Why Am I Here…?

“ALL ABOARD, ALL ABOARD!” Called out a man standing on top of a floating platform, that was connected to an also floating tunnel tube that led out of plum town.

“What if this was a bad idea? What if the guard’s recognize you? What if he recognizes me?? What if we get caught? Will we have to go to juvie- WIll I HAVE TO SHAVE MY HEAD?!?!?!?!” Jennifer exclaimed frightfully,

“Jenni relax, the only way we’re gonna get caught is if you keep freaking out making it look like we’re doing something bad.” Connie said to her friend,

“We ARE doing something bad! This was a terrible idea! What was I thinking?? I don’t think I can go through with this, let’s turn back!” Jennifer exclaimed. Wanting to calm her friend down, Connie placed her hand’s on Jennifer's shoulders, and said “I have a wristband, remember? As long as I have one, then the guard’s won't question anything! So just relax and take a few deep breaths.”

Just as her friend instructed, Jeniffer took a deep breath in, and then slowly let it out. She breathed in, and out. In, and out. “Yeah, you’re right. We can do this, as long as you have the wristband on, we’ll be okay.” She reminded herself,

“Yeah that’s the spirit! But uhh before we go forward, maybe you should find something to cover your face with.” Connie remarked, shooting Jennifer a concerned stare. “My face? Why? What’s wrong with my face?!” Jennifer wondered.

“You know those kinds of people who wear their hearts on their sleeves so whatever they’re feeling shows up on their face?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeahh that’s you. You’re sweating so much you might as well have just gotten out of the shower, you look terrible!” Connie said,

“I can’t help it, my heart's beating so fast that I can't even feel it beating anymore! Wait, you don’t think i’m dead do you??.... Let me feel my pulse…. WHY CAN’T I FELL MY PULSE?????”

“Pfft Hahaha!” Connie laughed, “For a smart person, you sure can be dumb sometime’s Jenni. Here,” Connie ripped off the sleeve from one of her large shoulder pads and handed it to her friend, “You can use this as a scarf and cover up your… everything.” She remarked.

“Thanks,” Jennifer said, wrapping the makeshift scarf around her face, “But are you sure that you don’t want to go back to your place to change really quick? I mean, I don’t mind waiting.”

“I do!” Connie exclaimed, “I don’t want to waste another moment in this boring town, I'm dying to have some fun! And besides, I have nothing to wear at home aside from those plain old jumpsuits that they give us when we’re brought here. Honestly I'd rather be seen in this ridiculous outfit than have to wear those boring old clothes. I might look weird, but at least I look fun!” She continued.

“You are so weird.” Jennifer said. And so, the two made their way through the line and made it up to the guards post. Once there, Connie had no trouble playing it cool. Jennifer, on the other hand, was so nervous that her whole body was trembling.

“Where ya headed?” Asked the guard,

“T-T-T-T-T-T-T” Jeniffer stuttered.

“Are you alright kid? You’re looking a little pale.” the guard remarked at Jennifer’s noticeably distressed face.

“I-I~”

“Oh no, are you having a heat stroke? We have a doctor on standby. I'll go call him to take a look at ya,” The guard left his post to call for help, but before he could signal for the doctor, a voice called out- “We’re going to the green district!”

The guard turned around to see a girl dressed in a ridiculous outfit, and her face was covered in makeup that looked as if it were done by a child- “Pfft” He cackled, but then quickly caught himself.

“I’m sorry, is something funny?” Connie asked,

“Uhm no no! Not at all!” the guard said, covering his mouth trying desperately to keep himself from laughing.

“So where did you say you were going?”

“To the green district, my friend and I are on our way to a circus show, which is why I’m dressed like this.” Connie quickly defended herself,

“Oh is that why? I thought for sure you just had the worst fashion sense in the world.” the guard joked.

“Hahaha” jenni chuckled nervously, “can we go now? I don’t want to be late for the show.” she continued.

The guard collected himself and gave them a pass onto the bullet train.

✧✧✧

After getting the stamp of approval from the guard in front of the train station- Connie and Jennifer boarded the train and found their seats.

“Hey jenni did you see that!? That guy was so distracted by my ridiculous outfit, that he didn’t even check our wristbands! If that’s all it takes to get out of this dumb town, then I should dress up like this more often!” Connie exclaimed.

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that I stole- er.. I mean “borrowed” my brother's wristband for no reason?!” Jennifer said,

“It wasn’t for nothing, if you hadn’t taken it we wouldn’t have come to the train station. And if we never came to the train station we would’ve never learned that dressing up ridiculously can distract a guard from checking our wristbands! We made a huge discovery today Jenni! So it definitely wasn’t for nothing!” Connie said, trying to cheer up her friend.

“No, somehow, I feel like I’ve done something incredibly wrong. I broke the rules for no reason, I’m no better than you now.” Jennifer said, sinking into her seat.

