Accidental Squip

Chapter Five

This chapter might make me seem like I'm kind of homophobic or/and transphobic BUT I'm not trying to portray that. I fully support the LGBTQ+ community and I'm sorry if you took this the wrong way. I'm just absolutely terrible at writing arguments/fights.

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Waking up wasn't pleasant. Well, at first it was. Madison opened their eyes to see that their clock read 7:23 am. Madison quickly did the math. They had been sleeping for 14 hours! Madison grinned and stretched out.
"Ow, what?"
Madison's whole body was sore. They tried to lift their head, but their neck was stiff and made Madison drop their head back on the pillow.
"Good morning," Squip greeted from the end of the bed.
He was sitting cross-legged right next to Madison's feet. He looked strangely happy. His glow was a pretty lavender, and he was smiling. An actual, real, nice, smile.
Madison struggled to lift themself up, using their sore arms to bring them up and lean back on their pillows.
"You look happy," Madison yawned. "Why am I so sore?"
"I updated while you were sleeping," the Squip explained. "It usually takes a small toll on the host. Which is why you're sore."
Madison rubbed their eyes before looking straight at the Squip. He was wearing a flannel that seemed like it changed colors. Madison squinted before taking a deep breath and closing their eyes again.
"Hey hey! Don't go back to sleep!" Squip protested." You've already been asleep for 14 hours, 17 minutes, and 3 seconds. That's way too much sleep."
"No such thing," Madison mumbled.
The Squip was quiet. Madison peeked out from under their eyelashes to see what he was doing, but he was just sitting there, staring at Madison.
"What are you doing?" Madison asked.
"Don't you wanna know what my new features are?"
Madison scrunched up their nose and buried themself into their blankets. "What are your new features?"
"My update allows me to feel human emotion," he began. "But only slightly. I only get an idea of what you feel. I can also take a physical form, meaning people other than yourself will be able to see me, but only for a short period of time. I can also pick up physical objects, but only in physical form."
"Is that it?" Madison asked. "I thought, since you're a supercomputer, you'd get like a whole bunch of new features, not just a few things, you know?"
"My creators worked very hard for me to be able to do these things," the Squip sniffed. "Anyways, it would take an even bigger toll on you if I was able to obtain more than three new abilities. You don't want that, do you?"
Madison nodded slightly. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Now, since we already bought you some new clothes, it's time for your hair," the Squip said, getting right back into 'make you chill' mode. "I also took the liberty of getting rid of all your old clothes. You're welcome."
Madison groaned, sliding down their pillows and back under their blanket.
"I promised one day, Squip," Madison said. "No longer."
Squip pouted. "But your hair!"
"What about my hair?"
"If you don't want to braid it all the time, then lets get it out of your face completely. Also, I think it would look great bleached," the Squip added.
"But my hair is already blonde!" Madison protested. "And doesn't that destroy your hair?"
"Well, it does damage it, but we can put product in it to make it really soft," the Squip replied. "People like soft hair."
Madison thought for a bit.
"Fine, but that's all you get to do," Madison said after a moment. "I want to stay home and relax today."
"Deal."
"Great."
With that, Madison closed their eyes.
"Ohhhh no. You're still getting up!" the Squip demanded.
Madison thought they felt movement at the edge of their bed where the Squip was. The Squip had moved off the bed and was about to rip off the blanket.
"Alright alright!" Madison exclaimed. "I'm getting up!"
Madison slid off the bed. Quite literally slid. Since their legs weren't working very well, Madison threw them off the mattress and fell onto the ground. This Squip didn't feel the need to catch them this time.
"Oww..."
"Come along, your father has prepared breakfast downstairs," the Squip informed.
"Ok, that's great and all, but could you help me up so I can go downstairs?" Madison asked, lifting up their arms like a three-old asking to be picked up.
Squip rolled his eyes and helped them up. Madison stumbled from their room and down the stairs, smelling their father's home cooked omelettes.
"Smells great, dad!" Madison said, limping over to give their dad a good morning hug.
"Hey kid! Thanks," their dad said, flipping over the omelette. "I made sure to put cheddar cheese in yours."
"Thank you!"
"No problemo, kiddo."
Madison chuckled and headed to the kitchen table, picking up one of the magazines that always sit in the middle of the table.
"Pick up that one."
Madison's hand was moved to a men's fashion catalogue. Madison sighed, but opened it up anyways.
"Good morning, George," Madison's mother greeted her husband while walking down the stairs. "Good morning, Maddie."
"Morning."
"Good morning!"
Madison's magazine was pushed to the side, a plate with a delicious omelette replacing it. Madison immediately dug in, destroying it.
"Slow down there, tiger," Madison's dad laughed.
"Haircut. Remember the haircut."
