Sonder panicked, Brad had passed out from a panic attack. This wasn’t the first time he had, but it was in awhile. Sonder quickly contacted Brad’s dad.

“Excuse me sir, your son has fainted. It seems like he is being taken care of, however would you like me to send for emergency services or a car?”

Brad’s dad had been closely watching the entire scene from his home. His immediate impulse was to send for a car and pick him up himself, but what he wanted was to let the cards fall where they may. He sat back down on his chair.

“No Sonder, it sounds like the situation is under control. I’d like Brad to grow from this.”

“I understand sir, but…”

“We won’t always be there for him.”

“Yes sir, but…”

“But, what?”

“It looks like his identity is about to be found out by Alice.”

Brad’s phone vibrated underneath Alice’s as she sent him a text message not knowing her boyfriend was the one that just passed out. Brad’s father quickly grasping the situation reacted and called Brad’s phone.

Bradley’s phone underneath hers vibrated. Strange, Alice thought. Soon it vibrated again. She pulled Bradley’s phone out from underneath. His dad was calling him. She swiped and picked up the call.

“Hello?” Alice asked. She could hear a gruff voice take a breath on the other side of the line.

“Hello, I just received an automated warning that my son had a medical emergency. Are you his friend?”

Alice paused and thought about the question for a second. Was she?

“Yes, I’m his friend. You must be Bradley’s dad, yes he passed out and is being taken to the nurse’s office. I think he’s ok, I think he just had heat exhaustion or something.”

“That’s good to hear. Thank you for taking care of him. Is he with you now?”

“Oh, no sorry he dropped his phone and I’m returning it to him now.”

“I see, I’m going to come pick him up now. Thank you again and sorry for the trouble.”

“Oh, no trouble,” Alice replied.

“Thank you…,” a pause, “...thank you for being his friend. You’re a good person.”

Alice felt slightly ashamed since she didn’t know Bradley too well, but grateful for the sincere gesture from Brad’s concerned father.

“It’s no problem, really.”

“There’s something you need to know,” Brad’s dad said sternly.

“Something I need to know?” Alice replied confused.

…The call hung up.

“Sonder!” Brad’s dad yelled.

“I’m sorry sir, but that’s not your secret to tell. He will tell her in time,” Sonder replied matter of factly.

“She deserves to know...but, you’re right.”

Alice, confused at the abrupt end to the conversation headed toward the nurse’s office. She thought about what he might’ve said. Maybe Bradley had some kind of rare disease or something. She got to the nurse’s office who greeted her in recognition.

“Hello, your friend is ok, he’s sleeping peacefully in the other room right now.”

Alice smiled at her, “thank you, I was just coming to give him his phone back, he dropped it when he fell earlier.”

The nurse thanked her and took the phone back.

“Oh, also his dad called and said that he’d come pick him up soon,” Alice explained.

“Okay, I’ll let him know when he wakes up. Thank you again for helping you were really brave.”

Alice beamed, nodded, and headed out filled with motivation. It felt good to be praised, to be helpful, to be needed. She didn’t want to be a nurse or go into healthcare before because it was the default choice that her parents had given her, but being able to help people was something deeply ingrained in her. She spent years fighting what her parents wanted for her only to find out she wanted the same thing. She pulled out her phone, she needed to send one more text.

“Hey Mom, I got accepted into Mars U!”

She quickly put her phone down not wanting to see the response she’d get back. Her phone vibrated once, twice, three times. She looked at the notifications all from her mother.

“OH MY GOSH”

“Congratulations daughter ;-;”

“We are so proud of you, do you know what you want to study?”

Alice bit her bottom lip as she begrudgingly typed the letters.

“Nursing and Robotics,” she quickly sent off.

This was immediately replied with a quick barrage of more notifications which she chose to ignore until she got home. She felt a little embarrassed it took her this long to come to this resolution, but it felt like a big weight had vanished from her shoulders. She didn’t have to worry about applications anymore. She didn’t need to wonder about what she wanted to study or what she wanted to do with her life. And, for the first time in a while she was aligned with her parents.

It felt bittersweet. She’d have to leave Earth after graduating. She’d have to leave a lot of things. It suddenly felt cold and a bit lonely. She’d have her parents, but, but, would she get to see Brad in person? Her heart panged slightly and she looked at her phone again. There were 30 messages from her mom, 2 from her dad, and 1 from Brad who replied.

She opened her chat with Brad.

“This Friday,” the message read.

Alice texted back, “What’s this Friday?”

…

“I’ll come visit you at your school this Friday.”