Mechanical (13 page)

“Get a bandage,” she retorted and walked past
me out the door.

I shook my head at the damage and headed for
the bathroom. Once there, I hurriedly pulled out some medical tape
and clumsily stuck it on my arm to cover the wires. I healed
incredibly fast and knew it would be gone by the next day, but
anyone who saw my wound today would end up like the school
nurse.

I hurried after Yvonne and got into the van.
She gave me a strange look once I climbed in. “Looks a little
drastic, don’t you think?” she asked, surveying the bandage that
covered six inches along my arm.

“Hey, it’s your fault. You’re the one who
caused me to scrape myself. There’s a bunch of wires and stuff
there.”

Yvonne sighed irritably and ignored me the
rest of the way.

Once I got to school, as Yvonne had predicted
during the drive, I got quite a few comments on my medical
predicament. I just told them I scraped myself, but according to
them, if you needed a bandage that large it had to be because of
something worse.

“What’d you do?” Michael asked when he saw me
in English class.

“Scraped myself on my dresser this morning,”
I said for the seventh time that day.

“Ouch,” Michael commented and Miss Clark had
to call on him to be quiet.

After school as I was standing by my locker
collecting all my things, Michael walked up to me. I gave him a
special smile and said hello.

He shuffled his feet and stared down at them
for a few seconds, brushing his jacket to rid it of lint that
wasn’t there. I gave him a puzzled look. He seemed nervous about
something. He had his hands clasped behind his back, something I
had never seen him do, and he looked tense. “Is something
wrong?”

He shook his head. “No.” He smiled. “I just
wanted ...” he trailed off and I saw his gaze wander downward
again.

I frowned, wondering what he could possibly
be looking at that would cause him to stop talking. A breeze blew
through the hallway and I felt it on my arm. At first, I thought
nothing of it, but then my heart started to beat faster and I
froze. Then my gaze landed on the arm that was supposed to be
covered with the bandage.

I slowly looked down, terrified of what I
might see. Sure enough, the bandage had mostly fallen off, hanging
on only at the edge of my elbow, exposing just enough metal and
wires to scare the living daylights out of any student who happened
to wander by. And just my luck, Michael happened to be that
student.

I quickly pulled my long sleeved sweater down
over my arm, thinking frantically for some excuse to explain my
predicament. Not only was this incredibly embarrassing, but what
would the creators do if they knew that some kid at my school had
seen this? The same thing they had done with the nurse? I didn’t
even know what they had done to her.

Michael’s gaze shifted upwards to meet mine.
“What was that?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing,” I said with a fake smile, hoping
that possibly he hadn’t seen everything.

“That looked a lot like metal and wires in
your ... arm,” he said, his face turning white.

“Um ...” I mumbled, starting to panic. “I
have to go. It was nothing really, just your imagination,” I said
quickly, turning away.

I felt Michael grab my arm gently, but firmly
enough to keep me there. Of course, I knew I was strong enough to
probably yank my arm away and shove him against the lockers with
one hand, but I didn’t really feel like showing off my true
identity any more than I accidentally already had.

“That wasn’t nothing,” Michael said, his tone
giving away how freaked out he really was. His voice shook slightly
where it was usually smooth with confidence.

I stood there for a moment, frozen. Finally,
I sighed and gave up, thinking quickly for some plan to get him off
my back. Michael let go of my arm.

“I’ll tell you, but not here,” I whispered so
softly it was a wonder that Michael heard me. I beckoned for him to
follow me and headed outside. I walked over to one of the empty
picnic benches and sat down. Michael took a seat across from me. We
sat there for a few moments in awkward silence. I wasn’t sure what
to say.

“I don’t really know how to start this ...” I
said, thinking frantically for some excuse.

“Well, what did I see?” he asked with
concern.

“Exactly what you thought it was, metal and
wires.” I barely whispered the last part but I knew he’d heard it.
Had I really just admitted to him what the creators forbade us to
ever utter? What was wrong with me?

