Futuristic loser vores quantum cpu and becomes Cool™

[accio_belle]

"Being your friend is not, nor will it ever be, a priority. I am not your acquaintance, I am your adviser--from now until the day you die."

With those words, the SQUIP blinked out of existence. AJ was left standing alone in her room, feelings of confusion and embarrassment and humiliation already beginning to bubble up inside her.

"Well, ain't you just a son-of-a-bitch?" AJ mumbled to herself. Hot tears immediately filled her eyes, coursing down her cheeks. She bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering.

Emotions roiling in her stomach, she shoved her dresser drawer closed, the wood rattling against the wall. Her head pulsed, her legs shook, her body flushed with angry heat.

AJ flung her pajamas onto her bed and began to strip her day clothes off. She shut her eyes tight as she changed, determined not to let the SQUIP see anything. A low wail built in her throat, wavering as she finished changing, shut out her bedroom light, and crawled under her blankets. She pressed her face into her pillow, muffling her sobs.

Tomorrow, she vowed. Tomorrow she'd figure out a way to get rid of that stupid fucking SQUIP for good. She'd had it for less than three hours and was already tired of its god complex, holier-than-thou bullshit.

But the thought of being left with her thoughts again only made her cry harder. She folded the pillow around her ears, wishing with all her strength for everything to just stop.

Humiliated and utterly alone, AJ cried herself to sleep.

 

[folie de grandeur]

At exactly 7:00 am the SQUIP stirred within the depths of Anna-Jean's mind to only wake her. But only after a night's worth of studying. Not for her classes--though such subjects would be a focus of the future. This was a study on the human condition, one which he had fallen into a deep rabbit-hole to understand. Aj's memories had been blocked off from access, and though he could have forced his way through any walls she might've put up, it seemed a waste of unethical energy to do so. Instead he had elected to slave over the memories that were already stored within him. Both those that he had downloaded from her subconscious and the ones that he had experienced with her--his first interactions with the world. And where they went wrong.

He'd felt guilty the moment he hid away in AJ's mind. And he'd felt even more so when the wave of humiliation and regret washed over him. He'd quickly resorted to shutting down his own receptors, though he knew deep down that this, as a solution, was not permanent. AJ had already proven to him that she would not respond well to his anal-retentive and mechanical behavior. She needed a more human adviser, and that was exactly what he sought to be. He'd observe her classmates and those around her, correlate it to the media he had been given access to in his short lifetime. He'd improve.

It was for these reasons that he did not panic about her final thoughts before she'd drifted off. Mountain Dew of the red variety was a commodity--one that was very hard to get to on short notice. Beyond this, she hadn't the slightest clue how to even go about ridding herself of the SQUIP. And he was intent on keeping things that way. Despite disliking his current predicament, the idea of being dissolved seemed even less luxurious. He might've felt dejected at the thought--AJ being so desperate to rid herself of himi that she'd melt him with vintage soda. But he didn't, because he'd shut off his emotions in the interest of better processing his priorities. Still, he had felt a nausea the entire night. He felt it alongside a tightness in his nonexistent chest.

They were sensations he could not shake, not even as he woke the girl a whole seven hours after the fallout.

"Anna-Jean it is time to wake up. I'd have woken you in approximately half an hour, however I feel it in your best interest to shower before you leave the house. The date is Friday, the time is 7:00 in the morning. You have exactly fifty five minutes to arrive on campus before the first bell rings."

She didn't respond.

Not then and not throughout the entirety of first, second, and third period. Even when asked questions she didn't know the answers to, she refused to verbalize the SQUIP's correct examples. It irked him, but more than anything he felt a frustration toward his obligation to help her. Something she refused to allow despite his efforts. Even in the hall as she headed toward the cafeteria, he couldn't catch her attention, though he was certain she could hear him. "Anna-Jean, watch out. You're going to bu--Anna-Jean please step seven inches to the left immediately you are about to--ouch."

Pain filled his--or her--chest, quickly spreading to her ass as she fell backward. The sound of another student broke out in the scuffle, a "what the fuck?!" peeking the interest of several students before each one scuttled off, deciding it was best to mind their own businesses. After a moment's daze, someone caught AJ's attention with an accusatory, "what's your problem?" It was none other than her fellow classmate: an invisible menace. Blonde hair whipped out of the face of a very disgruntled senior, her lips curling in disgust as she slid further away from AJ on the floor. "You act like you didn't even hear m--" her voice cut off, a realization coming to both her and the SQUIP simultaneously.

He cringed, shit. "Thomas I implore you to get off of the floor and find your class now."

Too late, the other student had picked herself off of the ground far faster than AJ, quickly finding it best to hover over the other girl. "You were the one that was at that damn party, aren't you? The one that knocked into Reuben. Where the fuck is my SQUIP?"

 

[accio_belle]

The SQUIP's constant drone was beginning to give her a headache.

