Unfrozen

Reality; step 2

I sat on a bed in my new apartament of the future. It was pretty small, but filled with unnecessary sea-themed decor and weirdly coloured seaweed in tanks in the walls. The bed was definitely one of those water beds that were pupular in late 20th century. I lied down and held out my watch in front of myself and turned it on, using the private setting - instead of the holographic screen, the watch only displayed information on its tiny screen.  On the middle of the screen, there was a notification - a message from Amina, informing us about how we'd have to take a test this evening to see how far with education we are and then start up our own individual lessons. She also provided us with a list of places we could visit before the evening when we get the test, emphasising that it's "highly advisable to mingle with others".

I scrolled through my contacts that consisted of pictures of people who I recognised, but barely exchanged a word with them - all of the Unfrozen and Amina. There also was a contact to the bald guy - his name was Jonio. Without a second thought I deleted everyone but the guides, Jasmin, and July. I realised that none of those people had their surnames mentioned. I opened the message from Jasmin, where she excitedly encouraged me to go with her to a beach that was few stops away and a message with that Ignacio guy's contact info, despite the fact that I never even wanted it. It said "ig-swanson-2@birmin.ins". For some reason, I saved it. Guess I wanted some contact with the future humans. And yes. A beach in Birmingham.

Suddenly, I heard a voilent banging on my door. Surprised, I jumped up on the bed at froze for a few seconds. I really did not want to go out right now and I was almost sure, it was Jasmin who'd try to force me to go to the beach. Reluctantly I stood up and walked towards the wooden door and was surprised again, this time by the voice I known too well.
"Are you going out, Ms Fox?" Cara asked with her semi realistic, semi robotic, cold voice. I hated it so much.
"I doubt it." I answered, a bit irritated.
"Can I suggest you go to the beach? I can download the directions on your watch, Ms Fox." Cara continued relentlessly.
"No." I sighed " And don't try to convince me anymore, just turn on the peephole, someone is outside" I added sternly. The camera that replaced the peephole turned on,  displaying a 3D hologram of July, who was pacing back and forth in front of my door.
"Open the door, Cara" I asked the AI and once the space between the frame and the door was wide enough to fit a person, July barged inside and gripped both of my shoulders and stared at me. She looked mad.
"Ellie. We need to run away or something, we can't stay here any longer!" she almost shouted at me. "Those people are a bunch of ignorant morons, while people outside are suffering!!!" she screamed as she was shaking me. I pushed her away.
"July. What the hell are you doing?" I was simply freaked out. I knew she didn't like the society, but still.
"Trying to make you snap out of this!" she cried out towards me. I stepped back while staring with my eyes wide open looking at her.
"Dude, calm down. What do you even want to do?"
"Anything but sit around and wait!!" she screamed again and fell on her knees crying. I didn't know what to even say or do. July really put me in an akward situation and I didn't know what was wrong. I knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder.
"What... What is wrong...?" I asked shyly. July looked up at me with tears going down her cheeks.
"Just the fact that there are people outside... They referred to them... As animals! Talked like they were bandits. But its not their fault they weren't chosen, they should have an access to everything that we have here!" she said while clenching her fists. "I can never accept this."
"Can we do anything about it tough?" I asked her seriously.
"I don't know what yet!" she yelled at me and just left without saying a word more. I almost felt bad for sincerely being glad she left. But I can't say I liked the way the society was. From what little I've seen so far... They all seemed like a bunch of perfection-obssessed, ignorant people, talking how blessed they are, whose society has been on top of innocent people dying, just because someone decided they weren't good enough compared to others. They seemed vain and very close minded. On top of that... Automatisation? Universal, government created account that followed you anywhere? I wasn't an idiot. Convinience, yeah right. They needed control. They knew that in a society like that, some people will feel righteous and will try to rebel. So they can track us now everywhere, see all our moves. I don't mind, I don't want to get involved in some kind of crime and I definitely didn't want to fight a pointless war against the system, unlike July. I wondered if she realised how hard it would actually be to try to fight. I leaned against the wall. She must have seen this situation like a fictional scenario, where a small group of rebels takes down the bad guys and create better lifes for everyone. But it was real world. Not fiction. We weren't superheroes with plot armor. Yes, I thought. We aren't anyone special. Jasmin is right. We need to just adapt and fit in with the society and live, just like we would otherwise. Anything else is out of my reach and I am not wasting a second chance at life just so I can be looking back and crying over what I lost and crying over what I can't change. I snickered a little bit. This seemed like a point where a hero is deciding to fight and finding his or her new resolve, but instead I basically gave up. I opened my watch and messaged Jasmin.
"Hey, yeah so what about that beach?"

