Evan didn't know how bad it would be at the Murphys but he never imagined it would be this. No one said a word as the ate, no one even really ate except for Mr. Murphy. SQUIP-Connor stood behind Zoe's chair with crossed arms. The only reason Evan could come up with was to make it look like he was looking at her when he looked at the computer.

Evan also forgot how terribly awkward it with the holographic image of the now dead Connor Murphy only visible to him.

"So…" Cynthia tries to converse, "you and Connor were friends?"

Not expecting it, Evan stares at her blankly for a second before giving a jerking nod. He opened his mouth to respond when Zoe beats him to it.

"He was a pretty bad friend then when he pushed you in the hallways the other day." She says over her mother's attempt to cut her off.

"He pushed you?!" Cynthia gasped.

"No-" Evan begins to protest despite it being contradicting.

"It looked like he pushed you to me," Zoe continued.

"I mean, he did," Jared had been right about contradicting, "but it was my fault. You see I wanted to talk to him but he didn't want to talk to me and I wouldn't take the hint."

"So he pushed you so hard you feel down."

"Actually it was more of a nudge and I lost my balance and fell over." Evan could feel a cold sweat starting down his back as there was a moment of silence, Zoe obviously did not believe him.

"So you were friends?" Cynthia asked again as if the previous conversation hadn't happened.

Evan glances at SQUIP-Connor, doing his best to ignore Zoe's hard expression, before giving small nod.

"So what did you do together?"

"I don't get why we never knew about this friendship." Larry Murphy finally spoke, if anything making the tension worse. "Connor knows we would've liked that he had a friend."

"And I never saw you with Connor at school." Zoe adds, Evan didn't have to look at her to know she was staring at him hard.

"Well, uh, Connor was really self-conscious of our relationship, he didn't want to be seen with me, which is why he- uh- he nudged me in the hall." He could hear Jared's voice in his mind 'don't make shit up'. But Jared had never said what to do when you couldn't just agree.

"Because you a nerd?" Zoe deadpans, earning another protest from her mother.

"I was going to say loser, but uh…"

"So then if Connor didn't talk to you at school, how did you guys communicate?" she persists.

"Emails."

"Emails!" Evan exclaims a little too loudly, immediately repeating the answer he was given without thinking.

"Emails?" He had to agree with Zoe about how stupid it sounded.

"Yes…" Evan looks over her shoulder towards the image of her brother but is provided no further help. "Yes… Connor had a secret email that we… emailed on." He withers for sounding like Jared bullshitting his English papers.

"I told you he knew you read his emails Larry!" Evan's caught off guard by Cynthia's sudden outburst.

"I was trying to make sure he wasn't involved in illegal activity." Larry answers unapologetically.

"So you emailed?" Zoe says disbelievingly. "What else? Because this sounds like really weird pen pal buddies."

Evan takes the excuse of her talking to look back at SQUIP-Connor, who points to the bowl of apples sitting uselessly in the middle of the table. "He… took me to the apples… place…" On second thought, this was worse than any bullshitting Jared had ever done.

"The apples place?" Zoe repeats.

"You're hopeless," the AI moans.

"Y-yes he did," Evan decided the only thing left he could do was double down on what he'd already said.

"Oh he must mean the orchard!" Cynthia comes to his rescue. "Zoe do you remember going to the orchard when you were younger?"

"The orchard? I mean- yes! The orchard is… what… I… meant…" Jared seemed to be two-for-zero tonight.

"Why would Connor take you there?" Zoe cut through his bullshit.

"Wasn't that place closed down years ago?" Larry asked, obliviously.

"You like trees."

"I like trees!" Evan yet again repeats blindly what the supercomputer told him. Everyone turns to him and SQUIP-Connor face palms. "I mean um-"

"You worked as a park ranger this summer."

"I worked as a park ranger this summer."

"And Connor knew about it."

"And Connor knew about it."

"So he took you." Evan opens his mouth to continue parroting when he realizes what he's about to say.


Yup! This is going to be a two parter! I was looking at what I had written and it was way too long and I just split it in half and it fit!

Man, For Forever is going to sound really weird being transformed into dialogue. I always think it's done clunky and awkward (yes even in the novel) and my attempt is no exception.