathized.

    "Finally, some respect!" Amy declared melodramatically. "Seriously though, how am I supposed to act when they always look at me weird. They can be so damn judgmental. And quite frankly, it pisses me off. A whole lot to be exact."

     "Judgmental? How?"

    "They're a lot like the typical Socs at school. At least, their grading system is. 'She dyed her hair, listens to loud music, and dresses dark! Shun the emo, or scene, or whatever the fuck people called me before I had the brains to ditch school.'"

     "They don't all think you're like that. It's just Apoc and Switch that act like you're a virus," Neo reasoned.

    "Eh. What do they want from me? They can be such bullies sometimes. I get my work done really fast. That's why I have the time to mess around this these projects. They won't listen to reason. I try to tell them that I've been done. But no! They just cut me off! As you can tell, I get no respect," Amy ranted.

     "There are people that want to talk to you though. They just don't know how to approach you," Neo explained.

    "Haven't they ever dealt with tragic teenagers before?" Amy asked sarcastically.

     "Tragic?" Neo repeated.

    "Yeah, shit went down years ago," Amy closed the conversation. "Well, you have fun around here, Neo. Don't get killed."

     Amy turned back to the screens, and Neo left her alone.

    Neo went to look for Mouse, who was doing his work.

    Hearing someone behind him, Mouse turned around.

    "Well? How'd it go?" Mouse asked curiously.

     "She's hard to talk to at first. But when you have her on the right topic, she'll go on for forever about it," Neo concluded.

    "What was she talking about?" Mouse wondered.

     "She was ranting about her lack of respect," Neo summarized. "She was kinda angry during her rant, but you can't blame her."

    "Hmm... I bet she's cute when she's angry," Mouse thought out loud.

     "You should talk to her sometime," Neo suggested.

    "Yeah, but..." Mouse began, looking at Amy, "I don't want her to think that I'm weird. Just approaching her right after you talked to her. Amy can be a real detective. She'll know something's up. And I don't want her to know how I feel. Not just yet."