No Matter What the Cost

Seba ran her fingers through her hair and clicked her tongue stud against the back of her teeth. Six weeks had passed, and today she was attending her first day of high school as a sophomore, although she was already late. She had been caught up to speed by a tutor over the six weeks and had finally gotten permission and approval to be moved to a public school. The others had been forced to go to class, and she was severely regretting it. She was waiting in the office while they tried to find her time table and books because of her tardiness, but the longer they took, the more anxious Seba got. The office was small, and Seba had slight claustrophobia from her ordeal. After what seemed like forever, the older woman in charge of the front desk held out her papers, and Seba snatched them before bolting into the hall and running head first into someone’s back. Seba went tumbling to the floor, and growled up at the stranger, “What the fuck?!” The guy smirked and offered her a hand, only for her to pull herself up and huff, “Watch were you stand, jackass.” He kept the annoying smirked and simply stated, “You’re Seba Sanders.” Jamming her messenger bag higher on her shoulder she tried to shove past him, only to be bounced back and have him state, “You’re the one everyone’s fussing over.” Glaring at him, Seba snapped, “Go fuck a duck.” With that, she successfully managed to shove past him, and look at her time table, only to realize she was lost. The little square of paper said she had Health in room 705, but she had absolutely no idea where 705 was. She would have pulled out her phone and called Bronx and Caaj but they were in class, and Seba still had trouble working her phone.

“You need any help?” She spun around to see the same boy standing there, the smirk plastered on his face in triumph. Resisting the urge to punch him, she glared and asked stonily, “Where’s 705?” He ignored her question, held his hand out and said, “Tyler Pent.” Seba huffed and crossed her arms, tapping her foot impatiently. Tyler sighed and gave up, “Down the hall, take a left, take the third right, it’s the second door on your left.” Seba spun on her heel and marched off, but yelled over her shoulder, “Thanks, Pent!” before turning the corner and hurrying the direction Pent had told her too. She slipped in as she arrived and quickly scanned the room to see that Bronx, Xander, Caaj, and Sara Rae were all in the class as well, sitting in a corner with a few other people. The brunette smiled then walked over to the teacher at his desk and muttered, “Uh, I’m new.” He looked up as she handed him the schedule, to prove that she was supposed to be there, and he said cheerfully, “Go sit with your family. I’ll assign partners for the project in a moment.” Seba didn’t ask and hurried over to the group, Bronx scooting over on the couch for her. She glanced around the room again, taking in the bright posters and pictures on the walls, the bean bags, comfy chairs, and desks clustered in the far corner of the room. As she took a seat next to Bronx, Tyler Pent walked in and winked at her before joining a group of two boys and several girls, all of whom were blond and/or in a cheerleading uniform. Bronx wrapped two protective arms around Seba and glared at Pent, as if telling him that Seba was his, then muttered, “Make sure either Xander, Aiden, Tyson, Cain, or I are with you at all times.” Caaj glared at Pent then changed the subject, “So, Sebbie, meet everyone! That’s Cain,” Caaj pointed toward a brunette who was texting, “That’s Tyson,” a boy with multi color hair, “That one is Aiden,” he smiled a little, but not much from under his messy black hair, “And you get to meet everyone else after school, cause they’re not in this class.”

Seba smiled and nodded, then asked, “Why are you reintroducing people you already introduced me to and why do I have to have one of you with me at all times?” Caaj had settled herself in Xander’s lap and explained, “One, because it makes it officially your first day of school with us amazing and wonderful people, and two Pent is the school man whore. He has, like, some stupid goal to nail every girl in this school. And he would accomplish that goal, except for the fact that we’re a smart enough group not to sink to his level, thus he will never get one of us girls in bed. You being the new girl, no offense sis, but he’s gonna try and get to you as soon as he possibly can. And he isn’t afraid to use force if necessary.” Seba gulped and nodded, bringing her knees up to her chest and muttered, “I should just sick Dad on him. Or Jimmy.” Sara Rae chuckled and commented, “My dad would definitely teach him a lesson, that’s a for sure thing.” The teacher cleared his throat and announced, “Alright, settle down! Today we’re going to start the Family Life unit!” Everyone groaned, then Caaj yelled out, “I call Xander!” She wrapped her arms around her neck and giggled when he kissed her cheek. Immediately people began calling partners, and Seba simply glanced around and watched. She looked over at Bronx who smiled and asked, “Wanna be my partner?” Seba chuckled and accepted, then watched Bronx’s face turn sour, and she looked to see that Pent was walking toward them.