"Hey, so," Madison began after swallowing a giant bite of omelette. "I was thinking about getting a haircut today."
"Oh, really?" Madison's mother replied. "A trim or an actual cut?"
"An actual cut. To get it out of my eyes."
"Oh, that would be nice. When do you want to go? I can drive you."
"Right after breakfast."
"Maybe after breakfast?" Madison repeated.
"Perfect," their mother agreed.
"Do I get a say in this?" their dad asked.
Madison and their mother shook their head, then laughed. Even the Squip had said no inside Madison's head.
Madison's dad put his hands up. "Alright, alright."
Right after breakfast, Madison helped clean up the table and then trudged upstairs to get dressed. Their legs were still sore, which they assumed would be sore for the rest of today and probably tomorrow.
"Apologies. You can get another massage today if you want."
"No, it's fine," Madison mumbled. "I'll just sit in the shower for an hour."
They arrived in their room and opened up their closet. Their clothes were all hung up nicely and even color coded.
Did you do this?
"Yes. I did it while you were sleeping and the update just kicked in," the Squip replied. "Doesn't it look nice?"
Yeah. Thanks, I guess.
Madison picked out a striped white and black shirt. The Squip didn't say anything, he just seemed to be observing. Madison threw the shirt on their bed. They then took a pair of jeans (on the looser side) with a whole bunch of rips and rolled up cuffs. Madison noticed a black hat with a big rim on the high shelf of their closet. Madison reached up for the hat and took it down.
"Where did this come from?" they asked.
"I found it in your parents room," the Squip replied. "You're mother mentioned that she wanted to get rid of it, but I thought it would look nice on you, so I took it."
"Oh. Ok then."
Madison placed it on their head and went to see what they looked like in their bathroom mirror. They almost laughed at their own reflection.
"This looks so stupid, are you high or something?" Madison asked.
The Squip strided over to Madison and tilted the hat back. He fixed it in a way where it looked like it was about to fall off, but it felt comfortable on Madison's head. It even looked pretty good, not that it matched with Madison's pajamas.
"Oh. Never mind."
"You need to place it in such a way that you wouldn't think would look good but it actually will, the Squip said. "Tilting back hats always make them look good. You should wear this hat today, by the way."
Madison saved that piece of information in their brain. Walking out of the bathroom, they grabbed their outfit they picked out, quickly shutting off the Squip so they could change privately. Once they finished, they turned the Squip back on and headed downstairs.
"Mom! I'm ready to go!" Madison called.
"Alright, I'm comin'," she replied, heading out of the kitchen. She was already dressed as she woke up early on a daily basis.
Hopping into the passenger's seat, Madison noticed the Squip sitting in the back. He usually just became a voice whenever there were people around.
"I'm just becoming more familiar with your civilization, that's all," the Squip said, propping his elbow on the car door, his chin placed in his hand.
I thought you would know everything about Earth since you're a supercomputer, or at least New Jersey.
The Squip glanced at Madison, who was trying not to turn around and look at him so their mother wouldn't get weirded out.
"I only know most things about you," the Squip said. "I still need to become familiar with my physical surroundings."
Oh.
The conversation stopped. Madison connected their phone to the car so they could play music. Jack Johnson was the first album they saw. Good People began playing, and Madison leaned back in their seat and enjoyed the music.
"When should I pick you up?" Madison's mother asked when they arrived at the hair salon. "Do you know how long you'll be?"
"Um..." Madison glanced at the Squip.
"Tell her to come in about two hours."
"Come by in about two hours?" Madison told their mom.
"Alright." Madison's mother grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Have fun!"
"Okay..."
Their mother shoved $40 in Madison's hand, kicked them out of the car and drove away, leaving Madison alone with the Squip, which to other people was just Madison. They turned around and walked into the salon. A bell rang, signaling Madison had entered.
"Hi! Did you make an appointment online?" asked a cheerful lady at the front desk.
"Umm...no," Madison replied. "Was I supposed to?"
"Oh, no! It's completely fine if you didn't," the lady said. "Just sign in so we can call you up when it's your turn."
"Oh. Okay."
The lady leaned in a bit.
"Your boyfriend is pretty cute."
"What?"
Madison glanced behind them. The Squip was standing just a few feet away. Another girl who was waiting to get their haircut was discreetly trying to look at him, a light pink dusting her cheeks. Madison turned back to the cashier lady. Guess he's in physical form.
"Th-thanks, but he's...he's not my boyfriend," they stammered.
Cashier lady just winked before gesturing to the computer so Madison could sign in.
Madison quickly signed in and then sat down in one of the waiting chairs. The Squip sat next to them, crossing his long legs. There were only a couple people in since it was barely past 10:30. Only two people were cutting hair, so Madison had to wait a little bit.
