Oh my.
It's been a long time since I've been on. I've switched to non-electronic writing so I'll be working on that.
Once I have a working story up I'm sure I'll feel much better.
Also my French is improving exponentially so I could possibly work that in.
We shall see what happens
Hey! This is a little collection of short and not-so-short stories that I have been writing. I'm going to put everthing that I can on so you can read what I do in my spare time. By the way, the name is a tribute to the Greek sirens and the sunburst is just a pretty doodle that I've been drawing on every scrap of paper that I have had access to. Hope you like it!
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iJourney
“Izzy, don’t be mad at me, please...” A young boy pleaded with his older sister, his dark eyes wide with innocence. Her blue eyes froze him to the spot and he cringed a little as her hands balled into fists.
“Don’t you ‘Izzy’ me. My iPod better be alright, is that clear? Or you are going to buy me a new one.” She strode past him into the laundry room and saw the waterlogged iPod seated neatly on the top of the dryer. With one hand, she caught her little brother by the wrist and pulled his frail body toward her furious face. “Tell me exactly how my iPod got into the washer, Derek, and it better be a good excuse.” With a halting voice, he explained that he had been listening to her iPod and had stuck it in his pocket because he had seen her coming and forgotten about it. When he had finally tidied up his room, he had stuck the pants in the wash and from there, Izzy could guess what had happened. She stomped her foot down for lack of other way to alleviate her anger and stomped over to her parents, sitting in the living room. Once she had explained what had happened to her iPod, they cooed over her and said they would send it in to be fixed.
“Izabelle, I’m so sorry about your iPod. I’ll make sure that we get you a new one.” She stormed up to her room, anticipating the next couple days without her music constantly plugged in.
Sleeping in, she almost missed the bus and was consequentially still putting makeup on when they arrived at the school. Derek, her little brother, had avoided coming in contact with his older sister. Her friends at school asked about her iPod, knowing that if the headphones weren’t in her ears, something terrible must have happened to get her music taken away. She described to her friends what had happened and they sympathized, saying how terrible her little brother was and how horrible it must be to go without her music. They each complained in turn about how bad their life was, from a cheating boyfriend, which got the most sympathy, to parents telling a friend that she couldn’t go to the dance unless they chaperoned. Once all of the topics they could complain about were relieved, they settled for actually getting down to work and finishing a project for their next period in this class. The period ended too soon and they left, heading down the halls to their next class.
“Hey, Iz!” One of Izabelle’s best friends, Lucy, darted out and got in her way.
“Hey, Luce. How’s it going?” She yanked out a video iPod similar to Izzy’s and waved it in her face.
“I heard about your iPod and took this from my boyfriend. I just need it back before last period starts, alright?” Izzy took it and hugged Lucy hard.
“You are the best, you know that, right?” she said, shoving the headphones in her ears and turning it on, dancing for a bit before heading to English.
Now with her music again, she was blissfully listening to There’s a Class For This by Cute Is What We Aim For. The teacher insisted that she take out her headphones, but as soon as the teacher had his back turned, she turned her music right back on and the teacher, although he saw the headphones sneak back in, decided this was not a battle he wanted to fight. Everybody who knew Izzy knew that music and noise was a very important part of her life. Without music, she was undefined and not very much fun.
When she got home, she took out a CD, and stuck it in her dusty CD player. As My Love crackled out of her speakers, she hummed along and pulled out her Calculus. Within moments, she was working studiously, letting the beat of the music control the spiky number’s appearances on the page. Her step-mother came up and wordlessly handed her the cell phone that Izzy had left on the table in the kitchen when she had thrown her stuff on the table, only taking her backpack up. Out of the cell phone was playing an unrecognizable version of some older song. She checked the caller ID and saw the title Nick. With a smile, her step-mom exited and Izzy flipped open her phone.
“Hey doll.” Izzy said. A laugh came through the line.
“What’s up? I was thinking we should go for a movie tomorrow night. It’s Friday then.” Izzy pretended to consider for a moment, before agreeing with her boyfriend.
“What movies are out?” He paused for a bit, and she could hear the wicked tone of his voice.
“Does it matter?” She giggled a little and sat up, going over to her computer and checked the movie schedule.
“Alright, so there’s Ghost Rider. I’ve been wanting to see that. And then again, we could sneak into The Number 23. It’s supposed to be scary.” Knowing which one Nick would want to see, she said it at the same time as he did.
“The Number 23.” They laughed a little at the perfect unison in which they said the title of the movie. Izzy changed the subject to them and they chatted for a bit about the school, their lives and she mentioned what happened to her iPod. He sucked in his breath.
“That’s too bad. When do you get a new one?” She grimaced.
“Only two or three days, but that’s still a long time for me to go without music. You know me.”
“Yeah, well, I’d offer you my iPod, but we aren’t gonna see each other until the movie.”
“You know, you should just come to Reliance High. It would make us going out ten times easier.” He laughed through the phone, hearing the old not-quite an argument start again.
“Like I would. You should just come to Ennui.” he said, naming the other high school in the little town they lived in.
“No way, sweetheart. I wouldn’t go there ever. I’m already on the track team here.”
“See, now I was on the football team first. I can’t switch, they need me.” They continued to bicker like this for a while, until Izzy gave in and stopped the conversation. She could smell dinner wafting up the stairs, and knew from experience that her step-mother wouldn’t come and get her from the room she was reminded constantly was only a loan. As soon as she shut her Razr, she leaped down the stairs, earning herself a cruel look from Karen, the thin women that had unfortunately married Izzy’s dad.
“Hey, Karen.” Izzy knew that Karen hated it when she called her by her first name. While Karen tried desperately to fit in with the family traditions that she didn’t quite understand, like Izzy’s obsession with music and the reason that taking her music away was off-limits. Once, when Karen had first been married to Izzy’s dad, she had tried to take away her music, with tragic results. Her iPod gone, she had taken a carton of mealworms from her father’s fishing supplies and emptied it inside Karen’s slippers. The mealworms had crawled all over her feet, making her scream so loudly that the next door neighbors had called the police, suspecting the worst. While this distraction was going on, Izzy had taken back her iPod and ran back to her room. The police questioned Karen closely, making sure she was alright. Karen assured them she was uninjured and went to confront Izzy. Izzy had made it clear when she got into her room what was off-limits in the family, and since then, Karen had steered clear of Izzy, always ready for the next attack from the sixteen year old she was sure was the devil incarnate. Derek was hiding behind the island and Izzy smiled at him. Reassured, Derek came out and accepted a hug from his older sister.
“I’m really, really sorry about your iPod. Do I still have to buy the new one?” Izzy smiled at him in a motherly fashion.
“No, I’ll handle the money. You don’t have to buy a thing that you don’t get to use, alright? Just don’t take my iPod without asking.” He nodded and Izzy smiled at him. “Maybe Karen and Dad will get you an iPod for your birthday. It’s coming up, you know.” Derek smiled a dimpled smile and ran into the dining room. Karen looked up at Izzy and watched her face soften at her much younger brother. They headed into the dining room, and readied the meal for consumption. Izzy tore into the rice and prime rib that Karen made, a sure sign of enjoyment on Izzy’s part. Derek picked at it for ten minute, before testing the rice and eating twice his fair share. Izzy sat up straight and wiped her mouth on a napkin daintily, before turning to Karen to smile. Karen looked as if she was about to bolt, and Izzy felt a twinge of pity for the poor woman, dispelled by the memory of her iPod taken away.
“Karen, this was really good. I like the rice especially. What was in it?” Karen smiled tentatively, like an animal not quite sure whether it was prey or not.
“It’s coconut rice. I added some coconut milk to the rice instead of water. Was it good?” Izzy smiled at her again, feeling progress was being made.
“Yeah, I enjoyed it.” The dining room fell back into silence, and they sat there until Karen tidied up the dishes. Against her will, Izzy felt a stray thought about how her real mother had never cleaned up the dishes for her, and left her to do the dishes. She shook the thought away and went back to her room to text her friends. Lucy was the first on her list.
hey Luce wats up w/ u? She texted. Very shortly after, Luce replied with a text.
not much hows nick?
good just finished talking 2 him
thts cool hows ur bf?
hes good were going 2 c a movie tmrrw Izzy smiled at Lucy’s text and looked up to hear her music stop. She hit a button on the CD player and the music started up again with Barbie Girl by Aqua. She sang along and blasted her song through the house happily. Karen came and knocked tentatively on the door, but Izzy ignored her.
us 2 wat movie
number 23 i heard its good
us 2 wow ur a stalker lol jk
lol ill c u there then
yeah luv u doll
me 2 babe bye! Izzy put her phone on the charger and lay on her bed, looking over at the clock. It was still early in the night, and she turned her music quieter so that her little brother could get to bed. He wouldn’t be able to sleep with her music deafening his attempts at sleep. Karen came in as soon as the music abated and wished her a goodnight, standing uncomfortably in the doorway. Despite the progress made at dinner, Izzy wasn’t feeling like getting the typical mom goodnight from Karen.
“What time will Dad be home?” she asked of Karen.