Bronx pulled Seba into his lap and Aiden claimed Sara Rae. Tyson and Cain looked at each other then threw their arms around each other as Tyson squealed, “Oh Tyler, don’t take Cain from me! I love him so much!” The group burst out laughing as Tyler began turning bright red. Seba giggled and felt herself pulled even tighter against Bronx, only to see that Tyler was completely focused in on her. Caaj glared and snapped, “Stay the hell away from my sister, Pent, or I will make sure you never screw anyone ever again!” Tyler stormed off and Tyson and Cain shoved each other away, Tyson teasing his friend, “Ew, gay boy cooties!!” Cain rubbed his cheek comically and came back, “Ew, TYSON cooties!!” Everyone burst out laughing again, and the teacher interrupted, “Fine, fine. I’ll let you choose your partners. As soon as you have a partner, come up to the front and you’ll receive your child.” Seba groaned, as did Caaj and the others. Huntington High was well known for it’s family life unit, specifically the baby-bots. They were incredibly life like, and made school harder than it really needed to be. In the words of Caaj: “The worst form of birth control EVER!” Seba was snapped out of her thoughts by the high pitched squeal of, “Bronxie baby! Be my baby daddy!”

She looked and saw a plastic blond skipping over, a very familiar look in her eyes, that immediately Seba hated. She wrapped her own arms around Bronx’s neck as the blond made to through herself onto Bronx. He yelped and hid behind Seba, using her as a human shield and yelled, “Stay away from me! I swear I’ll sick Caaj on you this time!” Caaj and Sara Rae were held in iron tight grips as they struggled to reach out and scratch the human Barbie doll’s eyes out. The girl frowned, pointed an acrylic nail at Seba and asked in a squeaky voice, “Who are you?” Seba got up and got in the girls face, glaring with as much hatred as she had, and growled, “Stay the fuck away from him! Or I will make you wish that you had had your plastic surgeon removed your nerves when he removed the remnants of your bleached brain!” The girl scoffed, and Seba gagged, before choking out, “Ever heard of a breath mint?!” The blond glared and hummed off key, “I don’t have to stay away from my boyfriend, biyatch.” Seba straightened up and asked in a sickly sweet voice, “How can he be your boyfriend, if I’m his girlfriend?”

Caaj and Sara Rae stopped their struggle and watched the scene unfold, Caaj incredibly proud of her sister for her reaction and blatantly confessing that Bronx had asked her out the week before. Bronx gulped and groaned, “Britney you are not my girlfriend! I never have dated you, nor will I ever! I’m dating Seba!” Seba grabbed Bronx’s hand, pulled him up, and dismissed the delusional girl, “Why don’t you go screw Tyler Pent or something. He’ll sleep with anything that moves.” With that, Seba led Bronx to the front of the room, leaving Britney shell shocked and gaping. Bronx took an extra step to catch up with Seba and muttered, “Thanks.” Seba didn’t respond for a moment before stating, “You owe me an explanation.” Bronx nodded and followed her, before telling her, “I never dated her.” Seba didn’t say anything and Bronx continued, “I never would either. She’s stupid, fake, evil, and ugly. She’s been doing that since freshman year, ask anyone, I swear-”

Bronx was shut up by Seba stopping, turning, and pulling him down by his shirt then kissing him in the middle of Health class. All heads were turned toward them as Seba giggled, “It’s okay.” Bronx was completely stunned as Seba tugged at his hand again, snapping him out of it. He hurried and caught her pace, wrapping an arm around her waist as they reached Mr. Miller’s desk. The veteran health teacher was typing aimlessly and Bronx interrupted him, “Uh, I’m pairing with Seba.” He looked up at them for a moment, nodded, then got up and walked over to a storage closet. Seba tried peaking over hi shoulder, but the door was closed and Mr. Miller came over with a box. He handed it to Bronx and recited, “By taking this box, you are now accepting the responsibilities of mother and father. Your project begins now, and will end at the semester change, which is the end of the school year. At the end of that time frame, you will be graded on how well you were able to care for the Baby-bot assigned to you, how you handled the pressure, and anything else I deem necessary. Because we are not promoting sex outside of marriage, you are now Mr. and Mrs. Bronx Baker. All further details of the project will be given later throughout the term. Now go sit down. NEXT!” Bronx and Seba turned and walked back to their places, passing Caaj and Xander in the line, Aiden and Sara Rae, then Tyson and Cain. Seba stopped and opened her mouth to ask but Tyson beat her too it, “He’s too gay to be partnered with a girl, and I don’t like really any of the people in here enough to have to take care of a robotic humanoid for a semester.” Seba made an ‘o’ with her mouth and her and Bronx walked back to the couch they had been occupying the previous moment. Seba looked at the box and asked, “You wanna open it?”

