Spying Over You

Four: Sam

There's something off about her. She sits with her back too straight, her gaze bounces between each of us and only rest on me for a second before she's ducking her head. Her black curls are held back by a single red ribbon. But the strangest thing that I find my gaze lingering on is her chip. It doesn't blend in with her dark skin. It's a simple silver box sitting imbed in her skin. My finger hovers over my own that sits on the outside of my wrist, but the difference is that no one can see mine.

"So how was the trip?" Mother asks. Her and Father sit on the side of the limo that faces the front of the car. Her dress, even when she sits is still free of wrinkles. I try to smooth my own out and hope she doesn't notice with her attention on Emma. But I swear her gaze flicks my way and her mouth curves in disgust.

Emma shifts, her back against the window. "It was fine. I had to get up early because my mom was so worried I'd miss the train. So worried that we were there two hours early!" She rolls her eyes as if I understand and care about the joke.

My parents lips curve into an attempted smile. For two people who claimed I had to try and make an effort to be nice to this stranger, they aren't doing two well at it themselves.

"Was the train super duper fast?" Jax asks. He sits beside her in his car-seat. His legs are too short to bend over it so they rest out in the middle of the limo, kicking and swinging up and down.

Emma leans down, closer to him like they're sharing a secret. "It was super duper fast. The fastest one I've ever been on."

Jax eyes light up with excitement. I can't help but smile. At least one of us will like Emma and get along with her. "I wanna go on the super fast train." He turns to our parents. "Can we go on the fast train?"

Mother's smile is tight. "Maybe one day. When you're older."

"And heading on business trips with me," Father chimes in. Pride strings his words.

Jax makes a sour face, as if he just tasted a lemon for the first time. "No thank you!"

Father chuckles. "You'll change your mind when you're older."

But Jax crosses his arms and shakes his head.

"Are you sure buddy?" Emma asks. "What your parents do sounds super cool!"

He rolls his eyes. "They just color while someone else builds their robots."

Emma raises a brow. "Robots?" She turns to my parents. "You're company is expanding to robots?"

Father smiles proudly. The fact that he gets to introduce someone to the new expansion of the Mars Tech Empire is one of his favorite. The amount of times he stops to talk to random strangers about it is annoying. "We will be here soon. It's all very hush hush and still in early development but we're hoping to start them soon."

I roll my eyes. Mother coughs, just as unimpressed with his oversharing as I am. "We're only hoping to, but the plans aren't approved yet." She plays with her pearl necklace.

Emma narrows her eyes., but then she opens them wide. It's so quick I almost don't catch it. "That'll be really interesting. I'm surprised you're moving on from chips. The newest update has been amazing! I love how I can make 3D models on it now."

Fathers brows furrow. "That's quite the old update. What model do you have?"

Emma's own brows lower. "The U-I one?"

He shakes his head. "Oh no. That's a really old one. Once you're settled I'll make sure to give you the newest one."

"Oh." Her fingers slide to her wrist and cup her chip. "Uh, thank you sir."