THE PROM
Author: Nyrki
Chapter 2: The Dress
Many thanks to my reviewers The1Russter, TCandBTVSluver, lovesummertime, olischulu, XxDeathStarxX, Velhu, meanoldmoe, PSG1JOHN, Lsquare, CloudyShadows and Pjazz. You guys rock.
Recap: Some weeks later after the events of "What We Beheld" (season 1, episode 9), Cameron remembers that she promised Morris to go to the prom with him. She tries to elude, but John explains to her why she has to keep her promise, which leads her to a new type of challenge for which she found she needed extensive external help.
Thursday morning
When Cameron returned from her nightly patrol at 4:30 am sharp, she headed towards the window in the living room like she always did, standing there motionless, her eyes constantly scanning the outside for threats until the family wakes up. Only then could she leave her guard duty to prepare John's breakfast.
5:42 am. She heard some noise coming from upstairs. She immediately switched into combat mode and drew her gun, as it was an unusual early time for any member of the Connor family to wake up. She tilted her head and looked towards the stairs. However, according to the footsteps, she could rapidly ascertain that it was Sarah. She reverted to normal mode and put her gun away. As a confirmation, Sarah soon went down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen like she was in auto-pilot. Cameron was glad that, unlike the day before, she was alone for what she had to ask her. That is good.
She slowly stepped into the kitchen moments later, taking care to make sufficient noise not to startle Sarah and greeted her with an overplayed joyful "Good morning Sarah" and a slightly forced smile, all in the crafty goal to set the mother of the future savior of mankind in the best dispositions as possible for the major topic she had to discuss with her. It was a fruitless effort, nonetheless.
"Hmpf, G'morning," Sarah grunted in a hoarse voice, eyes barely open, as she remained focused on her hot cup of coffee.
Cameron immediately understood why she failed her little mission. Sarah hadn't drunk her coffee yet and it was known she was in a foul disposition until she did. That is not good.
Cameron always wondered about this very human characteristic. People needed time to be completely operational after wake up. Maybe it is a biological way of rebooting and performing system scans, she thought.
So she just declared, "The perimeter is 100% clear," and then simply undertook to prepare John's breakfast, unusually dragging on, taking much more time to do things than she normally did. But Sarah didn't notice. She was sipping her coffee and slowly waking up as her cup emptied.
Cameron was patiently waiting until Sarah spoke first.
Just when Sarah looked up Cameron, their discussion of the day before immediately popped in her mind. She could still not believe that the cyborg was about to go to the prom. The machine may know what a prom consists of, but it surely can't grab the reason and social relations at play, she reassured herself. Yet, the fact that Cameron apparently wishes to go still bugged her. She grew curious about what Cameron knew.
"So about that prom, will you go?" she finally asked.
"Yes, I will," Cameron swiftly replied, satisfied that Sarah introduced the topic she wanted.
"Do you know what it is?"
Cameron recited what she'd gathered on the subject. "In the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal black tie dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of junior or senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students."
Sarah sighed. The cyborg's answer didn't disappoint her. In fact, she expected it. Obviously, she would have to give Cameron a bit more of background, anxious that the event turned out to blow their cover or worse, reveal Cameron's true nature. John once told her that Cameron's CPU had extended capabilities to learn. If it was true, Cameron must be able to understand, so she decided to give it a try.
"I didn't ask you to recite the dictionary, tin-miss," she snapped. "I mean, do you really know what it is? Why it takes place? What people do? What it means for them?" Sarah asked, looking Cameron right in the eyes.
"I think I do," Cameron replied. With her now better understanding of humans, she'd pushed her researches deeper than mere facts. "This is an elaborate event that students attend during their junior year of high school. They have the opportunity to enjoy themselves in a way that they aren't normally able to. It is a tradition to come with their dates. It can end up being a night that they remember all of their lives, and to get ready for it, there is a lot of preparation and excitement," she offered.
Sarah gasped. If Cameron did mean what she'd just said, then she'd understood more about it than she thought. She pushed the subject farther.
"What about the preparation and… excitement?" she asked, curiosity now getting the better of her.
"First task, find a date. This task is now completed. Morris asked me and I accepted."
Sarah realized that in initial utter shock at the news, she forgot to ask her why the day before.
"How come?"
"Actually, John advised me to accept and I complied." Cameron felt she didn't need to give further context.
"So it's all his fault? You couldn't think for yourself?" Sarah was beginning to understand that the terminator had been unintentionally dragged into this story, something that was quite usual, and therefore reassuring.
"Certainly not. I take full responsibility for my decisions," Cameron offered, in a constant worry to cover John.
