Andromeda High

S

Shuboni

Guest
Original poster
It was the same boring day at Andromeda High. Bachi had brought in one of his automatons to keep him company, since all of his friends were absent.

"Okay, class, bring out your tablets." Andromeda High tried to be the best when it came to being up-to-date on new technologies. One of the things it had was school issued computer tablets. They were all linked to the network at the school. It kept track of everything except for messaging during class. The tablets included a personalized messenger between students and teachers. Any student could message any teacher or any other student. Same with teachers being able to do the same.

He had a message from the teacher, it was an update to what the homework was. And that there would be a lecture in a couple of hours. How droll. And, something new. It was a transfer student. New student, huh? I wonder if they might be a terrorist or something. He just received a message from one of the other students, asking if he had the notes for the day. He told the other student that his notes were kept in paper. Didn't want everything of his being tracked.

The lecture would be about quantum physics. Only a few theories that were basic to touch the subject, because not all of the students were in advanced classes like himself. Bachi leaned back on his chair and thought about the old days, when he had a really good friend. He missed Kori.
 
He was nervous, so very nervous. But excited! New poelple to meet, new friends to make... He grinned from ear to ear as he walked down the blad hallways, looking around. He'd not been inside the new age school yet, the town he'd been in the last few years still stuck in the 21st century. He sighed a little. It made him wince a little when he remembered the huge blow up between his childhood friend when he told him the he was leaving... Well, what could one expect? They had been born friends...

He frowned and pushed back his tears, sighing in slight releif as he reached his classroom. He felt a little stupid for taking so long, but the map on the weird pad thingy they'd given him was... confusing, to say the least.

He straitened out his short sleeved button up shirt and made sure his jeans wouldn't fall off of him before he pressed the handle and the door faded from view. He stepped inside, a little shocked that the door did that. He thought it'd slide into the wall like in all those movies... wow, he needed to tell his parents right when he got back to his room!

He looked up, biting his lip as he adusted his thin wire glasses and looked at everyone in the room, calculating who seemed like a lazy moron or who seemed like a stuck up nerd. Then his eyes landed on a familiar face. "B....Bachi?" He murmured in surprise.
 
Bachi had been working on some of the work that was due that day, making sure that everything was right. He heard the door open, but didn't pay it much mind until he sneezed. Was someone talking about him? He looked up and saw... "Kori??" It couldn't be. The chances of them being in the same school after so long and moving so many times was practically zero. The fact that they were in the same room was amazing. The teacher smiled and pulled Kori in.

"This is our new student, everyone. He's kind of new to this advanced technology, so if he needs help please don't hesitate. Now, Kori, where should we put you." The teacher scanned the room and saw a seat. It was right in front of Bachi. "There. Right in front of Mr. Takura. Please stand up Bachi."

Upon hearing his name and instructions, he stood up. He couldn't get over the fact that he hadn't seen Kori in so long. "And..." the teacher continued with more instructions, "It would be great if you could show Kori around the school, Bachi. After this class is over, I'll give you both a notice for your next class. Take as long as you need, but don't take the entire class period."

"Yes, Miss Mochi. I'll show Kori around the school." His expression showed a bit of disbelief, but was mostly covered up with his usual expression. There was a bead of sweat on the far right side of his brow. It was starting to itch a little.

"Also, Mr. Takura, please instruct Kori how to use the tablets. And the facilities that aren't in public buildings. Okay?" The teacher smiled brightly. Bachi just nodded in agreement.
 
Kori stood there, struck dumb until the teacher nudged him and he slowly walked down the isles, eyes locked with Bachi's the entire way. This was unbeleivible. His friend...

He sighed a little, biting his lip in a mere split second before hie beaming smile came onto his face. "Hello, nice to see you again Bachi." And quickly and sat, hiding his face. Oh boy... He clenched his eyes shut at the bitter taste in his mouth and took a deeps, calming breath before sitting strait, eyeing his pad thingy with trediption. Man, he probably looked so retarded. He jumped as a blinking box popped up and he tapped it, opening and showing the assignments and relaxed a little. Okay, maybe he could do this!

When the box suddenly dissappeared he wanted to groan aloud. Okay, maybe not. He tapped at his screen and it dinged and he began to panic. What was he doing with this thing?! He set it down, shooting it a glare and sat back in his seat. Screw technology. He should have gone with his intuition and brought his papers and pencils instead of giving them to the desk lady. He began spacing out when a familiar, faint smell tickled his nose, that warm smell that always floated off of Bachi for some reason. Like spices and machine oil. He had missed that smell.