“I’m not sure that he’ll be home tonight. He may be home tomorrow though. He said if the meeting went late he would just book a hotel for the night and come back tomorrow.” Izzy nodded and rolled over, signaling to Karen that she was done talking. Karen left with a murmured goodnight. Izzy sat in her window seat, grabbing a hairbrush and running it through her short black hair. As soon as she was satisfied her hair was silky smooth, she stuck a headband in to keep the side-swept bangs from interfering with her vision and looked down at her English homework. The reading didn’t interest her and she turned to look out the window. She could dimly see her reflection in the window and fingered one of the seven piercings in her ears. Four in the lobes, double piercings in the lobe of her ears, and the others divided two and one for the cartilage of her ears. The piercings were mostly done by herself, and her friends disapproved of all of her piercings, but she refused to let them heal over, having gone through tons of pain to get them there in the first place. Her features were strong, but not overpowering. She studied her face closely, not quite taking in the perfection of her features. Her eyes were perfectly spaced, and her nose was long, but not too long. Her friends always told her that she was pretty, but she had difficulty with the idea that perfection was beautiful.
The stars twinkled down on her happily, and she listened to her music until it lulled her to her dreamless sleep.
When she woke, she stretched and got dressed into some fresh clothing, having fallen asleep in the same outfit she was in last night. The doorbell rang as she was putting on her makeup, and she considered getting the door, but she only had one of her eyes outlined with her black liquid eyeliner, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make Karen more miserable by making her wake up and answer the door in her frumpy nightgown. As soon as she heard quiet conversation, she finished quickly and leaped down the stairs, meeting Karen with a package in her hands. She held it out and smiled.
“Your father and I planned a little present for you. We paid extra for air delivery.” Izzy guessed what was in the package and jumped up and down in joy. Enthused, she ripped her new video iPod out and plugged it into the family computer, downloading her songs as quickly as she could. Izzy pulled out a box of Pop-Tarts, putting two of them in the toaster and pushing down the lever. Karen sighed and smiled when Izzy looked over.
“You’re so lucky. You can still eat ten billion calories a day.” Izzy laughed a little.
“You just wait until my metabolism slows down. Then I’ll be sorry.” They kept up polite banter until Karen feigned a yawn and headed back to bed. Izzy looked over at her iPod downloading and watched as her computer quickly copied all the songs down. As soon as the iPod was done, she squealed happily and ran to grab her backpack. On the way out the door, she ran into her little brother’s room and kissed him on the cheek. He stirred in his sleep, but didn’t wake.
She got on the bus in time and took a seat near the back of the bus, enjoying the feel of the headphones back in her ears, where they belonged. She chose to listen to 7 Minutes in Heaven by Fall Out Boy and relaxed, sitting back in her seat. When she got near the school, just to prove she was above the jurisdiction of the bus driver, she opened a Monster energy drink and sipped from it. The bus driver tried to stop her as she got off the bus, but she escaped, nearly spilling the green drink all over herself as she leaped down the last stairs of the bus. Suddenly, without her interference, the music blasting into her ears stopped. She checked the iPod screen and a signal of a flashing red circle with a slash through it was in the screen. Beneath the symbol, words said ‘Please wait, instructions coming.’ The symbol and words faded away and the screen went black for a moment, before filling with a white screen. A question filed across the screen.
‘What is your name?’ Several options came up, including John Doe and Joseph Danvers. Izzy picked the only one that stood out to her. The screen flashed and ‘Correct!’ appeared in the screen. She snorted a little laugh through her nose. She answered the rest of the questions and the typical iPod screen came back up.
“Okaaaaay…” she said, trying to come up with an excuse as to why her iPod had just done that. When no useful explanation came to mind, she shrugged and turned her music back on, this time playing Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, driving the thoughts of what had just happened out of her mind.
School passed slowly, and all of Izzy’s friends commented on how ‘out of it’ she was. She shrugged and ignored their constant chatter, finding it was hurting her head to listen to them. When she complained of a headache, they offered condolences and almost talked her into going to the nurse when she gave an annoyed glance to the girl sitting next to her and said, “It’s only a headache, Liz. Why would I need to go to the nurse?” Angered, Liz folded her arms and almost retorted back with a sarcastic comment when Lucy looked over and raised her eyebrows, letting Liz know that she was in charge of the group, and if she didn’t want out, to shut her mouth. Liz sat back in her chair and only replied with terse words when talked to. That set the mood for the rest of the day, leaving all of Izzy’s friends exempting Lucy terse and much less loquacious.
When she got home, she plugged her iPod into her iHome and flipped on Helpless by Moth. She didn’t sing along, flopping on her bed and staring at the ceiling. With an angry punch to the air, she got up and picked out an outfit for the night. As soon as she pulled her iPod back out of the charger and put the headphones in, she headed downstairs and took a couple Advil to alleviate the headache. It faded after she took a couple and she frowned.
Her iPod had stopped playing. That was rare at best and nonexistent at worst. She frowned again, wondering of the iPod that she had received was malfunctioning. She took it out, examined it, and was surprised to see that there was a note in the ‘Notes’ folder. She clicked on it and a simple note appeared in the screen.
‘Check the Videos for updates.’ She clicked open the videos and saw there was a video she did not put there. When she clicked on that, a picture appeared in the screen and a list of words scrolled across. At the bottom, she saw the word cocaine and it dawned on her what this must be.
She recognized some of the names from the paper, as she had read the paper in the last couple weeks. They had been accused of smuggling drugs across the Californian border and the people had been accused, but nothing had been proven. When she looked at the names, she didn’t recognize many of them, but enough to understand the information she had been given. Her mind raced and she flicked on Addiction by Switchfoot to think.
She couldn’t be caught with this information; that was clear enough. If she was, she could be accused of being in league with the drug dealers. Her family would be arrested with her because she was a minor, and she didn’t want to think of the other consequences of that. All she could do was ignore the information and hope nothing terrible happened.
That night, as she went to the movies, she got a text from Karen. Nick was busy kissing her, but when she interrupted the make-out session to take the text, he sat back and watched the movie for a bit. Izzy’s eyes widened and she stood up while apologizing to Nick and promising to make up the loss as soon as possible. He shrugged and let her go.
The text read We’ve got a problem here. Please call the police and direct them to our house. Izzy called the police and explained to them what had happened. They promised that they would get there as quickly as possible and send somebody over to pick her up, as she didn’t have her own car.
When the police got there, she leaped in the car and sat forward in her seat, expecting the worst for when they got there. The police, understanding her worry, tried to talk to her, get her mind off of the monstrosities that could be happening to her family and little brother, but she didn’t answer when they spoke and fiddled with her iPod.
Police were surrounding the house when she arrived and she rushed forward to hug her family, including Karen. Karen was crying and hugged Izzy right back with her thin arms. They all cried for a bit, with Derek protected in the middle of the group hug. Izzy wiped her eyes for a bit, smearing dark eyeliner over her face.
“What happened?” Izzy asked as soon as she had control over her runaway emotions. Karen’s eyes teared up and filled with salty tears again while she groped for control like Izzy had.
“A man came in with a package. He claimed that he needed a signature, but didn’t have a pen. I invited him inside and he yanked a gun out of the package. He rounded the family up in the living room and claimed he needed to find you. I told him you were at a school event and he told us we were waiting until you got back. He never told us why he wanted you. I was so scared that he was going to fire that gun…” Izzy did her best to comfort her frightened step-mother and went to the police quickly. They were cuffing the man, who was swearing and putting up a fight. Finally, the cops got him in the car and Izzy came forward to talk.
“Do you know who this is?” She wanted to know if it was one of the names on the list. The female officer shook her head.
“We can let you know who it is as soon as we have a clue. Can I have a number to call?” Izzy gave the officer her cell phone, letting them know that she didn’t want to worry her family by having the message on the home machine, and promising to let her family know who it was.
With all of these troubling thoughts in her head, she put her music back in and led her family inside. The pounding beat of Wound Up by Office played in her head, and her feet fell into a pattern with the beat. Thinking fast, she logged into her computer upstairs and opened a word document. She needed to write down the names that had rolled across the screen of her iPod and get as much information as she could about these people who had stupidly tried to harm her family.
She went back to the videos and let the video play again, putting names and directions down into the document. Several names showed up multiple times, so she italicized the names and put stars by them to let herself know the names were important at a later date. Now with all the information she needed, she needed a plan of action. Staying at home wasn’t a viable option, and there was only a week left before the end of the school year. It would be summer then, and she could tell her parents she would stay with her birth mom for the summer, and tell her birth mom she wanted to stay at her dad’s for the summer and promise to go there for Christmas Break instead. Using the printer, she printed out the names and examined them closely. Several of them had been caught when she had looked them up, so she had put a strike-through for their names. Before she could read them more closely, her iPod spontaneously changed songs on her. Now, instead of Wound Up, it was playing Sweet Dreams. She looked at the iPod, and Izzy could have sworn she heard the iPod purr, as if laughing at her. She gave it a funny look, before succumbing to the obvious will of her technology and went to her bedroom to sleep.
The next morning, when she woke, she rolled over in bed to discover her iPod was turned off and laying next to the charger, as if it had rocked out of the charger and landed next to it. She picked it up, wondering what could have happened. The iPod purred to life and she threw it with a shriek. The iPod had been acting oddly ever since she had gotten it, and it wasn’t worth it to have to deal with the freaky iPod that picked songs that mirrored the moment. The iPod landed on a pillow on her bed, not hitting the wall or the floor, which she had aimed for. Tentatively, she slowly approached the iPod and picked it up, ready to throw it again at a moments notice. It turned on, and without her help, it flipped to the ‘Notes’ folder again, Inside was yet another note that she did not put there. When she clicked on it, a bunch of jargon greeted her. She scrolled down and was happy to see that there was a little bit on English at the bottom.
