Chapter 1 : The Celebration
The crowd was a sea of roaring voices and rhythmic clapping. The ground vibrated like a minor earthquake from the force of thousands jumping and running in collective cheer. On the massive screen, the words “HAPPY NEW YEAR” glowed brightly, with the year 2027 anchored beneath them.
I never wanted to be here. There were simply too many people. But then again, what do you expect from a lonely, nerdy, introverted girl like me? I was only here because my mother had forced me. She wasn’t even attending; she just needed someone to supervise my little brother, who had been obsessing over this event since last Tuesday. If he didn’t get his way, he’d throw a massive tantrum the next morning, and apparently, my mother wasn’t in the mood to deal with a spoiled eleven-year-old.
I kept my eyes glued to my phone. My brother tugged incessantly at my jacket sleeves, trying to force me to watch the fireworks, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. My screen lit up with a notification from my computer science teacher: we were instructed to bring our own laptops tomorrow because the lab computers were undergoing repairs.
Ugh. My bag already weighs ten kilograms on a normal day. Now I have to lug a laptop too? My school life is a tragedy.
