(I am just pumping these out)

It was Sunday, and the two boys were now at the mall, Michael with $600 in his hand and Jeremy with his hood up and anxious eyes. He did not want Michael getting a Squip. He did not want to just lose his best friend just like he had lost-

“I-I think that's the guy.” Michael cut off Jeremy's train of thought and pointed to a creepy looking man in the Payless Shoe Store.

“Micha, he looks shady.” Jeremy whispered but Michael made his way over to the man, hesitation in every motion.

“E-Excuse me, a-are you selling Squips?” Michael asked in a whisper, and the man's eyes seemed to glow for a minute before he grabbed a shoe box. “I-I'm sorry y-you must not b-”

“Oh no I am. It's in here.” He opened the box and the two boys stared at the tiny pill inside. There was an entire computer in that.

“T-That's a-” Michael was cut off from the box slamming shut.

“400. Then you can have it.” Weird, Jake had said $600, but it was cheaper so Michael wasn't complaining. He handed the man most of his money, shoving the remaining $200 into his pocket. He was handed the box and he held it tightly, ignoring the voices in the back of his head telling him this was a bad idea. “Just so we're clear, this is untested, probably illegal technology. I dunno what you'll do with it, or what it'll do with you.”

“W-Wait wha-”

“Take it with Mountain Dew, dunno why, but that activates it. Also, no refunds.” Michael nodded, making his way out, Jeremy trailing behind him.

***

“

Okay, that's 400 for the Squip and a dollar for the Mountain Dew, you kinda owe me now.” Jeremy said as he sat down next to Michael, eating chili fries while Michael examined the Squip

“Y-Yeah. I'll pay y-you back I promise…” Thinking about it now, this had been a terrible idea. Jeremy was probably right and this was fake but it was too late now. “W-Well...here g-goes everything.” He plopped the pill into his mouth and took a drink of the Mountain Dew, not feeling anything.

“So, d-does it work?” Jeremy asked, hoping it didn't.

“I-I don't t-think it did. Just t-tasted like a mint.”

“Well that sucks.” Jeremy spoke with a handful of fries in his mouth, offering one to Michael. “Chili fry?”

“Nah...I-I just wanna sit here and feel like a naive idiot f-for believing Jake.” Michael put his head in his hands and sighed violently.

“You get five minutes.” Jeremy stood up and grabbed his backpack, which he practically carried everywhere, and put it on.

“Where a-are you going?” Michael asked, and his best friend began bouncing excitedly.

“So this dude at Spencer's Gifts has a thing of Orbitz! Ya know, that neat lava lamp soda stuff they discontinued, and it's one of the only soda flavors from the 90s I haven't tasted yet!”

“Y-You are going to poison yourself Jeremy. A-And when you do I'll c-cry.”

“Michael, it's been refrigerated for a while, can't be that bad. Anyways, I'm gonna go get it, I'll be back here when I'm done.” Jeremy ran off and Michael watched as he made his way to one of the worst stores in the mall… then he saw Jenna and Rich walking near the food court. He had to go get her away from Rich before she got her heart broken.

He stood up and made his way over to them, ignoring the slight headache he was getting, probably from his anxiety.

“H-Hey Jenna.” He scolded himself for how quiet he'd been but she seemed to notice him and she smiled.

“Oh Michael! I didn't know you were here.” She seemed happy to see him, so that was something going for this friendship.

“Yeah you're practically invisible.” Rich muttered, and Michael looked down and began fiddling with his cardigan sleeves.

“Rich that was rude.” Jenna scolded, turning back to Michael, whose head was in such pain he didn't hear her apologize for Rich's poor behavior.

“Target female inaccessible.” Where did that come from? And why the hell did it sound like Bob Marley? Michael held his head due to the pain and Jenna watched him in worry.

“Michael are-are you okay?”

“O-O-Oh yeah I'm fine. J-Just a headache. That's a-all.”

“Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort.” With that, Michael felt as if his head was exploding and he fell to his arms and knees, biting his lip to avoid screaming.

“Michael?” Jenna asked a second time but he didn't hear her through the buzzing in his head and pain in his body.

“We need to get outta here, he's frikkin ballistic.” Rich grabbed Jenna's hand but she didn't walk away.

“Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated.” Michael felt the pain stop and sighed, looking up at a worried Jenna and dismissive Rich.

“You okay?”

“I'm uh...I-I think...the pain s-stopped so I-”

“Discomfort level may increase.” Michael fell again before Jenna could help him up, and he could make out Rich dragging her away. Michael began screeching and the voice in his head became increasingly more loud. “Accessing: muscle memory. Accessing: neural memory. Access procedure complete.”

Michael looked up and saw the red tinted, digital recreation of Bob Marley standing in front of him.

“Michael Heere. Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Your Squip.”