Page 172 of The Casualty of Us
“I don’t think I can make my legs work yet.”
A grin springs to life on my face at that, every part of me smug as fuck that she loves it just as much as me.
That she loves me even if it hasn’t settled enough for her to say it yet.
“Stop it.”
“You’re cute, baby.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
OPHELIA - DECEMBER 2013
Last day of school.Last day of school.
Last day of school before going home and checking the PO box. Fuck.
I blink across the debate circle Mrs. Long set up for our final class today, all projects and tests already turned in for the semester and leaving us with nothing else to really do. Only part of me checked in enough to keep up with what’s going on as Hayes brushes his knee casually against mine every so often from where he sits next to me. Lisette is on my other side, and both of them are apparently feeling combative by how they’ve been picking fights with anyone who pushes back against them even a bit. Probably in part because of Kyler’s continued presence in the class, which always has Hayes in a particularly foul mood and Lisette right there with him ever since Halloween. Both of them highly suspicious of his presence out there and vocalizing the same assumptions that I came to before getting knocked out.
Kyler, who has been strangely absent from my little bubble of life since then.
Not unfriendly or rude, but just absent. As if he’s avoiding me.
Kyler shoots Lisette a smirk from across the circle, and Hayes’s knee gives a jerk against mine before he crosses his arms—the little tell from him disrupting my internal thoughts enough to have me tuning fully back in. Finding the topic having turned to vaccinations and making my nose scrunch, wondering who in the hell made the leap between the ethical and economic implications of AI progression and that.
Regardless, though, apparently Lisette and Kyler have strong opinions on it because I quickly find the volume of the debate escalating.
“All scientific evidence points to vaccine reactions being exceedingly rare,” Kyler scoffs. “And I’d even take it a step further, I’d say the real threat actually comes from parents who choose not to vaccinate—”
“That’s not your call to make!” Lisette shouts angrily. “It’s not the government’s place to tell people what they can and cannot do with their children.”
“It is when it comes to the safety of said children and the general population.” Kyler smirks again before shrugging. “For example, driver’s licenses—we understand that cars pose a general risk to society, so therefore we regulate them.”
“That’s not the same.” Lisette shakes her head, immediately falling into a defensive stance and making me scowl. “That’s imposing regulations around an object—”
“Like food or drugs or any other thing that goes into the body, the same as avaccination,” Kyler emphasizes, voice turning a little mocking. “Vaccines have been effective for years, and I’m not sure why society is still fighting against something that should just be common sense.”
“Yes, but I’m not forcing you to buy the car I think is best for you or to eat dairy if you’re allergic to it!” Lisette snarks back loudly. “I’m saying it’s a matter of personal choice—of, of, liberty!”
She’s missing it. The opportunity.
It’s his ego that will get him. Kyler’s always thought he’s smarter than he actually is, and for a while he said enough pretty words that fourteen-year-old me briefly bought it.
He’s good at it even. Putting on a show. I’ve watched him do it for a whole semester now. The only time he falters is when our eyes have met around school lately, like he’s nervous. Scared, even.
A frown pulls at my lips as they both start to devolve further into what’s quickly turning into a nonsensical argument, and the words leave my mouth without thought really—some part of me having been waiting for exactly this. “Hey, Kyler, I have a question for you.”
Hayes’s leg presses against mine briefly with Lisette and Kyler’s voices dying out, his gaze immediately turning to me with that nervousness flashing through it before the ego overtakes and wins out. “Of course,” Not really surprising me but still making me have to contain a roll of my eyes when he smirks. “What’s that, O?”
“Why is it that only like…” I sigh, frowning a little and looking down to count off a couple of fingers before blinking back up at him innocently. “Ten states allow for chemical castration?”
He blanches. “What?”
“And only then for the worst offenders?”
“I’m sorry?” He shakes his head in confusion. “What?”
“Do you think that’s something that should be implemented federally?” I press thoughtfully. “Or should we just jump straight to cutting it off and try to eliminate that type of behavior for good?”
