It was dark and quiet when it first happened, and not wanting to deal with it, she ignored it. But then it happened again and then again, and each time it grew harder to ignore. XJ9 squirmed a little and tried to shake the touch off. The warm touch on her arm came back, and she could hear a voice far away. A very familiar voice that belonged to a certain lady. Now, any other time she would have liked the warmness or the voice, but it was distributing her piece. The voice grew closer and little louder along with touch becoming more noticeable and her dark world started to fade away.

"XJ9, XJ9. Come on, you've got to get up now."

She huffed squirmed away from again, trying to go back to the peaceful sleep.

"XJ9."

Sadly, though, she couldn't. She opened her eyes and immediately felt tears prick at the edges of her eyes from her sleepy vision. Through her blurred vision, she could tell she was on her bed, and with that in mind, she grabbed the edge of her blanket and pulled it over her head. She buried her face into the cloth and grumbled. Why was she awake? Why couldn't her mom just let her keep sleeping?

She could feel the blanket moving and a hand on her back. She could hear little clicks and feel where her changer plugged into on her back being removed. She then felt the cover being pulled off of her, causing her to let out a groan as the light from the window fell perfectly down on her face and into her eyes. Not liking that one bit, she turned back to the other side and was met with her mom sitting there. Suddenly, everything came flooding back, the ripped book page, the missed test, and her little meltdown. A new feel settled in her gut, it was bulky and uncomfortable, and occurring to her mind known as 'shame.' She added it to her dislikes list.

"XJ9."

Her mom's voice forced her to look up from the woman's coat and to her eyes. She couldn't tell what much from looking at them but could feel the sense of shame grow heavier in her gut.

"XJ9, are you ready to take your test now?"

She had to keep herself from looking away and squirming at her mom's voice. The lady wasn't mad at her clearly, but her voice had a layer of something onto it that made her feel a bit worse about everything.

"XJ9, answer me."

That layer of something was irritation if she had to guess, and not wanting to make it worse, she simply nodded yes to her mom. The woman slid off her bed and began to arrange the cards she had brought in with her. XJ9 watched her and slowly sat up completely. She couldn't believe herself. She had upset her mom. She hadn't meant too; really, she was just...stressed she supposed. It wasn't like she had meant to rip the page or-the page! She peaked over the side of the bed to see the book wasn't where she had dropped it earlier.

She scanned all over the floor near her bed but saw no sign of it. Looking up from the ground and staring at her hand, the one who had ripped it, she noticed her little table beside her bed. Laying on it, beside the lamp and part of her charger, was the book. She reached out to grab it but stopped midway. What if she ripped a page again, or worse, what if she ripped the whole book in half? She quickly pulled her hand back and held it close.

"XJ9, are you ready?"

She jumped a little at the woman's sudden words and quickly looked at her. Her mom looked back at her tiredly, and out a small sigh.

"Were you paying attention?"

She froze at the question. She could nod yes, and perhaps that would make her mom feel better, but honestly, she hadn't been listening. She was sure that failing a test would upset the woman more, especially if she actually knew what to do and just messed it up from not listening. Confused and concerned, without even realizing it, she shook her head all-around in a strange nod and shake motion. The woman raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yes, or no XJ9?"

The shame in her gut seemed to twist as she nervously shook her head no.

"Verywell, but I won't repeat this. I'm going to show you a card with an item or person on it. It'll be your job to locate the item or person on this picture as fast you can understand?"

She nodded her head, yes, and the test started. The picture was of some busy street somewhere in the world and had what seemed to be hundreds of people on it. It took her second and to find the man on the first card presented to her, but she still found him. These repeated for a bit, each time there was a new person to find or an item like a particular car or umbrella in the crowd, and each time she located them quickly. Nothing seemed to be able to hide from her scanners, and the shame in her gut began to be replaced by pride in her little accomplishments. When the test was over, she felt happy with how she did, and a smile had spread over her face. She looked up the picture to find the same prideful look reflected at her from her mom's face.

"Very well done, XJ9. I'm quite impressed."

A light blush covered her face as she sheepishly smiled at the praise and head pat that came with it.

"That's it for today. Wait here, and I'll go get your treat."

Wakeman set her clipboard and cards down on the little table and walked out of the room. XJ9 watched her go, smiling happily at her before her eyes drifted over to the table and the book on it. Her happiness instantly vanished, and a frown took the place of her smile. She slowly reached over and carefully lifted the book up to not hurt it anymore. She was just as delicate with the pages, even more so, as she carefully flipped through all of the letters.

As she grew closer to the letter M's page, her anxiousness grew as well. She paused on the letter L for a moment before turning the page. She could stare at the next page as her mom came walking back in with her treat. Wakeman came up to the bed and held the bottle out to her while saying,

"Here you are."

She didn't reach out to take it. All could do was stare at the book in her hands. She could feel her mom's eyes on her, and soon enough, the mattress sifted as the woman sat beside her.

"What's the matter?"

The woman peeked over her arm to look at the book.

"I know it's not perfect, but I did the best I could."

XJ9 didn't look up from it, she ran her hand gently down the page and where it had been taped back into place. There were a few crinkles on the page from where before she had bent it up, and the taped section gave it a shiny look depending on how you looked at it, but that wasn't important. What was important was the picture. The kid and their mom were back together, hugging. She slowly looked up from her book and at her mom with a small smile.

"Is it alright?"

She slowly nodded her head yes.

"That's...good to hear. Have you been practicing?"

To that, she nodded her head again.

"Wonderful! Can you say anything yet?"

A little frown covered her features as she shook her head no.

"Well, that's alright. You're a new technology, after all, there's bound to be some challenges to face, but I'm sure you'll get it soon. Is there anything you've been trying to say specifically?"

She watched the woman for a second before showing her the letter M's page and looking back up at her. She pointed at her.

"Me? Are you trying to say 'person' or my name?"

She shook her head no and pointed at her again before pointing down at the three-letter word in her book. It was quiet and tense then, and for a second, she feared that she had made a big mistake. However, immediately she didn't regret it as she suddenly got the hug she wanted after all.

Author's Note- Thanks for reading everyone! I'll see you all next Sunday! Please leave a review and tell me what you think, they really help.