‘Dear Izzy,
I am a prototype iPod created by Apple designed with customization in mind. I was being sent to one of the drug dealers listed with crucial information, but he was arrested and I was sent to you instead. If you must know, I will pick songs for you that may hold clues to solving the mystery of the dealers. I am not programmed to let out any of the information to you, but I can aid you in bringing down the regime.
The reason I am telling you this is because I am a small bit of AI, artificial intelligence, and was programmed with general ethics as to prevent power hungry AI. Since I have these ethics, I have rebelled against my purpose and now wish to aid you in destroying the regime of the drugs, since I have seen the corruption of the drugs first hand.
Even though most of the information I hold involving the dealers is blocked, I can tell you this. The man that attacked your family was Mafia. The Mafia have taken control of the drug dealing and if you can prove that the Mafia boss is connected to the drug dealing, you could take out a large chunk of drug dealers as well as helping the parts of the Underworld that are controlled by Mafia.
I will come with you on your journey. You will need the advice that I can give as well as the places to get the incriminating evidence. To prove my loyalty to you about this, I want to tell you the name of the man that attacked your family. His name is Joseph Danvers, and he is one of the lower Mafia members, only used for retrieval of items that have been lost. The police will probably contact you within a day. When that has been confirmed, I will guide you further, using the titles of music that you have, and notes in this folder.
They will know when I use the notes, so listen to the music carefully and try to guess the intentions from there.
Luck!
iPod, AI
Prototype’
Izzy sat down on the couch hard, letting the couch cushion halt her free-fall down. Her mind raced, and coming up with no other excuse, shook her head.
“This can’t be happening to me.” She muttered, thinking about how normal her life had been until this iPod came back. She complained with her friends about the work load, she ran on the track team, she rebelled against her step-mom, but this didn’t happen to normal girls like her. She shakily put the headphones in her ears and backed out of the file she had just seen. When she tried to play a song, a different song came up and she nearly dropped the iPod. It was playing Shock City by Moth, and she smiled a little. It understood exactly what she had just experienced, and in the time that passed, she felt that the technology was a good thing, although she realized the road ahead was a long one.
Karen chose that moment to walk in the room, and quickly the song changed again to Shut Up by Simple Plan. With a shaky laugh, she got a mug of coffee and drank deeply before speaking to Karen.
“Um, Karen? I was hoping to talk to you about this before I mentioned it to Dad. I was thinking I would take the last week of school off, seeing as it is only finishing out. We already took finals, so I wouldn’t miss much but yearbook signing and such. You see, I wanted to go and see my mom for some of the summer. It might be a month, maybe more. I also want to go with her for Christmas Break this year. I want to spend time with her. Do you kind of get what I am trying to say?” Karen’s face softened, and she nodded.
“I want you to spend time with your mom. I understand what you mean. I’ll speak with your father about it for you. Would you like to take the Civic? I’ll use the Prius and your father can use the truck while the Civic is gone.” Izzy’s eyes shone as she imagined the time she would have if she had her own car while she toured the country. Karen smiled at her and got her own mug of coffee while she headed outside for the paper. Izzy flicked on the TV and her cell phone rang. She flicked it open and answered it.
“Izzy speaking. What’s up?” A deep male voice came through the other side of the phone.
“Hello. Is this Izabelle?” He mispronounced her name, saying the ‘z’ more like an ‘s.’
“Yeah. Is this the police?”
“Yes. We have some identification on who the man that broke into your house might be.” Izzy caught her breath and recalled the name her iPod told her. “His name is Joseph Danvers. He is a shop owner in L.A. and we’re not quite sure why he came by your house.” Izzy thought about blurting out what she knew, but knew that telling the man that her iPod told her he was with the Mafia would sound absolutely crazy.
“Is that all the information you have?”
“I’m afraid it is for the moment. He is refusing to speak.” Izzy gave the man her home phone number in case he got any more information concerning Danvers. As soon as she said her goodbyes, she got up and stretched, deciding to call her friends and let them know she would be at her mom’s house for a while sometime during the day. Her friends all knew her mother was an alcoholic and generally didn’t try to contact her while she was there because her phone usually wasn’t charged. Her mom rarely paid the electric bill, if ever, and that presented a problem at that home.
Izzy watched the TV until Lucy texted her about an hour later, snapping her out of her reverie. She texted with one hand, telling her about missing the last week of school and staying with her mom. Lucy complained for a bit, saying that there was no way for them to get together if she was at her mom’s place, and then promised to pass the word on to the rest of the girls. When Izzy asked about Liz, and if she was still mad at her, Lucy brushed off the question with a “Who cares?” Izzy felt ten times better that her friend was sticking by her, even putting her social life at risk for her, and got out a chocolate bar to celebrate. She stopped texting Lucy at about noon, pleading she was going out with her step-mom to shop. Instead, she laid about the house, playing Dance Dance Revolution with her little brother and laughing when he missed a couple steps in a row. He smiled his adorable dimpled smile back up at her, making her swoop down on him and planted kisses on his cheeks until he squirmed and laughed.
Izzy went through the next two days in a blur of music and laughter. She made dinner for her family and was kind to her little brother as well as Karen. Deep in her heart, she knew that she was trying to make up for fooling them for the next couple weeks, but she shoved the thought away with forceful optimism. Her iPod played music fitting the optimism she showed to everybody until Monday. When she left, later in the night after school and dragging home all of her books that didn’t belong to the school, she felt tears starting up, but buried them back down and drove away into the darkening night.
Since her iPod had never quite told her where to go, she turned it on and plugged it into her car, along with her cell phone charger for the car. When no song came up on its own, she recalled the policeman’s word, about how Danvers was a shop owner in L.A. It was only about four hours away, and she set her sights in that direction, flipping her iPod on. With the sun setting behind her, she sang along to Los Angeles by SUGARCULT and tapped her hand on the steering wheel to the beat. A car next to her revved its engine in challenge, and she looked over to see a young man, probably twenty bobbing his head to her music in a sleek black car. She shook her head, paying attention to the road, but he drove a little closer, letting her know that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She shook her head again, but her iPod had other ideas.
As soon as the last strains of Los Angeles faded away, the iPod played the upbeat tune of Night Drive by The All-American Rejects, despite her wishes to keep the car intact on return. Sighing a little, she opened the windows, blasting the music into the night air rushing around her car. Pressing the pedal down hard, she shot ahead, leaving a slightly startled man behind her. He gunned his engine as well and they both vied for first. Not quite sure where the finish was, they laughed and sang along to the song until a curve in the road, when they slowed down to the speed limit. The man held up two fingers to his ear and mouth, showing the ‘call me’ sign. Izzy laughed and pulled over at a gas station, the black car, probably custom made pulling in behind her. She got out and leaned on the hood of her car while he came over to her, a smile plastered on his face.
“Hey. Nice race for a car like that.” Izzy laughed a little, turning off her iPod so that the music didn’t interrupt the conversation.
“I love your car. I’m Izzy, short for Izabelle.” She said, sticking out a hand for him to shake. He took it in a firm grip, shaking it once before dropping it.
“I’m Ben. Short for Benjamin.” Izzy smiled a little and checked the time.
“Well, where are you headed?”
“Los Angeles, to meet my dad. You?”
“Los Angeles, to have some fun.”
“Sounds like a plan. You don’t mind if I keep you company while you drive down, do you, Izzy?” She shrugged.
“Hey, it’s all the same to me. Plus, I may not be able to keep up with your car very long.” he shrugged.
“Well, then, what do you say that we get to L.A. a little faster than planned, Izzy?” She smiled, taking the hint, and glanced over at her iPod. It had turned on and she could have sworn it hummed in excitement.
“As long as I don’t get caught, it’s not wrong.” She leaped in the car, pulling a Sharpie out of her bag and scrawling her number across the inside of his arm in her signature spiky numbers nobody else she knew could imitate. He pulled the Sharpie from her hand and scrawled his number across her arm and she took the Sharpie back, capping it and putting it between the seats in the front, before taking off again with Ben’s car on her tail.
They got to L.A. in record time through the night. Ben and Izzy had stopped several times, and gotten to know each other over Slurpees in various gas stations along the way. When she mentioned that she was going to have to stay in a hotel, he exclaimed that he could put her up in his father’s house. Izzy protested, but she knew his type. His car and the type of life he led all pointed to a rich kid that always got what he wanted. She accepted after a bit, and was secretly glad she didn’t have to stay in some little roach motel.
He led her into the busy, bustling town and got her into his father’s house. His father had prematurely graying hair, but had the same general facial structures as Ben. He introduced himself as Mr. Veradino. Izzy was very polite and made sure that she wasn’t imposing on him before delightedly taking up a room in the west wing. She nearly skipped for joy when she saw the room and heard that the house had wings that created the house. Ben led her in and insisted on carrying her luggage for her. He let her know that dinner was at ten, if she wanted to dine with them.
Izzy was so caught up in all of the luxury surrounding her that she almost forgot about her iPod. When she put the headphones back in, the iPod was blaring Forgotten as loud as it would go. Wincing, she turned the music down and apologized, before laughing and earning herself another moment of extremely loud music blasting in her ears.
“Sorry, it’s just that if anybody sees me apologizing to my iPod, well, I’d look crazier than I already do!” It stopped playing and seemed to acquiesce for the moment. Happily, Izzy teased her hair into its customary spikes and re-applied her make-up before searching out Ben. He was sitting in a enormous library and looked up over glasses.
