“Did you attempt an intervention with Calista?” Whitley pressed.

  “I admit I didn’t realize how far she’d gone. She hid a lot from me,” Katelyn’s mother answered.

  “What is next, then? Heir or not, consequences are in order from your part as her parent. I believe that… with her having become a rager…” Whitley shook her head in disappointment. “Many think you should go straight to disowning her.”

  Katelyn stood, walking closer to her mother’s nervous figure. She felt like she could talk to her right then; if it weren’t for the blue glow that covered HARP holograms, she would’ve forgotten she wasn’t really there.

  Once a Socializer was disowned, she would be sent to live with a random family, usually on a space station. It was a severe punishment that forced them to go from a life of luxury to a life of misery on an overcrowded station with limited resources and frequent criminal raids. Katelyn had seen enough from the stations to know how awful that would be.

  “Well… she’s practically eighteen,” her mother said.

  “Katelyn has also betrayed your fanbase,” Whitley insisted. “If she is not to be trusted, what will you do?”

  “I believe this is just a case of hijacked young minds and underestimated influence. We need to protect our children from that sort of environment. We all know that traffickers have grown their business— more people are going missing each day. I can’t bear the thought of my children…”

  She was changing the subject. She really didn’t want to answer Whitley’s questions. Why didn’t she simply say she’d disown Calista? Why didn’t she say she’d do an ‘intervention’ with Katelyn? She could lie— that was the whole purpose of Socializing.

  “Jennifer, the fans need to know.” Whitley reached over and took Jennifer’s hand with a comforting smile, but her amber eyes were disturbingly intense. Katelyn shook her head, watching her mother closely. “How will you discipline your children after such a blow? How will you ensure they won’t follow the same path as their disgraced older sister?”

  “I…” For the first time, Jennifer seemed speechless— on broadcast. Katelyn shook her head again. What would she come up with?

  “I suppose that… they can’t consider Calista a sister anymore.” Her mother swallowed. “And I can’t consider her my daughter. She’s left to the ragers now…”

  “And Katelyn?” Whitley cocked her head, feigning concern, but Katelyn could see the sharpness of her eyes, a dangerous glint that indicated something far more sinister.

  “I wasn’t strong enough with Calista… I spoiled her too much.” Katelyn’s mother swallowed again. “I’ll have to be a better parent with Katelyn. If she’s too consumed by rager propaganda… I’ll have to… intervene. And if that’s not enough… I’ll only have my little boy left.” A tear finally escaped her green eye.

  Katelyn stepped back, shaking her head. She never cried. She never let herself do that. If she did now… she was serious. She’d hand her over to Doll handlers. Then… it would be her brother’s turn.

  “We need to go,” she told Quinlan.

  “Huh?”

  “We need to get out of here. We need to move away.”

  “Why?” he asked. “What is she even talking about?”

  “I need to get you out of here.”

  “You’re right.”

  Both turned, shocked at the sight of their father standing in the HARP entrance. He stared emotionlessly at his wife’s hologram, who continued talking to Whitley Geanna. “I should’ve done this… a long time ago.”

  “Dad?” Katelyn said.

  “Mark your things to send over to Montana,” he instructed. “We’re going to your aunt’s.”

  ===

  Calista Elise Medley

  First-Year One Student

  Level 2

  XP: 49/100

  HP: 100/100

  EP: 50/100

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  RP Status: Disrespected— -40 RP

  Weakness Lvl 17

  Calista’s second day wasn’t much better than the first. Since her Reputation Level had sunk so quickly, she elected to eat somewhere else on campus rather than the Mess Hall. She was far too embarrassed to show her face in front of every student in the Versus School.

  She only did slightly better in Combat, still defeated by the CDSim. In Teamwork class, the coaches let students pick their teammates this time around, and of course, Calista was last. Even Harrison didn’t want her in his group.

  She wound up in a group that included Medusa, who spent her time ignoring Calista. They played a game of Weightless Dodgeball, fighting anti-gravity fields while bouncing holo-balls to the other team. Calista lasted about a minute before she was slammed by a holo-ball into an elimination square, humiliated once again.

  The classes she found least intimidating were her Theory classes. Not all the professors put their new students on the spot with random questions, and Calista had used every Break minute available to study so she wouldn’t look like a complete idiot. Her Meal periods were now spent in her room, where she ate and studied without the distraction of her peers’ fun conversations.

  Day three, thankfully, only had three Practicum periods, but Teamwork remained her least favorite class so far. She wound up on Hillary Kaye’s team again, and in the ensuing game of Freeze Race, she was frozen within twenty seconds of the game and eliminated before her teammates could free her— not that they bothered.

  “Incoming call from ‘Kate’,” AIDA announced.

  Calista was lying on her capsule, exhausted from studying late. Lindsay was quietly resting in her capsule slot. She hadn’t talked to Katelyn since her first day, so she answered the call.