While waiting, Madison picked up a book with hairstyles. The Squip leaned over Madison's shoulder to see.
"You should get that one," he said quietly, pointing to a heavily styled haircut. The top stuck straight up and the sides were almost completely shaved off, intricate designs swirling all over the buzzed hair.
Madison shook their head and turned the page. A few pages later, the Squip pointed to another haircut. It was a more simple version of the first hairstyle. The sides were short, but not as short as the first one, and the top looked fluffy. It was sticking up, but not so much as the first one and didn't look as heavily styled. There weren't any designs either.
"I like that one," Madison said.
"Good. You're getting that one."
"Madison?"
Madison looked over. A man with brown curly hair pulled into a bun was waving Madison over. Madison stood up and walked over, taking a seat in the chair. He smiled, revealing braces.
"I'm Brady, and I'll be taking care of you today. What are we doing?" he asked.
Madison showed him the picture in the book. Brady nodded and went to cover Madison with a cheetah print cape, buttoning it up at the neck.
"We'll also be bleaching their hair," the Squip said, coming up behind them.
Both Madison and Brady jumped.
"Hey, don't scare us like that," Madison protested, turning to look at the Squip.
"Apologies, but I noticed you forgot to mention the bleaching, so I was merely reminding you," the Squip said back. He ruffled Madison's hair and left the salon. Madison noticed him glitch out around his legs and arms.
"Your boyfriend?" Brady asked.
Madison shook their head. Brady just nodded and began on their hair. He took out a buzzer and got to work on the sides. Madison scrolled through their phone, texting Jeremy and took some stupid selfies, deleting them right after taking them. They wanted to keep their hair a surprise for themself, so they tried not to look in the mirror in front of them.
A little while later, Brady stopped cutting and put his scissors down.
"I'm gonna start the bleaching now, okay?" he told Madison.
"Cool."
"I'll be right back."
Madison glanced to the side. The Squip was nowhere to be seen. Did he shut himself off? What happened?
"I'm here. I needed to leave so people wouldn't see me randomly disappear."
Madison flinched at his sudden voice appearance.
"You're hair looks great, by the way."
Thanks. I'll look at it when it's completely done.
Brady came back to Madison's seat, mixing something in a plastic bowl. Probably the bleach. Madison went back to their phone.
"Have you looked at your hair yet?" Brady asked, placing the bowl down on a little side table and grabbing some tin foil.
"No," Madison replied. "I'm keeping it a surprise for myself."
"Awesome. I think it looks great." Madison almost could hear Brady smiling.
Brady continued with Madison's hair, brushing the bleach in one section at a time. It felt kind of cold on their head. Their neck was also quite cold, due to the lack of hair.
It felt like an hour - but it was probably less - when Brady told Madison to sit in another chair to wait for the bleach to set. Madison got up and shuffled to the chair Brady pointed to and settled down. Their phone was their only entertainment, but that wasn't doing much as Madison went through all the games and scrolled through all their social media. Jeremy was the only thing that was keeping Madison from dying of boredom.
Madison talked to Jeremy about random shit and sent each other memes. Madison had to bite their tongue to stop them self from laughing out loud. It had been about 45 minutes when Brady finally called Madison up to rinse out their hair. Madison put their phone away and sat down in yet another chair, leaning back in a sink behind it. Brady rinsed out the bleach, heavily conditioning their hair. After rinsing, Madison was lead back to the first chair where Brady blow dried Madison's hair.
Finally, after a few touch ups, Madison looked into the mirror. They grinned. Their hair looked exactly like in the picture, just a bright blond. The top looked extremely fluffy and Madison just wanted to run their hands through it all day. Chilly air from the air conditioner hit the back of Madison's now bare neck. Madison tried not to slouch with disappointment with going through with this. The haircut was great, it was just...
"What's wrong with it?" the Squip suddenly asked.
I'll tell you when we get home.
"What do you think?" Brady asked, obviously proud of his work.
Madison stood up from the seat, taking off the cape, draping it on the chair.
"I love it, you did a great job," Madison replied, running a hand through their hair. It was fluffy, but not as soft as it was. Probably the bleach.
Brady beamed. "Thank you so much."
Madison forced a grin, reaching for their wallet to pay. After paying, Madison turned around to leave the salon. Spinning on their heel, they were met with the Squip's face. Madison was so used to Squip's sudden appearances now that they barely acted out on them.
"What do you think?" Madison asked, hoping Squip was in physical form.
Squip looked them up and down, barely taking in the new haircut. His arms were behind his back, and he took them out from behind revealing Madison's mother's old hat. He placed it on Madison's head and nodded. A light glow of pink appeared around him, despite being in physical form.