"I'll be okay." He murmured, running a finger over a worn wooden bracelet on his wrist as he began to recall the day the decided they were going to be best friends forever, a faint, warm smile gracing his lips.
 
Bachi was reading Kori's faint body language. It showed that he wasn't really good with the tablet. So, Bachi wrote up some basic instructions that Kori should understand on his own tablet and sent the message to him. He included how everything that was put on one of these tablets was traceable and stored on servers except for messages sent and anything stored on the device itself that wasn't downloaded. If they kept data from messages, it would overload their server. And they had no way of getting the other data unless they confiscated the tablets every day at the end of the last class, which the students wouldn't go for.

Bachi wanted to work on hacking the failsafe that was installed on the tablet, but that would probably render the thing useless. Like those lights they put in children's toys, it was installed in a way that everything would be incomplete if it was taken out and nothing would work until it was put back in. "It's nice to see you again, Kori." How long had it been since they last saw each other? "What can you tell me of your travels?" He was trying to speak philosophical, as if he had changed so much over the time that they were gone. He hadn't.

Kori didn't seem to change much either, except for some subtle things in his style of clothing. And his hair was a little different. There was about thirty minutes left of class, so the teacher began the lecture on quantum physics. Bachi knew that most of the theories were faulty or wrong, but that's because everything worked differently on the quantum level, and worked quite unpredictably. It was pretty basic, but very hard to explain until whoever you explained it to finally caught on to any one of the concepts.
 
He stared at the screen blnkly, hands idly playing with his very pale bangs that he kept long at the side of his head for the one use of a toy. What had Bochi been up to? Did he still hate him for leaving like that? He hummed a little happy song softly, perking up a little. Bochi didn't seem angry, so maybe he was forgiven? And they had after class to spend time together and get re-aquianted again...

He smiled brightly to himself, tapping his foot idley with his spastic need to move. He was so happy he could dance. But...

His tapping foot stilled and he frowned. What if he wasn't happy? What if he was still angry?

This thought had him sad so quickly he breifly wondered if that moment of happiness had been made up? Maybe...

He gave a harsh tug the the side bangs he'd been playing with and winced a little. No sad thoughts... but he still felt so bad...

A blinking icon in the coner of his pad finally caught his notice just as the bell rang and he touched it, frowning when it wouldn't open. "Now what's wrong you stupid little peice of crap technology?" He growled.
 
Bachi saw that Kori still had his old habit of playing with his bangs while thinking of something. The bell rang and Bachi saw Kori trying to open something on the tablet. "That's just telling you that the bell rang. It's if you're late, you'll know when you were supposed to be there." Bachi had a theory that the pads would track how long you weren't in class, too. He got up and started putting his paper notes away in his bag. Everyone else was already crowding to get out, since they only used their tablets.

"I'll give you a tour of the school. Have your map open too so that you can figure it out easier." Bachi assumed that Kori had gotten lost on the way to the school. Assuming that Kori was following him, Bachi headed towards the door. He walked slow so that the other students would clear out by the time he got to the door. "I'll tour to your classes first, then the extracurricular parts." He didn't show much emotion, even though he really missed Kori. "What classes do you have? And what room numbers?"
 
Kori fumbled and finally got a map open and then he pulled his schedule out of his pocket, glad they'd been kind enough to print that out for him instead of leaving him to find it on his own in the flat little peice of crap he was begginning to nick name "Crap".

"U-uh, I have... Calculas II in room 208." He graoned internally. Damnit all! So many mind numbing things so early in the day was going to get him failed out of the school he'd been eyeing for a year. "Then I'm a teachers Aide in 133, and then Foods in 213 and then lunch and then Drama in 111." He looked at Backi a bit hopefully, his hopes fading at the blank expression on his face. Was he not forgiven then?

The thought made him bite at his lip as he followed along behind Bachi, comparing everything to his map so he could get a better handle on everything. Ugh, maybe he'd just... kinda forgotten about him? He didn't see the necklace he'd given Bachi so many years ago...
 
Bachi kept leading Kori around the school and pointing out different things until the next bell rang. Both his and Kori's tablets buzzed. This was his chance, he grabbed Kori's arm and hauled him off to a secluded part of the school. It was a design flaw that they couldn't figure out what to put in. It was planned to have another wi-fi hotspot, but they soon found out that it wasn't needed. "Kori... You have no idea what it's been like here without a good friend."

