Two weeks later, Marie sat on her bed the evening of Freedom Day, her phone at her side. She and Sophie texted until about an hour ago. Sophie wanted to sleep and sounded excited for school tomorrow. Marie was happy for her friend and didn't want to be the downer by constantly talking about how terrified she felt.

Head in her hands, Marie went through every worse-case scenario possible to get her chip to activate. If the chip activated, she could get her nervous, first-day-of-school song out of the way in the privacy of her own bedroom instead of belting it out in public. Based on her personal research, she found the chip wouldn't be as sensitive to emotion if it activated the day before. It wasn't conclusive, but she might as well try. She wanted to keep her fellow students in the dark about her singing ability for as long as possible.

The worse-case scenarios weren't working. It must not be enough. The old chip used to do this. Long ago she heard a new update was planned to let the chip activate more in crowded places to show off the magnitude of the song. She'd have to get used to this new chip.

She tried to force it to create a solo, but it took a ton of emotional energy for the chip to activate for solos. The chip was very in tune with the limbic system of the brain, and as President Arnold said, when someone voiced their emotions to another, it strengthened both parties. Which meant solos were rare in Musical Land. Maybe it would activate with a duet, which meant singing a duet with her dad. She shivered at the thought. Not only had he gone to bed a long time ago, but the chip takes words and phrases from the cortex of the brain, often what she was thinking about, and put them in as best a lyrical form as possible. Which means she would sing her deepest insecurities and fears. She was mortified at the thought of singing them to her dad.

Her mind caught hold of an idea. Maybe a long distance duet. She'd done them a few times with Sophie, and with the added nerves from her, the music would be easier to trigger.

Marie grabbed her phone and started texting.

You still up?

She waited for a response, staring at the phone.

I am now.

Marie winced. Sorry.

I wasn't asleep long. What's up?

We need to do a long-distance duet, so I don't sing about my nerves in front of the whole school tomorrow.

Marie stared out the window, feeling sick. This needed to work. Her phone buzzed.

Smart! Let's both focus on our nerves.

With Sophie's added emotions, it would double her chances of the chip getting it all out now instead of later. Once again Marie closed her eyes and focused on how frightening Presley High would be without Sophie there, how she'd have zero friends, how she might even get bullied. If she included Sophie, and they both thought about it together, the chips would sync up and they'd start a duet, no matter how far away from each other they were. She started to believe it. What if students discovered she was part of an experiment? Her heart pounded against her rib cage, and soon music began to fill the room.

Her chip activated, sifting through her thoughts and put together lyrics for her to sing. It reached into its vast database of original songs, narrowing down the song to a somber duet. The rhythm of the music was familiar, part of the basics of songs she'd learned about all through her education. Even though the new chip processed things quicker, most of the singing still involved her skills, and she wasn't the best singer.

With all the incredible things the chip could do in her mind, she still had the option of not singing. There was nothing the chip would force her to do. It was being a good and honest citizen which kept Marie singing. That, and not wanting to be arrested by the S.E.A.

The synced chips worked together. Sophie sang the first verse and the chorus, so Marie waited as the music played, knowing across the city Sophie sang about her nerves. She awkwardly waited for the chip to prompt her that it was her turn as it began feeding her suggested lyrics. Marie closed her eyes, feeling sick about the lyrics coming at her. They weren't the best. It was her lack of skills which made the lyrics not as poetic.

The chip notified her about Sophie finishing the chorus, and now it was Marie's turn. She cleared her throat, glad there was no one around to hear.

"School is hard, school, it sucks,

"School is where I go tomorrow.

"Here I am, singing a song,

"Because tomorrow I don't wanna.

"I'm scared to be part of an experiment

"And pretend like it will all be okay.

"I wish there was someone to be there with me

"Someone who will always stay with me

"Because my best friend isn't coming with me."

Marie tried not to think about how abysmal the lyrics were. Instead she got ready for the chorus, which Sophie had already sung. Sophie's lyrics filled her mind as she began to sing.

"My best friend is going to a different school,

"And everyone tells us we should just be cool,

"But we've never been apart,

"And we don't want to restart.

"It's so hard to be okay.

"So hard to be okay."

Marie sighed when the song came to an end and the music drifted away. Since it was a duet, she didn't have to sing as much. She didn't know what Sophie sang, since she couldn't hear her, but it was fine. This was what she wanted. Privacy while singing.

Her phone buzzed. She picked it up and saw a text from Sophie.

Thanks Marie! You will always be my best friend!

Marie smiled as she told Sophie to break a leg tomorrow before climbing under her covers. She thought the updated chip would help her out, but the chip was only as good as her own education.