Michael seemed lost for words. “Why?” he
asked finally.

“Because ...” My heart seemed as if it would
jump out of my chest it was beating so fast. How was I supposed to
tell him this? “I’m ...”
Not human.
The words sprang to my
mind, repeating over and over again so loudly it seemed as if
Michael could probably hear them.

“Is it some medical thing?” he asked, his
tone shifting slowly back to normal at this new idea. “Like, some
implant you needed? I mean, that’s totally fine. You shouldn’t feel
ashamed of it or anything,” he said gently.

My heart leapt. Yes! I could just go along
with that. After all, he said it, not I. It would be perfect. But
then, my heart sank again as my mind wrapped around this idea and
shoved it away. I couldn’t lie to Michael. I didn’t
want
to
lie to Michael. “No,” I heard myself saying even while the logical
part of my mind screamed. “It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

There was a long pause. I was so scared I
felt I might die. The words were on the tip of my tongue, held back
by the last part of me that was logical, by the last part that
still told me to regain my sense.

But the new Drew, the rebellious one, the
brave one, forced open my mouth and the words sprang to life.

“I’m not ... human,” I finally said, staring
at the table, not wanting to see Michael’s face.

“What?” I heard him ask after a tense
pause.

“I’m an android,” I told him, finding the
courage to lift my head to look at him. This was what I was;
something wonderful to the creators, but something unknown to the
humans, and there was nothing I could do to change it. “That’s why
you saw all those wires.”

Michael looked speechless, staring at me with
a mixture of shock, disbelief and ... horror.

“I’m mechanical,” I whispered. And that’s
when the tears came.

Chapter Twenty-Five

And just like that, I was sobbing.
Uncontrollably crying—something that was very embarrassing to do in
front Michael, or anyone for that matter.

I buried my head in my hands and knew it was
no good to try and stop. I had already started and there was no
going back. A million emotions whirled inside of me, anger, fear,
frustration, too many to identify and I knew they were all
unacceptable for an android—forbidden. But this thought only made
them scream louder as if trying to justify their presence.

Suddenly I felt a weight on the seat beside
me and arms wrap around me. I rested my head against Michael’s
shoulder and cried, too distraught to feel embarrassed. I hoped no
one was walking by or could see me from the parking lot. Picturing
this image in my head, I realized I probably looked either very
pathetic or as if I was trying to steal time alone with Michael,
which I most certainly was
not
. Maybe in the distant future,
but not now.

Eventually I pulled away from Michael and
wiped my eyes, not wanting to look at him, not wanting him to see
my eyes all red and blurry from crying. “Please don’t tell anyone,”
I said, my voice watery and strange sounding. Just as the words
came out, I regretted them. My voice sounded pleading and
desperate, but what else could I say?

He shook his head, although I noticed that he
now stared at me with a cautious look in his eyes, like I was a
wild animal. “I won’t,” he assured me. His voice was soft,
scared.

“Thanks,” I said, trying to rub the water out
of my eyes.

Michael stood up and paced around the table a
few times, running his fingers through his hair. He sat back down
again. “Sorry, I’m just a little ... I mean ...how is that even
possible?” he asked, turning towards me, suspicion in his voice.
Now that I thought about it, he probably didn’t even believe me. Or
at least, was trying to find some plausible way to explain
this.

I’m living proof
, I almost said aloud,
but then thought twice. Living? Hadn’t the creators told us that we
weren’t really alive? Mechanical things didn’t live. I may have
been proof, but I wasn’t
living
proof. I didn’t reply.

“I’m sorry,” Michael said. “That was probably
rude.” He ran his fingers through his hair again. He looked scared
but also slightly suspicious, like I had changed in the last few
minutes from a normal girl into something completely different and
unpredictable—a machine.

I shook my head. “No. You’re nicer to me than
the creators are.” The realization of what I had just said hit me
like a slap in the face and I immediately shut up.

