Feb 2018 v01 online

“No matter what day it is, I bet Mrs Kitchener
would find a way to tell us off for it,” she said,
rolling her eyes. Harper snorted and the other
girls laughed at full volume.
Avery heard the beginnings of a quip from
her hanger-on. She started rattling clothes
hangers to try and drown it out, knowing full
well that the voice was internally manifested
and external sound didn’t have any effect.
“ – because the school dress code says –”
“This is cute!” She says loudly, picking up an
item of clothing at random. It was a very garish
pair of red trousers embroidered with pink
cherry blossoms up both sides.
“…says –”
“But I think the purple ones are better. Or the
blue ones. Which ones?”
“I wish I could pull off a look like that,” Aria
lamented genuinely. “I think I would just look
stupid. You’d make them look cool, though.”
“Try them all on,” Addison ordered, tossing
her a black leatherette jacket from the other end
of the rack. “And this. You’ll look so edgy.”
“Grayson will love it,” Harper hissed
conspiratorially, loud enough for everyone in
the store to hear.
“Oh my God,” Avery pinked again, but not
quite so violently this time – perhaps with a hint
of pleasure. Hefting the heap of clothing in
both arms, she turned and made some
aggressive eye contact with the ARIF as she
walked to the plush changing rooms. It
followed her a step behind, as it had been doing
all afternoon – as it did every afternoon.
Avery dumped the heap of clothes on the
dressing room floor and slumped into the one
ornate chair.
“Is something wrong, Ava?” ARIF said, concern
furrowing its brow. Its emotions were
humanlike in a sense, but so overexaggerated as
to be almost comical. They were meant to help
young children understand nuances in
expression and body language, but at age
fourteen they were almost painful to watch.
Avery’s reply was muffled as she hid her face
in her hands. “I am so embarrassed. You are so
embarrassing.”
ARIF looked even more confused. “How could
I embarrass you? No one else can see me.”
Avery rolled her eyes as the ARIF peered into
the mirrored wall. It waved over-exaggeratedly.
It had no reflection.
“I don’t know, you're just embarrassing! I’m
trying to make Harper and Aria and Addison
like me and you just keep screaming out a
bunch of baby stuff. You're putting me off.”
“I think Harper and Aria and Addison like you
very much.” ARIF produced a huge, cartoonish
grin. Avery’s ire was not affected. ARIF
recalculated. “I'm sorry, Ava. I just like to join in
with you and I don’t know what else to say.”
Avery sighed, balked a little. The expression
on ARIF’s face was strangely real, now. It was
confused and sad – even a little hurt? Avery felt
a twinge of regret. Such a genuine emotion
would have come about as a result of the ARIF’s
interactions with her over the years – there’s no
way that expression would’ve been written into
the original programme.
“Don’t look sad, please. I don’t like it when
you look sad.”
It took ARIF a moment to simulate a more
pleasant facial expression. It looked up at her
with expectant eyes. “I’m sorry, Ava. Are you going
to try on your clothes?”
Ava toed the sleeve of the leatherette jacket
with one faux-suede boot.
“How long have you been around with me,
ARIF?” she said after a moment.
A millisecond of calculation. “Nine years, eight
months and eleven days,” it said. “A long time! I’m
very lucky to spend nine years with my best friend.”
“Do you like it? Like – do you still like it?”