"And are you absolutely sure that my daughter was involved?" Principal Delmas questioned one of his most trusted faculty members.
"Of course she was, Jean-Pierre! Who else could it have been?" Rachel Keningston responded.
The administration building was mercifully empty. Aelita Stones sat in the room next to the principal's office while secretary Nicole Weber typed away endlessly. Aelita had calmed down since the earlier incident, but still just wanted to run away. She attempted to listen in on the conversation in the other room.
"I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it." Mr. Delmas tried to diffuse her frustration. "Kids her age play pranks on each other all the time."
"Prank?" Rachel was taken aback. "Jean-Pierre, Aelita thought she was bleeding to death for Pete's sake! And your daughter was the ringleader!"
"But doesn't it seem unusual to you that a girl of Anabelle's age wouldn't know about... you know?" Mr. Delmas wondered.
"Aelita." Rachel corrected. "But it isn't too surprising. I mean, have you seen who she has to live with? It's no wonder she doesn't have a clue. Look, the point is that your daughter was among those responsible for what happened. You can't keep excusing Elizabeth's actions forever."
Mr. Delmas sighed and wiped off his forehead with a handkerchief. He knew she was right, but he wasn't ready to come to grips with that. He pressed a button on his desk and talked into the microphone. "Miss Weber, can you please send in Annie Straughn?"
"Aelita Stones." Rachel stated.
The wooden door on the right side opened, and Aelita was gripping her belongings close to her body. Her eyes darted between the principal and her teacher.
"Aelita, I am so sorry about earlier." Ms. Keningston extended her hand to comfort the girl. "I didn't know what was going on and I definitely should have handled the situation better."
This only made Aelita flinch away from her teacher. Ms. Keningston lowered her arm as she got back into her seat. Aelita sat beside her, bag slung across her shoulder and head looking down at her feet.
Mr. Delmas cleared his throat. "After talking things out a bit, we figured it'd be best to... let you take the rest of the day off. To take care of yourself."
"And Aelita?" Ms. Keningston looked at her. Aelita slowly turned her head. "You're free from gym class all next week. Just take study hall in the library, okay?"
Aelita nodded. Her eyes felt compelled to gaze toward Delmas' computer screen. She noticed that the screen flickered slightly. Aelita tried not to think too much of it.
"I'll have Miss Weber give you a slip, Ayla."
"It's Aelita..." She corrected him quietly, gripping the sides of her chair.
Miss Weber walked in and placed a yellow note on the desk. Aelita gently pressed her fingertips against the edges of the paper.
"Do you want me to call you a cab, Amanda?" Mr. Delmas asked.
"I'm sure she can walk." Rachel reassured.
Aelita asked herself why her name was so hard to pronounce for him. Either he was doing it out of malice or he was just not that bright. Aelita once again looked at the computer screeen. The flickering was more persistent this time, and now there was an error window.
"We are all very sorry about what happened, Arlena."
"IT'S AELITA!" She shouted as she sprung up from her seat. At that very same moment, the light-bulb on Delmas' desk blew out and his computer suddenly turned off. As the two faculty members tried to rationalize what was going on, Aelita excused herself from the room. She didn't even bother to take the slip that was given to her.
The cool air of the upcoming seasonal change brushed against Aelita's cheeks. Only a few students were roaming the open campus when Aelita started walking home, two of whom being Yumi and Hiroki Ishiyama. Yumi And Aelita weren't really friends, but knew enough about each other to make their own assessments. Aelita passed the two when she exited through the main gate.
The second Hiroki saw her, a mischievous smile her on his face.
"Creepy 'Lita! Creepy 'Lita!" The boy called out to her.
"Hiroki, stop it!" Yumi reprimanded him. Aelita's flight response turned to annoyance. A stoplight was swinging just above them.
Hiroki decided ded to take things up a notch. He ran up closer to the pinkette and followed closely behind. Yumi demanded that he stop, but he wouldn't listen. When he thought for sure she was off her guard, Hiroki ran up to her and yelled in her face.
"Creepy 'Lita! Creepy 'Lita!"
Aelita glared at him. The stoplight broke off from his hinges and fell right in between the two of them. Hiroki backed away immediately while Aelita stayed where she was. Hiroki fell to the ground when he tripped. All Aelita was thinking was 'Stop talking you stupid brat'.