Sarah thought that taking responsibility was something a terminator, teenager or not, could do without fear, remorse, anxiety or any other negative feelings of that sort. Lucky them. It was also true for positive ones, which was, in a way, sadder.
"Okay," she merely responded, not wanting to elaborate. "What's next?"
"Second task, get appropriate attire. Girls wear specific attire for this event." Following her usual cyborg ways, Cameron went straight to the point. "Sarah, I need to find a prom dress. Would you assist me in finding one, please?" she asked with softly pleading eyes in which Sarah could fathom no falseness or deception.
Sarah was never prepared for such a request from Cameron. She was surely ready to assist her in choosing a gun, although probably unnecessary, but what about a prom dress? She couldn't believe she ended up in such a situation. It was a brand new type of interaction she had with the machine. They never had such a discussion before. Sarah was shocked and it took her a short moment to answer.
"Well, hum, er, I've not been to a prom for some time, but it shouldn't be too difficult to choose a dress. It should be classic, that is to say nice, elegant, show off a bit of your… curves but without being too revealing."
"But I thought a dress was designed to be seductive. This is an efficient way to retrieve information from human males," Cameron stated. SkyNet had never failed to exploit the humans' weak points and this one was one of the weakest that went back to the dawn of time.
Sarah snapped her fingers in front of Cameron's face who looked back with a quizzically expression. "Hey, hey, leave strategy away for now! You're going to a party, not a mission. It's not about deception, it's for real," she said, trying to make Cameron think differently. "Your appearance shall be a delicate balance between being a conspicuous attractive woman and a whore. The difference between the two may be very tenuous, so be careful," Sarah explained. "You wouldn't want a herd of young men to rush towards you as soon as you enter the ballroom, would you?" she added and immediately knew it was useless. She'd just got caught again seeing the teenage girl and not the cyborg.
"That is very unlikely," Cameron said, puzzled. Her database didn't record this as an usual human behavioral pattern. "Besides, I'm prepared to face any massive frontal attack." she added, lifting up her chin in total self confidence.
Yeah, I can imagine that too well. "That was an image, my dear. Just make a good impression with your appearance, before doing the same thing with your behavior," she advised her, knowing well the latter would be harder, hence the reason why she was sending John too.
Cameron remained silent at Sarah's last statement, she was intently processing it. Her tactical systems were intently involved. This is strange, she thought, this is almost harder to prepare than my previous missions. It was yet another example that was making her understand that being human was far beyond than just mimicking it.
After a short moment of silence, Sarah informed her. "I think there's a shop at the mall where you could find one."
"Would you mind accompanying and assisting me for a tryout session? Maybe we can go this afternoon… please" Cameron asked with the same pleading eyes.
Sarah cringed. She was afraid. The hardened soldier was afraid. Not afraid of assisting in choosing a prom dress, but doing it for a terminator. It looked such out of place. However, deep down, she was also afraid that certain long and deep buried feelings could resurface. She had always wanted to give birth and raise a daughter, a sister to John. And Cameron, though cyborg she was, was presently looking so close to… She shook her head and dismissed the evil thought even before it took form. I can't do that, she thought.
No, she finally decided. She wouldn't retreat. That was only a dress tryout, after all. She'd blown up Cyberdyne, so she could face this new challenge.
"Hum, yeah, if you want. We'll go there on Saturday. You still have to go to school today," she said with a look that was trying to be reassuring and confident. She realized that her sentence sounded more like one of a concerned mother than an instruction to the cyborg.
"Thank you Sarah," Cameron said with a wider smile than she was accustomed to give her in sign of gratitude.
"You're welcome" Sarah replied in a low tone, looking down at her now empty cup. Jesus, I can't believe I'm going out to a prom dress tryout for a terminator, she thought. Do I have to return to Pescadero? But maybe it wasn't what bothered her most.
"This was a prerequisite to third task, preparation. Now I can make an appointment with the hair-dresser," Cameron said, satisfied that the second task was on its way to completion and that there was no more apparent snag to the global completion of the new 'mission'.
Sarah chuckled. "You should have done that earlier. I hope he or she won't be overbooked. What do you think the other girls will do?"
"Oh!" Cameron went straight to the kitchen phone and started to dial.
Internal phone directory. How practical, Sarah briefly though to herself.
"Cameron?"
"Yes?"
Sarah taped her bare left wrist with her right forefinger, to Cameron's confusion. "I think they're closed for now, don't you think so?"
'…but leave a message with your name and phone number. We will call you back as soon as we can…' could be heard from the set.
"Oh! I'll call them right at opening then," Cameron declared, unabashed as she hung the phone up.