Hopefully nothing out of the ordinary would happen tomorrow to trigger the chip. If she played her cards well, she could procrastinate public singing for a little longer.

She tried to sleep, but her fears kept her awake. Before, she allowed herself to think of the worse-case scenarios to activate her chip, but now they haunted her and she couldn't shut them down.

When she did sleep, her dreams weren't much better. She'd wake up and dread glancing at the clock in case it was time to get up. When it wasn't, she went back to marinating in her fears. The closer it got for her get up, the less she slept. When her alarm did go off, she doubted she got enough sleep to function.

She climbed into her hand-me-down uniform and buckled her shoes. She crossed the hall into the bathroom and glanced at herself in the mirror. The fixes she made to her uniform didn't look half bad. Maybe she could survive. She walked into the dining room to see her dad cleaning up his breakfast dishes.

"Who's excited for this spectacular opportunity?" her dad asked too cheerfully.

Marie groaned in response to her dad's over-enthusiasm. Her dad was dressed in his shirt and tie, ready to teach another year. Her dad never taught her at school, which Marie was okay with.

As her dad finished getting ready, Marie finished eating her cereal. She stood up to put her bowl in the sink when her shoes switched to tap shoes without warning. She slipped, landing flat on her back as the bowl skidded across the floor.

"Murphy's Law!" Marie swore.

She made sure her skirt didn't show anything it shouldn't. Clumsy and wearing a skirt did not go well together. No one at Presley High would be clumsy. She tried to get her shoes to return, tapping the sides against the floor.

Her dad rushed around the table to help her up. "Marie! Are you all right?"

"Fine, fine, I'm fine," Marie said out of embarrassment, but mostly to keep her dad from freaking out.

To her surprise the bowl didn't break. She picked it up and walked delicately to the sink.

Her dad frowned. "We might have made a mistake not getting the shoes new."

Was it even an option? Even with everything second hand, she noticed her dad triple checking bills and grocery items the past two weeks. At this point she'd rather have unreliable shoes than give up her phone.

"No, it's fine. I'll be careful with them," Marie said.

He frowned but didn't fight back. "Do you want to ride the metro together?" he asked instead. "Since it's your first day?"

Marie bit her lip. "I guess, but don't we take separate lines?" Once again another reminder that Presley High was in the rich part of town, and her father, teaching science, would be in the poorer part.

"We can at least walk to the station together," he said.

It was harmless enough. Besides, Marie was certain the before school nerves wouldn't activate the chip. She definitely didn't want to sing a duet with her dad on the way to the station. Marie grabbed her bag and lunch box and they walked in a strange silence for another five minutes before they arrived at the station. There was already a ton of singing. Even though a person couldn't start a song at the metro station, they could still sing outside it and bring the song in with them. It was a loophole many took advantage of. School was starting for all of Musical Land, and it was noisy in the station.

"Have an amazing adventure!" her dad yelled over the din as they separated to their different lines.

"I'll try!" It would be a miracle if her dad heard her response.

She waited as songs exploded around her. She did her part as a quiet backup singer to whatever song she was nearest until the metro rolled in. It felt like the grim reaper was coming to collect her. She filed in with everyone else, the cacophony of noise following her. Marie sang backup for a song with a few other students, the chip in tune with the other chips and spitting out the correct lyrics for her to sing. She made sure no one could hear.

When they pulled into Allemande Station, she got off. Each stop brought on more people with more singing, so she was happy to finally get off the metro. The closer she got to Presley High, the more her chip freaked out. It tried to tune to the nearest song, but everyone was singing their first-day-of-school-nerves song. The chip tried to zero in, but Marie tried hard not to focus on it. Maybe she could ignore it without getting into trouble. After all, she didn't want her fellow students to know right off the bat that she was an awful singer. Presley High came into view, and Marie observed the students singing as they danced into school. They sounded amazing, and most looked confident. Marie swallowed, gathering all the courage she could. She took one step when an upper-class girl grabbed her. Marie found herself twirling with the girl.

"And I know this year will be the best!

"I will take each and every moment

"And treasure them for the rest

"Ooooof Myyyyy LIIIIIIIIIFE!"

The girl let Marie go and did a perfect pirouette before strolling into school. The chip suggested a few dance moves, but Marie felt dizzy and needed to get her bearings. Her lunchbox dropped during the twirl, so Marie went to retrieve it. Once again, she tried to gather her courage, but it was hard when she lost it all during the spin. She thanked her lucky stars once again for Sophie helping her sing her nerves last night.

