She gave me a hug and said “Charlie, I can’t thank you enough, he had been yelling at me all day and I just didn’t know what to do,” as she sa...d this tears began to well up in her eyes, “it’s ok hun, you with me now, just relax and take some deep breathes.” She fell asleep on the car ride back and I carried her back into my house and laid her on my couch. I had been good friends with Kelsey for most of high school and had always had a crush on her but never got around to telling her. There. ”“At the expense of Jessica?” she asked.“Before I answer that, will you answer something for me?”“Yes, of course,” Kara said.“I’m just thinking back over everything that’s happened since the Christmas when Bethany had her accident. Did you choose Jessica or did I?”Kara propped herself on her elbow and looked me in the eyes, “Does it matter?”“Your answer won’t change anything, but I have this sense that somehow you led me to this situation - away from Bethany and to Jessica.”“Would it upset you. I dried off, and wewalked back to the bedroom, as I clutched my discarded shirt in front ofmy crotch for some modicum of privacy.Cassandra and Tessa looked up from where they were sitting on the bedplaying with their phones as we walked in."Great," Tessa smiled at us. "From now on, you're staying shaved all thetime, no nasty stubble understand?" She tossed something at me, and Icaught it awkwardly. A pink ladies razer. "That'll get you started,replace it if you need to. I'm sure you can steal. Instead of the usual disembodied neutral computer voice, what she had heard was a rich chocolate velvet female voice that usually would have made her toes curl."D4," she stammered, "is that you?"A soft earthy laugh came from the computer."And who else would it be, Kendra?" the voice asked, "but I would prefer to be addressed as Lura, if that is okay with you." But how, I mean, what...What happened?" Kendra finally managed to get out."Part of the upgrade, I calculated that a more human voice and.