“Yeah well I don’t see anything wrong with that, because I am awesome!” Connie snapped back.

As the two friends were bickering with each other, a voice appeared over the intercom-

“ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS- THE TRAIN WILL NOW TAKE OFF. I REPEAT, THE TRAIN WILL NOW TAKE OFF. PLEASE REMAIN SEATED UNTIL WE ARRIVE AT OUR DESTINATION. THANK YOU, AND ENJOY THE RIDE.”

“Ouuu this is it jenni! After 3 long months I’m finally going to get to leave this dump!” Connie said excitedly,

“Don’t get too excited, you’re still going to have to come back later before sun down.” Jennifer reminded her.

“Pffft who cares about that, that’s for future Connie to worry about. Right now it’s the present, and present me can’t wait to get out of here!” Connie exclaimed.

Seeing her friend smiling for a change made Jennifer smile as well, “Hehe admittedly I’m excited too, it’s been a while since we got to hang out together and do something fun!”

“Right?? Heheheee I can’t wait!” Connie said.

Just as the voice over the intercom said, the train was preparing to take off and head for the green district.

“Hey jenni, do you want to do a countdown??” Connie said,

“Like how they do when rocket ships fly into space?” Jennifer wondered,

“Yeah, exactly!” Connie exclaimed.

“Sure why not!”

Together, the two friends counted as they waited for the train to depart-

“10!”

“9!”

“8!”

“7!”

“6!”

“5!”

“4!”

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

“BLAST OFF!” They shouted out together, throwing their hands into the air.

Just as they said that, the train took off at high speeds. The train was so fast that everything appeared as a blob as it traveled through the floating tube tunnel. Connie and Jennifer laughed as they saw each other’s distorted appearance’s.

“WOOOOOOOOOOO” Their woos had begun when they first took off, then not even 2 minutes later they ended as the bullet train arrived at the green district.

This was possible due to the train's supersonic speeds. Kepler is a relatively small planet, even while walking it would only take about 2 days to get to the green district from plum town. So In a train that moves at such high speeds, traveling between districts is no trouble at all.

“I’m glad the trains are so fast, if I had to watch your weird shaped face for even one more second I would’ve died of laughter!” Connie said, laughing.

“Oh yeah? Well what about you? your head looked so big that I thought you were a giant balloon!” Jennifer laughed back.

After having a good laugh, the girls took a moment to revel in their surroundings.

“Ahh the green district, I can’t believe we’re really here.” Connie said, “It’s been so long that I actually started to forget what the color green even looked like!” She continued.

“Hahaha well let’s enjoy it while it lasts, daytime won’t last forever you know.”

“Yeah, I intend on enjoying every moment while I’m here!” Connie exclaimed.

The two were getting ready to head into the big city, when and uninvited voice called out-

“Pffft BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA” a roar of laughter could be heard,

A group of teenagers approached Connie and Jennifer as they laughed at Connie’s appearance.

“Look at this circus freak,” a boy said, remarking at Connie’s outfit.

“Nice outfit, you’re really keeping up with the latest clown fashion trends,”

“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

Unlike usual, Connie was speechless. For once she didn’t have a fiery comeback to give to the bunch.

Connie may have been at a loss for words, but Jennifer wasn’t.

“What a bunch of bullies! Where do you get off talking to someone like that?!” She yelled,

“Uh oh, did we upset you? Don’t worry we’ll leave you alone. We don’t want that freak's weirdness rubbing off on us.”

“HAHAHAHAHA,” The group of teens laughed as they walked away.

Jennifer was frustrated because she was unable to think of a good comeback before they left,

“YEAH WELL, YOU BETTER LEAVE YOU…. YOU.. YOU UPSIDE DOWN TRIANGLE LOOKING MEANIES!!!” She called out to them, they ignored her as they walked away continuing to laugh.

“Upside down triangle? Ha! I burned them good!” Jennifer said to herself.

Even after the bunch were gone, Connie still remained silent. Jennifer grew worried that the rude remarks of those bullies might have gotten to her friend.

“Are you okay Connie?” She asked.

“…. Jenni, those kids… They laughed at me.” Connie said.

“I know they were super rude right!? I’m sorry that you had to go through that, we can stop by my house for a moment so that you can change.” Jennifer said in support of her friend.

Jennifer assumed that Connie’s silence was because she was hurt by the mean comments, but much to her surprise, her friend didn’t seem to be bothered at all. In fact, she was actually happy that- that happened.

“Are you kidding? I’m not taking this off! Someone actually laughed at how ridiculous I look! Do you know how refreshing that is??? If the first group of people I see laughed at me the moment we got off the train- imagine how many other cackles and stares I’m going to get! Now this is more like it! I knew that the green district was going to be fun! It feels good to be home!” Connie exclaimed.

Jennifer looked at her friend as if she were something from another planet, “Once again, you are a very weird creature Connie.”

To Be Continued…