Versus (Parts I and II)

Chapter 9- Loss

The warm, glowing water felt warm against Calista's skin, soothing each and every one of her muscles. With all the training she was doing now, she was suffering with aches and soreness every morning. It was getting harder to hide it from the girls.

Granted, it had only been two days, but it was still a lot more training than she ever did. She let out a soft sigh, letting her body float in the Painless pool. For a moment, she could forget her humiliation and her failure. She could go back to her previous life and forget about that stupid competition.

"That was a good broadcast, don't you think?" Rebecca said.

"Yeah, I guess," said Danica.

"You guess?"

"It would've been better if Liz didn't keep hacking in. All the stupid questions she came up with."

"Yeah, it was annoying."

"Well... to be honest with you guys, we do need to change our material. We do the same stuff all the time. Liz just wanted to try something different," Calista defended her.

"If by 'different', you mean 'cyber-nooby', then yeah, that was 'different'." Danica's gaze was fixed on the ceiling, cucumbers covering her brown eyes. "She's so pathetic. I feel like logging out whenever I listen to her."

Calista rose from the water, taking the cucumbers off her own eyes to stare at her. "Why are you guys so mean to her?"

"We're not mean, we're just honest," said Rebecca, who browsed on her Pet screen. "We've worked on her for four Earth years, and she still doesn't have that... stellarness. You know? She's not Socializer material."

"Then why have her on the channel?"

"Because it's sad to see her begging people to follow her and talk to her. We felt bad."

"Our standard is like... Hajjian magicians," said Danica. "You know, those really famous ones that do tricks with their powers and everyone loves them? That's what we're aiming for. Liz..." She hesitated, her fingers wiggling in the air. "She's more like... an Aelket."

Rebecca covered her mouth as she resisted laughter. "Oh-my-God, Dani, you're so mean."

"A what?" Calista asked.

"You know, those weird guys from the other solar system?"

"No?"

Danica sighed. "Pet!"

Her Pet came flying over, blinking expectantly. "Show Calista an Aelket," its owner commanded.

A holo-screen projected, showing unattractive beings of paper-like yellow skin and strange tentacles on their heads, standing in a desert planet. They made strange, irritating noises and walked around. The two human girls burst out laughing.

"That's literally her!" Rebecca screeched.

"They're so weird, right? I found it on the Hub and I looked them up. We found Liz's personal species," Danica laughed. "Weird and annoying."

"Her ears are burning." They started laughing again. The Pet closed the screen and flew away.

Calista sank back into the water, her brows tense with a frown. She always knew the girls were mean to Elizabeth, but she didn't know they were this mean.

Was she ever like this towards her? Did she ever make fun of her without realizing it? Was she this horrible person?

Elizabeth soon returned from the bathroom. Calista quickly put the cucumbers back on her eyes and tried not to show her expression as the other girl lowered herself into the pool.