ONE

NINE MONTHS EARLIER

   Cameron stood there, mouth agape in a perfect, little “O.” His best friend waved his hand in front of Cameron’s face.

   “Cameron, you good, man?” Justin asked.

   “What?” he said, breaking out of his stupor. “Oh, yeah, yeah. I’m good.” He could feel his cheeks flush. He had been too distracted by the sight of Gabriella Clearwater—the most beautiful girl in the eleventh grade.

   Justin grabbed Cameron’s arm, “Come on, dude. We’ve got to get to physics class,” he finished with an eye roll. “Because that’s what I wanna learn about in 2163.”

   Heading down the hall towards biomechanical physics, Cameron envisioned Gabriella. — her curly brown hair cascading down her lean, muscular back; her eyes the color of the sky on a warm summer day; her plump lips untouched by bright red lipstick unlike all the other girls.

   “Oh, keep it in your pants, Cam,” Justin rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he had to yank Cameron’s arm hard enough to wrest him from his daydream. “Think about her later. Right now, we have to get to class.”

   Cameron groaned, but he allowed Justin to drag him to seat in the class, where Dr. Jackson was waiting at the front of the room very eagerly.

   “Are you kids ready to learn?” he asked, his voice higher pitched than normal with an air of brightness very unusual for him. Cameron recollected last week when he gave them a twenty-question pop quiz just because he was having a bad morning after spilling his coffee. He could tell he was in a better mood than normal because Dr. Jackson was only in button-down and gray trousers; he usually wore a suit with a tie as tight as his personality. “Today, I just want us to have a class discussion about the oxygen shortage.”

   “What about it, sir?” Justin inquired. “I think everyone knows by now what’s going on.”

   “I wanted to hear everyone’s opinions and perspectives on the matter for a book I have started writing on the current affairs in the world, especially from the perspectives of the students,” he answered. Justin feigned satisfaction with his answer, although Cameron knew it was just because he couldn’t think of a retort. “My first question is for Mr. Ramirez. I know you’re fairly newer here, but I feel you have been here long enough to accurately gauge the differences in this prep school compared to your former school. How does San Vanjay’s compare?”

   “Well,” Nate said, his voice quivering slightly, “I would say it differs mostly because of the kind of people that go to this school.”

   “And how is that, Mr. Ramirez?” Dr. Jackson pushed on.

   “I don’t really know how to explain it,” Nate answered uncomfortably. “I guess I’d just have to say it’s a lot more difficult to make friends here, but it’s much easier to get the proper oxygen doses every day.” Cameron could see where he was coming from. He was the stepson of the president, and he only had one real friend. Everyone else at this school only talked to him for personal gain.

   “Interesting,” Dr. Jackson said, brushing his hand on chin. “Now I have a question for you, Mr. Morrison.”

   “Yes?” Justin droned. Cameron could tell by the look in Justin’s eyes that he was about to be a smartass.

   “Have you ever wondered if your life would be different if your best friend, stepson of President Hendrickson, were able to get your family the proper oxygen doses you all need?” he asked.

   Justin piped up, “By that, do you mean would I try and sleep with Cameron here in order to get more oxygen?” He glanced at Cameron and joked, “Sorry, bro. I love you, but I wouldn’t whore myself off to you.”

   Cameron bit right back, “Oh, I’m so hurt. I should just go home and cry right now. Justin Morrison doesn’t want me.” Dr. Jackson just rolled his eyes and looked like he regretted even asking Justin anything in the first place.

*****

   The next class, literature, was taught by one of Cameron’s favorite teachers, Mrs. Stein. Her reading material had always been ancient in every usage of the word, but Cameron loved her as a teacher.

  “Good morning, class,” she greeted them all that time. “First things first, does anyone have any questions about the reading?”

   The girl beside Cameron, Madison, stuck her hand up and asked, “Mrs. Stein, I would like to ask why you chose this particular novel. This book is ancient. I mean who even reads this crap anymore?”

   “Miss van Buren, I chose this novel because it reflects a lot of the issues we still see within our society today: classism, racism, yes, it’s still a thing, and more minor things such as a corrupt political system that never fails to disregard the needs of the country’s inhabitants, no offense to anyone intended,” she answered confidently. Cameron could not have agreed more. He loved the novel, and he also thought it was still very relevant.

   “If it’s still relevant, why is no one reading it?” Madison followed up.