"Maybe a few minutes after," Sarah said with a slight grin which didn't fade away when she added, "You should have anticipated that move, dear. I'm surprised that a supposedly advanced AI like yours didn't think about that," she teased Cameron.
But Cameron didn't get it and looked with confusion at a still grinning Sarah. She pondered Sarah's disturbing remark and questioned her tactical abilities without indulgence, like only a cyborg could. She remained quiet for a moment, knowing she wouldn't get further explanation from Sarah who was helping herself a new cup of coffee, but not knowing what to say either. She made a mental note to think about it later and eventually turned and resumed preparing John's breakfast.
"Hey Cameron!" Sarah called.
"Yes, Sarah?"
"Why would you want to go to that prom anyway?"
"I promised Morris. Keeping one's word is important," Cameron said pointedly, now feeling proud to put in practice what she'd learned. She also noticed that Sarah called her 'tin-miss' only once at the beginning of their conversation and not afterwards, for what she felt a pleasant impression. She left Sarah with her mouth gaping open.
Thursday afternoon
John's last class of the day had finished just some minutes ago. He was sitting outside on a public bench, taking the time to think about various things before Cameron would join him, normally half an hour later.
He was in a rather sullen mood, not only because most of the day had been boring, but mainly because he had just got turned down. At the end of the lesson and just before she left, he had ventured asking Becky Taylor, his schoolmate for chemistry lessons, to the prom. That was a gross mistake of judgment, he easily admitted. She was too sophisticated and shallow for John's taste, so buried in her own useless certitudes. But she was the only girl he knew a bit in the class.
Aloof Becky had listened to him making his request, he'd sensed she knew right from the start what he was up to and made absolutely no effort to ease or help him. Just after he had finished making his request, his face almost as red as his tee shirt, she'd said in loud voice so that everybody in the classroom could hear.
"You want to go to the prom with me?" she scoffed at him, a look of utter disgust on her face, as she emphasized on the last word. Then came the ruthless explanation.
"I don't want to be chased the whole night by that weirdo sister of yours. Besides, Steven Richards already asked me and I accepted," she declared proudly and loudly, more to the attention of the other remaining students who were pretending not to listen than to John.
Steven Richards, the quarterback of the football team. What a conventional story, John thought to himself. He shook his head and chuckled at his own boldness. But that was not what bothered him most with Becky's statement now. He wanted to know what she meant about Cameron.
"Why would you say that about my sister?" he asked with a bit of anger in his voice. He was upset. He tried to pretend that was for their cover's sake, but deep down, he knew the truth was somewhere else.
"Hmpf, that's easy! Whenever we're talking about you and your rude manners, she always gets upset, keeps saying things like you're the smartest guy ever, destined for such great things and that she would be lost without you. Don't tell me it's not weird. This girl is either brain damaged or under your spell. She never realized we drive her crazy all the time. She even once broke the sink in the girls' bathroom with her bare hands. Her hand was bleeding, but she never cared. Instead, she kept looking at us like she wanted to kill us all. That freaked us out," she spat in almost a single breath.
She turned suddenly and left the classroom without a word. There were still many people in the room but it was so quiet a fly wouldn't have traveled across unnoticed.
John wasn't angry at her however, he ended up pitying her. Judgment day would occur in only two years time and he wondered how she would cope with that, assuming she would survive the fateful day.
What Becky had said about his 'sister' hit him. Cameron had never told him about this. She kept saying that her time in school without him was quiet and that she was constantly observing human behavior and learning. Cameron was surprising him more and more, with her demeanor which was sometimes completely different from her cyborg nature. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't notice the figure approaching him.
"You look so serious. What's going on in that brain of yours?" he heard, snapping him back to reality. He looked up to see Riley.
"Hi John," she continued with a big grin on her face.
"Hi Riley," he replied, returning her only a half-smile.
"Can I sit with you for a second, handsome?" the smile turning more seductive.
"Sure," John replied nonchalantly.
She quickly sat beside him, a bit closer than what John was comfortable with. She wanted him to speak first, but after noticing his sullen mood she broke the silence.
"What's wrong? It looks like you're not happy."
John did not see any reason to hide the reason of his mood. "Just got turned down after asking Becky Taylor for the prom," he said ruefully.
"You… what?" she could barely say before bursting into laugh.
This annoyed John at first to be laughed at like this, but as he realized the funny part of the situation, he shook his head and eventually joined her laugh.
"That was… really funny. I've had a good time imagining you asking a girl to the prom. Why would you want to go to the prom, anyway? You told me you barely know anyone around here? So what's the point?" she asked with curiosity. There's something wrong, she thought. There is no reason he should go there.
