Chapter 7

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday, but with a lot more kids going through the doors. The town was popular, but so was the beach. A few went off to the skiing, but quite a few girls visited the historical door. The most popular, and this surprised me, was the Victorian one where everyone was encased in layer after layer of petticoats.

"It's so terribly civilized," Mary, a friend from my Orientation Class said. "We're delicate flowers, doncha know." She grinned at the implied joke. "In truth, though, we're so bound up in clothes that we almost have to be delicate flowers. I had a hard time breathing."

"That tells me you were in a corset."

She looked thunderstruck. "Yeah, I guess I was. It squeezed me like nothing else I'd ever worn."

I patted her hand. "Enjoy. To each their own."

"And where were you?"

"Sunbathing on the beach."

"Somebody said it was raining."

"Yes, and no." I looked around. "When's your 'study session'?"

"In two more periods."

"Mine, too. Let's go check the place out again."

Alex lived at a nudist resort or something, and I knew Mary did, too. She would keep her mouth shut, and would revel in even partial nudity.

She met me at the door two hours later, and I practically dragged her through it. I'd had a chance to look up the second door. I'd talked to Cheryl about the door in the interim, and she'd implemented a change that would cover us from any snooping parents.

The door was inside this building. It was a two-story thing with a terrace on top where we could sit in the shade and look out over the ocean. It was a dreary day, but it wasn't school, and that was the best feature. I took Mary through the second door, and we stepped out into the bungalow I remembered from my first time. While we did that, two avatars of us settled in chairs on the terrace, e-tablets in hand for some studying.

I was in my bikini, and immediately stripped off my top. Mary did the same barely a heartbeat later.

"This," she said, rubbing the skin under her breasts, "is more like it."

"We're in 3:1 compression time here," I said, "so we've got a while."

"Where are we, not that it matters."

"A European beach, that's all I know."

She looked around. "What language do they speak here?"

"English."

"Hmmph. That tells me a lot." She tapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Don't ask so many questions."

"Parents can't follow us here," I said. "And be careful who you tell about this place."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to let a few people ruin it."

We were there for a while, and when we returned we appeared on the terrace where our avatars were waiting. I saw a faint disturbance in the air; a spyeye. Someone was checking up on us.

I 'knew' what my avatar had been discussing with Mary, so I continued that for a bit, then looked at my watch. "We have to get back."

"I like studying here," Mary said. She got up and stretched. "I'd rather be outside like this, even on a dreary day, then cooped up inside. I think I get a lot more studying done."

The spyeye followed us back through the door. It turned one way while we went another. I could see at least a dozen more. Jared thought we'd see a lot the first few days, but that number would diminish as the novelty wore off. There'd always be a few around, though, something we'd have to get used to. I didn't like the idea of people spying on me, but I liked the idea of going to a dumber high school even less.

By Friday it was apparent everyone was resigned to the new regime. The doors were very popular, and it was easy to find a place to eat in the atrium. We met in the computer lab, just like we always did, for an update. And Hanna, Cheryl and Greg joined us in a teleconference.

"Are you sure this place is secure?" I asked before we got started.

"There's a spyeye checking it out right now," Greg said. "Your avatars are busy with an Accounts Payable program, real exciting stuff."

"Is it possible for a spyeye to come through here at the same time as one of us?" Jared asked.

"No, it's not. The computer won't let that happen."

"Good. I wouldn't want any accidents to happen." Jared had a few notes on his e-tablet. He pressed a few keys and uploaded them to a sidebar on the screen. "What's going on with these complaints? I thought we'd see something about course content."

Cheryl snickered. "Shannon took care of that. You can only get into Claiborne or the other top schools by agreeing to certain terms and conditions. You have to sign, or it doesn't happen. And one of the terms is that you abide by the course content."

"That'll frost a few people," Alex said.

"Yeah, they'll have to indoctrinate their children at home; the system won't do it for them." Greg studied the list Jared had put up. "What do you want to know?"

"There's an objection to the doors. Some parents say their kids are spending too much time in them, and not enough in school."

"As long as their grades meet a basic level, the doors can be accessed," Hanna said. "However, we'll remind people of that."

"Restrooms," Jared said. "There are questions about them."

Hanna and Greg looked at each other. "We'll need to send home a brochure explaining things," Greg finally said.

"Let's go it one better," Hanna said. "Let's invite the parents into the clone sight. You guys did that earlier, I believe, and this should be something the parents have to experience for themselves."

There were a couple of other things, but nothing major. And the following Tuesday one of the office staff shepherded a group of parents through the halls. One of them tired to go through a door, and recoiled as if shocked.

"What happened?" one of the women asked.

"It said my grades weren't high enough to let me go through," the man said.

"We'll adjust the programming so a parent can visit," the staffer said.

Jared and I watched that, and smiled. We had our plans for the afternoon, and when study time came around we went down to the computer lab. A spyeye followed us, but it sheered off when we accessed a terminal in the library. Assured of being alone, we went through the door to the lab.

The door had a window in it, but that window didn't exist when you were inside. "You sure?" he asked when we knew we were alone.

I kissed him, and my hands fumbled with his buttons. This was something I hadn't had to deal with before. I got them off of him, he helped me with mine, and then we settled on the couch we'd brought in. We made slow, hot love, taking our time, not doing a frantic coupling. And when we finished we both just lay together for what seemed like a long time.

"I've missed this," I finally murmured into his chest. I could almost smell the heat of his body. Certainly I felt protected by his arms.

"Do you want to tell the others?"

"Oh, probably." I ran my fingers up his body. "I'd love to do this for real."

"I would, too, but there are a few practical difficulties."

"Yeah, I'm not on birth control."

"Well, that too. No, you're on the Pacific Coast, and I'm in Richmond, on the other side of the country."

"But college is coming up, and we should see about going to the same school."

I felt him nod. "We can talk about that later, but I think that's a good idea."

We lay there for a bit longer before finally stirring. There wasn't a handy place to clean up, so I had to endure the smell of a man on me for the rest of the day. I did tell Alex what we'd done, and I learned later than he and Shannon spent some quality time there. When I saw her the next day she was practically glowing. I think she got so caught up in her politics that she forgot the simple pleasure of being a girl and having a man loving you.

That afternoon, when Mom picked me up, I broached the subject of getting a contraceptive.

"You want ... what?" Her foot came off the gas and we slowed quickly. After a few seconds she remembered that we were in traffic and got us going again.

"Birth control. I'm going away to college in a few months, and I want to be careful."

"You're not considering getting sexually active, are you?"

Mother, I thought, if you only knew. "Jared and I want to go to the same college," I said, "and I just want to be prepared in case things go the way I hope they go."

The look on her face was priceless. But she nodded sort of jerkily. I know it was big change for her. Mom's view their daughters as little girls long after puberty sets in and things change. They get a little uncomfortable when they finally admit that their little girl was growing up. I'm not sure if it was the thought of being a grandmother, or what. Dads, by the way, are a lot simpler. They don't view their daughters as a fairy tale princess. They remember what they were like at that age, and go into protect mode, ready to fight the boys off.

It took a week to get an appointment, but I finally sat down with Dr. Yamashita, and she and I discussed the whole matter. I'd done a lot of research—including talking to Irene—and I had a whole list of questions. Dr. Yamashita gave me a prescription, and the next morning I looked at the little pill with a strange feeling in my stomach. I couldn't get pregnant in the Construct, but I could here. And now I was making sure I couldn't. This was a life-changing event.