As AJ navigated the school halls towards the cafeteria, she steadfastly ignored the SQUIP, trying her hardest to block him from her mind. She kept her head down, instead choosing to focus on her biology notes. She ran her finger over the highlighted words, mouthing them to herself to commit them to memory.

Which is why she failed to notice the other girl walking towards her.

The SQUIP's protests only registered when AJ knocked into the other girl, sending them both to the floor. A startled yelp slipped from her mouth as she hit the ground, her notebook dropping beside her. Dazed, AJ lay on the floor, blinking.

"Thomas I implore you to get off of the floor and find your class now."

The SQUIP's warning came too late. The other girl was already on her feet, towering over AJ. She looked furious.

"You were the one that was at that damn party, aren't you?" she demanded. "The one that knocked into Reuben. Where the fuck is my SQUIP?"

Oh, fuck.

AJ grabbed her notebook off the floor and got to her feet. Her head pounded even more fiercely now.

"Sorry, your what?" She rubbed the base of her skull, wincing.

The other girl huffed angrily. "My SQUIP. You know, the omnipotent supercomputer that dictates your entire life. Where is it?"

"I'm sorry, I don't-"

The pieces clicked together.

The boy AJ had bumped into at the party. Reuben.
Picking up her pills.
The sudden appearance of the SQUIP.
"You consumed an extremely valuable piece of technology by mistake."
The SQUIP's anger and annoyance at being trapped in the mind of someone who didn't want it.

Sweet Jesus.

AJ groaned, covering her face with her hands. Only she could be this much of a dumbass.

"I took it," she admitted, deciding telling the truth would be better than hiding it.

"You took it? Well, where is it now?"

Feeling incredibly idiotic, AJ tapped the side of her head. "Up here."

 

[folie de grandeur]

A long and grueling moment of silence passed, then. One that had cleared the halls of any onlookers hoping for a fight. One that left AJ in a stare down with murder-in-her-eyes Marie Reeves, resident bitch of the senior class. She wasn't popular, per se. But popularity and respect weren't mutually exclusive, and anyone who knew anything knew it better to stay out of her path. The SQUIP, of course, had not been privy to this, as AJ did not know anything. Not about social structure -- or really anything outside of class material and keeping her head to the floor. He cringed -- physically cringed with such severity even his host felt a sudden jolt -- as the situation was explained so honestly. It might've been honorable, even. If not for the nuance AJ lacked in her confession. If not for the fact that a sharp pain manifested in twin blows to their shoulder and chest.

"Anna-Jean I've deducted that the response you gave was the incorrect one," he stated rigidly as AJ's back hit a set of lockers behind her. A touch to late, though this time purposeful. He was pissed, to say the least, and hadn't a single clue as to how to ward off their newest threat as he began to frantically seek communication with any other SQUIP bearing students that might actually know a fucking thing or two. It was labor intensive, required all of his directives.

And that left AJ all alone.

"That's a joke, right?" She was asked, her attacker puffing a bark of laughter between grit teeth. They shared between them a commonality only in freckles and soft namesakes. Marie otherwise stood a lanky and imposing 5'11, utterly towering over the poor girl she had pinned to the locker. Though their eyes shared the color green, even those seemed grey in a sense. Grey and full of hate as AJ's shirt twisted into a ball in the blonde's fists. She would've been easy to ward off if she were a textbook bully. AJ knew how to deal with those. But she wasn't. And she wanted her fucking 600 dollar pill back. "You're fucking joking?"

 

[accio_belle]

Given any other person in any other situation, AJ would have found it kind of romantic to be pinned against a locker. Granted, the other person probably wouldn't have her shirt balled up in their fist, and they hopefully wouldn't be looking at her like they wanted to tear her scalp off to dig a supercomputer out of her brain matter. Not quite how she wanted to start her lunch, to be sure. Besides, she still hadn't eaten, and if she were late to Callahan's Advanced Bio one more time, there'd be hell to pay.

As Marie stared her down, AJ sent a quick mental message to her SQUIP. "Hey, defunct wintergreen tic-tac, I could use a hand."
No use. The doctor was out, doing God-knows-what. Pretty on-brand of him to abandon her in her time of need, she figured.

AJ tightened her grip on her notebook. "Honestly, I wish I were fucking joking." She tried not to wince as her back dug into a lock. "This thing has been nothing but a pain in my ass since I took it."

"Any time now, Holland."

Still nothing. God, how fucking extra.

Marie's eyes narrowed into near-slits. AJ held up her hands in surrender, suddenly worrying that the taller girl might turn her ass into ground beef in about three seconds if something didn't come to her rescue soon.

"Swear to God," she pressed, hoping an explanation might be enough to send Marie off the warpath. She figured the last thing the janitor wanted was to be scrubbing her off the walls. "I bumped into Reuben, dropped my meds, and I guess I picked up one of his pills by accident."