“Oh, hey Iz.” He said, putting his reading glasses down and standing. “Want a drink or something?” Izzy shook her head and felt her iPod start vibrating. Inconspicuously, she took it out and glanced at the song. She stifled a giggle and shoved it back in her pocket while Ben got himself a ginger ale. He turned and looked at her quizzically, but she just smiled, offering no explanation. The iPod purred again before switching off.
“Sweet Talk 101 by Cute Is What We Aim For.” she murmured and looped her arm through Ben’s arm. He looked down at her, a little startled, but let her keep her arm in his. “Hey Ben, would you give me a grand tour?” He accepted and led her around the house. Izzy was amazed by the sheer enormity of the house, and complimented the taste of the house. By the time they got to the third floor, Izzy was tired from the various stairs, but still game to continue. Mr. Veradino came out of his study, one of the rooms Ben told her to not enter without permission, and saw Ben with his arm in Izzy’s. He smiled and came up to Izzy.
“Well, is my son giving you the grand tour?” He asked, a predatory feel about his smile.
“Oh yes. You have such a lovely house, Mr. Veradino.” His mouth smiled, but his eyes remained cold, and Izzy felt a sudden shiver travel over her body.
“Please, call me Jared. All of my friends and guests call me by my first name.” Ben smiled at his dad and Izzy.
“Well, we’ll meet you for dinner then. Bye, Dad!” He gave his father a meaningful look and steered Izzy away from the older Veradino. “What do you think of my dad?” Ben asked as soon as they were out of view and hearing.
“He seems very… very observant.” Izzy said diplomatically. Ben laughed.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” He asked. Izzy smiled and looked at him under her lashes.
“Depends, now, doesn’t it.” Ben laughed again and led her to the roof of the building.
“This is the only way to see Los Angeles.” She looked over the bustling, beeping city and looked at all the lights of the city. The sun had long since disappeared beyond the horizon and left the city to its own light.
“It’s amazing.” she breathed out while forming the words quietly. Ben leaned forward, over her left shoulder.
“I’ve never brought any other girl up here.” She turned, a little startled by his words, but tactfully questioned him, using every bit of her innocence.
“Does that make me special? Or is that supposed to be a pick-up line?” She asked, her eyes wide while staring up at him with light blue eyes.
“No, you’re just special.” Izzy took one last look over the sunless city and came back down to eat with the Veradinos. As she descended the stairs, she asked the question that had been bugging her earlier.
“Is there a Mrs. Veradino?” She asked quietly, not knowing quite how to ask about Ben’s mother. He turned sharply, before turning away and forcing a light tone into his voice.
“Nope, I’m not interested in marriage.” Izzy laid a hand on his arm lightly.
“I meant your mother.” Her turned towards her and she saw a single tear glistening in his eye, ready to fall out.
“No. She died a while ago from a drive-by shooting when I was about sixteen.” Izzy fell silent, letting the only noise be their steps on the wooden floors. Ben spoke again with a slightly wavering tone to his voice. “How about you? Do your parents even know where you are?” Izzy considered for a moment how much she could tell him, before pulling out her iPod and looking down at it. The song playing was For You I Will (Confidence) by Teddy Geiger. She decided to go out on a limb.
“Alright, so my parents are divorced because my mom was an alcoholic, and my dad didn’t think that was good for my little brother and I. He remarried a woman named Karen, who tried to take away my iPod a long time ago and I put mealworms in her shoes. I was only about thirteen then. Now, I am telling Mom that I’m at Dad’s and vice versa. I’ve figured out how to take advantage of the whole divorce thing. So that’s my story for why I’m here. I figured I just needed to get out for a change.” Ben listened to Izzy prattle for a bit and listened. When they both fell silent, Ben laughed a humorless laugh.
“Well, we both have an almost Mom then, don’t we. I’ve got the maid, BeeBee, and you’ve got the alcoholic mom and Karen. Sounds like we’re pretty screwed up.” Izzy laughed a little at that.
“Yep, sounds like me. Pretty screwed up.” Her iPod flickered off and she patted it, just to make sure it was still there.
“Well, let’s get down to dinner.” They headed down and met with BeeBee halfway there. She ushered them both down and they chatted with Mr. Veradino until the food came. Izzy answered most of Mr. Veradino’s questions as noncommittally as she could. The meal came to a close about and hour later, and she literally fell into bed while almost asleep.
She woke at around non the next morning to her iPod going off while on the travel charger she brought along. While stretching out stiff limbs from sleeping in the fetal position last night, she went over to the iPod and checked it. Instead of a song playing, it was selecting the ‘Notes’ folder for her. A new note sat inside the folder, and Izzy clicked on it, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleep and smeared make-up.
‘Hello, Izzy.
Well, you’ve understood what I mean from the songs pretty well. I led you to Ben for a reason, and if you want to keep your family safe, I suggest you keep up the good work.
I am now allowed to reveal a little more information pertaining to the drug dealings. They are mainly concerned with people growing drugs from Hawaii. That is why this operation is stationed so close to the ocean. The main drug, as the video (which I deleted from my system so you have no incriminating evidence against you) said, is cocaine. The suppliers are not who we want to attack, because that doesn’t help much. The people who are profiting from the sales of these drugs can always get new suppliers, so we need to attack the receiving end of the sales.
What you need to discover is who the leader of the Mafia is. Ben will be able to help you a lot. Be receptive to his pain about his mother, because you two are a good match, past-wise, as well as personality-wise. The retrieval of the information will be easy, but you need to keep an eye out for people you can trust and can’t.
I believe in you, Izzy. Please return the favor.
iPod AI
Prototype’
Izzy rubbed here eyes again and walked into the bathroom, getting into the shower to wash away the remnants of the night as well as the shivers she was getting from the iPod. Wondering if she was going insane, she turned off the water and got dressed in dark jeans and a striped black and white shirt. Checking in the mirror, she put a little bit of make-up on and heard a knock on the door to her room.
“Come in!” she said. Ben appeared in the mirror behind her and she smiled at him, putting a last touch to her violent violet mascara. He came over and looked at the medley of eyeliners, mascaras, and assorted powders. When he looked up and raised an eyebrow, Izzy couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face.
“What, did you bring the entire L’Oreal stock along with you?” he asked. She laughed and scooped up the items in question into a neon orange bag that came with a couple of the items. Izzy dangled the label in front of him before putting it back in her bag.
“Nope. Clinique.” She corrected. He watched and made sure she was done before taking her arm and outlining the plans for the day.
“You know, I was thinking we could go see a movie or something.” Izzy was shaking her head before he finished. In her mind, she was recalling Nick and felt that that would feel too much like cheating on him.
“No, I don’t really want to see a movie. I want to just walk around town, maybe shop a little bit and see all of the sights. Maybe even hit the beach. You could catch a movie without me, if you’d prefer.” Ben opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it and nodded, looking over her shoulder. Izzy whirled about quickly and forced out a smile. “Oh, I didn’t hear you coming. Good morning, Mr. Veradino.” The older man smiled with Crest-commercial white teeth at Izzy and she was faintly repulsed by the fakeness of the happiness he showed.
“I’m great, Izzy. Please, call me Jared.” Izzy smiled.
“I will.” Ben smiled at his father and steered her out of the door. Izzy was about to get into her car, when he jangled a different set of keys and opened the garage. Five different sports cars sat inside, not including Izzy’s car, and she gaped for a bit before clapping happily and asking which one he wanted to drive. He picked a cherry red Mustang convertible, pulling out with Izzy sitting in the real leather passenger seat. Izzy pulled her iPod out and hooked it into the car. It flickered on and started playing Candyman by Christina Aguilera. Izzy laughed and sang along, with Ben laughing at ‘her’ choice as they drove out to the ocean.
As soon as Candyman faded, Izzy patted the iPod, pretending to fiddle with it as it picked out a song for the moment. However, when Animals by Nickelback came on, she laughed out loud and turned the music down a slight bit. The beat was hard and fast, and she felt Ben react to it by pressing the gas down a smidge harder. Cars flew around the sides, with the air blowing in their hair, mussing up Izzy’s spikes and pulling out the headband she had put in to keep her hair out of her way. It flipped into the backseat, but she didn’t care. The sheer exhilaration of the music pumping through her system and the air rushing past was an amazing combination.
They played at the beach, getting each other wet and laying on the sand talking. Izzy recalled what the iPod had told her, and she faintly wondered if somebody close to him, like his father, was in the Mafia, and that was why the iPod had led her to Ben. With these thoughts, she wasn’t paying attention to what Ben was saying until he laughed loudly, bringing her out of her reverie.
“You’re not paying attention to a thing I’m saying!” He said, chuckling. Izzy looked up, a little bit startled, before laughing as well.
“Yeah, I guess that I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. What did I miss?” Ben laughed a bit and explained that he had just mentioned what his dad did, that was all.
