Poly Prep High School just closed its doors for spring break. The student body is going to be dispersed around the world. Some students go on vacation to exotic places – ski resorts or beach resorts with their families. Others take advantage of expensive school-based educational trips abroad. The school was planning on using the new virtual reality feature on the iphone 25 to connect everyone and allow the students to be exposed to a range of cultures and countries. Majority of the student body was thrilled to show their peers the exotic sights they were planning to come across, however, Jennifer Goldberg, the one of five students on a full scholarship, was going to be stuck in Brooklyn for the next two weeks.
Jennifer had been able to avoid the virtual reality rooms because she didn’t own an iphone 25, but when the school had the idea to integrate the new feature to the curriculum, they happily gave Jennifer the new shiny toy.
Jennifer was generally well-liked and accepted by her peers. She was tall but not too tall, funny when need be, and smart in a way that gave her a sophisticated edge. While Jennifer always had a place to sit during lunch and was included in mass group chats to come to house-parties, she never felt that these peers were anything more than acquaintances. The majority of the people that Jennifer associated with lived in large townhouses with entire floors that are rarely used and parents who wouldn't notice if an entire bottle of vodka had been taken. It is not that Jennifer didn’t enjoy these luxury perks that her peers had. She did, but she began to feel unsettled when she remembered that her virtual reality identity was completely tied into her friends’ wealth, something she wouldn’t have access to for two weeks.
On this last day of school, she had to stay an hour after classes had been dismissed to help tutor a 6th grader in Geometry. Once the hour was up, Jennifer put her headphones in and walked down the steps. To her uncomfortable surprise, all of her “friends” were perched on benches in the courtyard. Beth, who was about to get on a flight to Italy, gave Jennifer a big wave that made everyone stop their conversation and turn to stare. Reluctantly and forcibly, Jennifer smiled and walked over.
“Oh my God! Thank God we ran into you before spring break actually started! Remind me where you are going for vacation again? I swear my brain is the size of a pea. I am so forgetful!” Beth says.
Jennifer responded with a weak laugh. Everyone was staring at her with even more intensity now. She swallows.
“I am actually going to Turks and Caicos. I am really excited, I’m going tomorrow actually,” she says.
Emily chimes in enthusiastically, “That is so great to hear because I am going there in a few hours! Let’s definitely link up once we are there!”
Jennifer smiles and walks away after separately hugging the ten girls goodbye. Once she turns the corner she starts to feel nauseous. Now she is going to be expected to be in Turks and Caicos during their daily virtual meetings. Every one of her peers was thrilled when Instagram launched the new feature that allowed you to transfer your reality to virtual reality, now they could flaunt their everyday wealth and privilege with the world. Jennifer was only able to survive the virtual reality world when she was amongst her peers but now, how would she cover up her lie? She could probably find excuses for the first few days – phone dying, family obligations, hiking a volcano without reception? How was she going to go a whole two weeks without joining. Pale and panicked, Jennifer gets on the F train.
The next day, Jennifer wakes up from the sun peeking through the gaps of her blinds. She remembers it’s spring break and does a gleeful stretch. For a second she had forgotten about her predicament, but when she checks her phone there are four missed texts from Emily, asking about her arrival and plans. A roar of frustration exits her body, loud enough for her mom to run in with a sense of concern.
“What's wrong Jennifer,” her mom says, soothingly. “I lied to my friends that I was going to Turks and Caicos and now I am in a horrible lie and I have to go into the stupid private virtual reality room and they are gonna hate me and think I am a psychopath,” she cries. Jennifer lets out an exhausted exhale. Her mom’s face is covered with confusion but regardless she embraces Jennifer and says, “Well I am taking your phone for the entire two weeks because it’s my first time in Turks and Caicos and I demand that my daughter is in reality.”
A few tears fell off Jennifer’s cheeks and landed on her mom’s shoulders. She didn’t think she cared about these girls or what they thought of her, but after concealing her entire life for a year now, it seemed that she was in a position to lose everything. Giving her some space, her mom leaves and encourages her to come have breakfast and coffee.
Jennifer goes to wash her face in a bathroom not covered in marble or with a separate tub and shower. Once she finishes brushing her teeth, a notification reads on her phone: “Join Poly Prep in virtual private room six.” Instant panic runs through Jennifer’s body. It is one thing that they have never seen her apartment in photos, but now they will be virtually transferred to it, able to wander without consent. Complex lies were racing through her brain. She thinks then she could finally end living with this stress by owning up to it or she could not answer and make the lie stronger.
In a second, in which she felt she hadn’t consented to, she answered and the made up world she had created for herself was gone.
Check out my classmates' stories here!