Gifted by H. A. Swain Page B

concern me if you’re looking to crash here,” he says. “Didn’t your mother tell you the news yet?” He backs up a bit so I can see a fresh tattoo of a dragonfly with my mother’s name, Libellule, in script across his heart.
    â€œMom?” I say. She looks everywhere but at me.
    â€œYou want me to tell him?” Chester asks, smiling slowly.
    â€œOh, now…” Mom’s flustered. She fluffs the pillows all around her and readjusts her dress. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
    â€œHey, whoa, that hurts!” Chester frowns.
    She turns and pats his arm. “I didn’t mean it that way. I meant it in terms of Orpheus. I mean it won’t affect him much.”
    â€œIt will if he wants to stay here!” says Chester.
    Mom turns back to me. “You are always welcome in my home,” she says.
    â€œBut it’s not just your home now,” Chester says.
    I clench my jaw. “Mom?”
    She crosses one arm over her stomach and puts her other hand to her mouth. “Well now, you see, the thing is … Chester has moved in with me.”
    â€œGreat,” I say. “I’ll be sure to send a housewarming gift.” Then I disconnect and refuse to answer when she tries to ping me back.
    Furious and frustrated, I get out of my car to walk off some steam. More cars stream in from the SkyPath overhead and the terrestrial SwarmPath circling the Distract a few miles away. I can’t believe my mother has allowed that cretin to move in. Now I have no place to go.
    Desperate for advice, I call Arabella. Not a ping but an actual video call. I need to see her face on my ExoScreen. But she doesn’t pick up. Instead, she pings me back.
    Still at the party. Geoff Joffrey just walked in.
    Piper says I MUST get pix with him. Do you
    know him? Can you help?

    Can’t that wait? I need to talk to you. Something big came up.
    Bigger than Geoff Joffrey?

    Yes! My father’s forcing me to have an ASA.
    Good for you! Exciting.

    No! That’s not what I want.
    Come here. Intro me to Geoff then we can talk.

    I don’t know him. Can’t intro you.
    Why not? You’re a Chanson!
    â€œDamnit!” I yell out loud.
    Is that all I’m good for? My last name?
    Forget it! I’ll find someone else to help.
    Gotta go. I’m supposed to be working!!!!
    She disconnects, leaving me abandoned in the midst of gamers dressed in hero garb, flooding out of their vehicles into AutoTrams that will carry them to the dome. As a last-ditch effort, I reach out to Rajesh who, by some miracle, answers. He’s in his house, his stylists flitting around him, pomping up his hair.
    â€œOrph, my man! What’s up? Your girl is getting mad Buzz at the scholar party. Are you headed that way?”
    â€œNo, I’ve got a problem.” I spill the whole story. My dad. My mom. Arabella.
    â€œOrpheus, come on, man,” Rajesh says, as if he’s bored. He stands up from his salon chair and tries on different bowties as we talk. “Get in the game, would you? Just get the dumb surgery and start your life already. You’re getting left in the dust. Another year as a PONI and the Buzz will abandon you altogether as the dilettante son of a patron.”
    â€œBut what if I don’t want a life in the limelight?”
    Rajesh screws up his face and shakes his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œI don’t know!” I throw my hands into the air and look up into the sky. Somewhere far away the stars shine, but you can never see them this close to the Distract. “Sometimes I just think I want something quieter, behind the scenes, you know?”
    â€œNo,” says Rajesh with a snort. “If that’s the way you feel, then I don’t know what to tell you.” He disconnects. I stand there speechless. My best friend hung up on me.
    Overhead, a large platoon of tricked-out flying cars circles the center of