"Ah, freedom!" Sophia yelled at the top of her lungs outside the temp agency she just

escaped from.

Sophia was usually an Ice skater but decided on a whim to take a sabbatical, to spite her

parents. She wasn't the rebellious type or held a particular grudge against them, in fact she loved

them very much. That love sometimes made them push her a too hard with their dreams of

Olympic gold. She was fighting, in her own personal corner of the world, for the right to be free.

She looked down at her phone, checking the time. She smiled as she headed toward the bus

stop, humming an unrecognizable tune and people watching. The stop wasn't a long walk, about

two to three minutes on foot. Sophia reached the bus right as it opened its doors. After paying the

fare she found a window seat in the back and sat down, placing her earbuds in her ears and

playing her Hype me up! playlist, trying to pump herself up for the game tournament at a local

convention. Sophia wasn't exactly esports material, but she did pretty well locally when she was

able to compete.

A few stops go by as Sophia dazes in and out of reality, letting her mind escape to

somewhere less boring than the ride. The jerk of the brakes brought her back to reality as a new

set of passengers loaded onto the bus. Typically, she ignores whoever is coming on with no more

than a passing glance, but today was not that day. Not once she saw her.

Sophia's eyes locked onto this woman, and all the world had stopped. She took every

moment of her arrival into her senses: Her big, slightly golden curls, smooth soft skin the color

of mahogany, and those eyes. Sophia stopped at those eyes and stared for a moment that was

slightly too long before nervously looking at her phone.

She closes her eyes and shrinks into the seat, but to no avail, as the woman sits right next to

her.

Sophia's heart pounded in her chest, out of embarrassment or fear, she wasn't sure.

“Hey,” the voice of the woman next to her came out and poured into Sophia's ears.

“Uh. Hi. I'm sorry if I weirded you out with my staring. I'm uh, being weird now. "

“It's ok,” the woman said, “all it did was make me notice you. I figured may as well take the

person staring at me head on. I'm Kamilah, by the by. "

Sophia held her hand out, “Sophia, but my friends call me Sophi. It's good to meet you,

Kamilah. "

Kamilah smiled, but as she opened her mouth to say something, her phone interrupted with

its technical rings.

"Ah, one moment, Sophi."

Sophia nodded and looked back down at her phone, despite not being able to focus on

anything on the screen. As hard as she tried not to listen, she couldn't help herself.

“Are you serious? She JUST quit ?! How am I supposed to find a replacement secretary for

Ms. Daily's department on such short notice? I swear if it weren't for the fact that I'm looking to

take her position I would, but how would that look? Alright, alright I'll see what I can do. "

Kamilah shook her head as she placed her phone back in her bag. Sophia opened her mouth

to speak but thought better of it. Kamilah looked over at Sophia and laughed.

“Sorry about that. A head of my department made another secretary quit today. This makes

seven now. "

Sophia instinctively reached out to comfort her but took her hand back. She sat silently

before speaking up.

“Well if you're looking for a temp, maybe I can do it. Right now, they have me doing a call

center gig, but it's like death took a dump and collects it there. "

Kamilah laughs, “Oh I know all about those places! Had to work there while I was in

college and a little bit after I got out. "

"Where do you work now?" Sophia asked.

“Cylife Industries. It's the company that does the nanomachine enhancements. ”

Sophia gasped, “oh, you work there? That's the company I got my eye replacement done.

Bad accident. "

Kamilah winced, “Sounds painful. Mind if I ask what happened. ”

“Nah, not at all. I'm actually a figure skater, so I trained a lot when I was younger. One

time, while trying to do a triple Lutz I crashed into another skater and her skate ended up at my

eye. ”

“Oh my god! That must have been terrible! "

Sophia shrugged, “At the time, yeah but now it's not a thing. I even got a cool fake eye out

the deal! ”

Kamilah laughed, “I love that positive outlook you have going there. Seems like everyone is

getting implants one way or another. I'm glad it helped you out. ”

"You say that like you don't have any."

Kamilah shook her head, “No, my parents didn't want that for me, and I can't say I

disagree. "

Sophia nodded but let the silence between them continue, then jumped up and turned back to

Kamilah.

"Say, are you doing anything right now?"

Kamilah shook her head, “I got off work not too long ago and was on the way home.”

Sophia grabbed Kamilah's hands, “How about you come with me? I mean, I'm going to a

convention to play games and drool over cosplay, so it's nothing special. I mean, if you want - ”

Kamilah smiled, “You know what? I've never actually been to a convention. If we can get

something to eat at some point tonight, I'm game. "

Sophia's smile could light up that whole bus.

“Seriously? You'll come? ”

“Sure. It's something new. Here, take out your phone, let's exchange numbers. "

Sophia took her phone out, “Kamilah, you have just made a friend for life.”

She then stood up to pull the bell for the next stop, and they walked out, arm in arm.