"How do you do that..." Mari was wrestling with the controls of a video game machine as her computerized avatar lurched unsteadily around on the big LCD screen across from the two dorm beds. "...that thing where you spin sideways."
Renata laughed from where she was lying on her stomach on the bed farthest from the door, watching her roommate play avidly. Mari was a scholarship kid, and hadn't had one of the next generation consoles at home. Her wide-eyed awe of what it could do...along with the big screen TV and stuff Ren had brought...were a constant source of secret glee for her. And of course, she kind of sucked at most of the games. It wasn't that Renata felt
superior or anything because she was better than Mari.
Well, okay, maybe a little. It was fair. Mari was better at all the classes.
Mari, an adorable latina girl two years Renata's junior glanced back over her shoulder to give her a quick squinchy-eyed tongue poke-out before returning her attention to the game.
"You gotta tap the stick twice fast," Renata explained, still chuckling. "The one you move with. And if you hit the X button while you do that, you can counter..." She stopped when she felt the phone in her back pocket start to vibrate, and fished it out.
"The what button?!" Mari wailed. The image on the screen shook and blood dripped down from top as 'YOU DIED' appeared. "Awww! Okay, one more time."
Meanwhile, Renata answered her phone with a sinking heart, swiveling around with the unthinking agility of youth to a sitting position. "Hey dad."
"Hey there, champ!" enthused her father. Thomas Hodges, who insisted on being called 'Tom.' Perky and courteous and as devious and sly as anyone Renata had ever known in her short almost-eighteen years. But then, to be a Republican Senator in Massachusetts, you kinda had to be. "Happy birthday! How's my girl?"
"Not my birthday yet, dad," Renata sighed. "I'm fine."
"Working hard?"
She glanced over at Mari, who was wiggling around as if the game would somehow read her shoulders and legs and take that into account when controlling her on-screen character.
"Yeah. Mari and me are studying up a storm. So what's up?"
Tom laughed, and when he laughed there was a thing where you could sort of see his mouth wide and grinning, and his teeth all white and polished in your head. The information was transferred through his voice in a kind of subliminal advertisment sort of deal. "Studying up a storm! That's good! Oh, your mom and I have been missing you something fierce, sport. You are such a cut up."
Renata scowled. "Pretty sure mom's not missing me."
"Aw, don't be like that. She loves you! I know things have been rough, but that doesn't change anything. Hey look, okay, I have some news for you. It's good news."
"Yeah?" Renata scratched her chin uncomfortably. Her dad sometimes liked couching things he knew she wouldn't like as 'good news.' But not always. He was careful not to be too predictable. "What is it?"
He chuckled again. "What would you say about the idea of your old man angling for a promotion?"
"Uh...how would that work exactly?" she asked. "There's no such thing as a 'senior Sen...' And then she trailed off. Because there was at least one way to be 'promoted' out of the Senate. "You're kidding me."
"Well you know, nothing's official yet bunnyhunch," Tom replied jovially. "But we're looking into how to make me..." he deepened his voice for comic effect, "...the most powerful man in the free world!" Then helpless giggles overtook him, and she could imagine him wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.
Renata found her tongue almost sticky with dread, like she couldn't move it off the floor of her mouth. "What...what am I gonna have to do?" she asked.
"Nothing bad, I promise. Me and your mother will be under some scrutiny, but I expect the kids, especially you...well, you'll hardly even notice."
She shook her head. "I don't see...how is that even possible? Dad, with all the sh...the stuff that's happened. That's all going to come out. Like, on TV it's going to come out." Renata felt like the dorm room was spinning around her. Dizzy. Mari was looking back at her now, her big brown eyes wide in concern.
"Hun, it's okay! Look, I know it seems like everything's going to be different...and I suppose a lot of things will be. But you know what won't be? Family. So...look, we've got a lot to talk about. I'm going to bring you home, and we can go over everything."
"I need a little time," Renata said, fighting back the urge to throw her phone. "Not this weekend. I...I'll give you a call."
"Actually, the driver should be there any minute. This is important stuff, champ."
Renata let a curse drip from her lips and immediately hung up before her father could reprimand her. Mari was looking at her with real fear now.
"Are you okay?" she asked in a small voice.
Ren shook her head. "I...I don't know."