The Machine Rules

9

"Aah! Was he hot? Is he cute? What did he say?" Sarina shot out multiple questions.

"What's his name? Did you get his number? Tell us everything!" Valrie grabbed me by my arms and shook me.

"I would if you let me," I slapped her hands, ignoring her glare at me by returning one. "So, long story short, I got tired of staying in line, we bumped into each other, he spilled his ice cream on me, I got this new shirt, we exchanged numbers, and I'm here," I shrugged.

"His name Lilya. Give me his name!" Sarina exclaimed.

"Ego, his name is Ego. I find it very odd yet very interesting," I say the last part more to myself.

"Is his name as hot as he looks?" Sarina wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

"He is very good-looking, and that's what I will say," I raised my hand and walk past the two to our teacher.

"Finish your desert there so we can go to eat. We do have it for free, but that doesn't mean the place won't be full," The teacher said with a smile. I nodded and did my best to hide my ice cream from my friends' eyes as they kept trying to take it from me.

It took me around five minutes to finish my ice cream, and let's just say Valrie and Sarina are being bratty friends at the moment. They kept talking to each other, and every couple of seconds, they turned to look at me with a harmless glare before turning back to each other.

I watched them in amusement, chuckling at their childish behavior.

"Come on, girls, we need to get a table for ourselves a table. The place is packing up," The teacher ushered us to the restaurant. She was more than right. The place was full. The restaurant reeked money and luxury, and I now felt very underdressed. The walls and ceiling had their beautiful carvings covered with gold.

Diamonds and shiny crystals decorated the two massive chandeliers hanging from the tall ceiling. The food being served from left to right screamed 'expensive.' From caviar to gold-covered food came and went inside the kitchen.

"Umm, Ms," I tugged my teacher's shirt like a lost child asking for help. "Are you sure we're going to eat here? I think this is... too much," My friends shared the same look of doubt and shame of being in such a high-end place.

"Nonsense girls, this is the right place," She waved us off. "Come follow me so we can get a table," She took off inside the luxurious restaurant, leaving the three of us behind. I sighed and went after our teacher. She stopped in front of a waiter, talking to him to probably get us a table.

"I'm sorry, lady, but all of our tables are full and the only ones left are for our VIPs customers," The waiter apologized. I tried my best not to show the disappointment that hit me. However, I shouldn't feel this way as it is more than clear we wouldn't be able to eat here. I wouldn't be surprised if they did have tables free, but they clearly didn't want people like us inside by our clothes and looks.

"We can eat one of those hot dogs outside," Valrie suggested.

"Wait," The waiter called before we could leave. "Follow me," He grabbed a small screen pad and led us through the tables. My eyes couldn't help but gaze over the people eating here. They wore extravagant clothes and jewelry that one single piece is worth more than the building I'm living in.

Even without me looking, I could still feel eyes looking at us. Maybe they were grossed out for having people like us among people like them. Maybe some were curious to see us here. Others may just be looking at it as we are another group of people here to eat.

"Here we are. Please make yourselves at home," The waiter opened a door that leads to an isolated room just as fancy as the rest of the restaurant. There was a round table in the middle, neatly organized with two different ceramic plates and those rich people silverware, both with small gold details around the rim and sides.

The tall ceiling had a small yet just as extravagant chandelier, but this one was my favorite as it had colorful crystals, alternating from blue and red, giving our private room a purple glow.

"This is one of our VIP private dining rooms. Here you have free choice of all we have on our menu and added options from being VIPs. These options can be selected on the panel inside the table that can be accessed by clicking the button underneath the table at each of your individual seats. If you have any allergies or intolerances, you should inform that when ordering your food with me or on the panel. Any preferences are also an option, such as more sauce or substitution of a certain food. Drinks are also for your liking, but you can try our non-alcoholic versions if you are under eighteen. Please feel free to sit down or use our interactive panel at the other end of the room for entertainment. If you need any help, you can press the big button at the center of the table."

With that, the waiter closed the door behind him and left us to look around the fancy room with our jaws on the marbled floor.

"Come, girls, come sit. Let's choose the food we want and then you can chat and play while we wait for the food," Our teacher, not a bit affected by what the waiter just told us, took a seat and had the panel under the table appear in front of her. "Just like I said, there is delicious food here," Our teacher said in a giddy voice.

After making our orders, Valrie, Sarina, and I were playing the Sims. To my knowledge, this is one of the extremely few games from the early twenty-first century that are still here. And I can't blame it since it is a very cool game to play. But unlike some pictures I've seen since the early stages of the game, this one is way more realistic, making me think I'm actually controlling real-life humans.

The guys I made were just like Ego; at least I tried to make it look like him. His face was a bit uglier, and his hair was too white, but I think I got close enough to the real thing.

"Ooh, who's that?" Sarina wiggles her eyebrow.

"My Sim?" I ask rather than answer.

"Yeah, but look at our Sims and yours," She pointed out. Her Sim was blue with pink punk hair and weird clothes. Valrie's Sim was dark-skinned with green hair peeking out of her nun dress.

"I'm just not as crazy as the two of you," I defended myself.

"That's not true. I've seen you play The Sims and your Sim looked like a mixture of an ogre, a dolphin, and Daxton."

"You mean the one good-looking guy in our grade?" And to say this, it's a big deal. There are over four hundred students in our grade, and this with over forty separate groups in our grade, each one ranging from one hundred to one thousand students. And surprise, surprise, there is only one decent good looking guy in my grade group.

He is tall, brown-haired, blue-eyed, bulky but not too much, perfect smile, and has a heavenly laugh.

"Yeah, that one," Sarina confirms.

"But that doesn't even make sense- you know what? Forget it," I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"But your Sim is better looking than Daxton," Valrie comments.

"Girls, come sit. The food will arrive in one minute," Our teacher calls us. We go to the table, and as soon as we sit down, the door to the room opens, and waiters come in with our food.

"If you need anything else, please let us know," Our waiter said as the others left, then proceeded to leave the room as well.

"Well, girl, let's eat!" Our teacher cheered with a hungry look on her face as her eyes raked over the fantastically smelling food.

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