The Boy In My Head

8

J.P. and I don't talk much at lunch the rest of the week, not that we normally do. He tells me my readings look normal, and then he tries talking me out of the party again. I can't help but snap a snarky comment back at him. Why doesn't he want me to go? After that, his silence only makes me angrier at the notion that he thinks he can boss me around. Like I said, we've never been great friends. At lunch that week, I'm reminded of the announcement that came on Monday, and I spend my time daydreaming about how the pool party will go. I don't know what to wear, so on Wednesday, I do some shopping on my watch — which turns out to be really cool with the new implant—and order a new bikini. It comes in the mail on Thursday, and when I try it on, it looks great. It has a single strap across the right shoulder and is made of a silver metallic fabric. There's even a cute white dress coverall that came with it. I tell Mom about the pool party, and she seems more than happy about it. At 16, I'm finally attending my first party! Her excitement only fuels my own. Later, Mom and I test out the calling function on our new implants. She stands at one end of the house, and I stand at the other. It's incredible how we can hear each other's voices in our own minds, but we still have to speak out loud to make it work. On Friday night, Dad sends me a link to a new article about the olden days. It's too intriguing to pass up, so I tell my implant to read aloud to me. I listen to the article about the history of the telephone while I float carelessly on an inner tube in our pool. The article finishes, and I'm about to tell my implant to read me another one when a different voice cuts through the silence. I check my watch to see what's playing, but nothing appears on the screen. Then I listen closely to what the voice is saying. "Don't go to the pool party." I'm caught so off-guard that I wobble a little on the inner tube. "Rachel," the voice says. Now I'm so terrified that I topple over into the pool. I'm not in the deepest part, but I still gasp for air as I come back up. "What!?" I practically scream. I look around my yard nervously, but there's no one around. I focus on the voice's words, which surprisingly sound a lot like J.P.'s, only it clearly wasn't J.P.'s voice in my head. "Who's there?" I say out loud, only no one answers. The weird thing is that if someone was in my head, the only explanation I had was that they were communicating by calling me, but I would have to answer the call first. Plus, when Mom and I tested it, there was this background static that would tell you that you were on a call. I didn't feel that this time. I dry myself off and head toward my room. Maybe I just imagined it. Perhaps it was my way of agreeing with J.P. But that can't be it since I still want to go to the pool party.

I consider telling Dad about it, but if it really was my imagination, then that would screw up his data. I decide to keep this one to myself just for now.