Sleeping Jenny (8 page)

I couldn't wait until lunch. General Relativity dragged by as if time had stopped. I knew what that felt like, right? The guy that had called me bothead fell asleep on his screendesk, drooling, and I found a way to scribble concentric circles with my fingernail on the sides of the screen and erase them when the teacher walked by. Some of the concepts were actually pretty neat—our universe was still expanding, which would mean endless possibilities for other signs of life. Aliens. Although I'd joked about it with Mom and Timmy, I wished I'd been woken up when there were aliens. Anything would be better than Exara.

Just when I thought I'd die of waiting, the techno jingle rang and I filed into the lunchroom. Maxim sat in the same spot as yesterday. He smiled, his perfect white teeth gleaming. He even had a chin dent.

I wanted to kiss it. Wasn't like I'd kissed anything in my life besides stuffed animals and Timmy's cheek.

“Get through General Relativity okay?”

I sat across from him and took out my lunch container, this time packed by C-7 because Len was running late. “Yeah. It was interesting today.”

“Good. See. You'll adjust to life here just fine. You just have to give us a chance.”

I pulled out a container of some gelatinous blue stuff that jiggled. “Jenny. That's what my friends call me.”

“Jenny. I like the sound of that.”

I sporked the Smurf food and stuffed it in my mouth. The spoonful wiggled on my tongue, tasting like mint. “It's the plainest name in all of America.”

“Nowadays, with names like XoXo and Shizznizz, it's one of a kind.”

I covered my mouth to stop my slimy food from spewing all over the lunch table. “Shizznizz? Really?”

“Yeah.” He pointed across the cafeteria. “See that guy over there, the one with the orange hair?”

I scanned the table across the room. A guy leaned back in his seat, banging his spork on the table and listening to some jack in his ear. “Yeah.”

“Shizznizz O'Riley. I'm not kidding ya.”

“Jeez. What were his parents thinking?”

“Only that he'd be the mega-coolest guy in school.”

“Well, they were clearly wrong.”

Maxim stopped mid-bite. “What do you mean?”

“'Cuz
you're
the mega-coolest guy in school.” I tsk-tsked and shook my head. “They should have named him Maxim.” Although I sounded sarcastic, I meant it. I pretended to drop my spork in my lap to hide the blush on my face. Why did I always gush like a baby when I was nervous?

Thankfully, he didn't freak out. Instead he waved my compliment away like he didn't deserve it. “You won't think so when you see me dance.”

“You can't be that bad.”

“Trust me. I am.”

The techno bell rang too soon, mocking me with its casual tone. I could have stayed in that lunchroom for the rest of the day talking about dancing, names, and General Relativity as it applied to me and Maxim. Ironically, for a three-hundred-year-old teen, time had run out. Tomorrow Exara would be back, and I'd turn back into the third wheel.

“See ya.” I picked up my backpack as he stuffed his lunch container into his.

He reached in the front pocket and passed a plastic card across the table. Did they allow teens to have credit cards nowadays? “Here's my miniscreen number. Call me if you have any questions on Einstein.”

I took the card, feeling the raised digits under my skin. “Thanks.”

“Later, Jenny.” His eyes stuck on mine and I couldn't move. Chad's playful eyebrows appeared amongst the sharper features that made him all that much more enticing. I made a mental note to ask C-7 who Maxim's ancestors were.

His lips curled slightly and he spun around, leaving me in the lunchroom with the gurgling of the recycling tubes.

When I got home, Pell was napping while C-7 folded laundry. Since I'd already asked him to investigate the other cryosleepers, I didn't think it was the best time to ask about Maxim. Even robots had their limits.

I dragged my feet to my room and took out Maxim's card, flipping it over and over on my bed. The numbers shimmered in the fluorescent light like the wings of a butterfly.

Why did he want to help me? Was I just another history experiment for him? Or was there something more? Something I'd never had with anyone at Ridgewood Prep.

I needed to talk to Angela so badly, my heart ached. She'd know exactly what his intentions were. I reached for the closest thing to her and popped in the next video in the series I referred to as
My Previous Life
.

Timmy stood in front of the camera holding Buzz Lightyear and his ratty Elmo doll. His hair had grown out into long curls around his ears. He looked like he'd grown two inches. Watching an older Timmy dance around brought a wave of melancholy.

“Hi, Jenny. You're still sleeping. When are you going to wake up?”

He held his Buzz Lightyear figure up and flew him through the air. Buzz collided with Elmo, who, of course, fell on the floor with a
kaboom
.

“Mommy says not to talk about you because it makes her sad. So I decided to turn on the camera and talk to you myself.”

In the background, I heard my mom's voice. “Timmy, what are you doing? Lunch is ready.”

The sound of her voice cut to my heart, slicing out a piece. I missed her. Even if she
had
ranted on and on about her upcoming campaign. Now I'd sit and listen, maybe even help make signs.

My mom came into Timmy's room and grabbed his hand. She wore the same blouse she'd worn to a New Year's party last year— really three hundred years ago—with black sequins in the front. I decided I missed sequins, too.

“Wait! I have to shut off the video.” Timmy ran back into the room and put his little arm up. He stuck his tongue out at the screen and made googly eyes before it flickered off. I laughed and cried at the same time, feeling like he was in the next room when he really was a world away.

Angela appeared on the next clip. I almost gagged when I saw who she sat next to. Chad played on his iPhone, probably texting his best jock buds. They sat in the stadium, watching the cheerleaders practice their routine on the football field.

“Hi, Jenny.” She seemed happier than I remembered her, with a squeak in her voice and a bounciness to her curls. “I wanted to bring you along for the preparations for the Autumn Ball. Shelly Smith is working on the theme this year. It's going to be Underwater Illusions. See, the cheerleaders are all dressed in green and blue.”

