The Nonpareil Order

Chapter One

YEAR: 2218
Location: Borgata, New California

"How is my bun mother? Diane silk pressed my hair. Should I slick my edges again? Is the blue still vibrant? I told Diane to make it really vib-"
"It looks fine Lovely," my mother said, using the nickname my dance studio had coined for me. They had only ever seen me as sweet and kind, and as they said the true incarnation of love itself. They had never seen me angry or fight, never seen me cry, never seen me at my lowest point in my short lived life of an elite. It's a good thing too, they may have changed my name to viper. "You look beautiful and you are going to do beautiful Lux." She held my face in her palms. My fellow dance mates scurried frantically around backstage. Some looking for shoes, others looking for the right colored rhinestones; a girl unwrapped her ankle for a medic to scan it with a radar. Her eyes begged for it not to blink red so she could be in her numbers for the night.
I gave my mother a single nod and turned away to touch up my makeup in the mirror.

She cocked her head to the side slightly and gave me a small smile in the mirror. I cleaned up the slit in my eyebrow with concealer, both of them arched to perfection. My lashes, filled to be bold and wispy, framed my large brown eyes as they always did. The chiseled contour on my high cheek bones of my medium-dark sepia skin and soft contour on my nose emphasized my Afrocentric features.

Elites always looked immaculate. However, anyone could become an elite. You just needed to cross the wealth threshold that increased every few years, so it wasn't a very obtainable thing to do. Anyone could be elite, but not every one could be pure. Elites and commoners mingled in public and private, there was no law against it, but often times each stuck to their own. Commoner to commoner. Elite to elite.

I stared into my reflection, questioning how I struggled with myself image before. How could I have let someone make me so insecure? How could my self-absorbed parents allow someone to crush me? But I was here now. shoulders back, chin up and head held high; it was Autumn Recital and I was ready to grace the stage with my dance company, the group I found solace in for so long, one last time. But I'd always be apart of them, they said.

I waved my hand over my phone, the motion unlocking it to project a hologram text message from my best friend.

Banannie: Lovely, my darling sister, where are yoooouuuu? Come out come out where ever you areeee answer quick pleeease I need to get away from my mother and coach😒

I could here her voice singing in my head and smiled to myself. She wasn't my blood sister, I was an only child, but she had been my friend since I was eleven. Annora Brooklynn Valentine. Her family are elites from Original Brooklyn, Neo New York, who moved to Borgata to expand their business in the auto industry. Unlike my family, hers hadn't always been elites, but when her great grandparents founded the Valentino, one of the nicest luxury levitating cars on the market, the future of her family changed. See, many of the luxury car companies either evolved into something new or became replaced the further technological advances in the levitating vehicle industry went. Lamborghini and Ferrari merged and evolved into Lüm. Tesla survived but rebranded as the Tezlôn. Rolls Royce survived and bought out Bentley. Mercedes bought out Lexus. And then two new ones were created; the Aurora and the Valentino. The Valentines bought the Porsche company and Valentino has become the Porche of the 23rd century. Only a few economy brands survived; not too many people drive anymore with the advancement in public transportation and the cost of the levitating car— but the Elites kept the luxury brands alive, so the Valentines profited well.

Though the both of us did four types of dance together, of the two of us, she was the more technical dancer; lyrical and ballet were her niche. I, on the other hand, felt at home in jazz and hip hop. Much like our friendship, we elevated each other in where we lacked behind.