I looked at Nicole’s face. Her jaw muscles were tight, her face glistening with sweat. Then I noticed that her right eye looked normal again. “Wh...t’s going on?” I asked. “You can remove the charger.” “Is everything all right? You don’t look very well,” I said, sitting beside her. “The system is still not functioning properly, but I will be fine soon.” “It is painful, isn’t it?” She nodded. “I have cramps,” she said and shuddered, "It is normal, don’t worry about it!” Ten minutes later,. ’ I told him they all new about my dad and I have basically a free pass. I told him no one thinks I can pass the exams to earn the actual credit missing so many days.He busted out with ‘do you know how many chicks are jealous of you? They have no clue what you’ve lived through.’ I almost started to cry. I told him ‘you’ve noticed the gifted girls starting to treat me like shit.’ He said ‘I notice some of the guys starting to treat you like shit.’ I told him the girl who used to be one of my. Georgina woke up, slowly getting her bearings. Oh, yes. She was at the doctor’s for her smoking treatment. Where was the doctor? Now that she thought about it he said he would go and make a copy of the session in case she wanted to refer to it. She was to come out when she felt rested. A sudden itch for a cigarette hit her, and Georgina winced. Yuk. No thanks. She’d be better off writing one of her speeches. She blushed when she thought of what else she’d be better off doing. Georgina could. And she asks it with a tiny smirk. Surely she knows. But maybe she wants a deeper answer. How much longer can I beat around the bush? I feel myself twisting my ankles like a shy schoolgirl and do my best to avoid the elephant in the room. That prostitution thing. “I guess I just…want to learn. I lost my job last week. Time for something new. You know?” She shrugs. “And…you?” Petra stays silent a moment. For the first time I sense unease in her, now that I’ve thrown her question back at.