Technical Difficulties

Song Bird

First. No judging my picture. It was a quick sketch to give you an idea of the out fit.

You awoke to a sharp pain in your side. Gasping you sat up to see you were laying on the one Connor had kicked. You turned in your bed to allow yourself to breathe.

You got out of bed once you felt a little better and got ready for the day. You had school soon and coincidentally Astro was in a couple of your classes.

Yes, you knew him. Not imediately at first because it slipped your mind. But this morning it had hit you. Astro. The robot. The incredibly powerful and advanced robot.

You had no clue why but you dreaded seeing the boy robot. You worried he might recognize you. You walked to school with your hoodie to hide the bruises and the cut on your right shoulder.

You walked into school looking at the ground but you slammed into someone. Falling backward you hit the floor with a grunt.

"Oops. Sorry. Are you alright?" A boy's voice spoke up. You flinched at his voice then glanced up. It was a red headed boy with a kind smile. He held out his hand to you, and you simply looked away.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." The boy's name was Reno. You knew him well enough. He hung around with Astro. Bright, perky boy with a promising future in robotics. He didn't go here. Though he hung around with Astro and his friends till class started.

As for you. You had some friends, but not many. You preferred to be alone. Drawing and writing were your compainons and frankly you kinda hoped it would stay that way. All your friends you had before had only hung around you till they found new friends and instantly became your bullies.

"Huh? Don't you want help up?" Reno asked politely. Logically you knew he wouldn't hurt you. In fact you desperately just wanted to act normal and take his hand but your instincts kicked in and your hand trembled when you reached out even slightly.

Closing your hand and pulling it to your chest you shook your head.

"N-no I'm fine getting up myself." You muttered your voice barely above a whisper. So Reno leaned closer cupping a hand around his ear.

"What was that?" This made your heart leap into your throat.

"N-nothing!" You stammered louder. About to move when Reno glanced at you. Suddenly he paused.

"Hey, what happened to your cheek?" He asked suddenly. Blinking in confusion you put your hand on your cheek and gently pressed only to rip your hand away seconds later when pain dug into your skin.

You pushed yourself to your feet. And walked past Reno.

"Um not sure I'll fix it later thanks anyway Reno." You said in a rush before walking swiftly down the hall.

"Uh anytime." Reno said waving a little, but when he realized you weren't going to wave back or even glance in his direction he dropped his hand. "Weird."

Once you went into your class you took your seat and rifled through your bag looking for a small compact mirror. Finally you found it in one of the forgotten pockets and opened it looking at your reflection.

Sure enough on your right cheek there was a light purple bruise. From first glance It wasn't very noticeable. But with a closer look anyone could tell what it was. Epecially a robotoics wiz like Reno.

Perhaps he hadn't gotten a closer look at it. Or maybe he thought you got some grape juice on your face or something. After all you were a kid. And kids were messy.

Suddenly Astro walked in. And also as usual you pulled up your hood at his entry. Astro never seemed to notice before but today he glanced at you.

You looked at your desk trying to avoid meeting his gaze. But out of your periphial vision you could see he seemed to be wondering about something.

Deciding quickly that keeping to yourself was the best idea you pulled out your sketch pad and started to draw. You weren't really thinking you just wanted an excuse not to look up.

Astro seemed to decide on something before walking over to you.

"Hey. Um weren't you the girl who helped my sister?" Astro asked simply.

You were many things but a liar wasn't one of them. So with a relectant sigh you looked up trying to keep your panic to a minimum. Robot or no he was still a guy. And the fact that he had the capablility to kill you without so much as a second thought didn't help your phobia. If anything it made you more terrified of Astro than any other boy.

"Yeah." You said more quietly than yoi would have liked. You weren't shy. Just scared.

"Why?"Astro shot you a smile.

"I never got your name. Im Astro." He offered you his hand and you flinched away from the movement. Astro seemed to notice and frowned worriedly at you.

"Are you ok?" He asked concern lacing his words.

"Yeah um just jumpy today is all. Name's (y/n)." You answered quickly. Suddenly the bell rang and Astro looked forward.

"Oh i'd better sit down. Bye." He waved before hurrying to his seat. You breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed as the lesson began.

School went by swiftly as you thought about tonight's competition. Zoran had totally sky rocketted your scores. Why was that? Then it hit you. She was a girl, she was adorable, and she learned quick.

Now with your hood up most people simply couldn't tell if you were a girl or a guy. Frankly either could have done your moves flawlessly. And your title hardly gave a hint.

Janessa just went by her name, but you knew the dangers there. You went by Song bird. Now someone could argue that your voice gave you away. That only a girl could sing like that.

They'd be wrong. It was a club. Your singing was loud but most people didnt hear a word you were saying. Everyone was dancing or at the bar in the back.

Somehow boys didn't scare you when they thought you were one. For some reason your brain didn't see any danger if boys treated you like a boy.

You walked home and changed into your preformance out fit before heading out. Hopefully tonight you'd be going on solo.