A wall of sound hit Marie as she opened the door to the school. She contemplated turning the other way and running home, but another surge of students arrived from the metro. The rush of incoming students propelled her into the school. She began doing basic steps as a background dancer for other people's songs, trying to dance her way over to her locker. She could only hope her shoes wouldn't switch on her again and make a fool out of her.

At her locker, she had an excuse not to dance. She took her sweet time putting in the combination. When it opened, she put her lunch box in and slowly closed the door. Flipping to the back of her planner, she studied the map of the school. She tried to make her way through the chaos to her first class. She didn't bother trying to remember the tour Mr. Machiavelli gave her of the school a month ago. He didn't point out any math or science classrooms.

She listened to the chip, sang as backup when she needed to, did the right steps, and tapped her shoes to give her the right shoe for the right song, all as her chip suggested. Many students were showing off with complex songs. She tried hard not to look like a new, unintelligent freshman.

It was easy to pick out the popular kids in school. They had their own backup singers and amazing voices. The more complex the song, the more her chip urged Marie to sing with them.

The first bell rang, and Marie panicked. She had no idea where she was in the school! The map was hard enough to read without stopping to dance all the time. Her head ached from the chip trying to interpret three different songs. She wanted everyone to shut up for a minute so she could find her class.

The second bell rang. She was late for Biology!

"Macbeth," she swore.

She would swear occasionally, she admitted, but never twice in two hours. High school would get her swearing like a tech director in no time. It was a good two minutes after the second bell rang, when the halls became peaceful, that she found the science room down a small hallway on the fifth floor. She threw open the door and stepped in. Her classmates looked at her and Marie's face flushed. She turned to find the teacher, but realized he wasn't there yet. A smidgen of luck!

She was fully aware she was the only girl in class. At times like this, she missed Sophie. The empty seats were in the front. She scrambled to one, muttering her apologies, and sat down. The desk wobbled a half an inch. She took out a notebook and pencil, listening to the class resume their chatter. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tapped her notebook with her pencil. Maybe Mr. Machiavelli didn't show her these rooms because they weren't as well taken care off. The paint was a different shade than the rest of the school, and it peeled at places.

A minute after her entrance, a teacher walked in, pulling a fat, old TV. The teacher had a big, fuzzy brown afro, and warm, brown eyes.

"Is this biology?" the teacher asked in a soft voice. His melodious voice somehow put Marie's nerves to rest.

"Yes," a few students said.

The teacher smiled and pulled the TV in farther. After plugging it in, he turned it on and a blue light filled the classroom.

"Good morning everyone. I am Mr. Ross. I'm not a science teacher."

Marie glanced at her fellow students, wondering if one of them knew what was going on. She rather liked Mr. Ross. He seemed super chill.

"Turns out Galileo, your old science teacher, got fired two days ago for tossing objects off a building. Until a new teacher is found, I'm filling in."

He popped in an old video cassette and pressed play. Marie winced. Were they going to watch a movie the whole class period?

"Life," came the deep voiced narrator on the video. "So many unanswered questions, so many possibilities."

Marie stared at the TV, trying not to let her disappointment show on her face. This was supposed to be her sanctuary, the one place where she could shine, and they were stuck watching some boring show. Marie put her head in her hands as Mr. Ross turned off the lights.

The quiet chatter served as white noise as Marie began to doze off in the middle of class. She didn't even notice she'd fallen asleep until the bell broke through the silence and made her jump. What with her lack of sleep last night, maybe it was good she had a power nap.

Her stomach clenched and tied itself into knots as she gathered her unused things. Now she had to survive the rest of the day with classes she didn't like.

Choir was next. After the initial introduction, her choir teacher, Mr. Beethoven, had them start singing. Marie tried to hit the note, but every time she did, Mr. Beethoven stopped them and told them to try again. He could hear her somehow. Marie was certain of it. They tried three more times, and Marie sensed everyone's agitation. On the fourth time, the girls next to her glared.

"Stop being obnoxious and sing," one of the girls said.

Marie didn't know what to do. On the fifth time, she pretended to sing. Mr. Beethoven smiled.

"Now you're getting it!" he said.

Marie faked her way through the rest of the hour and tried not to panic. She could only pretend for so long. She was going to fail choir.

At lunch Marie grabbed her lunch box from her locker and headed for the cafeteria. The singing from the cafeteria hit her like a wave before she reached the final landing of the stairs. She studied the wide open doors leading to the cafeteria before she searched for an escape. Clutching her lunch box close to her chest, she slipped into the bathroom. She locked one of the stalls and let out a sigh. She refused to think about how unsanitary it was as she sat on the toilet and cautiously opened her lunch box. Instead she thought about how much more peaceful this was than in the cafeteria.