Bronx shook his head and Seba sighed. Caaj hurried over and squealed, “Open it!” Seba realized she didn’t have a choice, so she opened the lid and gasped. Bronx looked over her shoulder and yelled, “Oh my fucking God it’s a real baby!” Caaj looked at it and shrieked, “It’s breathing! Holy shit it is real! MR MILLER THEY GOT A REAL LIVE BABY!” People began to crowd around them and Mr. Miller assured them, “The minute I disconnect them from the main CPU they begin life. They’re fake, but they’re top of the line. This school is a tester school for a new technology.” One of it’s little arms reached up, and tentatively Seba poked her finger at the hand only to yank it back and scream, “It bit me!” Bronx frowned and corrected, “That’s the hand. The hand doesn’t bite.” As if to prove it, he placed his finger where hers had been and felt the same thing. Mr. Miller rubbed his temples and yelled over the noise, “It’s taking a DNA sample. It will read your DNA and have some of the same traits your child would if you had one. Now will everyone calm down? There are manuals you know.” Students carefully lined up again and received their baby-bots. Seba stared at the little thing before reaching in and picking it up gently. Cain looked at it and asked, “How do you tell if it’s a girl or a guy?” Seba looked at Bronx and reasoned, “Hey, I opened the box and picked it up.” Tyson glanced up from holding his robot, and informed them, “There’s a hospital band around the wrist. It tells you.” Bronx shrugged and checked, then announced, “It’s a little girl.” Seba stuck her tongue out and muttered, “Lucky ass.” He chuckled and kissed her cheek before asking, “What are we supposed to name it?” Seba looked at the tiny infant in her arms and frowned when she realized just how small hers was compared to her sisters’ and Tyson’s. Looking up, she asked, “Is it jut me or does this one look, like, smaller?”

Xander looked over and used his hands to gage the distance from head to toe, then carefully moved his hands with the same amount of space and held it over his ‘child’ and confirmed, “Yup, your daughter is way smaller than my son.” Seba frowned and asked, “Bronx, could you check the manual thing? Maybe my nephew is just fat.” Caaj glared at her sister and huffed, “He isn’t fat! Maybe my niece is just scrawny, like you.” Bronx looked up from the official-looking book and relayed, “Uh, it says she’s premature. So she’s smaller.” Seba peeked over his shoulder and sighed, “So we got the defective one? Awesome.” Sara Rae bounced her baby and cooed, “They’re so cute! Look mine has blue eyes!” Aiden wrapped his arms around her waist and pointed out, “We should probably tell our parent’s that they have robotic grand children.” A high pitched squeal broke through the room and they all turned to see Britney holding the baby awkwardly and giggling, “It’s so adorable!” Cain picked up his baby and reminded, “We’re out after this. We can go baby shopping or just head to your place.” Seba grunted, and everyone looked to see that all three girls were completely entranced with their babies. Finally, Bronx asked, “What are we gonna name her?” Seba glanced up, then asked back, “How about Abigail? I like that name.” Bronx nodded and filled it into the ‘Baby book’, while Caaj told Xander, “We’re naming him Kohl. K-O-H-L.” Xander dutifully wrote it down while Sara Rae decided, “We’re naming our son Aiden Junior.” Aiden scrunched up his face and asked his girlfriend, “Why?” She frowned and told him, “Because he has your blue eyes and he’s a boy.” Aiden sighed but wrote it down, and finally Tyson suggested, “We could name her Jayden. That’s a cool name.” A moment passed then Cain agreed and wrote it down.

The bell rang and immediately all eight were up and headed for the door and out to the parking lot. The boys carried the girls’ backpacks while they cradled the babies, and Cain simply took responsibility for Jayden. Three large, menacing Escalades were parked in the three spots closest to the main gate, in between two big leafy trees. Seba smiled as she saw her and Caaj’s friends. In the six weeks she had been back, they had been absolutely amazing to her, all of them relaxed and understanding. And shocker they all had baby-bots. Bronx had an arm slung over Seba’s shoulders while she carried the baby bot. This was definitely the most interesting first day of school in her book.