Chapter 6: UPGRADE!

Sara spends the day roaming the school grounds with Derek, meeting new people, and learning about SAM

Despite her exhaustion, Sara woke up at 6:30 to the sound of fireworks being lit in the square below. She grumbled and rolled over, shutting her eyes and trying to get some more sleep. When a firecracker shot into the air and hit the stone wall by her bed, she gave up. Standing up and stretching she finally took a look around her room.

 

The room was pretty boring. Everything was white; the carpet, walls, ceiling, even the windowsills were a clean white. One interesting thing about the room was the design. Her bed was sitting in a nook ontop of her balcony, which had a curved staircase running along the wall down to the main room. The main room was large and empty, but there was a door leading out to a balcony on one side and a door leading to a bathroom on the other. The bathroom looked small, but she assumed majik made it bigger when she stepped inside. Sara walked down the steps to see under her balcony was a large closet. Sara was about to enter it when a PING! made her turn around.

 

In the center of the space onward was a crystal ball floating in midair. As she approached, the crystal ball made a booting up noise, then a clear voice sounded from it. "Please place your hand on the orb to begin." said an electronic-sounding female voice.

 

"Uhhh...ok?" Sara said. She cautiously placed her hand on the orb, which vibrated and glowed green.

 

"Welcome Sara-Anne Walker. Please wait while I calculate your room specifications. Accessing color prefrences." The wall color changed to a light blue, the carpet and doors remained the same white. "Accessing previous records, including GPA, activities, and personal file." The doors to the space under the balcony disappeared, revealing a white desk and rolling chair. Brightly colored office supplies littered the desktop, and there was a brand new Macbook Air and inkjet printer ontop of the desk. Across from the desk was a kitchenett, complete with fridge, small cooktop and microwave. Next to the door leading outside was a bulletin board, complete with papers of class activities, campus news, and her class schedule. In the space in front of her a fluffy white couch and two matching loveseats appeared, facing a wall filled with cubbies. Most of the cubbies had cloth drawers colored yellow and green, while the empty space in the center had a flat screen TV, a Wii and a DVD player. "Adding personal belongings...Adding other necessary supplies." A white bookshelf appeared on the wall, filled with both her free-reading books as well as her schoolbooks. "Scan complete. If you need anything, just speak up." The orb floated into an empty space in the bookshelf and turned into a fishbowl.

 

Sara stepped back to survey her room. A smile stretched across her face. "Sweet!" she exclamed. She ran over to her bathroom, which was made of pure marble with a deep jacuzzi tub in the center of the floor. Her stuff was all there. As she went over and surveyed the bookshelf, she saw that even the stuff she had left behind was there. I wonder what time it is, she thought to herself. "Uhh, orb?" Sara asked uncertainly. "What time is it?"

 

"The time is six fourty-three. Breakfast will be served in seventeen minutes."

"Uhhh, thanks. Is there a name I can call you?"

"Call me Sam."

"Ok. Thanks Sam." Sara said. If she didn't get dressed now, she'd have no time to get there and eat. Sara walked over to the cubbies. It took her a bit to figure out which drawers held her clothes. She found a cubbie filled with clothes labeled with the school crest. She supposed she was supposed to wear one of these every day, so she grabbed a black zip up sweatshirt. She found her other clothes and picked her outfit. She changed into a pair of black Spanx shorts, a red tank top and gold flip flops. Walking into the bathroom, Sara surveyed herself in the mirror. She had to admit, despite the events of the past night she didn't look half bad. Her swirl glittered on her face, and made her eyes look even brighter. Sara reached into a drawer and pulled out her mascera and eye liner. As she applied it she watched her eyes change from grey to a pearly blue. It looked like there was a hint of red around the pupil, and her hair looked a little lighter than before, but Sara shrugged it off as a trick of the light. She put her makeup back in the drawer and exited the bathroom. She saw a nearby table with her schedule, map, room key, and a white Iphone. Sara grabbed the phone and squealed with delight. Nobody was ever able to afford a cell phone at the orphanage. Sara couldn't help but love the upgrade from poor orphan with only what her dead mother had left her to this glamor. Sure she had to conform to the society that had killed her mother in the first place, but she couldn't deny she loved her life right now.

 

"Ms. Walker." Sam said, interrupting her train of thought. "Breakfast will be starting in five minutes."

"Crap." Sara said. "Sam, I need a purse or bag or something to put this stuff in."

"Certainly." Sam said. A Bungalow360 sachel appeared on the table. There were blue and green sea turtles on the bag.

"Thanks." Sara said. She put everything except her map into the sachel and left. Sara stepped onto the landing, shutting the door behind her. Just as she unfurlled her map there was a yowl. A tabby cat ran across her feet. There was an off, a yelp, and Sara toppled over as something came running down the stairs behind her and smacked right into her.