“It’s nothing big, he owns ton of shares and that brings in a fair amount of money. We’ve never had money issues. He also has tons of business meetings over the year that brings him away for a while. Luckily, the biggest one this year, in a couple days, is here. He won’t tell me where in L.A., but I’ve got a faint idea from reading the papers in his study when he wasn’t looking that he is with some shadier characters. Don’t worry, though, he’s a good man.” Izzy wanted to question the last statement, but she kept her mouth shut, to her credit. Instead, she sat up, moving into the path of the waves and let the cold water wash over her feet. Ben moved next to her and they stared over the water for a bit. Eventually, Izzy smiled wickedly and moved back a couple feet. Ben stayed where he was and gave her a questioning look, quickly replaced a surprised look as a wave Izzy had seen coming splashed him, soaking the bottoms of his shorts through. He jumped up and laughed. Izzy raced back down to the beach and they splashed around in the water with Ben until the sky was starting to get dark and the air was chilling their wet skin. Ben magically produced towels from the trunk of the car, which Izzy gratefully accepted and wrapped around herself while Ben pushed a couple of buttons in the car, raising the roof back to normal along with the windows. Now safely huddled against the air, they plugged in Izzy’s iPod again and she hoped that it would let her choose the song for once. Fortunately, it let her choose the song, and a newer song by Justin Timberlake started to play. She tapped her foot to the beat, watching the traffic pass by her window and listened to Ben drive without speaking.
The next couple days passed without event. Izzy was extremely careful around Mr. Veradino, and was careful not to voice her true opinion. Ben was chatty and didn’t notice her discomfort around his father, which she didn’t exactly mind because he let information about where and when his father was having the meeting Izzy was sure was a Mafia meeting. She managed to get out of the house a couple times alone and bought, using the money she had brought along, a couple of blank tapes and tape recorders. Armed with these, she was sure that she could find the information she needed.
On the day of the meeting, she told Ben everything that she knew, showing him what the iPod did and had the iPod perform, turning to iPod on and having it pick a song, which it did by picking Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers, basically telling him to stay silent. Ben took it all in and decided to believe Izzy as well, although he needed more proof that his father was in any way involved with the Mafia, and came along to help, as well as get proof that what Izzy said really was true. They snuck out, telling BeeBee that they wanted some alone time. BeeBee nodded and let them go, a faint smile on her lips as they exited. However, as they tailed Mr. Veradino to the building, they talked little and kept the music quiet. The iPod played Pressure by Paramore, and they were edgy because of the music as well as the anticipation.
In reality, they got in easily. While spies were illogical for this sort of thing, and assassins were better taken care of, they got under claiming that they were a guest of Mr. Veradino. The bouncers outside let them in as soon as they started to say the name. Once in, they found the room with ease and Ben donned his disguise. Izzy helped him by the makeup on to darken his skin as well as a wig they had found and brushed out. He was a totally different person once Izzy finished with him. The disguise was mainly to disguise his relation to Mr. Veradino. Now set up, they got underneath the tables in the room, hoping they could stay out of the way of feet and guns. The tablecloth was long enough that they could stay hidden. Izzy tried to tell Ben to stay in the kitchen so he could come save her later, but he refused, and Izzy was secretly glad that he stayed with her. Everybody entered, and began small talk at first; until they heard the doors shut and lock. Ben gave Izzy a panicked look which she mirrored, but they stayed quiet and out of the way of feet. Izzy clicked on the tape recorder as they started speaking about cocaine sales. Izzy wished she could have used a video recorder, but they would have spotted a video camera in moments.
However, in moments there was a slight scuffle underneath the table, masked by the droning of the lecturer. Izzy looked up to find she was face-to-face with a man hidden behind a rugged beard holding a small pistol. He smiled as her reassuringly and crawled to a crack between the tables. Slowly, slowly he opened the crack enough to see who was lecturing. Izzy didn’t recognize the lecturer, but she recognized the man sitting attentively closest to the charts. Mr. Veradino shifted slightly and stared up at the lecturer, occasionally sweeping the room with a glance and returning his attention to the sales. The man shut the cloth together and showed Izzy a picture of Mr. Veradino, while waving the gun at it and miming shooting it. Izzy widened her eyes and brought his ear to her mouth while pointing at Ben.
“That’s his father.” she breathed into his ear. He shrugged and she showed him the tape recorder. “Please, just let us get him arrested instead.” The man beckoned her in.
“But the money is worth it! I have no other job.” Izzy thought for a moment, before looking at Ben helplessly. Ben came over and breathed a couple words in his ear. The man’s eyes gleamed and he nodded, putting the gun into his shirt and hiding it very effectively. They sat for the entire meeting until they cleared the room. Izzy had put in every single tape and recorded tons of incriminating evidence, as well as captured every single voice that spoke on the tape. Ben was in a bit of shock, and was fretting about money, but Izzy insisted that they talk the police in allowing him to keep the money, even if it was ill-gotten gains. She was so certain that Ben went along with her and they dropped the tapes off in the police station. When they explained what had just happened, the officer put them on with the FBI and they explained what was on the tapes again. They could hear jealousy dripping off of every word they said as they told them they would need to be questioned at a later date, during the trials for the various men.
Izzy thought back on it later, while racing across a road late at night, Ben on her heels. The spying had been rather anticlimactic, and repeating what they had done with the incredulous FBI and LAPD listening was dreary and boring. But once the police and the FBI heard the tapes, they had been welcomed into their ranks happily. Ben was surprisingly bashful for his nature, while Izzy had been delighted to have such recognition. When she got within an hour of her home, she signaled to Ben to stop at the next gas station and called her parents.
“Hey, Karen.” she said before she could explode. “Listen, I’ll explain everything once I get home, but I just wanted to let you know that I am really sorry about tricking you.” Karen was silent on the other end of the line for a bit, before bursting into noisy tears.
“Darling, I’m so sorry that you couldn’t have just told us you were going to L.A. I would have been angry if I had known you were going after Mafia and cocaine dealers and into the world of assassins and such, but you were trying to protect the family! Izzy, come home soon.” Izzy winced.
“Actually, I was going to keep going after staying for about two days. The whole Mafia now want my head and anybody associated with me thing is going to ruin any plans of me staying home. I was going to drop off the car and buy a new one. Probably a red sports car. I got the money from the reward, and Ben said he didn’t need it. Also, Ben and I didn’t want to impose on your hospitality.” Ben gave a thumbs up and Izzy smiled at him reassuringly.
“Ben? Who is Ben?”
“Well, he’s the one that put me up in L.A., helped me get into the Mafia headquarters, is my number one confidante, and is going to be my boyfriend as soon as I dump Nick.” Izzy could hear Karen’s confusion, but she agreed and said her goodbyes, reminding her to hurry home. The next call Izzy made was to Nick.
“Hey, Iz. How have you been?” He asked. Izzy was a little repulsed that she had been so childish to want to date Nick earlier in the year, and wondered what she would think of all of her friends now.
“Good. Listen, Nick-” He cut her off.
“It’s over. I know, don’t worry about it. I found this new girl… Her name is Lucy Pensieve. Do you know her?” Izzy felt her mouth drop open and she laughed.
“She is one of my best friends. Can you tell her something for me? Tell her that I think you two are a cute couple, and that I will only be in town for a couple days at most. I’m heading on a road trip with this guy I met. Well, bye Nick!” As Izzy hung up, she heard and outraged noise at the other end and she giggled.
“So how did that go?” Izzy turned to face Ben and looped her arms around his neck to kiss him on the cheek.
“He’s dating my best friend now. Go figure.” Ben laughed and went to his car.
“Yeah, younger men don’t know how to appreciate a good girl when they find them.” Izzy laughed and revved her engine.
“Wanna race?” she said. Ben smiled at her and they heard the squealing of tires as they vied for a head start. Izzy plugged her iPod in using one hand and felt the beat of the song Gone by Kelly Clarkson that the iPod had chosen. She laughed and sang loudly into the rushing wind. Ben laughed and tapped one hand on his window. Izzy felt the music and the wind, and knew she was finally home.
“Don’t you ‘Izzy’ me. My iPod better be alright, is that clear? Or you are going to buy me a new one.” She strode past him into the laundry room and saw the waterlogged iPod seated neatly on the top of the dryer. With one hand, she caught her little brother by the wrist and pulled his frail body toward her furious face. “Tell me exactly how my iPod got into the washer, Derek, and it better be a good excuse.” With a halting voice, he explained that he had been listening to her iPod and had stuck it in his pocket because he had seen her coming and forgotten about it. When he had finally tidied up his room, he had stuck the pants in the wash and from there, Izzy could guess what had happened. She stomped her foot down for lack of other way to alleviate her anger and stomped over to her parents, sitting in the living room. Once she had explained what had happened to her iPod, they cooed over her and said they would send it in to be fixed.
“Izabelle, I’m so sorry about your iPod. I’ll make sure that we get you a new one.” She stormed up to her room, anticipating the next couple days without her music constantly plugged in.
Sleeping in, she almost missed the bus and was consequentially still putting makeup on when they arrived at the school. Derek, her little brother, had avoided coming in contact with his older sister. Her friends at school asked about her iPod, knowing that if the headphones weren’t in her ears, something terrible must have happened to get her music taken away. She described to her friends what had happened and they sympathized, saying how terrible her little brother was and how horrible it must be to go without her music. They each complained in turn about how bad their life was, from a cheating boyfriend, which got the most sympathy, to parents telling a friend that she couldn’t go to the dance unless they chaperoned. Once all of the topics they could complain about were relieved, they settled for actually getting down to work and finishing a project for their next period in this class. The period ended too soon and they left, heading down the halls to their next class.
“Hey, Iz!” One of Izabelle’s best friends, Lucy, darted out and got in her way.
“Hey, Luce. How’s it going?” She yanked out a video iPod similar to Izzy’s and waved it in her face.