  Katelyn’s hologram appeared in front of her. “Hey, Cali. You busy? I’m sorry, I just really want to talk to you.”

  “It’s okay. I can talk for a few. I’m sorry I haven’t called; I’ve just been studying a lot.”

  “Only your third day and you’re already so busy. Pretty tough, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah, I’d say so. How are you guys? How’s Quinlan?”

  “We’re…” She hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  “Dad decided that… we need to… we’re going to move to Montana for a while.”

  “Montana?” Calista sat up in her capsule.

  “You know, where Aunt Ellie and Uncle Shay live? We’re staying with them for a while,” Katelyn explained. “It’s just been really hectic at home, and Mom hasn’t been doing good. Dad thinks it’s safer for us to be away from her and the fans.”

  “About time he steps in, huh?” Calista remarked sardonically.

  Her sister nodded. “Yeah, about time. But better late than never. I guess he didn’t want to cause more drama by taking us away, but it’s just gotten too… too everything, really. We’ll be better in Montana; Uncle Shay’s sweet and Aunt Ellie’s fun. It’ll be nice to see them again.”

  “I haven’t seen them in… I don’t even know how long. Five years?”

  “Eight,” Katelyn corrected.

  “Eight… wow. So Gliss is fifteen now? That’s crazy. Soko’s my age, right? I wonder how he’s doing.”

  “They said he went into emo style,” Katelyn chuckled.

  “Emo? What’s that?”

  “It’s an old style from pre-Utopia. Some Earthians would get this dark, antisocial sort of personality and dress all in black, something like that. Gliss hasn’t changed at all. We holo-called them and she was so excited for us to come over. She looks great.”

  Aunt Ellie was their father’s baby sister. Being the youngest of her family, she didn’t have a lot of Socializing pressure on her, most of it falling on the oldest, Calista’s Aunt Beyliss. Ellie married Shay, who had a high position in a holo-architecture business, and happily left the Socializer life without any negative Rep fall. They’d lived in their Montana cabin for years.

  Calista’s family used to contact them a lot when she was little, but their relationship faded over the years when her mother had her interacting more with the Zyben side. Calista’s aunts and one uncle were unbearable to be around, constantly envying their eldest sibling’s success, and her cousins were even worse, desperately vying for her position as the star heir of the Zyben fame. Quinlan always joked that they should’ve switched parents.

  “You have a Christmas break, right? You’ll be able to come and celebrate with us,” Katelyn smiled. “You don’t have to worry about Mom.”

  Calista wanted to agree, but she admitted she felt weird about celebrating Christmas without her mother. The holidays were the times she ‘behaved’ the most, giving her kids some more freedom and spending time with them genuinely. She probably wouldn’t have ‘behaved’ this time around at all, so it was definitely best to be away from her.

  “Anyways, I haven’t let you speak. I’m sorry. How’s Fistborn? How are the classes? Did you get to talk to GP-perfect Harrison Smith?” Katelyn squealed a bit— she always had a huge celebrity crush on Harrison.

  Calista didn’t really want to talk about school life, but she mustered a smile. “It’s stellar. Everything I ever wanted.”

  Katelyn smirked back. “Those fake smiles may work with our cache-head fans, but not with me.” She adopted a look of concern. “Is everything okay over there?”

  “It’s just… you know, it’s a new place. New life. I just need to adapt.”

  “But it’s hard for you. I get it. You wanted this for so long, but since you thought you’d never get it, you couldn’t be ready enough for it. Everyone there is different from what you expected.”

  “It’s like you’re hacking into my personal code,” Calista muttered, turning away.

  +5 Rel-P

  Katelyn laughed. “It’s obvious. I’m guessing the other fighters aren’t that friendly?”

  “I only talk to my Versus Pet. That’s how pathetic I am; the only ‘friend’ I have isn’t even real.”

  “Your Pet?”

  “We all got a new Pet. They talk, and have a personality, and guide you during the first week. I named her Lindsay. Martians sure know how to work AI.” Calista massaged her forehead. “I’d like some real friends around here, but my Rep Level is already in the cache— oh, yeah, Rep Levels are still a thing here. I’ve been studying every Break, getting beaten up in every class, and embarrassing myself every minute. I can’t imagine how much they’ll hate me if they know who I was. I don’t think they know, but they can tell. The way I talk, the way I… act. I can’t even do thirty push-ups!”

  “Cali, calm down,” Katelyn said softly, holding a hand out to her.

  “I don’t want to let you down.”

  “You won’t. You never will,” she said firmly. “It’s only the first week. I’m sure it’ll turn around.”

  +6 Rel-P

  “Exactly! Only the first week, and I’m already uber-awful!”

  “Look, I’m sure there’s a lot of other students there that aren’t that great at fighting. You’re at Level 2; you’ve got a lot to learn.”

  “Level 2 is too low to get on the team. And I need to get on the team,” Calista insisted.