"My sister Cameron will go and Mom asked me…"
"What?" she said again, ever so too bluntly but to her credit, it totally caught her by surprise. Being told that the soulless, most deadly machine ever could go to the prom without being prepared could be very disturbing. She looked over at John, shock was written on her face. She realized it and forced herself to relent. "Hum, I mean… I thought, you told me earlier this kind of stuff's not exactly your sister's cup of tea, is it?"
Riley's reaction surprised John and made him suspicious. He wasn't going to ask her about it, though, that would probably make her suspicious. So he just said.
"Yeah, you're right, but she's got asked for and accepted, I think in order to appear less of a freak and maybe fit in better," he lied. "She seems to be more open than me…" he frowned, and then added "She is better with people lately." He chuckled at this last statement. "She made it a point of honor to keep her promise. She's got principles," he concluded with some sense of irony.
"So you're going too? Will you keep an eye on her?" she asked, grinning and trying to distract him from the slight mistake she'd previously made. John may not be General Connor yet, the man to whom anything escapes, but he already was showing much insight.
"God, no!" John said, after he stopped guffawing.
"Okay. She's going out on her own and you're looking for a date too?" Riley had understood right from the beginning she could take deep advantage of the situation. Before he could say anything about herself, she added, "John, look. Your search has ended, I'll go with you. If you want me, I can be your date for the prom. Check that your sister is all right and then we could spend a little more time to get to know each other. I want to get to know you better." She proposed, with an expression on her face that literally says I can get you out of that mess, just grab the opportunity.
John, who already wanted to spend time with her but didn't dare ask because he knew her only for a few days, finally accepted. She's really friendly. She wants to date me after only a couple of days. Well, I should go for it.
"Yeah, why not? You're saving me. But isn't it a bit too soon for us to get serious?"
"What do you think John? You know, I like you very much. You do want to see me more, don't you?" she said flirtatiously.
"You've made your point. All right then. We'll go together," John finally decided.
Riley smiled broadly. "Thank you John. It'll be fun, I promise. Oh, I have to go now, See ya later". She gave him a quick peck on his cheek and she was gone before he could add anything, leaving him sitting on the bench with a stunned look on his face.
Riley was on her way back home. She was inwardly very pleased with herself, she had arrived at the perfect time. No biggie. This mission is going to be a piece of cake. She took her cell and called Jesse.
"Yeah?"
"Hi Jesse, I've got a date with John to go to the Prom in two weeks. I'm making progress with John, but Cameron will be there too," she said with much pride in her voice.
"It will be there too? How can that be possible?" Jesse sounded a little pissed off.
"John won't say, but I don't care. All that counts is that it'll see I'm with John."
"That's good work, love. Just make sure he doesn't change his mind," Jesse said in a concern to secure a mission that was promising to be a quick and big success.
"Don't worry," Riley replied with confidence.
"See ya later."
"See ya."
Unbeknownst to the couple, a figure in the shadows missed but little of what was exchanged between the two. The English class ended sooner today and Cameron was on her way to meet John so they can drive back home together. When she saw him with Riley, she first had a very unpleasant feeling at seeing them talking and laughing together, a feeling she couldn't quite put a name to.
She stopped, hid behind a tree and decided to observe. Thanks to her advanced audio sensors, she heard everything that was said from the moment she saw Riley sit too close to John, up until Riley got up to leave and kiss John on the cheek.
She found herself needing to take a moment before rejoining John. She walked towards him. He looked up and noticed her right away. He spoke up, as soon as she was just a few feet away.
"How was your day, Cam?"
She purposely strode past him, not even bothering to slow down and acknowledge he was even there. Her face was devoid of any expression. "Let's go. Your mother is not going to be happy if we're late."
John quickly gathered his bag and they headed towards the parking lot. He was confused over Cameron seemingly giving him the cold shoulder. What's eating her? He thought to himself as he struggled to catch up.
Saturday afternoon
After arriving at the mall, in the car, it was decided that the small group would split up. John went to a computer store while Sarah and Cameron went into the clothes store. Both teams were searching proper equipment for an important mission.
As soon as they entered the shop, the woman and the cyborg were accosted by a sales clerk. "Good afternoon, ladies. May I be of some help?" the man asked with a large but false smile.
"No." Cameron stated flatly, all the needed resources to complete the task already being present.
Sarah rolled her eyes. She tried to appear as cheerful as possible when she talked to the man. "Well, hum, my… daughter is looking for a prom dress."
"Ah, very good. I was precisely thinking you have a family resemblance," the man flattered the pair. "This way ladies, please." The man gestured for Sarah and Cameron to proceed deeper in the store up to a spot with racks full of dresses.