   “Because the majority of our society today likes to lie to themselves about what really goes on in this country, and books like these that actually bring attention to the faults in our systems and workings are frowned upon,” Mrs. Stein answered, “Any more questions?” With no other hands raised, Mrs. Stein went on to assign their group projects and paired Cameron with Madison. This ought to be interesting, he thought to himself.

*****

   After their classes were halfway over, Cameron proceeded to the cafeteria with Justin to eat lunch. They each ate sautéed squash, roasted chicken, corn, and bananas for their lunches. The school board actually started caring about the kinds of food they served children every day. After a minute or two of comfortable silence, Justin said, “So, hey, Cam, what’s the big deal with your stepdad being reelected again? Why is everyone freaking out about it?”

   “Oh, they’re doing more than freaking out. There have been people out in the streets protesting a good bit of the time. They’re probably rioting because he’s promising them a bunch of BS that’s never going to happen: more trees, fewer sick people, stuff like that,” Cameron grumbled, “but the environment can’t handle more trees since the world became a shit show. Most people believe him, but the ones freaking out are the ones trying to get people not to vote for him this term.”

   “Really?” Justin whispered, “I wish I could vote to get him out of office. I’d totally be out there rioting with them if I’d be allowed. I know what him and Shane both do to you. I would try and get him out of office for reasons other than him being a terrible president.”

   “Thanks, but it’s really fine. I feel like it would be worse if he were elected out of office. He’d be so pissed that he’d take it out on me even worse than he already does.”

   Justin leaned in and said, “You know I’ve always got your back, right? You can leave him and come stay with me and my mom and Carly anytime you need to.”

   “I know, man,” he said, “thanks. I know I can always trust you.”

*****

   After school was over, Cameron was picked up by his usual limo driver, Frank. They had to wait a few minutes for his stepbrother, Shane, to come out of the school building, a girl on each arm. 

   As Shane and two girls Cameron didn’t recognize climbed into the limo, they shoved him aside, and he had to sit against the side of it. “Don’t you know by now not to sit in my seat, dickbag?”

   Frank started his route to their house, a big manor house on the outskirts of town.

   “Maybe you wouldn’t have to worry about it if you got out to the car quicker instead of getting two chicks on each arm every day,” Cameron retorted. “Also, girls, he’s not going to call you, so I’d just bail on him now. He’s just going to sleep with you and kick you to the curb.” They both just shrugged, still silent.

   “See, little bro? This is what it looks like when girls actually want you,” Shane said. “They both know this is casual, but they don’t care because they want me.”

   “What are you going to do with them then? Are you going to steal them from their boyfriends too? Are you going to give them chlamydia or whatever STD it is you’ve got? Get them pregnant?” Cameron said. At a skeptical look from the girls, Shane shot him a death glare. 

   After listening to a few songs that took ages to find on his earpiece, Frank was pulling into the driveway of their house. Cameron hurried to his room, doing everything in his power to avoid tripping the woes of his stepfather.

   He didn’t think it would be too difficult, though, since there were weird noises coming from the general area of the back of his office. It was whimpering, like hurt or upset puppies. Why are there people whimpering? Cameron asked himself. He hesitated in the hallway for a moment, which was as long as he dared, before proceeding to his room, the whimpers following him into the crevices of his mind.

******

   The next day at school, Cameron met Justin outside, who was standing with Gabriella. Cameron walked even faster to see what was going on there, but she’d walked away before he got there.

   “What was that, man?” Cameron asked, eagerness with a shot of jealousy spreading through his body.

   “Oh, she’s my math lab partner,” Justin said.

   “You all have fun with that,” Cameron said, clapping him on the shoulder. As they walked inside, he said, “So do you want to talk to Gabriella for me?”

   “Dude,” Justin said, “why do you think I partnered with her? If I were to pick someone I actually wanted to partner with, I’d have picked Nelson, but you know how much Brianna hates her guts, so it was nice to be able to piss her off.”

   “Thanks, dude. I actually am grateful,” Cameron said.

   “Don’t go all soft on me now, boy,” Justin said, playfully smacking him on the arm.

   Cameron rolled his eyes and said, “No offense, but your ex is a downright bitch.” Justin nodded agreement, and then Cameron walked to his vault in the east wing of the school. A minute or two after Justin left, when Cameron was standing in front of his storage vault, he was dreading going home. His breath got heavier, and he knew he needed to calm down. He pulled up his hood and ducked lower.

