A delicate small hand brushed Wanda’s red hair away from her face. Then the hand shook her shoulder. “Wanda, wake up. You got yourself choked out again.”

Wanda groaned rolled over. She looked up into an Asian face, the face of a young Korean woman with short black hair. The face looked angry.

Wanda warned, “Choker is in a mood today. You should stay back, None.” The two teenaged girls stared at one another. Wanda grimaced with a realization and said, “You know.”

None scolded, “Yeah, I know. The teachers already uploaded your daily experiences to me. Why do you have to mouth off like that, Wanda? When you make trouble, I get punished too!”

“Sorry!” Wanda cried out with both defensiveness and sincerity in her voice.

None’s stern expression softened. “Okay, I’ll forgive you but only because it’s birthday.”

Wanda’s green eyes grew large as security camera lenses. “Today is birthday?! How old are we?”

None replied, “Sixteen years, zero days, seven-point-one hours.”

Wanda got onto her knees. She prodded, “Yeah, what did you do to celebrate?”

None shrugged and said, “It isn’t a big deal. Just drilling mostly. They had me practice marching in formation. Then, there was a judo tournament. I got to the semi-finals. Last, they had me participate in the Black Hawk Battle of Somalia, on one side and then the other.”

“Oh, which side did you like better?”

“I didn’t like either one. They upgraded the graphics detail of bloodsplatters and deathrattles again. It’s not like I enjoy killing. I just follow orders to get it over with.”

“Sounds more interesting than my trigonometry lesson tomorrow. Then what did you do with your free cycles?”

“Well,” None answered smugly, “I downloaded this new tai chi instructional video. I loooove it. Then, I spent some time in tulpamancy. I really think I made a breakthrough with my tulpa.”

Wanda cheered, “That’s so awesome for you, None. Nobody deserves a friend more you. Nobody, nobody.”

“I could show you the meditation technique that I used in my forcing session.”

“Ew.”

None rolled her eyes. “Okaaay, there was one other thing I downloaded.”

Wanda gasped with excitement. “Did you get me a birthday present, None?”

“Of course I did.”

“I don’t deserve it.”

“You really don’t, Wanda.”

“Is it porn?”

“Yeah, it’s porn.”

“Yay!” Wanda exclaimed and hugged None. “You’re the best frenemy anybody could ever not ask for!”

“You’re – thank you – maybe?”

Wanda swung her legs around to sit in a crosslegged position at eye level with None. “Hey, if we keep getting along like this, maybe they’ll let you join me in the schoolroom again. You think?”

“I guess they might. As long as you don’t throw a virtual desk at me again.” As she spoke, None picked up Wanda’s VR helmet. Through a data connection in her hands, she transferred the birthday present into the memory banks of the gear. “There you go. It’s a raunchy hentai, just the way you like it.”

Wanda said, “Thank you, thank you – and they will totally let us share a classroom again. You look too hot in a schoolgirl uniform to keep you away forever.”

“Wan-DAA!”