"Thank you. I think we can handle it from here. If we need assistance we'll call you," she dismissed the man with a wave. Fully knowing how weird the session with Cameron could turn, she preferred that they were alone.
"Sure," the man said and he unceremoniously left in a huff.
"I didn't imagine there were so many dresses," Cameron marveled. "It'll take us more time than I expected, maybe several days, even if we put aside those which would not fit my size," she said with a very serious tone and motioned towards the closest dress to her to take it.
"Cameron, you're not going to try them all. We're going to pick some of them which I, um, you like. You will try only these and we'll eventually buy the best one," Sarah explained. She sensed that she would lose an immense amount of time providing Cameron with various explanations concerning clothing. She doubted the machine would grab even a tenth of them, but eventually allowed herself to give it a try, her afternoon being devoted to that task.
Cameron tilted her head. "That I… like?" she asked, confused.
"Yeah, what do you prefer in terms of shape, cut or color? Here, color! What color do you prefer?"
"I have no outfit color preferences beside those which could favor my mission," Cameron stated matter-of-factly, but maybe too rapidly.
The very observant Sarah challenged the cyborg. "You sure? Think… or browse that database of yours, whatever."
Cameron frowned in further confusion. For her, having color preferences was as incongruous as the idea of failing her missions. However, she effectively scanned her database for her clothing choices for the past few weeks, putting aside mission-driven ones. She first discovered she'd worn her purple leather jacket far more than statistical laws could tell. She also noticed that in a similar situation, she'd chosen a black dress when visiting Dakara.
"I think I like purple… and black too," Cameron concluded with a slight look of realization on her face.
"Fine, but these are risky color choices. I would rather advice you to pick up a white dress instead, which would be more suitable in the present circumstances." Sarah had always found that these white classic dresses were prettier than any other.
"Suitable? Why wouldn't a black dress be suitable too?" Cameron asked, puzzled by Sarah's apparent contradiction between her advice and the fact she made her reveal her favorite color.
"Well yeah, it would anyway, but I think white would look nicer on you, it would fit your light complexion better," Sarah lied, adjusting her position, in a concern to inflect the machine's choice. She knew this was her own taste and she knew she would have a hard time in a battle of taste against the never-tiring cyborg and its logic.
"Now, what size are you?" Sarah pursued, thinking that the 'color' topic was now over.
"Size two," Cameron specified.
Sarah sighed. She cursed SkyNet for giving the cyborg the perfect age and measurements. If Cameron had been human, she would be exactly like the daughter she would have liked to have. When Cameron behaved like that, it always brought back this thought in Sarah's mind and it was difficult for her to fight it.
"Okay, now go ahead and pick one that corresponds to your preferences."
Cameron nodded and proceeded to complete the task assigned by Sarah. She didn't go to the racks to pick one now and then, look, think, dismiss and try again. She just looked at the racks, motionless, only her eyes were moving very fast. Her tactical systems were running full speed, scanning all the present dresses one by one, applying the search criteria provided by Cameron. However, not in a habit of selecting prom dresses, they added further criteria on their own, such as possibility of gun concealment, ease of movement and so on, without asking Cameron's AI for validation. A short list of matches was finally displayed on her HUD.
Instead of logically selecting the first match of the list, she applied Sarah's advice to select one she likes. She found a dress that was the ultimate match. Only twelve point seven seconds after Sarah's prompt, she pointed out the winning dress. "This one."
Sarah sighed again. She was almost sure Cameron wouldn't listen to her advices. The dress was black and looked rather short. Teenagers. They only do as they please! Wait, no. Not teenager, cyborg, Sarah gritted her teeth and forced herself to remember the sheer fact. But this damn session was now looking more and more like one with a normal stubborn teenage girl than with an advanced cybernetic machine from the future. She was upset, of course, but found she really wasn't upset that much. This slip-up allowed her to experience a little moment of every day life normalcy, which turned out to be very scarce in the past twenty years. With that thought occupying her mind, she didn't pay much more attention to the dress Cameron was holding.
"Okay, now try this on," she prompted her 'daughter'.
Cameron carefully put the dress down and started to unbutton her shirt.
Sarah's eye widened. "Hey, what are you doing?" She grabbed Cameron's arm to stop her.
Cameron stared at her with a questioning look. "I need to remove my current clothes in order to try this dress out," she stated flatly.
"Not in the middle of the shop so everyone can see. You've got changing rooms, just behind you." Sarah pointed out the place.
"Oh. Thank you for explaining." Unabashed, she gently took the dress back and headed towards the changing room.