   Before he even realized, Cameron was colliding with another body, and when he fell, the girl got down and profusely apologized. With his heart lifting at her saying, “Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” he didn’t even have to look at her to know it was Gabriella. He was so astounded by her saying something to him that he wouldn’t even comment on how cliché this scenario was.

“It—It’s okay. It’s my fault,” he managed to stammer out. “It was m-my fault.” He kept his head down. He didn’t want Gabriella to see him so shaken up. She held her hand out to help him up. He took it and muttered, “Thank you.” Once he was up, he was about to start walking to his class when Gabriella stopped him.

   “You’re Cameron Richards, right?” she asked. “Your stepfather is President Hendrickson?” Oh, he thought sadly. That’s what this is about. Being the president’s stepson usually wasn’t a good thing, but occasionally it had its perks. When Cameron nodded his head, Gabriella continued, “Do you think you could ask him to set up an interview with me for my article? It would really help if I could have an interview with the actual President of the United States.”

   Gabriella told him she was a cub reporter for the school who was writing an article about the latest news on the oxygen shortage. Cameron answered, his heart falling the slightest bit, “You know, I’m really sorry. He’s a really busy man. I’d love to have you interview him. I just don’t think he’ll have a free second in his schedule for an interview. Not to mention, they don’t really just let anyone interview him. I’m really sorry.” In reality, he could probably have gotten her the interview, but he didn’t want her knowing what he went through at home every night.

   “That’s okay, Cameron,” she said. His heart fluttered when she said his name. “I understand. If anything opens up, will you let me know?” She swiped her contact information to his HoloComm. With an assurance that he would, Gabriella walked away with a thank you.

   Cameron walked to his class, knowing he was never going to be able to focus with these mixed up emotions in his head.

*****

   After school was over, he was supposed to go meet with Madison from literature to start on their project. They were meeting at a local coffee joint he hadn’t been to—The Village Café. He got there right before Madison did and found a table in the back-left corner of the small little shop. He barely got to a table before he saw her walk through the door and head to meet him. They didn’t really know each other very well, but they were acquaintances.

“Hi, Cameron,” she said, her hair flopping behind her. He was amused that it matched the color of the coffee on the window sticker behind her. “Did you find the place okay? I know you mentioned you hadn’t been here before.”

   “Yeah I found it okay. Thanks,” he said awkwardly. “Do you want to order first, or do you want to go ahead and get started on our project?”

   Madison answered, “They’ll actually come to our table in a second to take our orders, so we can go ahead and get started.”

   “Sounds good,” he replied, and then he started getting out the book they were doing a report and presentation over. She had her HoloComm wrapped around her wrist. Cameron usually wore his around his neck, but he’d noticed most people wore them as bracelets. When the hologram was pulled up to write their report, he asked, “Have you even started reading the book yet? Because I’ll be honest, I haven’t.”

   “Honestly, neither have I,” she replied lightheartedly. “I know I need to though.”

   “Same,” Cameron replied. “How do you want to start? Should we just look up a synopsis of the book, or?” Right as he was finishing his statement, the waitress came up and decided to take their orders. Madison ordered a caramel macchiato, and Cameron just ordered a black coffee. They both thanked the waitress when she said she’d be right back.

   “Black coffee? What are you? Suicidal?” She joked.

   Cameron laughed awkwardly and retorted, “No, heh, I’m just sweet enough already, I guess.” The waitress had brought out their coffee. He took a sip of his coffee, and it was much better than he expected.

   Madison sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.”

******

   When he got home that afternoon, his father’s assistant, Terry, asked him where he’d been. Cameron replied, “I thought I mentioned that I was meeting my friend after school to work on a project. I’m sorry if I forgot to mention it.” He held his head down, expecting a scolding from Terry. All he did was stick up his eyebrows.

   “Fine but be sure you get all the work done you’re supposed to,” was all Terry said before hurrying his way up to the President’s beck and call. With an eye roll after Terry’s back was turned, Cameron went up to his room. He tried to ignore the strange sounds from his stepfather’s study, but it was hard to tune out. It sounded like people screaming, yet there was only him, Shane, the president, and the manor staff that were in the house. Was someone watching a horror movie? It was muffled, as if they were far away.