He let out a soft sigh, and for the first time all day he actually looked pretty solemn. "It's been hell. I have to deal with a bunch of military nutjobs for friends around this school because I can't relate to anyone else. Nobody else here understands me when I say I'm having troubles writing the right codes for my robot to toss grapes." Which he did figure out. He had been making the automaton release too late. "And the teachers are making me paranoid beyond belief."

Bachi had been friends with Kori for so long that they had understandings about each other. Bachi was always the tech geek who was very paranoid and would be perfect for the military. "Do you realize what the odds are that you transferred into this school, and have the same homeroom teacher? It's mind boggling, the numbers. I don't know how to describe what the odds are, really." He stared at his tablet. The teacher asked that they don't miss their next class entirely, but classes were long enough that they had plenty of time.
 
He looked up and smiled. His friend was still there. He got so happy and excited that he jumped forwards and hugged him tightly. "ImissedyousomuchohmygodIthoughtyouhatedmeandthenIlostyouremailandthenIfeltsohorribleandIthoughtI'dnevergettoseeyouagainohmygodohmygodohmygod!" He spit out in a quick breathless and jumbled sentence, squeezing tightly. "I'm here now and we can be buddies again!" He bounced back with a grin. "Yeah, you'd always been so determined. Have you gotten them to aim things? Timers and traps?" He smiled brightly, remembering all the little memories of how great his life had been with his friend. "I'm sorry I left but man I'm really happy I'm with you now!"
 
Bachi was confused by the sudden embrace but returned it, listening to the line of speech that came after. He let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I've gotten them to aim but traps are a little out there. I got them to use optic sensors to fire when people walk by, but that's the farthest I've gotten. My first one, remember how I tried to program AI? Well... I had to bust it... It got stuck in a logic loop and couldn't be recovered the same after that..." He looked a little sad about that. "Oh, I almost forgot." He reached into his shirt and produced the necklace that had been given to him. The pendant was still in great condition, but the chain had to be lengthened.

"Long story... But I kept it." He smiled sheepishly. "I almost never take this off, unless it's in danger of getting broken... again..." He looked away, still smiling a little. The story behind how the chain broke the first time was disappointing.
 
He felt so happy he could explode at that one moment. His friend was still his best friend and had kept the necklace! He wanted to hug him again but stopped himself, his fingers twitching a little the only hint that he'd wanted to embrace him again. Since when did he... just hug people like that? Was it just because they were friends? Good friends?
He smiled. Well, nothing to think on now, although he was a bit sad that the AI had to just break like that.
"Well, I'm sure when you get up to building more stuff you'll definately be able to make andother AI and have yourself an awesome helper!" He was so excited, although a shiver of fear ran up his spine. Sometimes the robots got a little.... out of hand. But, Bachi was good at keeping a failsafe in their code so that they'd shut down if anything became corrupted.
"How's the folks? Can I come over later? Or wait, do you have dorms here?" He hoped not because then that'd mean a curfew. And staying on these grounds where all the evil technology awaited to screw up his day.
"Crap" Dinged and vibrated and he jumped a little, looking at it and saw the screen flashing. What now?!
 
"The folks are fine. You can come by my dorm whenever you want. And, knowing you, you'll want to know about a curfew. Well, security is handled so well around the school that curfews are only activated if the students start causing trouble at night. It's been over a moth, so curfew isn't in effect." Then Kori's tablet started off some reminders or some kind of alert. Bachi took it and opened the messages. "It's a reminder that there's going to be a school dance on Friday. You can opt out of these spam messages if you want. Did you read my instruction manual?" Bachi browsed through the inbox until he found his own message and opened it before handing the tablet back.

"They try to make these tablets as easy to use as possible for students. The problem is it's like facebook and myspace mixed together then put through the school filter. You have to customize it, almost for an hour, before it starts to work the way that you want." Bachi took more than an hour to do his, since he liked a more conservative style. "Oh, we're still supposed to do that tour..." He started leading Kori around the school, showing him how the rooms were numbered and the best way to navigate around.

"Easiest way to remember how to get to your class is to ask yourself what subject it is. All English and literature classes are on the south side. science classes in the middle, foreign language classes on the northeast corner, math classes in the southeast corner, gym, drama, any other class practically are in the other building. Except for the shop classes. They're in the design building, along with the programming classes, art classes, and cooking classes. Sometimes the numbering can get confusing, but you'll get used to it." While he explained it all, he pointed to the places on the tablet's map that he talked about. Then, he highlighted Kori's classes. "It looks like our next class, we have together. And drama. And the same lunch break." That made Bachi feel better. Especially with the drama class, now he wouldn't have to worry about finding a partner.
 