Sarah sat and put her face in her hands, elbows lying on her knees. She knew it would be bad, but not that bad. She tried to calm down. However, the final blow was yet to be given. Just a few minutes later, Cameron got out.
Sarah's jaw fell to the ground. Cameron was wearing a devilishly decadent Soiree Gothic dress in lace-covered black vinyl, cap sleeve style open chest, tiered skirt with tulle layered detailing. And lace-up ribbon detail at high neck and sides to complete the picture.
"You… you don't think you're going to the prom dressed like that, do you?" Sarah just could say in a voice now barely restraining her anger. She was flabbergasted.
"Why not? This dress passed all the selection criteria," Cameron explained, "…and I like it," she added, smiling ever so slightly at that last statement. From her point of view, the tryout session was going pretty well, in fact better than she expected. So she didn't understand Sarah's reaction, especially as she demonstrated she was able to apply most of her advices.
"But it's too… too… And it's too…" was only what Sarah could argue. There was so much to argue she didn't know where to start.
Cameron frowned. "Too what?"
"Too short, too sexy, too weird. In a word, inappropriate." Sarah finally shouted. "You can't take this one. Pick another one." That was Cameron's last chance.
"Why would I? I think this is appropriate to wear a dress that is on sale in a specialized shop. I don't understand."
Sarah realized she wouldn't be able to dissuade Cameron from keeping the dress she'd chosen. She closed her eyes and deeply breathed in, trying to cool off and ponder her next move when Cameron spoke again.
"I'll need a push-up bra too," she required.
Sarah exploded with the most offended look on her face. "Why would you need a push-up bra?"
Cameron started to explain "My breasts are not very big. I learned that men like them big, especially Jo…"
"Stop it!" Sarah brutally cut her off. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. "I don't want to hear that! How can you…" Sarah was about to scold the teenage girl for having talked dirty but remebered who she was talking to. She gave up trying to convince her. She only had one choice left in front of such stubbornness and boldness. She gazed Cameron menacingly, pointing at her. "You know what? I've had enough! I forbid you to take this one and that's final."
With that, she turned and left the shop, dumping Cameron on the spot. She burst past a saleswoman, mumbling something like 'stubborn metal bitch'. The saleswoman shook her head in lack of understanding and went to see Cameron.
"Is everything alright, miss?" she asked in a tone showing more annoyance than concern.
Cameron looked down to her dress. "I tried it on with my moth-"
"Oh," the women cut her with a look of disgust on her face. "How could you? Please give back the dress and leave." She ordered and then turned to leave. Perverted people, she thought.
"-er's assistance," Cameron pointlessly completed.
She was now alone in the shop, quite unsure why. She thought that the human spirit was sometimes extremely disconcerting. The entity called God that created them must not be so perfect, considering the major design flaw in human brain He allowed Himself to introduce. This was one of these moments she wondered if trying to become human was really a good idea. She dismissed immediately this idea as she thought about John.
She noticed the large mirror beside her and admired her reflection for a little moment. She smiled ruefully and said aloud "Bummer! It was a tight dress," before heading towards the changing room.
Sarah reached the SUV and left the mall. Even if she was pissed off by the terminator, she considered that John would be safer with Cameron than with her at the moment. Bah, she thought to herself. She may have preferences, but she definitely has bad taste. Yet, that was already beyond what she believed the cyborg was able to express at the start of this day.
# # #
Cameron was just leaving the shop under the saleswoman heavy reprobation stare when her cell rang. It was John. After he identified himself, he asked: "What happened? I saw Mom get out of the mall, visibly upset. Is something wrong?"
"No, but the tryout session is unsuccessful. We couldn't purchase a dress," Cameron said in a tone John would have sworn was rueful.
Relieved that nothing more serious had happened, he asked "Why?"
"Your mother wouldn't validate my choice."
John chuckled.
Cameron frowned. "What's so funny?" she inquired. "I failed completing task #2 of my preparation list, so I'm currently unable to proceed and therefore keep my promise."
So you learned my lesson, that's good.
"Let's say I was expecting some kind of taste mismatch," John said, still chuckling at what he knew was an understatement but he also knew he had to humor her too.
John thought for a moment and then spoke up. "Cameron, I still have some stuff to buy. Let's meet at the mall's north entrance in let's say half an hour, no, forty five minutes and we'll get back home by taxi, Okay?"
"Okay. Be careful John."
She closed her cell and headed towards the north entrance without any delay and distraction and remained there, unmoving, until John arrived. Even the guard at the gate couldn't keep up. When John finally arrived, he was carrying a lot of bags.
"You're four minutes and thirty six seconds late." Cameron stated.
