Spying Over You

Eight: Emma

"Can I ask you something?" I ask as we wander down the halls looking for my locker.

"You just did."

I roll my eyes at her smirk. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know. So, ask away." She keeps her gaze on the lockers.

"I noticed that as we walked down the hall everyones called you Sam. Not Samantha."

"And?"

"Do you prefer being called Sam?"

She turns and nods. "I do. Samantha feels so tight and stiff, and it's what my parents call me. It never feels like me. So, Sam is light and doesn't have any expectations on her."

I nod. "So, I'm good to call you Sam?"

She nods. "Please do. Oh! Here's your locker." She darts across the hall and stops before locker 234.

I join her. "So, how do I open it?"

She points at the paper in my hand. "First you'll enter the code and then it'll ask you to sync your chip up with it." She tilts her head. "Did your school not have these lockers?"

I shake my head. "We had the old lockers where it was just a lock and you had to spin the combination to open it." I take a peek at the paper and punch the numbers into the pad. 18-06-27. The screen lights green before popping up with a sync button. I open my chip screen and navigate to the settings and let it sync. "How long does it take?" I ask, looking at the two progress bars. One on the locker and one on my screen.

She shrugs. "Depends on how old your chip is and how it connects with the locker.

A sigh escapes my lip. "I'll be here a while then." I look from my silver chip to her wrist where you can't even see her chip.

She must notice because she says, "don't worry. My dad will change your chip here soon."

I nod and keep my eyes on the progress bar.

The halls are crowded, and I finally let myself soak in the noise of all the kids. But I don't look at them. I don't need to see the strange looks I'm sure to get, or the judgmental looks they'll all give.

"I'm just going to pop over to my locker, okay?" Sam looks around the hall. "I'll be right back." I don't get a chance to respond before her ponytail is swishing back and forth and disappearing into the crowd.

I sigh, both in relief and a little in frustration. At least with her gone I shouldn't stand out so much, but without her here I'm lost. The progress bar says 46% so at least it won't be done anytime soon and I can continue to stand here and think about my plan.

Which is nothing right now.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to get the information my aunt and family want. I would have wandered around their house last night but the moment I laid down in that bed I was out like a light. I hadn't realized how exhausting the day had been. And this morning, I wasn't even up early enough to look around the house and claim I had lost my way. It's a big house afterall.

"So you're the girl staying with the princess."

I jump. A guy? Girl? Leans against the locker next to me. Their hair is shaven short but colored a bright neon green color, and in the uniform they wear - that has pants! - it looks almost ridiculous.

"I'm sorry?"

"Names Blake." They hold out their hand. I stare at it for a minute and they retract it. "Not a fan of handshakes, noted. You're the exchange student, right? And you're staying with Sam?" They're green-grey eyes flick over my shoulder.