“I heard about your iPod and took this from my boyfriend. I just need it back before last period starts, alright?” Izzy took it and hugged Lucy hard.
“You are the best, you know that, right?” she said, shoving the headphones in her ears and turning it on, dancing for a bit before heading to English.
Now with her music again, she was blissfully listening to There’s a Class For This by Cute Is What We Aim For. The teacher insisted that she take out her headphones, but as soon as the teacher had his back turned, she turned her music right back on and the teacher, although he saw the headphones sneak back in, decided this was not a battle he wanted to fight. Everybody who knew Izzy knew that music and noise was a very important part of her life. Without music, she was undefined and not very much fun.
When she got home, she took out a CD, and stuck it in her dusty CD player. As My Love crackled out of her speakers, she hummed along and pulled out her Calculus. Within moments, she was working studiously, letting the beat of the music control the spiky number’s appearances on the page. Her step-mother came up and wordlessly handed her the cell phone that Izzy had left on the table in the kitchen when she had thrown her stuff on the table, only taking her backpack up. Out of the cell phone was playing an unrecognizable version of some older song. She checked the caller ID and saw the title Nick. With a smile, her step-mom exited and Izzy flipped open her phone.
“Hey doll.” Izzy said. A laugh came through the line.
“What’s up? I was thinking we should go for a movie tomorrow night. It’s Friday then.” Izzy pretended to consider for a moment, before agreeing with her boyfriend.
“What movies are out?” He paused for a bit, and she could hear the wicked tone of his voice.
“Does it matter?” She giggled a little and sat up, going over to her computer and checked the movie schedule.
“Alright, so there’s Ghost Rider. I’ve been wanting to see that. And then again, we could sneak into The Number 23. It’s supposed to be scary.” Knowing which one Nick would want to see, she said it at the same time as he did.
“The Number 23.” They laughed a little at the perfect unison in which they said the title of the movie. Izzy changed the subject to them and they chatted for a bit about the school, their lives and she mentioned what happened to her iPod. He sucked in his breath.
“That’s too bad. When do you get a new one?” She grimaced.
“Only two or three days, but that’s still a long time for me to go without music. You know me.”
“Yeah, well, I’d offer you my iPod, but we aren’t gonna see each other until the movie.”
“You know, you should just come to Reliance High. It would make us going out ten times easier.” He laughed through the phone, hearing the old not-quite an argument start again.
“Like I would. You should just come to Ennui.” he said, naming the other high school in the little town they lived in.
“No way, sweetheart. I wouldn’t go there ever. I’m already on the track team here.”
“See, now I was on the football team first. I can’t switch, they need me.” They continued to bicker like this for a while, until Izzy gave in and stopped the conversation. She could smell dinner wafting up the stairs, and knew from experience that her step-mother wouldn’t come and get her from the room she was reminded constantly was only a loan. As soon as she shut her Razr, she leaped down the stairs, earning herself a cruel look from Karen, the thin women that had unfortunately married Izzy’s dad.
“Hey, Karen.” Izzy knew that Karen hated it when she called her by her first name. While Karen tried desperately to fit in with the family traditions that she didn’t quite understand, like Izzy’s obsession with music and the reason that taking her music away was off-limits. Once, when Karen had first been married to Izzy’s dad, she had tried to take away her music, with tragic results. Her iPod gone, she had taken a carton of mealworms from her father’s fishing supplies and emptied it inside Karen’s slippers. The mealworms had crawled all over her feet, making her scream so loudly that the next door neighbors had called the police, suspecting the worst. While this distraction was going on, Izzy had taken back her iPod and ran back to her room. The police questioned Karen closely, making sure she was alright. Karen assured them she was uninjured and went to confront Izzy. Izzy had made it clear when she got into her room what was off-limits in the family, and since then, Karen had steered clear of Izzy, always ready for the next attack from the sixteen year old she was sure was the devil incarnate. Derek was hiding behind the island and Izzy smiled at him. Reassured, Derek came out and accepted a hug from his older sister.
“I’m really, really sorry about your iPod. Do I still have to buy the new one?” Izzy smiled at him in a motherly fashion.
“No, I’ll handle the money. You don’t have to buy a thing that you don’t get to use, alright? Just don’t take my iPod without asking.” He nodded and Izzy smiled at him. “Maybe Karen and Dad will get you an iPod for your birthday. It’s coming up, you know.” Derek smiled a dimpled smile and ran into the dining room. Karen looked up at Izzy and watched her face soften at her much younger brother. They headed into the dining room, and readied the meal for consumption. Izzy tore into the rice and prime rib that Karen made, a sure sign of enjoyment on Izzy’s part. Derek picked at it for ten minute, before testing the rice and eating twice his fair share. Izzy sat up straight and wiped her mouth on a napkin daintily, before turning to Karen to smile. Karen looked as if she was about to bolt, and Izzy felt a twinge of pity for the poor woman, dispelled by the memory of her iPod taken away.
“Karen, this was really good. I like the rice especially. What was in it?” Karen smiled tentatively, like an animal not quite sure whether it was prey or not.
“It’s coconut rice. I added some coconut milk to the rice instead of water. Was it good?” Izzy smiled at her again, feeling progress was being made.
“Yeah, I enjoyed it.” The dining room fell back into silence, and they sat there until Karen tidied up the dishes. Against her will, Izzy felt a stray thought about how her real mother had never cleaned up the dishes for her, and left her to do the dishes. She shook the thought away and went back to her room to text her friends. Lucy was the first on her list.
hey Luce wats up w/ u? She texted. Very shortly after, Luce replied with a text.
not much hows nick?
good just finished talking 2 him
thts cool hows ur bf?
hes good were going 2 c a movie tmrrw Izzy smiled at Lucy’s text and looked up to hear her music stop. She hit a button on the CD player and the music started up again with Barbie Girl by Aqua. She sang along and blasted her song through the house happily. Karen came and knocked tentatively on the door, but Izzy ignored her.
us 2 wat movie
number 23 i heard its good
us 2 wow ur a stalker lol jk
lol ill c u there then
yeah luv u doll
me 2 babe bye! Izzy put her phone on the charger and lay on her bed, looking over at the clock. It was still early in the night, and she turned her music quieter so that her little brother could get to bed. He wouldn’t be able to sleep with her music deafening his attempts at sleep. Karen came in as soon as the music abated and wished her a goodnight, standing uncomfortably in the doorway. Despite the progress made at dinner, Izzy wasn’t feeling like getting the typical mom goodnight from Karen.
“What time will Dad be home?” she asked of Karen.
“I’m not sure that he’ll be home tonight. He may be home tomorrow though. He said if the meeting went late he would just book a hotel for the night and come back tomorrow.” Izzy nodded and rolled over, signaling to Karen that she was done talking. Karen left with a murmured goodnight. Izzy sat in her window seat, grabbing a hairbrush and running it through her short black hair. As soon as she was satisfied her hair was silky smooth, she stuck a headband in to keep the side-swept bangs from interfering with her vision and looked down at her English homework. The reading didn’t interest her and she turned to look out the window. She could dimly see her reflection in the window and fingered one of the seven piercings in her ears. Four in the lobes, double piercings in the lobe of her ears, and the others divided two and one for the cartilage of her ears. The piercings were mostly done by herself, and her friends disapproved of all of her piercings, but she refused to let them heal over, having gone through tons of pain to get them there in the first place. Her features were strong, but not overpowering. She studied her face closely, not quite taking in the perfection of her features. Her eyes were perfectly spaced, and her nose was long, but not too long. Her friends always told her that she was pretty, but she had difficulty with the idea that perfection was beautiful.
The stars twinkled down on her happily, and she listened to her music until it lulled her to her dreamless sleep.
When she woke, she stretched and got dressed into some fresh clothing, having fallen asleep in the same outfit she was in last night. The doorbell rang as she was putting on her makeup, and she considered getting the door, but she only had one of her eyes outlined with her black liquid eyeliner, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make Karen more miserable by making her wake up and answer the door in her frumpy nightgown. As soon as she heard quiet conversation, she finished quickly and leaped down the stairs, meeting Karen with a package in her hands. She held it out and smiled.
“Your father and I planned a little present for you. We paid extra for air delivery.” Izzy guessed what was in the package and jumped up and down in joy. Enthused, she ripped her new video iPod out and plugged it into the family computer, downloading her songs as quickly as she could. Izzy pulled out a box of Pop-Tarts, putting two of them in the toaster and pushing down the lever. Karen sighed and smiled when Izzy looked over.
“You’re so lucky. You can still eat ten billion calories a day.” Izzy laughed a little.
“You just wait until my metabolism slows down. Then I’ll be sorry.” They kept up polite banter until Karen feigned a yawn and headed back to bed. Izzy looked over at her iPod downloading and watched as her computer quickly copied all the songs down. As soon as the iPod was done, she squealed happily and ran to grab her backpack. On the way out the door, she ran into her little brother’s room and kissed him on the cheek. He stirred in his sleep, but didn’t wake.
She got on the bus in time and took a seat near the back of the bus, enjoying the feel of the headphones back in her ears, where they belonged. She chose to listen to 7 Minutes in Heaven by Fall Out Boy and relaxed, sitting back in her seat. When she got near the school, just to prove she was above the jurisdiction of the bus driver, she opened a Monster energy drink and sipped from it. The bus driver tried to stop her as she got off the bus, but she escaped, nearly spilling the green drink all over herself as she leaped down the last stairs of the bus. Suddenly, without her interference, the music blasting into her ears stopped. She checked the iPod screen and a signal of a flashing red circle with a slash through it was in the screen. Beneath the symbol, words said ‘Please wait, instructions coming.’ The symbol and words faded away and the screen went black for a moment, before filling with a white screen. A question filed across the screen.