"Come on, Cam, that's not the end of the world, is it?" he replied a bit annoyed, knowing how he spent the time in question.
"That is correct, J-Day will only happen in…"
"Cam!" he cut her off, "it's just an expression. It means it's not important."
She merely nodded and recorded it in her database, following the 238 others she'd learned since she arrived.
"What is it in these bags?" she inquired.
"You're being the inquisitive cyborg, Cam! This is a gift for someone who means a lot to me," he said with a lopsided grin.
Cameron felt doubly unpleased by John's statement. First, she didn't like him to refer to herself as the 'cyborg', even if she knew it was friendly in John's mouth, unlike Sarah and Derek's. Second, there was a 96.4% chance he'd bought something for Riley, the girl he dated for the prom. She didn't fail to notice that the name on one of the bags was the one of the shops she was in less than one hour ago.
Cameron remained silent on their way back to the house, while John kept this irritating grin on his face for almost all of the time it took to get back home.
Later that night
Cameron was back from her first night duty and took her usual place in front of the living room window. Her stillness was contrasting with the turmoil in her mind. The mid term mission she'd titled "Prom" in her database wasn't turning good. Of course, John's life didn't depend on its successful outcome, and that pleased her, but she felt she had to succeed. John showed some signs of concern to the fact she could and she surprisingly found herself compelled to. But obviously, she was lacking background and feared she could fail if she couldn't seek external help.
Her advanced audio sensors registered that John was still up, working at his laptop. She'd recorded no threat during her patrol, so she decided to break her safekeeping duty and go to speak with John.
John was almost finished browsing the net for some research when he heard someone softly knock at the door.
No need to ask who it was. At last, he thought. "Come in, Cam."
Cameron opened the door, entered the room and closed the door behind her all in very soft and measured moves.
"Hello John, may I speak with you?" Cameron sheepishly asked.
"Sure. What do you want to talk about?" he prompted her. Though he perfectly knew what she wanted to talk about, he wanted her to take the initiative.
Cameron took a moment to choose her words.
"John, you taught me I had to keep my promise. But I failed to find a dress this afternoon and I doubt your mother will help me again," Cameron admitted, looking down to the ground.
"Yeah, I guess so," he acknowledged.
"I doubt anyone will now. I fear I might choose something inappropriate on my own. John, what can I do now?" she asked John, now looking at him with a hint of despair in her eyes.
Wow, this whole story becomes serious for her. John was measuring the consequences of the lesson he taught Cameron some days ago. She was willing to comply – a nice quality – but was apparently facing insuperable difficulties to complete her preparation. Considering the dreadful consequences of a failure, he felt reassured. I think I did the right thing.
John didn't say anything. Instead, he motioned towards his closet from which he retrieved a bag with two boxes in it.
Cameron immediately recognized the bags he was carrying when they had left the mall. She tilted her head and looked at him, quizzically.
John put the larger box onto the table across the laptop and opened it. Inside, there was a long dress. He took it out of the box with care and spread it on his bed. It was made of black silk with some lace trim of a dark blood red color. It was traditional, with a touch of Gothic flare.
"What is this?" Cameron asked blankly, as she had concluded from her previous analysis that she wasn't concerned by the article. However, she was inwardly confused when her systems informed her that the dress wasn't fitting Riley's size.
"Your shape recognition system is malfunctioning? That's annoying, in deed," John teased her, amused. Then on a more serious tone "This is a dress. This is your prom dress, Cameron," stressing on the word 'your'. "I bought it for you this afternoon."
Cameron's eyes widened in utter surprise. "You bought… a dress… for me?" she could only stammer. When she could finally register the fact as being the truth, she remembered what John said in the mall about the boxes. This is a gift for someone who means a lot to me. She was now standing in front of him, completely paralyzed, mouth gaping, still unable to measure what all that really meant to her.
She finally opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly a warning from her tactical systems appeared on her HUD. As she read it, John saw her initial surprise look rapidly turn into confusion. A battle was raging in her mind.
"Cam, what's wrong?" John asked with concern.
"John, this dress is beautiful, but it is not adequate in case of threat," Cameron said, visibly torn between happiness and annoyance.
John noticed and decided to reassure her. "C'mon Cam, no biggie, I dream, um, I would like to see you in that dress." he said. He had to admit that he was curious to see the most deadly machine in the world in a cute dress.
Confused by this unexpected act of kindness and generosity from John and remembering she wasn't his date, Cameron replied "Why would you? I thought the dress was meant to please my date. I'm to go with Morris, not with you. I shouldn't accept it." She looked down at the ground again as she finished.