He looked at me, his eyes growing wider.
“Creators?”

I regretted my words. “The term pretty much
explains itself,” I said quietly, not wanting to be the cause of
more spilled information.

“So they ...
created
you?”

I didn’t reply, but looked away.

Just then, I heard a car horn sound and I
looked up to see the van parked on the side of the street. I looked
at Michael, hoping with all my might that he wouldn’t tell anyone
about what happened. Not so much for my safety, but for his. The
nurse’s face flashed through my mind. “I have to go.”

“I won’t tell,” he said again, as if reading
my mind.

I half-smiled, although this time I was
acutely aware of how I might be perceived by him now. I wasn't the
same girl he'd had a crush on a few minutes before, but possibly
something different—a robot, a computer, a machine. “See you
tomorrow.” I headed towards the van and climbed in, the images of
our humiliating little scene only moments before replaying in my
head like a broken record.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I tried to avoid Michael the next day at
school. I was embarrassed and mostly afraid of what he might say or
do. So many times the day before I had asked myself if it had
actually happened at all. But when I remembered the look on
Michael’s face, I knew it was true. The horror in his eyes burned
in my memory, leaving a permanent image.

But as hard as I tried to evade him,
eventually Michael caught up to me. “Drew,” he leaned over and
whispered during English class. “I’ve been trying to find you all
day.”

“Sorry,” I whispered back. “I wasn’t sure ...
you would want to see me.”

There was a long pause.

I glanced back at him and he looked almost
hurt. “Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”

I didn’t reply and there was a moment of
silence between us where all I heard was the drone of Miss Clark’s
voice up front.

“Did you tell anyone?” I whispered, my heart
racing as if knowing that my life, his life, was hanging by a
thread.

“Of course not,” he replied. “I wouldn’t do
that.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Just then, I noticed Miss Clark’s glaring
eyes staring right at me. “Drew? Michael?” she snapped. “Would you
mind sharing with the class the issue you are discussing that seems
to be more important than my lesson? I’m oh, so eager to hear.”

“We were just talking about an assignment for
another class.” Michael said, feigning a sorry expression, the lie
coming quickly and easily off his tongue.

Miss Clark gave him a steely look. “You can
talk about that later, but now you are in English class and I’m
asking you to give me your attention.”

* * * *

“Are you okay?” Michael asked as we were
leaving the classroom.

“Yeah,
I’m
fine but I wasn’t the one
who told his friend I was ...” I didn’t want to finish the
sentence. It felt so different saying it aloud, especially to
someone who wasn’t an android.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one crying
yesterday,” Michael put his hands on my shoulders, although I
noticed that they were barely placed there, as if I might break
like any other electronic device. Again, I wondered what he now
thought of me.

“Are you okay?” he repeated.

I nodded.

“Good.” He smiled at me.

“I’ll see you later,” I told him, turning
away and heading towards my locker.

“See ya.”

I walked down the hallway, truly surprised he
had even wanted to talk to me. I mean, I was expecting complete
shock and disgust from him. After all, I had just told him I wasn’t
human. Didn’t that mean something?

I shook my head. I was starting to get a
headache from thinking so hard; trying to figure out why Michael
still liked me. I didn’t know. The only thing I did know was that
he did. He had talked to me, smiled at me, and asked if I was okay.
I smiled to myself. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and at
that moment I didn’t care about what I was. All I knew was that I
liked Michael. I liked him a lot now. And he liked me back.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jessica and I sat next to Hailey in the
cafeteria, squeezing our legs through the almost nonexistent space
between the seats and the table. I felt like a contortionist every
time I tried to sit down.

By now, I was used to eating and actually
enjoyed it. I found that when I ate I felt more energized and I
liked the taste of food, something Yvonne found quite
distasteful.

“So,” Hailey said, propping her elbows on the
table and looking at me. “I heard that you and Michael had some
alone
time yesterday after school out by the picnic
benches.” She smiled, drawing out the word alone as if it explained
her whole point.