Yumi ran ran over to her little brother to see if he was okay. When Aelita realized what just happened, she knew that something wasn't right. She looked up at the pole and back down to the smashed lightstop that was still spilling out electricity. The two girls shared eye contact, and just before the older girl could kitter a single word, Aelita started running for home. Yumi continued to observe her, realizing that there is more to this girl than just a few rumors.
The Hermitage was empty in both senses of the word. There was hardly any decoration to be seen from the outside save for the colorful garden, and the inside wasn't much different. Waldo was never the type for self expression, and he made sure his daughter knew that. If it wasn't educational or related to technology in some way, it wasn't allowed to be plastered on the walls in Aelita's room. The only thing in the way of decoration was a poster of Nikola Tesla above her desk.
Aelita had hidden a stash of magazines and CDs in a box in her closet. They were mostly fashion and pop culture reads, but she also occasionally dabbled in comics. She had recently started collecting them after being singled out by Sissi a few weeks before for not knowing who a certain famous actress was. Aelita took one out at random along with a Subdigitals record. In case her father were to come in, she could pretend that she was studying.
When her father or her classmates weren't around, that's when she felt the most free. She wasn't judged or ridiculed, she was just in her own little world. Normally, she would pretend she was one of the popular kids, but she couldn't take her mind off the smaller details of the day.
First, there were the lights in the locker room. Then, the lightbulb and computer in Mr. Delmas' office. Now, more recently, the stoplight above the sidewalk. Aelita felt a pattern was in place here, but what that was had yet to be discovered. Was she the one doing all of this?
"Aelita!" Waldo's voice rang from downstairs. The door almost slammed behind him.
Aelita had almost completely changed when he got home. She quickly threw on a cream sweater to go along with her dark skirt. Aelita hid her belongings once more and prepared herself to face her father. She quickly brushed her hair and walked out of her room.
"Coming, Daddy!" Aelita announced. She walked down the stairs and looked for him. She was finally able to find him sitting in the kitchen. "Did you need me for something?"
"I heard you ran into a little incident at school today." Waldo stated coldly before taking a sip of coffee.
Aelita nodded as she slowly entered.
"You're a woman now." Waldo said ominously.
"Daddy, why didn't you tell me?" Aelita sat down across from him at the table. "The other girls laughed and threw things at me! Why didn't you tell me this would happen?"
"A virus." She heard him whisper.
"No, Daddy, it's not a virus!" Aelita grew more desperate for answers. "It's something that every woman goes through! Why didn't you say anything to me, Daddy?!."
"The program isn't ready yet; YOU are not ready yet." Waldo continued to deflect her questioning. "Now this is just going to throw a wrench in the whole thing."
"Daddy, stop it! Not everything has to be about machines a-and algorithms! Sometimes life is just organic!" Aelita exclaimed. She tried her hardest to get through to him, but so far nothing was working.
Waldo finally looked at her after staring off into space. The silence between them had become so deafening, Aelita could hear her own thoughts again. He got up from his chair and looked down at his daughter.
"Go inside the supercomputer."
Aelita's eyes widened. The mere mention of that contraption was enough to send a shiver down her spine. She shook her head in fear. "No..."
"Aelita, you will do as I say this instant!" Waldo walked closer to her.
"No!" Aelita shook her head faster. Waldo grabbed her wrists and began to drag her down across the hall and down into the basement. Aelita thrashed and turned in every which way, but her father was much stronger than her. "NO! NO! Daddy, let me go!"
Waldo wasn't listening. He had completely shut out her screams as he brought her closer to his secret room. He forced Aelita down the stairs as her ankles hit the cement. Tears began to roll down her face as she continued to protest. Aelita wasn't letting up, but Waldo didn't care. He just kept on mumbling nonsense to himself.
"Now if we can just make sure XANA is still working..."
"Daddy, no!" Aelita's hands began to bruise.
There was only a single scanner and a computer with three monitors. The walls and floor were littered with wires of all different shapes and sizes. As she was forced closer to the scanner, her screams only grew louder.
"You suck, Dad!"
Waldo breathed in sharply. He threw his daughter into the scanner without a care. The doors outside immediately shut. Waldo had installed a system where the scanners had to be open or shut using the supercomputer. Aelita beat her hands and kicked the inner walls of the tube.
"Now we can see what the real problem is." Waldo cracked his knuckles and typed furiously. Aelita's screaming ceased when she was finally virtualized.