The video focused on the cheerleading team and I sighed, sitting back and fingering Maxim's card. Since when did Angela care about them?

She turned the camera back to her face. Her eyes blinked and she bit the side of her mouth. I knew that expression. She was hiding something. Or was it just my imagination on overdrive? Maybe she tried to hide her sadness for me. I didn't know.

“Chad and I are working on the decorations. We thought we'd do a big disco ball in the center with streamers that blew like currents underwater. What do you think?”

Chad's voice mumbled beside her, “Jenny never liked that kind of stuff, Angie. She's going to think this is the lamest video of all time.”

I laughed. He was right.

Wait a second. How come he called her Angie? And how did he know me so well?

I thought he didn't even know my last name. It must have been the famous “after you're dead” syndrome. You know, when someone died tragically and then everyone pretended they knew them just to have something to talk about, because knowing them turned from lame to mega-cool. Maybe I was the famous dead girl at Ridgewood Prep.

But I wasn't dead. They were.

Tears stung my eyes. I clicked off the screen. I'd seen enough for tonight.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Window to the Past

T
he weekend came sooner than I wanted. I hadn't had another chance to talk with Maxim alone, and now I had two whole days off with my substitute family and a robot that still freaked me out. I thought about calling Maxim's miniscreen, but I actually understood General Relativity, so the whole conversation would be a lie. Besides, he was with Exara, and stealing someone's boyfriend wasn't on my moral compass. Even if she was mean.
Not that I could, anyway
.

Instead of pining away for someone I couldn't have, which was the story of my life, I had other things on my mind. After another family breakfast of soycakes, I waited until C-7 was alone, loading the dishwasher. I walked into the kitchen just as he dropped a spork into a utensil holder resting on a tray that came out of the wall. He set each plate a perfect half-inch apart.

“Greetings, Jennifer. Did you enjoy your breakfast?”

“Sure. I'm getting used to those soycakes. You just have to load on a whole lot of sappy sauce.”

“Although not nutritionally balanced, the sappy sauce provides an incentive to consume more.”

“Um, yeah. Anyway, I was wondering about the conversation we had the other day. About Martha Maynard.”

C-7's silver eyes scanned the area behind my head. I leaned in and whispered, “Don't worry, they're all busy in the other room”

“What would you like to know about Martha Maynard?”

I fidgeted with a sticky spork before popping it into the tray. C-7 moved the utensil slightly to the right in perfect formation with the others. I'd watched too many of those cheap sci-fi movies growing up, because crazy robots from the future stuck in my mind. Again. If he wanted to, he had enough power to jam that spork right down my throat.

I blinked and swallowed hard. “I'd like to know where she lives. I want to meet her.”

The gears in his neck spun, and I wondered if I'd sent him into hyperdrive.

“If it's too much trouble—”

“Apartment thirty-two AA, high-rise five hundred eighty-four, level seventy-eight.”

I stared.
Wake up, Jennifer, and write it down
. I needed a piece of paper.
Wait. They don't have paper any more
. Panicking, I searched for my miniscreen. I was always losing it, and I bet it cost more than a laptop.

“I have downloaded the coordinates, along with directions to her high-rise, to your miniscreen's central processor. Code name: Martha.”

“C-7, I don't know what to say.”

“Valex and Len plan to take Pell to the recycling factory today for a school assignment. That would be the most opportune time to leave.”

Suspicion clouded my thoughts. It all seemed too easy. Maybe Valex and Len were testing me, trying to see what kind of teen I really was. Or what if C-7 wanted me out of the apartment so he could take over the world? “Why are you helping me?”

“I am here to help, Jennifer. It is what I do.” His voice sounded so genuine that it almost broke my heart, like a lost puppy. He had to be telling the truth. Suddenly, I worried about him.

“What would Valex and Len do if they knew you helped me?”

“They would erase my memory and have me reprogrammed.” He said it so matter-of-factly, almost like he didn't care. “That is why I advise you to remain silent.”

I ran my fingers across my lips like a zipper. “My mouth is sealed.”

Robots were way cooler than I thought. At least this one was.

I pretended to do homework on my miniscreen until Valex rushed into the living room, packing a travel bag with soybean wafers. He looked at me as if I was that lost puppy. For a second, Timmy's eyes stared through time. “Are you sure you don't want to come with us?”

I blinked and Timmy turned back into Valex. “Nah. I have a lot of work to do. These classes are harder than I'm used to.”

“Of course. You'll catch up. I know you will.” Valex put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Let me know if you need any help.”

Oh, I already have a stellar tutor
. I almost blurted out Maxim's name and decided against it. “I have someone to call.”

His eyebrow rose.

“A study partner.”

“Wonderful. I'm glad you're making friends.” He zipped up the backpack, and Exara came to mind.
And enemies, too
.

Valex threw me a soybean wafer. “You have our miniscreen numbers if you need to reach us.”

I pocketed the wafer, thankful for Valex's laid-back attitude in this case. Maybe he didn't care about animals as much as I wanted him to, but he did give me the freedom I needed to accept this world. My dad would have ordered me to come with the family and put in some “family time.” Now I wished I'd enjoyed his forced trips more often.

“Jenny, are you okay?” Valex had stopped packing and stared at me. My anguish must have shone on my face.

For a moment, I almost changed my mind. I could use some family time right now. But, I needed answers and this was the only way to get them. I forced a smile. “Yes, I'll be fine. C-7 will keep me company.”

Pell ran in and collapsed at my feet. “Jenny, you don't want to stay with bothead, do you?”