Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 11: Upgraded

"I don't like her like that."

☆

It doesn't seem to take long at all for the process to occur, though it didn't make the situation any less tense. Enzo watches on as Jojo seems to press links highlighted on the computer screen, followed by long codes which he had to enter manually.

Enzo glances up at The PT. Its eyes are circling in a weird greenish brown colour. He begins to bounce his bent knee nervously. "Are you sure this is cool...I mean, its head isn't going to explode or anything is it?"

Jojo doesn't take his eyes from the computer screen, his fingers still tapping the keys feverishly. "Relax. It's almost done...there!" Jojo makes one final prominent tap of the 'enter' key and now looks up at The PT, whose eyes had stopped swirling and looked as dormant and as basic as before.

"Now what?" Enzo looks at Jojo, then at The PT in confusion.

"Just turn it on like before...see what happens." Jojo nods towards the tutor.

Enzo again gets up and apprehensively places his palm against the tutor's. To his relief, it starts up like before, the spark of life presenting in its eyes. It looks at Enzo's nervous expression. "Hello again Enzo. What can I assist you with?"

"Please can you show me how to use a vacuum cleaner?" Enzo asks, a little apprehensive...had this actually worked?

"Certainly Enzo." The PT replies, "Where is your domestic product?"

Jojo and Enzo look at eachother wide eyed, triumphant! "This way, follow me." Enzo replies as he calmly but smugly makes his way to Leo's bedroom door, with the tutor following behind.

***

"And that Enzo, is how you clean Venetian blinds." The PT concludes as it places a dampened sponge back into a soapy bucket.

"That's amazing!" Enzo responds enthusiastically from the comfort of his gaming chair, Jojo by his side as they play an online game, only half watching what they were supposed to be learning.

The PT, being unphased by their disinterest, clears away the last of the cleaning items before returning to Enzo's side. "What?" Enzo says, rather annoyed by the tutor's presence, now he had gotten what he wanted from it.

"Do you require any more tutoring today Enzo?" It asks.

Enzo chucks his gaming remote on the carpet and reluctantly hoists himself upon from his seat. "No, I'll take you back to Leo's room." He says. And that's where they go...back to Leo's room. Enzo switches off the The PT, remembering to place it back on charge. It's as if nothing had happened...well almost nothing.

***

Leo takes a seat at a vacant table at his place of work. His friends join him on his lunch break as they share a large plate of fries...

"So...the date. Tell us what happened?...did you and Anna..."

"No." Harley's sentence is cut short by Leo.

"Woah! Why you gotta be so salty about it?" Yan says, putting on a fake sassy persona, causing Harley to laugh, but Leo's expression not wavering.

He absentmindedly chews on his lower lip wondering if he should tell his friends the truth, if not the whole truth, maybe just a small fraction of it. "I need to ask her to the winter prom, but she wants it to be special...like she wants everyone to see me do it." Leo's stomach churns at the thought.

"So?" Harley questions. "Why are you stressing? You like her right? And you are always performing in front of others in those shitty school plays so what's the big deal? It's not like you have to pretend."

"But that's just it!" Leo blurts out without thinking.

"What?" Yan asks.

"I...I don't like her like that. I don't want to date her." The relief of Leo saying it to his friends out loud was short lived, soon to be replaced by the anguish of their inevitable next question.

"Then why the hell are you asking her to the prom?" His friends almost say in unison.

"My tutor." Leo begins.

"Uh? What has this got to do with that?" Harley furrows his eyebrows in confusion.

"Well..." Leo takes a breath, needing to get the next few sentences out in one go. "I didn't want to go to the movies with her alone, so I made The PT come along as my cousin, tricking it that it was for an experiment. I thought it being there would cool her off a bit...but it didn't. So I tried to act like I liked her, but I spilled my coke on my jeans and went to the bathroom ..." Leo stops himself from talking and looks at his friends who looked like they were hanging onto his every word.

"You can't leave it there Leo." Yan says, with urgency in his voice.

Leo takes a heavy breath before continuing. "I got The PT to come to the bathroom with me and I thought it would be a good idea to change our trousers over...it doesn't feel the wet you see. Anyways, Anna saw us."

"Shit Leo...Is this going where I think it's going?" Harley asks with baited breath.

Leo just nods, his face looking like a sunken ship.

"But I swear it was nothing! I didn't even get the stupid trousers off, but she saw me literally on my knees in front of the stupid tutor." Leo rubs a tired hand over his face.

"Wait...do you have a thing for your PT?" Yan asks, not knowing quite what is going on.

"No...Jesus! I just wanted to switch trousers. Haven't you been listening?" Leo realises he said the last bit a little too loud, as people start to turn and stare. He clears his throat. "Anyways I told her it was not what it looked like and it was my tutor, not my cousin, but now she has me cornered." Leo says, a little more quietly.

"So...if you don't publically ask her out...."

"...She's gonna tell everyone you were getting fresh with your cousin..."

"...No, your tutor, in the bathroom." Both Yan and Harley deduce.

Leo lets out a slow nod.

"Leo why didn't you just tell her you don't like her that way?" Harley asks.

Leo looks at his friends, like they should have figured it out already. "Harley and Hope. Yan and Chloè. I guess I thought it had to be me and Anna."

"Leo, You idiot. I actually like Hope. I wouldn't date her if I didn't." Harley playfully hits Leo on his arm.

"Same." Yan says.

"So..." Leo asks his friends. "What do I do now?"