Diaverse

Chapter 8

8th January, 2252.
Manhattan, New York.
3rd person POV

"Have a good day at school, girls!" The twins' mother said before she closed the door and went to work. It was a usual thing for them to leave before them. As soon as Sam heard the front door for the apartment close, she grinned and flopped down on the couch.

Ruby looked at her, a bit exasperated and also confused. Sam had on a black bra and her blue skinny jeans on. She put her bare feet up on the coffee table, a bowl of milk and cereal in her hands. Her long blonde hair was loose and messy around her shoulders. Ruby on the other hand, was fully dressed in a blue jersey, pink skirt, with a black stocking underneath it. A brand new pink and purple polka dot Sketchers were on her feet.

"What're you doing?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. But she knew exactly what Sam was doing. She always did that on their first day of school. "Why aren't you getting ready? School starts in 20 minutes."

Sam ate of spoonful of cereal, and milk dribbled down from the corner of her lips. "I know."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Samantha Valentine. Get up and get dressed." Sam rolled her eyes at how much Ruby sounded like her mother.

"Just a second Mom." She retorted and ate another spoonful slowly. She was about to pick up the remote to turn the television on, but Ruby was faster and grabbed it from off the table.

"No. Sam c'mon! It's the first day of school. At a new school! Don't you want to have a fresh start?" Ruby said and Sam laughed.

"I thought we established that it's the first day of school? And no, not really." She drawled out and Ruby resisted the urge to slap her sister. That was unlady-like. There had to be a way to get Sam up

"But it's the first day! We can't be late, and you're keeping us back!"

"Let me explain something to you, missy." Sam said, putting the bowl on the table. "There's really no reason for me to go to school. I'm a complete flunk. We both know this. So why am I gonna persistently try to do something that I know I'm going to fail at? It's a waste of my time and energy.

As for that whole late situation, that's not my problem. I didn't ask to move. I didn't want to in the first place. If you wanna go to school, be my guest. I won't stop you. There's absolutely nothing there for me to do there so...have fun." She picked the bowl back up and continued eating.

Ruby blinked and sighed. She handed Sam back the remote. "Fine. Have fun at home." She walked to the front door, glanced back at her sister, and left.

Sam finished her breakfast and turned the television onto some reality show. She looked through all the channels and they all had something boring or Sam had already watched it. Within the first few minutes, she was already bored out of her mind. She looked at the clock on the wall. 8:00 am. She could still make it to school if she wanted to. But she decided against it. 'There's a principle involved,' she thought to herself. 'and it has to be followed.'

Sam went to the twins' shared room and threw on a plain white jersey on and grabbed her bag. She dumped all the school books out on her bed, and put an extra set of clothes in the bag. She made sure to be generous packing underwear. An incident involving apple juice in third grade had taught her to be generous when packing underwear when going on outings. She took money, of course, her mother's taser, and a small pocket knife, and put it in her pocket.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she thought she'd go and see New York for herself. Just a small outing. She finished tying her her shoelaces for her black Nike shoes. She slung her backpack on her left shoulder, tied her hair in a messy bun and grabbed the keys from the kitchen countertop. She switched off the television and went outside, locking the door. She'd be home before dark.

Sam walked out into the street, and headed into a Starbucks cafe to grab a piece of sponge cake. In case she got hungry on her little trip. She continued down the street, walking past the tall buildings, peering in through the windows to see what various shops were selling. She looked at the cars driving down the roads, and even laughed when angry drivers cursed one another for traffic or bad drives. It was loud, but Sam was a wild person so she liked it. Nevada has been to quiet for her taste anyway.

Sam whistled and held her hand out, and immediately a cab stopped for her. She got in giggling, not expecting that to work. Also the driver was a cute brown haired boy. Bonus!

"Where to, Miss?" He asked, smiling at her in her backseat. She thought about this idea since she'd walked out the house, but she decided to go with it.

"Brooklyn." She said. The driver nodded and drive off.

The car shot off at a speed but Sam didn't mind. She looked out the window, the skyscrapers looking like giant metal trees. Eventually they came to the Brooklyn Bridge, and Sam smiled at the Lady Liberty statue in the water. If the buildings were huge trees, then Lady Liberty would be their protector.

She let out a happy sigh. Ruby would've loved this. Granted, that they hadn't been breaking school, which she would've repeatedly pointed out, but Sam knew these sights would've shut her up. The driver raised an eyebrow at her, and Sam felt her cheeks heat a bit by her antics.

"This your first time to New York?" He asked, smiling and Sam nodded. " Where are you from? "

"Born in Vegas. Raised in Nevada."

Yes, born in Las Vegas, her and Ruby. In the women's bathrooms of Caesar's Palace. Her dad always joked that he was just about to win the jackpot in a nearby casino, until the manager called him, saying that his wife had given birth to twin girls. Sam was born first, of course.

"Vegas? Really?"

Same laughed. "Yeah, Vegas. What happened in Vegas with my parents,  didn't exactly stay in Vegas."

She looked out the window and laughed. A monorail had just shot above their heads. She didn't understand fully how the sleek long trains were able to float over the actual train tracks, and go at almost 200 miles per hour. Ruby would give her a super long lecture, with huge footnotes and if she could, a 20 minute Power Point Presentation, which Sam didn't really need right now.

She smiled and pulled out her phone. Two flicker messages from her mother, one from her dad and one from Ruby: Twenty minutes have gone. Where the heck are you? Sam grinned and sent a flicker to her sister: Guess where I am.

She instantly got a reply from Ruby: Sam, this isn't the day to play games. Come to school.

Sam rolled her eyes at the last answer and texted: I'm taking a little outing. To Brooklyn. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Will be home before dark. You'd love this.

Sam out her phone back in her pocket. "I'll stop out here." The car stopped in front of Thurston Hospital. She paid him with a twenty, and told him to keep the change as a tip.