It was around noon when me and Jasmin left the apartemt area. All the time she was excidetely blabbering about what seemed like nothing to me. So clothing trends (Animals are totally on top right now!), make up (Can you belive that? Only eyebrows!), that we need swimming suits (They DO NOT HAVE BIKINIS!!!) and how she had already met a group of friends online.
"We will actually be meeting them on the beach! Can you belive that? People here are so open and friendly!" she chatted excitedely. I agreed with her. I should be as optimistic as her, instead of looking at the bad sides, like July. Still, as shy as I was, I didn't particularly look forward to meeting them, but then again... I was pretty fascinated by future humans.

We got to the shopping centre, which was just a few stops away from our stop. It was shaped like a dome, with a flat pathway looking thing spiraling towards the top of the building. The pathway was filled with tall palm trees and the building itself was turquoise, which seemed like an odd choice for architecture, but... Knowing the weird tastes of the society, that didn't surprise me.

We had a hard time walking inside - the amount of people was enourmous - and it was loud too! Knowing how sociable the general public was... It truly was an intovert's nightmare. I was anything but blessed at that moment.

Finally, we made it into a shop which I was shocked to recognise from 21st century - Triumph. However, they seemed to completely abadon the lingerie part of their business, every piece of the underwear there was looking like swimming suits, but the truth is... I wouldn't even able to tell the difference between the two. I looked a bit confused at Jasmin.
"Remember. No bikinis. Just one-part suits." she said with a serious look at her face "I don't know how I'll be able to survive that..." she added while smiling at me.
"You won't!" I laughed. I was glad to be finally making a friend.
"My two dear swearps!" we had a woman's voice. She was wearing a surprisingly plain black dress, so we assumed she was a shop attendant. "You girls seem a bit losty, do you need help choosing a swimsuit?" the woman asked with a visibly fake smile on her face.
"Y-yea..." I answered.
"Any preferences?"
"Uhm, we actually don't know that many things about trends..." Jasmin said. "We are Unfrozen."
The shop attendants eyes had widened. We stood in complete silence for a second and then she became even more excited.
"Oh my! That's right! You are the Unfrozen! Finally, you are starting to adapt in the society, this makes me so happy! I'll choose only the absolute top tier pieces! All for free, so you can see that you are welcome here!" she shouted loudly, not even trying to hide her intention. This has obviously caused people to stare at us. All people. Just staring. I felt like some kind of celebrity who was spotted in public. After just a bit, they turned around and continued doing whatever they did before the attendants "announcements".
"That was a bit underwhelming." Jasmin commented. "I wouldn't mind a bit more of attention..."
"I'm so glad this was so underwhelming." I replied "I wouldn't mind any kind of attention."
"Haha, we are suuuch polar opposites!" Jasmin laughed and hugged me with one arm.
"Girls, please go to changing rooms, I'll bring something shocky just for you!" the attendant smiled and walked away, so we got into the changing rooms.

After a short bit, we got bombarded by tons of insanely colourful suits. They were very revealing, often filled with firm parts sticking out in odd ways. Spiky bras weren't an unusual sight, but I refused to even try them on. Jasmin ended up choosing a dress-looking swimsuit, without straps. It was golden, covered with flashy sequins and had cutouts on the waist. I on the other hand chose a dark blue one with cats with laser eyes. The attendant looked pretty relived that we didn't choose very expensive suits and were happy with the average ones. We left without having to pay and went on to get other supplies like bags, towels and  sunscreen even, which we did end up paying for. Finally, ready, we set our sights towards the beach.