   He turned on his antediluvian record player. He would listen to pretty much anything that wasn’t recorded in the last fifty years or so. His mother always used to tell him that once the year hit 2120, music started becoming terrible. She said everybody used to record good music, but then the oxygen ran low, and no one could even sing anymore. He remembered when she bought him this record player. He was about ten years old, and she’d been searching for one for ages to buy for him. It wasn’t until she married President Hendrickson that she was able to procure one. He’s found websites where he’s able to buy vinyl records at $12 apiece. He still listens to them to this day, both because he likes the music and because it reminds him of his mother.

   With the rock playing in the background, he was finally able to not hear whatever strange sounds he was hearing. Even though his curiosity was sky high, he knew it would be in his best interest not to go snooping where he didn’t belong. It was a sure-fire way to get his ass beat, so he just ignored it and started reading this super boring book for his project.

   It was hard enough for him to focus on the old-timey writing style, but the music and distant sound of screaming made it even more difficult. His mind kept tuning out. His mind had drifted so far that he had not even noticed he wasn’t in tune to the words anymore. He promised Madison that he’d have the book read by the next time they were supposed to meet up.

   A little while after he’d started reading, he got a text from Justin. He pulled his HoloComm off from around his neck and read the text: Hey, dude. Do you think the pathetic little acorn will let you come meet me tonight for some video games? I really need to talk.

   He shot back: I doubt it, but I can try. What’s the deal?

   Justin said: I just really need your help with something, and I can’t really explain it over the phone. Can you please just try? It’s urgent. Cameron replied “sure” and said he’d go ask. His heartbeat started thumping with Justin’s use of the word “urgent.” He wasn’t one to throw around a word like that lightly. He figured his stepfather would be busy, so he found it best to ask Terry and then Terry would ask his stepfather.

   “Have you gotten whatever project you were working on finished yet?” He scolded.

   “Not yet, but it’s not due for another month. We were just getting a head start and drafting plans today,” Cameron answered. He wasn’t scared of Terry, but he was scared of his stepfather’s wrath that could be brought on through Terry.

   Terry nodded and said, “I will go ask, but don’t expect him to say yes. He’s in a very ire mood as of the time being.”

   “I kind of figured,” Cameron said. “Tell him it’s an emergency. I swear I’m not lying. I was told it’s an emergency.”

   “Fine. Be back in a moment,” Terry said.

   Cameron just waited anxiously by the door, trying not to think about what his stepfather would do if he said no. Justin wouldn’t have said it was an emergency if it wasn’t, and he needed to be there for his best friend. He’d always been there for Cameron, so it was time for him to repay the favor.

   Cameron’s heartbeat quickened when Terry returned and said, “Your stepfather says it’s okay as long as you are back by your curfew, and Frank has to drive you.” He nodded his understanding and muttered a thank you. He scurried down the staircase before his stepfather could change his mind.

   “Hey, Frank?” Cameron asked when he reached the lounge where he was seated. “Would you mind giving me a ride to Justin’s? He’s having an emergency.”

   “Of course, kid,” he said, standing up, “I’ll always give you a ride when you need it. I’m ready whenever you are.”

   Cameron nodded his thanks and said, “I’m ready now.” They both started walking through the house to the garage, where the sedan was sitting. Cameron got in the back seat and pulled up his HoloComm, shooting a text to Justin: Hey, I’m on my way. Everything still good? He had this irrational fear that Justin was in danger, but he had no idea what he’d be in danger from.

   Justin texted back: Not at all. Thanks for checking in. Can you bring any extra oxygen? If not, it’s all good. He replied: I actually just left. I’m sorry. I wish I could help. Justin said it was alright and he didn’t expect Cameron to have to help, but he still had a lump of fear in his stomach.

   “Is everything alright, Mr. Richards?” Frank asked while looking back in the rearview mirror.

   Cameron answered, “It’s not great, but I’ll feel better once I get there.”

   “Understandable, sir. I am doing my best to get you there promptly,” Frank replied. Cameron waved off his apology and said it wasn’t Frank’s fault. He just couldn’t stop the anxiety crumbling in his chest with fear for his friend. He was relieved when Frank pulled into the driveway, and then Cameron told him thanks and sprinted out of the car.

   “Justin!” He hollered. “I’m outside!” He saw the porch light flash on, and Justin opened the door to let Cameron in the front stoop. The fear was settled when he saw the scene in front of him: Justin’s little sister, Carly, crumpled in the floor in a heap of blankets that were covering her cold, shaking body.