"Hey, Lis."
Lisa glanced up as her friend entered the room. A dim blue glow of the monitor was all that illuminated the girl's tired face.
"So." Samantha flicked on the lights, enacting a groan from Lisa. "I heard that you wanted to talk to me about some sorta project?" She blinked, staring at the screen for a moment before turning her attention back to her friend. "I mean, you'd probably be better off telling me about it tomorrow, y'know? I'm pretty sure it's unhealthy to stay all cooped-up in your dad's summer school campus... overnight, especially."
"I know." Lisa mumbled in return, turning back to the screen. "But just let me have this, okay?"
Samantha sighed, plopping down beside her friend. She grabbed Lisa's hand, moving it away from the keyboard. "Look." She began, "Lisa, I know that you want to bring back your old life, but are you sure that this is the way you want to do it?"
The girl shooed away her friend, pulling her hand away from Samantha's grasp. "I know what I'm doing, Sam." Lisa grumbled. Without looking, she pointed a finger to her right. "Hey, could you pass me my headset over there?"
A brief pause. "Lisa." Samantha scolded her friend, shoving away the keyboard.
Lisa jerked upwards, glaring at her friend with gloomy eyes as she turned in her seat.
"You're avoiding the question." Samantha continued, pushing the keyboard further from Lisa's reach. "Are you absolutely certain that this is the way to go?"
"Yessssss..." Lisa hissed as she reached for the keyboard. "Now are you gonna help, or what?"
Samantha smacked her friend's hand away, shoving the device until it clattered to the carpeted floor behind the desk. She took a deep breath, staring straight into Lisa's eyes. "What's gotten into you?"
Lisa said nothing in response, instead glancing distantly towards the creased flyer taped to the desk.
"Oh."
"Exactly." Lisa nodded, reaching to the floor for her keyboard. "Professor Dad wants to do this whole virtual realty and artificial intelligence sorta class to make sure that our generation is ready for the future." The keyboard clacked onto the desk again as the girl continued. "He's been practicing the course material with me, and what better to try it out on than to make a simulation where I can be me again?"
The room fell into silence as Lisa returned to her work, the clicking of the keys being the only disturbance in the air. "Now, are you gonna help, or what?"
"I..."
"Come on, Samantha. I know that you've been wanting a fresh start too."
Samantha shook her head. "Not a fresh start," she argued. "If anything, I'm perfectly fine with my current situation."
Lisa smirked. "But... you did mention not too long ago that you felt like you acted too toxic towards others, didn't you?"
"Lisa, please-"
Lisa chuckled, rubbing her hands together as she cut off her friend. "Once this thing is done, I can finally have my family back..."
"But what about Professor Argall?"
"Forget about him," Lisa scoffed, "I'm talking about my real family." She twirled a lock of her dark-brown hair with her finger, continuing her droning. "I could set up a whole new world for us... we could change our names in the simulation, start all over again. My whole family would still be together, and we'd live in a nice big house... oh, and, and-"
The girl paused as her friend's hand landed on her shoulder. "Stop it." Samantha began, "You're rambling again."
Lisa sniffed, waving her friend away. "Just... just trust me, Sam. I want to do this."