They would get to spend a whole day together! The thought made Kori so happy, his cheeks were aching a little from smiling so much. "Alright... I think I get it." He said, although he was still really confused. Growing up with his phone being the biggest technology at his house, he's was really slow with the fast coming age of super computers and the like.

"Do they have good organic food here? Or is it processed cubes like in the movies?" He joked a little, although he seriously wondered. He may go shopping then and get his own food if that really was true.
 
Bachi checked the clock on his tablet. The classes were almost an hour long, they had toured the school already for fifteen minutes already, including the 5 minute break between classes. He had time to show Kori the courtyard and the second building, along with the cafeteria. "Everything here is... freeze dried in packages where you have to add water." Bachi tried to keep a straight face while saying that. It was quite the opposite though, the food their was grown by local farmers. Well, as local as you could get. Nothing was handled by a third party or anything, straight from the farm to their table. "It's a lot better than you think, really." Finally, a small grin appeared. Practically the only body language that he had shown that entire time.

He lead Kori out to the courtyard, showed him the ampitheatre, the tables and how to get the seats to come up on command, and then to the second building. "What do you want to see first? The gym? The classrooms? Or the lunch hall? The music room is here, too. I think." He wasn't much of a music fan, so he didn't really know.
 
Kori made a face. So.... freeze dried gook... Eugh! It was when Bachi smiled he relaxed. He was only kidding. He stuck out his tongue childishly. He paused when Bachi did, picking at his already neat and tidy clothing. When Bachi listed what else they could go find he really wondred if he cared.

"Hmmm..." He hummed in thought, not really wanting to do much else. "Maybe later! When's lunch?" His favorite part of the day! Who cared for the rest right now! He'd been to two cllasses already and he really wanted food.
 
Bachi chuckled a little when Kori stuck his tongue out. The childish act made Bachi feel more familiar with Kori. "Lunch is after this next period. That's why I'm trying to stall for time." Their homeroom teacher gave them a note for it, and it was a subject that Bachi knew all too well, calculus. He knew that Kori wouldn't want to be in that class. "Maybe I should show you how to use the lunchroom... It's a lot different than any restaurant or other school on the planet." He started leading Kori to the big doors. He pressed on the handle, and the first one faded away. To explain how it did that was a mystery in itself, but Bachi could do it.

He looked in and saw that the workers were still preparing for the first set of students. There were more than one lunch block because of the influx of students. That's the only way that the workers could get all of the food prepared in time. "You paid for a school lunch, right?" He picked up a menu and skimmed through it. "The main course for today is a 6 oz. chicken filet served with a baked potato and chives along with a small salad." The salad had cherry tomatoes in the bowl. Bachi despised tomatoes. They were the worst vegetable, he wouldn't accept them as a fruit, to ever litter the face of this good green Earth.
 
"Yeah I paid.... but wow... that sounds good! Oh! can I have your tomatoes?" He knew Bachi would tglare at them in his salad like they'd done him some great wrong. It was really funny to him. But he liked them and never enjoyed watching food go to waste. That made him wonder what dinner would be... he had some money so maybe he could go out? With Bachi! Yeah, that was a great idea!

He grinned to himself, wondering if it would be really run and they'd do fun things after eating or something, and get to reknow each other too... A friend... a good friend... he'd really missed having on of those.
 
Bachi nodded. "You can have the tomatoes." He leaned on the doorway and looked over the lunch room. He had never seen it so orderly. But he had never seen it without people. Bachi, himself, had tried once to start an automaton club. But the members only wanted to fight their robots. Bachi humored them for a while, beat every one of them, then quit. None of them were advancing design, just destroying things. That wasn't Bachi's cup of tea. Speaking of tea. "I'm going to get some Earl Grey from the vending machine." It was the first of its kind, a vending machine that synthed drinks. It would try to find any drink that you asked it and synthesize it.

He got up to the machine, put in his $1.50, and asked for a cup of hot Earl Grey tea. "Do you want anything?" Bachi was more than happy to buy his old friend something to drink. "Wait, let me guess... It's..." He thought hard. "Pepsi? Or did you change what your normal drink is again?" Bachi remembered that Kori would cycle through different drinks every couple of months or so, a lot like his dad did.
 
"Naw~ It's orange crush now!" He grinned and patted his pocket. "Oh but, I'm broke. I can't pay you back..." He always hated making people waste money on him that he couldn't pay back within the next twenty four hours. "So I can just settle with... whatever the lunch has. Do they still do milk?" He hoped so, chocolate milk had become his favorite savory liquid at this point in time. But soda was such a treat...