"It looks great," he responded. "Now come on, you're mother is waiting outside."
Madison and Squip walked outside. Squip's glow returned to normal when they left the building, which Madison took that he had left physical form. Their mother's red Mercedes waited right in front of the salon. Madison jumped into the front seat and presented themself to their mother.
"Oh, wow!" she gasped, reaching over to touch it. "It looks great! You didn't tell me you were going to bleach it."
"Oh, sorry about that," Madison said, attempting to glance up at their hair.
"It's alright. And you're wearing my old hat! It looks great on you, sweetie." Their mother waved a hand, turning back to the steering wheel. "I was getting rid of it, anyways. Now come on, let's go show your father."
Madison's father was much more surprised about their bleached hair than their mother was. Madison kind of hoped he wouldn't get upset because he told Madison a while back that he hated it when people bleached their hair.
"Well, it is your hair, Madison," their father sighed. "I'll let you do what you want with it."
Madison smiled tightly and gave him a quick side hug. With that, they trudged up the stairs and into their bedroom. They found the Squip sitting in the desk chair. Madison closed the door, grabbed the Squip by his shirt collar and dragged him into the bathroom. Madison locked the door behind them before turning on the Squip.
"What is this?" they muttered, pointing at their hair.
"What do you mean?" Squip asked, feigning innocence.
"You know exactly what I mean, you oversized toaster!" Madison snapped.
"Is this about your hesitance to accept yourself? We've been over this, I'm trying to help you with this."
Madison's eye twitched. "You are not helping. I don't identify myself as the gender I was born as, I've told you this already! If you're a Squip, you should be helping me feel more confident and not trying to change me into something I don't want to be. You know what, I don't need you. I'll be back. Don't follow me."
Madison opened the door more aggressively than they meant. They splintered the wood at the hinges. They marched downstairs and yanked open the fridge.
"Honey? Are you okay?" Madison's mother asked. "I heard you talking upstairs."
"I'm fine." Madison forced a grin. They took out the bottle of red soda from the back of the fridge and went back up to their room.
"You see this?" Madison pointed to the Mountain Dew in their hand, the red gleaming almost maliciously in the sun.
Squip hardly looked panicked. He just stood with his arms behind his back, leaning against the bathroom door.
"Yes, Madison. I do see the soda in your hand," he said.
"Don't fuck around with me. I'll deactivate you!"
"Then do it."
Madison hesitated for just a second, glaring at the Squip in an attempt to cover it up. They untwisted the cap and raising the bottle to their lips.
"What's your opinion on my attempt of helping you?" the Squip asked suddenly.
Madison stopped. A drop of soda touched their tongue. The Squip glitched.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Madison asked, annoyed. "It...you aren't helping me at all!"
"You feel more like a male, don't you?"
"Yes!"
"Do you feel terrible about it?"
"Yes-"
Did Madison feel terrible? No, he didn't. Did he want to admit that? No.
"That isn't the truth, is it?"
"Of course it is-"
Madison paused. Why did he want to ignore his questioning? That never ends up well. "Yes. Of course it's the truth," Madison finished. Their grip on the Mountain Dew bottle
loosened slightly.
"No it's not. If you haven't forgotten, I can read your mind. You feel like a male and you are fine with yourself. You see, I'm not changing you into something you don't want to be, I'm helping you change into the person you want to be, but you can't seem to realize that. You can't lie to me Madison." The Squip glitched again, disappearing and reappearing two inches in front of Madison. Madison's face flushed as the Squip loomed over them, glaring down at them with his piercing, electric gaze.
"Stop questioning yourself," the Squip said, his voice low. "Accept what you want to be, Madison. Be confident about it. Now tell me, who are you?"
"I-I'm Madison Harper," Madison squeaked. "I'm eighteen years old. I identify as agender, pronouns they and them."
"Try again."
Madison stood up straight. "My name is Madison Harper. I'm eighteen years old. I identify as agender-"
"Again!"
Madison repeated their sentence, getting interrupted by the Squip, each time shorter and shorter into the sentence.
"Madison! You're lying to yourself!" the Squip growled, pushing Madison by the chest, causing them to hit the wall. Madison yelped and dropped the soda. It hit the floor, staining the carpet. Madison knew their parents would come up to see what all the ruckus was about.
The Squip stalked over to Madison, who was slouched against the wall. He picked up their chin with his finger and looked Madison straight in the eyes, grey to electric blue.
"Now, try one more time."
Madison took a shaky breath, then began to speak. He was going to accept this. He knew they were going to be relieved. He knew he had been lying to himself.
"My name is Madison Harper. I identify as a male."
The Squip let go of Madison's chin and spun on his heel, facing the window on the opposite side of the room.
"Good."