Screen Time

Chapter 2

Clara spooned another mouthful of oatmeal into her mouth, her eyes trained on the screen above the refrigerator.

"Vanessa Hinge has posted some questionable pics on Friendspace lately, stirring up quite a bit of..."

Turning to the second screen beside her, she accessed her own Friendspace using her fingerprint and looked at a few pictures taken recently by some of her friends. 

Emily had gotten new makeup. Jason had posted a picture of himself with a pair of weights. Hazel showed off a steaming mug of coffee on her account, and Britney seemed to be having a lot of fun in the childish pictures that kept reappearing the more Clara scrolled down through her feed.

She stopped on one screenshot of an ocean view, which had probably been taken before the world was swept off its feet by OnLife. It contrasted all of the other photos people posted of themselves and domestic things inside their day to day lives. A boy Clara knew, Sean, had captioned it, 'Can you believe the world looks like this somewhere? #breathtaking'. The sky was a brilliant blue, halted only by the solid orange ring around the bright sun. The clouds were pink and resembled giant puffs of cotton candy. And the ocean just went on and on and on, its lapis lazuli waves perfectly reflecting each dazzling color in the sky. 

Clara almost scoffed. This photo had obviously been edited. If the world outside really looked like that, people would be frolicking around on that beach, instead of being cooped up in their houses all day. At the very least, they would be posting more things like this instead. And how many other photos like that had she seen? Almost none. That just proved how unattractive the world must really be on the other side of her front door.

She remembered the few times she'd been outside. Having no real purpose to ever do so, the reason had simply been curiosity. It had been a great disappointment, really. No cotton candy or lapis lazuli in the real world. She ate another scoop of oatmeal.

A small chime was heard, and a bell appeared in the corner of the scene that Clara somehow still hadn't pried her eyes off of. She pulled up the message, and saw the name: Alice Little.

"Hey, sis! I'm already in class, but I can hear the show you're watching. Hurry up! >:l" 

Clara stole a look at the clock, which read eight thirty-four. Crap, school starts at eight thirty! She snatched the entire bowl into her arms and scampered to the school room, her bare feet padding on the hard wooden floor. After arriving at her destination, she set her oatmeal on the single desk in the center, approached the wall to her left, and typed in the needed information: First, Alex Whitman High School, then selected the tenth grade, and finally tapped Ms. Leyman's Language Arts. 

A few seconds later the teacher's face buzzed to life on a larger screen directly in front of Clara. Her eyes jumped to the side, implying that she had noticed Clara's face suddenly jump into its position.

"Glad you finally decided to show up," she berated. Clara felt her face turn pink; four minutes isn't that long, is it? A few snickers were heard circling the room. "Now we have at least one absentee here." Clara swivelled her eyes around the room to look for a black screen, wondering who else wouldn't care to show up as well. At last her eyes snagged on the screen she knew too well: the spot that usually held Megan's smiling face.

Clara almost laughed. Of course it would be her. It definitely wouldn't be the first time Megan was late. She leaned backwards, still scooping oatmeal into her mouth, as Ms. Leyman droned on and on about how to fit together a proper essay, interrupted only by intermittent questions from the students. Clara frequently glanced back at Megan's screen as she leaned over the desk, typing notes on Leyman's method. But she never showed up.