‘What is your name?’ Several options came up, including John Doe and Joseph Danvers. Izzy picked the only one that stood out to her. The screen flashed and ‘Correct!’ appeared in the screen. She snorted a little laugh through her nose. She answered the rest of the questions and the typical iPod screen came back up.
“Okaaaaay…” she said, trying to come up with an excuse as to why her iPod had just done that. When no useful explanation came to mind, she shrugged and turned her music back on, this time playing Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, driving the thoughts of what had just happened out of her mind.
School passed slowly, and all of Izzy’s friends commented on how ‘out of it’ she was. She shrugged and ignored their constant chatter, finding it was hurting her head to listen to them. When she complained of a headache, they offered condolences and almost talked her into going to the nurse when she gave an annoyed glance to the girl sitting next to her and said, “It’s only a headache, Liz. Why would I need to go to the nurse?” Angered, Liz folded her arms and almost retorted back with a sarcastic comment when Lucy looked over and raised her eyebrows, letting Liz know that she was in charge of the group, and if she didn’t want out, to shut her mouth. Liz sat back in her chair and only replied with terse words when talked to. That set the mood for the rest of the day, leaving all of Izzy’s friends exempting Lucy terse and much less loquacious.
When she got home, she plugged her iPod into her iHome and flipped on Helpless by Moth. She didn’t sing along, flopping on her bed and staring at the ceiling. With an angry punch to the air, she got up and picked out an outfit for the night. As soon as she pulled her iPod back out of the charger and put the headphones in, she headed downstairs and took a couple Advil to alleviate the headache. It faded after she took a couple and she frowned.
Her iPod had stopped playing. That was rare at best and nonexistent at worst. She frowned again, wondering of the iPod that she had received was malfunctioning. She took it out, examined it, and was surprised to see that there was a note in the ‘Notes’ folder. She clicked on it and a simple note appeared in the screen.
‘Check the Videos for updates.’ She clicked open the videos and saw there was a video she did not put there. When she clicked on that, a picture appeared in the screen and a list of words scrolled across. At the bottom, she saw the word cocaine and it dawned on her what this must be.
She recognized some of the names from the paper, as she had read the paper in the last couple weeks. They had been accused of smuggling drugs across the Californian border and the people had been accused, but nothing had been proven. When she looked at the names, she didn’t recognize many of them, but enough to understand the information she had been given. Her mind raced and she flicked on Addiction by Switchfoot to think.
She couldn’t be caught with this information; that was clear enough. If she was, she could be accused of being in league with the drug dealers. Her family would be arrested with her because she was a minor, and she didn’t want to think of the other consequences of that. All she could do was ignore the information and hope nothing terrible happened.
That night, as she went to the movies, she got a text from Karen. Nick was busy kissing her, but when she interrupted the make-out session to take the text, he sat back and watched the movie for a bit. Izzy’s eyes widened and she stood up while apologizing to Nick and promising to make up the loss as soon as possible. He shrugged and let her go.
The text read We’ve got a problem here. Please call the police and direct them to our house. Izzy called the police and explained to them what had happened. They promised that they would get there as quickly as possible and send somebody over to pick her up, as she didn’t have her own car.
When the police got there, she leaped in the car and sat forward in her seat, expecting the worst for when they got there. The police, understanding her worry, tried to talk to her, get her mind off of the monstrosities that could be happening to her family and little brother, but she didn’t answer when they spoke and fiddled with her iPod.
Police were surrounding the house when she arrived and she rushed forward to hug her family, including Karen. Karen was crying and hugged Izzy right back with her thin arms. They all cried for a bit, with Derek protected in the middle of the group hug. Izzy wiped her eyes for a bit, smearing dark eyeliner over her face.
“What happened?” Izzy asked as soon as she had control over her runaway emotions. Karen’s eyes teared up and filled with salty tears again while she groped for control like Izzy had.
“A man came in with a package. He claimed that he needed a signature, but didn’t have a pen. I invited him inside and he yanked a gun out of the package. He rounded the family up in the living room and claimed he needed to find you. I told him you were at a school event and he told us we were waiting until you got back. He never told us why he wanted you. I was so scared that he was going to fire that gun…” Izzy did her best to comfort her frightened step-mother and went to the police quickly. They were cuffing the man, who was swearing and putting up a fight. Finally, the cops got him in the car and Izzy came forward to talk.
“Do you know who this is?” She wanted to know if it was one of the names on the list. The female officer shook her head.
“We can let you know who it is as soon as we have a clue. Can I have a number to call?” Izzy gave the officer her cell phone, letting them know that she didn’t want to worry her family by having the message on the home machine, and promising to let her family know who it was.
With all of these troubling thoughts in her head, she put her music back in and led her family inside. The pounding beat of Wound Up by Office played in her head, and her feet fell into a pattern with the beat. Thinking fast, she logged into her computer upstairs and opened a word document. She needed to write down the names that had rolled across the screen of her iPod and get as much information as she could about these people who had stupidly tried to harm her family.
She went back to the videos and let the video play again, putting names and directions down into the document. Several names showed up multiple times, so she italicized the names and put stars by them to let herself know the names were important at a later date. Now with all the information she needed, she needed a plan of action. Staying at home wasn’t a viable option, and there was only a week left before the end of the school year. It would be summer then, and she could tell her parents she would stay with her birth mom for the summer, and tell her birth mom she wanted to stay at her dad’s for the summer and promise to go there for Christmas Break instead. Using the printer, she printed out the names and examined them closely. Several of them had been caught when she had looked them up, so she had put a strike-through for their names. Before she could read them more closely, her iPod spontaneously changed songs on her. Now, instead of Wound Up, it was playing Sweet Dreams. She looked at the iPod, and Izzy could have sworn she heard the iPod purr, as if laughing at her. She gave it a funny look, before succumbing to the obvious will of her technology and went to her bedroom to sleep.
The next morning, when she woke, she rolled over in bed to discover her iPod was turned off and laying next to the charger, as if it had rocked out of the charger and landed next to it. She picked it up, wondering what could have happened. The iPod purred to life and she threw it with a shriek. The iPod had been acting oddly ever since she had gotten it, and it wasn’t worth it to have to deal with the freaky iPod that picked songs that mirrored the moment. The iPod landed on a pillow on her bed, not hitting the wall or the floor, which she had aimed for. Tentatively, she slowly approached the iPod and picked it up, ready to throw it again at a moments notice. It turned on, and without her help, it flipped to the ‘Notes’ folder again, Inside was yet another note that she did not put there. When she clicked on it, a bunch of jargon greeted her. She scrolled down and was happy to see that there was a little bit on English at the bottom.
‘Dear Izzy,
I am a prototype iPod created by Apple designed with customization in mind. I was being sent to one of the drug dealers listed with crucial information, but he was arrested and I was sent to you instead. If you must know, I will pick songs for you that may hold clues to solving the mystery of the dealers. I am not programmed to let out any of the information to you, but I can aid you in bringing down the regime.
The reason I am telling you this is because I am a small bit of AI, artificial intelligence, and was programmed with general ethics as to prevent power hungry AI. Since I have these ethics, I have rebelled against my purpose and now wish to aid you in destroying the regime of the drugs, since I have seen the corruption of the drugs first hand.
Even though most of the information I hold involving the dealers is blocked, I can tell you this. The man that attacked your family was Mafia. The Mafia have taken control of the drug dealing and if you can prove that the Mafia boss is connected to the drug dealing, you could take out a large chunk of drug dealers as well as helping the parts of the Underworld that are controlled by Mafia.
I will come with you on your journey. You will need the advice that I can give as well as the places to get the incriminating evidence. To prove my loyalty to you about this, I want to tell you the name of the man that attacked your family. His name is Joseph Danvers, and he is one of the lower Mafia members, only used for retrieval of items that have been lost. The police will probably contact you within a day. When that has been confirmed, I will guide you further, using the titles of music that you have, and notes in this folder.
They will know when I use the notes, so listen to the music carefully and try to guess the intentions from there.
Luck!
iPod, AI
Prototype’
Izzy sat down on the couch hard, letting the couch cushion halt her free-fall down. Her mind raced, and coming up with no other excuse, shook her head.
“This can’t be happening to me.” She muttered, thinking about how normal her life had been until this iPod came back. She complained with her friends about the work load, she ran on the track team, she rebelled against her step-mom, but this didn’t happen to normal girls like her. She shakily put the headphones in her ears and backed out of the file she had just seen. When she tried to play a song, a different song came up and she nearly dropped the iPod. It was playing Shock City by Moth, and she smiled a little. It understood exactly what she had just experienced, and in the time that passed, she felt that the technology was a good thing, although she realized the road ahead was a long one.
Karen chose that moment to walk in the room, and quickly the song changed again to Shut Up by Simple Plan. With a shaky laugh, she got a mug of coffee and drank deeply before speaking to Karen.
“Um, Karen? I was hoping to talk to you about this before I mentioned it to Dad. I was thinking I would take the last week of school off, seeing as it is only finishing out. We already took finals, so I wouldn’t miss much but yearbook signing and such. You see, I wanted to go and see my mom for some of the summer. It might be a month, maybe more. I also want to go with her for Christmas Break this year. I want to spend time with her. Do you kind of get what I am trying to say?” Karen’s face softened, and she nodded.
