“Right this way...umm...madam?”

“Don’t you dare call her madam, she's younger than you,” Sonder scolded Brad.

“Ok, rerun simulation.”

A faceless mannequin with a wig appeared in front of him.

“Thanks for coming on this date with me...um miss?”

“Please don’t call her ‘Miss’ either…”

“What am I supposed to call her then?”

“Her name, Alice.”

“Ok, rerun the simulation one more time.”

The faceless mannequin once again appeared in front of him. “Hello, Alice...umm...this isn’t working. The mannequin isn’t working for me. Can you project her for me?”

“Last time I did that you had a panic attack, are you sure?”

Brad stopped for a second and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You can do this,” he whispered to himself. He opened his eyes slowly to a virtual projection of Alice looking up at him with big, bright eyes.

Brad jumped and let out a little yelp, “Sonder I wasn’t ready!”

This went on for a while until it was time for Brad to head to school. He logged out feeling his virtual body and consciousness fade into dark. He woke up on his bed in his real body. His hands and forehead were covered in a slight cold sweat and his heart beat quickly. He took a deep breath in and shook the nervous feelings away and grabbed his school bag and headed down the stairs to the first floor of his home.

He met the approving gaze of his mother who prepared a warm bowl of oatmeal for him. He ate wordlessly, his mind occupied with thoughts of his date.

“Is something bothering you my son?”

“NO...I mean no there’s, um, nothing wrong.”

“Brad, I can tell you’re thinking very deeply about something. You get this thousand yard stare on your face.”

Brad looked slightly away from his mother and mumbled, “it’s...a girl.”

“A girl??” Brad’s mom asked, sounding intrigued.

“Well...we have a date and I don’t really know what to do.”

His mother was shocked that Brad was having girl problems. He almost never showed any interest in them before, but it made her immensely happy that her son was interested.

“Is it virtual or in person?”

“It’s virtual mom…you know I still have problems meeting face to face alone.”

“Is she...Indian?”

“What? No, what does it matter?”

She could only ask for so much. “I’m sorry. I’m sure whoever she is, she’s great. Hey, why don’t you use the special Disney pass?”

Brad’s parents were of some wealth and had an exclusive fast pass to VR Disneyland. It allowed the user to invite one other person to a completely empty VR Disneyland instance. They bought it for Brad so he could enjoy the theme park virtually in solitude and had hoped he would invite a friend one day.

Brad agreed it was a good idea and thanked his mom. Finishing his breakfast he headed toward the front door. He stopped for a second in front of the closed door leading to his dad’s home office. He put his ear to the door and listened quietly; he was in a meeting.He sent a quick message from his phone to his dad wishing him a good day, something he learned to do from Sonder. He didn’t have the best relationship with his dad due to personality differences, but they mutually respected each other and Sonder gave him tips to help improve their relationship.

He put in his earpods and listened to some EDM, a habit he had before heading out in public. Closing the front door behind him, he opened his phone and summoned a car to take him to school. After about 5 minutes of waiting an empty black sedan showed up on his curb to pick him up. He walked toward the back door and placed his phone near the lock which opened upon sensing the signal from his phone.

Brad sat in the back of the dark car as it drove itself silently to his high school. Brad closed his eyes during the ride listening to his music and imagined Alice’s face. His palms started to sweat. This wasn’t going to be easy, he really liked her. She wasn’t his first crush, but it was his first crush his age. He remembered liking his speech therapist because of how patient and calming her presence was, but this felt a little different from that. What he liked most about Alice was she treated everyone the same. She wasn’t the first high school classmate he’d met in VR as a fan, but none of them treated him very nicely in the real world except her. He also appreciated that he could read Alice’s emotions, a difficult task to do without Sonder’s help. She had a habit of wearing colors that mimicked her feelings. She wore her emotions on her sleeve and it helped they were there otherwise Brad wouldn't have been able to grasp them.

The car reached its destination and Brad stepped out of the car. He walked toward his classroom habitually looking down at the ground as he walked, trying hard to avoid seeing his reflection in the windows of the classrooms he passed by. First period was human geography, he was early like usual and took his seat. Today would be a good day he thought to himself. He put on “It’s a Beautiful Morning,” by the Rascals and felt an unusual amount of optimism. The other kids slowly shuffled in as the start of the period drew near taking out their tablets. Brad kept one eye out for Alice to walk in the doorway while he listened to the tune in his ear.

Then...she appeared in the doorway.

He immediately paused the song. His concern started to grow. Over the course of 3 years being in the same school cohort, Brad had deciphered the color lipsticks Alice wore and what emotion each mapped to. That morning Alice walked in wearing black.