“Stitch!” Alice yelled into the air of her room.

A small chime rang.

“Yes, how may I help you?” a robotic voice answered back.

“Stitch, I need something to wear for tomorrow’s date, but I can’t choose. Can you help me?”

“Of course I can, where will you be going?”

“Well…that’s the thing I don’t know, Brad said it was a surprise and we’re meeting virtually. Usually, I can pick out something on my own, but I have trouble if it’s in VR for some reason.”

“I understand…computing popular date looks. Please stand still in front of your mirror.”

Alice stepped up to the hanging wall mirror. A loading icon appeared inside of the mirror.

“Now loading the optimal look.”

Alice stood still as the clothes on her body began to transform into another color in the mirror. The clothes on her own body began to transform in the mirror. The fabrics began to stretch and started growing into a yellow dress hugging that wrapped around her neck, hugged her body, and flared widely at the bottom. It was cute, but felt a bit much and didn’t fit her style.

“Can we go with another look? This feels a bit princessy.”

“Based on my algorithms this is the perfect look for your date, are you sure you want to change looks?”

“Yes, please.”

“Thinking…please stand in front of the mirror.”

Alice stood in front of the loading mirror again, the dress faded away and a more casual, comfy sundress made of a simple, blue plaid pattern started to wrap around her body. It was a modest, but appealing look and the mirror topped it with a sunhat. She liked it.

“This looks good, I'll take it.”

“Calculating costs, that will be 50 virtual bucks, would you like to order the full ensemble in the real world for an extra 150 dollars?”

Alice looked at herself in the mirror, and scrunched her nose. She looked really cute, and she hadn’t treated herself to any new clothes in a while.

“Sure.”

“Confirming...Thank you for your purchase, the outfit will be available for your avatar immediately in VR, shipping of the actual outfit will be fulfilled in 2 hours by drone. May I help you with anything else today?”

“No thank you, Stitch.”

With her dress ready she looked over her lipstick collection. Red, definitely red tomorrow she thought to herself. She was beyond excited for the date. This would be her first since breaking up with her ex in sophomore year. The relationship started out ok, but she broke it off when her ex became too pushy and insistent on doing things she wasn’t ready for. She ended up completely swearing off boys during junior year; which helped with her test scores and college applications immensely. She had already received an early acceptance at Mars U, but she didn’t tell her parents about it yet. She was hoping to hold out for some other schools on Earth. 

In some ways, being accepted already took a weight off her shoulders, but in other ways it felt like a big rock got in the way of the path she wanted to take. Many of her peers took senior year easy, but the thought of everyone going their separate ways wasn’t easy to swallow and made her feel lonely. It would be especially so if she moved to Mars. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and affirmed her own self-worth and agency in her future. She let out the breath with a slightly comforted sigh. She then took her phone out and sent a text to Brad.

“Looking forward to tmrw!”

…

“Yea, me too!”

He replied back quickly.

“When are u gonna tell me where we are going?”

…

“Tomorrow XD”

Alice smiled.

“You dork, no one uses XD anymore.”

…

“Oh, ok lol XD”

“How about one hint?”

…

“Ummm it’s magical I guess.”

Magical? Why magical? That can mean a lot of things she thought. Maybe they were going to a magic show or a fantasy VR experience with wizards, dragons, and wands. She thought those things, but secretly she knew what he meant by “magical.” She had always been sharp when it came to secrets and had keen inference skills. She knew in the back of her mind that he meant Disneyland. It should’ve made her happy, but it made her feel a little sad. She wondered if her dad would ever keep his promise from long ago, or if he even remembered it.

“Thanks, it sounds great, see u tmrw, good night Brad.”

She closed the phone, walked to her makeup stand, and took her blue lipstick and applied a light amount on. Blueberry was the name of the shade of blue she wore. A cute name for a horrible feeling. She forced a smile from one side of her lip…

…

Her phone buzzed and she looked over at the message.

“Good night, Alice! I’m excited for tomorrow. I enjoy talking with you. I hope you dream of wonderful things, because I think you’re a wonderful person. XD”

The rest of her smile filled itself naturally on her face. She grabbed the red lipstick and applied a bit on top making a deep shade of purple. Disney could be fun she thought as she went to the bathroom to wash away the lipstick and get ready for bed.

Somewhere far off an advanced AI was scolding a boy for continuing to use XD in text messages with the girl he likes despite being told not to.