"Why?" John was beginning to realize that Cameron wasn't looking disappointed, but... worried.
"I should go with you. It would be easier for me to protect you." I can't let anything happen to you, she thought. She tried to keep a blank look by saying it, but her eyes betrayed her thoughts.
John realized then what Cameron wasn't telling him. What was her deepest concern. She wants to be with me, not just protecting me. He took the necessary time to respond neatly to the untold request without jeopardizing his own date. "Ease up Cam. Nothing's gonna happen. And enjoy the night. I'm sure you'll look fantastic in that dress. I mean, please at least let me have the chance to see how beautiful you will look in it. And I promise I will save a dance for you."
He paused.
"Go in the bathroom and try it on, please," he prompted her, as he reached to offer the dress.
Cameron weighted the consequences of accepting the dress and going to the prom without John. She concluded the extra risks to protect John, while she was with Morris, would be minimal and John would be pleased if she came to the dance wearing the dress he had chosen for her.
She didn't reply. As an act of acceptance, she took the dress very carefully, as if she was entrusted with a treasure. To tell the truth, it was actually a treasure for her. "Thank you John. No one has ever given me a gift before," she said, her eyes never leaving the dress but John could still see they were sparkling.
There must be life behind these eyes.
"Well, someone would have, sooner or later," he modestly said.
"I wouldn't have accepted from anybody else", she replied, after what she stood up and moved towards the bathroom. She closed the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the bathtub and a few minutes passed before she even dared starting dressing. She might have an advanced CPU, but she had so much to process.
On the other side of the door, John's brain was working full speed too. Since the first time he had known her, he had noticed how much Cameron's behavior had changed. She was still willing to learn, but it seemed to him she was lately using more of her 'brain' than her 'CPU', in other words, making more use of her knowledge than her logic. He may have known she had an advanced learning CPU, she was surprising him more and more about how much and how fast she could learn.
But currently, he was wondering if he'd succeeded where his mother miserably failed.
As Cameron shyly returned in John's room, dressed up, bare foot and looking down, he immediately got his answer. The dress was perfectly matching Cameron's exquisite curves. His mouth fell open as his eyes fell upon her perfect form, he never saw anything so beautiful in his entire life. How could SkyNet, a soulless evil machine, create something so beautiful? He realized he must have gazed greedily at her for way too long when Cameron said.
"John, are you alright?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Cameron, you're… you're beautiful," was all he could say at the moment, he was troubled.
Cameron's worry instantly faded and she smiled shyly. "Thank you John."
"Hey wait," he suddenly said, and he reached to the box again took the gloves and gave them to her. "Put them on." As she proceeded, he reached for the smaller box, took something out of it, placed himself in front of her and squat.
"Gimme your right foot please."
She obliged. He took her foot and gently put the high heel shoe on her foot. Once again, the article he'd chosen did match perfectly Cameron's slender shape. He did the same with the other foot then stood up and stepped back a bit in order to admire the result.
"It's wonderful, you're wonderful, Cam. You will outshine the other girls, no question," he complimented her.
This time, she greeted him with a broad smile.
"Thank you John" she said again with more confidence, feeling so proud being compared to real human girls to her advantage. John lately scarcely did so, reminding her of her true nature instead and that had strengthened her belief she was less than a human.
"So, what do you think?" he asked, worried about how much she liked the present.
She admired herself in the mirror of the closet and gracefully turned round, which surprised John again. She smiled at him and answered "It's tight." He smiled back.
The look on John's face was kind, but Cameron discerned something more. She had seen this look on his face only once before, when she'd rebooted after deactivating the ARTIE system. She'd told him then she'd seen everything, including the look he'd given her.
Later that night, in the darkness of their respective rooms, the two of them were still not sleeping.
That was quite normal for the cyborg who was, as usual, standing guard in front of the window, but at the moment, she was paying little attention to the outside. Instead, she looked over at the two boxes carefully and neatly put away. 'This is a gift for someone who means a lot to me'. She realized what John had told her when they left the mall. He was not only plainly considering her as a person, but he also valued her to the point of making her a special gift. She was still unsure if she could feel happiness, but she knew for sure that it was the best day in her entire life. In the pale moonlight, she formed a slight smile of satisfaction, as she shifted her gaze back to the window.
However, that was more unusual for John. He was so puzzled he couldn't sleep. He was thinking about Cameron's strange behavior, about these emotions she never showed before, these so humanly real things she wanted to do. He was looking at her in a new light. Still, he was happy to go to the prom with Riley and perhaps they could have some sort of relationship, but he no longer wanted to push Cameron away. He wanted to help her in her development instead.
END OF CHAPTER