He looked up with the most unreadable expression. "Yes?".
How could he act so calm? Did he not recognize me from that meeting last night?
"What was that meeting last night? Why were you there? Wh-".
"It was an anti-New Worlders meeting. I thought that was evident by the chanting", he interrupted with a smirk.
"Your sarcasm is extremely unnecessary. You can't expect me to not be confused as you basically confess to being involved in a faction that hates the New World, and wants to reverse it back: the Counterrevolution!", I burst as the words sprint out of my mouth.
"What part of that is confusing?", he asks, still munching down on the chocolate mess that was my perfect cone.
"I-, you-, ughhh!", no complete sentence came out. Who would want to go back to a world where women are oppressed, and men are overprivileged? Who wants a counterrevolution? The initial change to the New World should have abolished these thoughts from everyone's minds... maybe too many people slipped through the cracks during the shift.
"English, please?", he looked smug. Funny how he changed from his shy and awkward self to this while we were isolated. Who is Shawn really? I rolled my eyes at his comment.
"Careful, don't want your eyes to pop out", he gestured to my face. Timid Shawn is out, copy that.
"Whatever. Do your parents know that you attend these meetings?".
"No; they are firm believers in the New World. They could never support the Counterrevolution", he spat, obviously disappointed in his parents' political stance. I could tell them what he's been up to, but what good would that do? I mean, we still have freedom of speech, but an organization with full intentions on triggering a Counterrevolution to reverse the effects of the New World would never be accepted. Every member of the anti-New Worlders would be in danger, should I speak up about what I witnessed last night. Shawn knows this, too.
"Why do they hate the New World so much?".
"It's unbalanced, it's unnatural, what more do you need?", he scowled.
"It was unbalanced before! Men dominating women every chance they got, unfair pay, females always being the 'weak' gender!", I yell.
"The anti-New Worlders support full equality: no 'weakest' gender", he replies.
"There isn't a 'weakest' gender now!".
"Women have been converted to being the dominant gender, thus logic implies the existence of a weaker gender, duh", he said expressionless.
"Women need this! A balance of the scales, finally. What don't they understand?".
"What don't you understand?", he waves the empty cone at me, "We need full equality: no dominance, no oppression". I stare straight at him, searching for any emotion. All I can see is an earnest expression on his face. Eyebrows relaxed, lips forming a straight line, he searched for my response.
"It sounds ideal, but we can't always have ideal, can we?", I pry. This secret faction will only lead to trouble. I can feel it...
Shawn answered with a hmmph. "What time do you get off?".
"In about fifteen minutes, but I could leave any time. It's kind of dead in here. Besides, who the hell orders ice cream in the morning?", he looked down and then up at me with a smirk, waving his cone.
Taking a large messy bite out of it, he shrugged, "Me".
We wait fifteen minutes in silence and I clock out as my shift officially ends. Shawn leads me to his white Jeep, and I hop into the passenger seat. This better be good.
"Do you know exactly how the New World was executed?", he inquires.
"Bits and pieces".
"Well, get comfortable", he reclined his chair and smoothed his straight blonde hair back, releasing a sigh at the same time.
February 2nd, 2017: Washington, D.C.
It was a dark rainy afternoon in Northeast D.C., and a short, particularly chubby professor sat at her desk, reading essays and munching down on her second bag of Hot Cheetos. She blamed her job and Chester the Cheetah for her weight gain, but that didn't matter because she couldn't stop with either. She thought she had been creative in assigning her mostly unbothered students the prompt for the essay due last night at 11:59 pm: What is one thing you would do to change the world?. They are undergrad Sophomores; what more would they want to do than shotgun Bud Lights, dance on tables, and approach the world with an unrealistic sense of invincibility? This essay would tell the professor which students were serious, and the latter would flunk. She stumbled upon Lacey Carrington's paper, and the thesis alone raised the professor's eyebrows: A reversal of the gender roles in society would change this world astronomically. It got more and more bizarre as she read farther down the page. Lacey proposed a chemical change in human minds that would switch male and female instincts. Females would become the dominant gender, and thus all problems in the world would be solved. The professor was mesmerized by Lacey's ideas; what a controversial topic. She marked the paper with a bright red A, and unknowingly jumpstarted the Revolution that would come into fruition three years later.
February 3rd, 2017The air was thick with the smell of beer, body odor, and mistakes. Music roared, girls danced half naked, and drugs were exchanged. All of this occurred at one of America's most classic settings: the frat party."CHUG, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG"
Lacey's POV:All I hear are crashes of impact, skin crushing into bone, muscles and tissue imploding. Someone is punching theshitout of Chad."Is
"Kara... Kara... KARA!", Kaylynn screams. Shit... did I do that not listening thing again?"Yea?""Tell us!", Kaylynn and Lisa say in unison.
February 2017Lacey's POV:I can feel dozens of eyes on me. Conversations are hushed as I walk by. This hallway could not get any longer.
May 2040Kara's POV:"Hey", I snap, "Where the hell are we going?".
Obviously not reading the room, Tiana runs in for a hug from our bubbly bestfriend-turned-ice princess, Kaylynn. What the hell has gotten into her?"So, pizzas have already been ordered; cheese and pepperoni okay with you two?", I inquire."Sure, of course, except I need to take the cheese off o
Looking around Kara's...friend?, I ask her, "You want to keep dancing?"."Me?", she asks, looking down. I mean, who else could I be talking to?"Duh, loser", I joke. Of course she isn't a loser. She's pretty badass, actually. Apparently, she isn't g
Upon entering my house, I see a horrific sight: Kaylynn is on the couch, eating popcorn and watching old rom-coms. Kaylynn! Usually, Kaylynn is the one to lead all our activities. She's energetic and loud, not lazy and sluggish."What is going on in here?", I ask."I am obviously enjoying some old rom-coms", she points at our DVD collection. We usually use Netflix for entertainment, but sometimes it's good to go back to the classics of the early 2000s."I should have never left", I shake my head. "You're miserable without me", I chuckle. It's true, though."Nah, I wanted you to have fun", she smiles. "I mean I hoped you would be gone for an hour... or maybe 90 minutes", she pauses."Right", I chuckle, "It's been like 3 hours, holy shit", I exclaim. I feel horrible. I left Kaylynn on her own for hours--without even a call. Meanwhile, Tiana couldn't give two fucks--I should call her to make sure she's okay. "I'm literally the worst friend", I run up to her. Hugging my blanket-covered, sl