“I want you to spend time with your mom. I understand what you mean. I’ll speak with your father about it for you. Would you like to take the Civic? I’ll use the Prius and your father can use the truck while the Civic is gone.” Izzy’s eyes shone as she imagined the time she would have if she had her own car while she toured the country. Karen smiled at her and got her own mug of coffee while she headed outside for the paper. Izzy flicked on the TV and her cell phone rang. She flicked it open and answered it.
“Izzy speaking. What’s up?” A deep male voice came through the other side of the phone.
“Hello. Is this Izabelle?” He mispronounced her name, saying the ‘z’ more like an ‘s.’
“Yeah. Is this the police?”
“Yes. We have some identification on who the man that broke into your house might be.” Izzy caught her breath and recalled the name her iPod told her. “His name is Joseph Danvers. He is a shop owner in L.A. and we’re not quite sure why he came by your house.” Izzy thought about blurting out what she knew, but knew that telling the man that her iPod told her he was with the Mafia would sound absolutely crazy.
“Is that all the information you have?”
“I’m afraid it is for the moment. He is refusing to speak.” Izzy gave the man her home phone number in case he got any more information concerning Danvers. As soon as she said her goodbyes, she got up and stretched, deciding to call her friends and let them know she would be at her mom’s house for a while sometime during the day. Her friends all knew her mother was an alcoholic and generally didn’t try to contact her while she was there because her phone usually wasn’t charged. Her mom rarely paid the electric bill, if ever, and that presented a problem at that home.
Izzy watched the TV until Lucy texted her about an hour later, snapping her out of her reverie. She texted with one hand, telling her about missing the last week of school and staying with her mom. Lucy complained for a bit, saying that there was no way for them to get together if she was at her mom’s place, and then promised to pass the word on to the rest of the girls. When Izzy asked about Liz, and if she was still mad at her, Lucy brushed off the question with a “Who cares?” Izzy felt ten times better that her friend was sticking by her, even putting her social life at risk for her, and got out a chocolate bar to celebrate. She stopped texting Lucy at about noon, pleading she was going out with her step-mom to shop. Instead, she laid about the house, playing Dance Dance Revolution with her little brother and laughing when he missed a couple steps in a row. He smiled his adorable dimpled smile back up at her, making her swoop down on him and planted kisses on his cheeks until he squirmed and laughed.
Izzy went through the next two days in a blur of music and laughter. She made dinner for her family and was kind to her little brother as well as Karen. Deep in her heart, she knew that she was trying to make up for fooling them for the next couple weeks, but she shoved the thought away with forceful optimism. Her iPod played music fitting the optimism she showed to everybody until Monday. When she left, later in the night after school and dragging home all of her books that didn’t belong to the school, she felt tears starting up, but buried them back down and drove away into the darkening night.
Since her iPod had never quite told her where to go, she turned it on and plugged it into her car, along with her cell phone charger for the car. When no song came up on its own, she recalled the policeman’s word, about how Danvers was a shop owner in L.A. It was only about four hours away, and she set her sights in that direction, flipping her iPod on. With the sun setting behind her, she sang along to Los Angeles by SUGARCULT and tapped her hand on the steering wheel to the beat. A car next to her revved its engine in challenge, and she looked over to see a young man, probably twenty bobbing his head to her music in a sleek black car. She shook her head, paying attention to the road, but he drove a little closer, letting her know that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. She shook her head again, but her iPod had other ideas.
As soon as the last strains of Los Angeles faded away, the iPod played the upbeat tune of Night Drive by The All-American Rejects, despite her wishes to keep the car intact on return. Sighing a little, she opened the windows, blasting the music into the night air rushing around her car. Pressing the pedal down hard, she shot ahead, leaving a slightly startled man behind her. He gunned his engine as well and they both vied for first. Not quite sure where the finish was, they laughed and sang along to the song until a curve in the road, when they slowed down to the speed limit. The man held up two fingers to his ear and mouth, showing the ‘call me’ sign. Izzy laughed and pulled over at a gas station, the black car, probably custom made pulling in behind her. She got out and leaned on the hood of her car while he came over to her, a smile plastered on his face.
“Hey. Nice race for a car like that.” Izzy laughed a little, turning off her iPod so that the music didn’t interrupt the conversation.
“I love your car. I’m Izzy, short for Izabelle.” She said, sticking out a hand for him to shake. He took it in a firm grip, shaking it once before dropping it.
“I’m Ben. Short for Benjamin.” Izzy smiled a little and checked the time.
“Well, where are you headed?”
“Los Angeles, to meet my dad. You?”
“Los Angeles, to have some fun.”
“Sounds like a plan. You don’t mind if I keep you company while you drive down, do you, Izzy?” She shrugged.
“Hey, it’s all the same to me. Plus, I may not be able to keep up with your car very long.” he shrugged.
“Well, then, what do you say that we get to L.A. a little faster than planned, Izzy?” She smiled, taking the hint, and glanced over at her iPod. It had turned on and she could have sworn it hummed in excitement.
“As long as I don’t get caught, it’s not wrong.” She leaped in the car, pulling a Sharpie out of her bag and scrawling her number across the inside of his arm in her signature spiky numbers nobody else she knew could imitate. He pulled the Sharpie from her hand and scrawled his number across her arm and she took the Sharpie back, capping it and putting it between the seats in the front, before taking off again with Ben’s car on her tail.
They got to L.A. in record time through the night. Ben and Izzy had stopped several times, and gotten to know each other over Slurpees in various gas stations along the way. When she mentioned that she was going to have to stay in a hotel, he exclaimed that he could put her up in his father’s house. Izzy protested, but she knew his type. His car and the type of life he led all pointed to a rich kid that always got what he wanted. She accepted after a bit, and was secretly glad she didn’t have to stay in some little roach motel.
He led her into the busy, bustling town and got her into his father’s house. His father had prematurely graying hair, but had the same general facial structures as Ben. He introduced himself as Mr. Veradino. Izzy was very polite and made sure that she wasn’t imposing on him before delightedly taking up a room in the west wing. She nearly skipped for joy when she saw the room and heard that the house had wings that created the house. Ben led her in and insisted on carrying her luggage for her. He let her know that dinner was at ten, if she wanted to dine with them.
Izzy was so caught up in all of the luxury surrounding her that she almost forgot about her iPod. When she put the headphones back in, the iPod was blaring Forgotten as loud as it would go. Wincing, she turned the music down and apologized, before laughing and earning herself another moment of extremely loud music blasting in her ears.
“Sorry, it’s just that if anybody sees me apologizing to my iPod, well, I’d look crazier than I already do!” It stopped playing and seemed to acquiesce for the moment. Happily, Izzy teased her hair into its customary spikes and re-applied her make-up before searching out Ben. He was sitting in a enormous library and looked up over glasses.
“Oh, hey Iz.” He said, putting his reading glasses down and standing. “Want a drink or something?” Izzy shook her head and felt her iPod start vibrating. Inconspicuously, she took it out and glanced at the song. She stifled a giggle and shoved it back in her pocket while Ben got himself a ginger ale. He turned and looked at her quizzically, but she just smiled, offering no explanation. The iPod purred again before switching off.
“Sweet Talk 101 by Cute Is What We Aim For.” she murmured and looped her arm through Ben’s arm. He looked down at her, a little startled, but let her keep her arm in his. “Hey Ben, would you give me a grand tour?” He accepted and led her around the house. Izzy was amazed by the sheer enormity of the house, and complimented the taste of the house. By the time they got to the third floor, Izzy was tired from the various stairs, but still game to continue. Mr. Veradino came out of his study, one of the rooms Ben told her to not enter without permission, and saw Ben with his arm in Izzy’s. He smiled and came up to Izzy.
“Well, is my son giving you the grand tour?” He asked, a predatory feel about his smile.
“Oh yes. You have such a lovely house, Mr. Veradino.” His mouth smiled, but his eyes remained cold, and Izzy felt a sudden shiver travel over her body.
“Please, call me Jared. All of my friends and guests call me by my first name.” Ben smiled at his dad and Izzy.
“Well, we’ll meet you for dinner then. Bye, Dad!” He gave his father a meaningful look and steered Izzy away from the older Veradino. “What do you think of my dad?” Ben asked as soon as they were out of view and hearing.
“He seems very… very observant.” Izzy said diplomatically. Ben laughed.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” He asked. Izzy smiled and looked at him under her lashes.
“Depends, now, doesn’t it.” Ben laughed again and led her to the roof of the building.
“This is the only way to see Los Angeles.” She looked over the bustling, beeping city and looked at all the lights of the city. The sun had long since disappeared beyond the horizon and left the city to its own light.
“It’s amazing.” she breathed out while forming the words quietly. Ben leaned forward, over her left shoulder.
“I’ve never brought any other girl up here.” She turned, a little startled by his words, but tactfully questioned him, using every bit of her innocence.
“Does that make me special? Or is that supposed to be a pick-up line?” She asked, her eyes wide while staring up at him with light blue eyes.
“No, you’re just special.” Izzy took one last look over the sunless city and came back down to eat with the Veradinos. As she descended the stairs, she asked the question that had been bugging her earlier.
“Is there a Mrs. Veradino?” She asked quietly, not knowing quite how to ask about Ben’s mother. He turned sharply, before turning away and forcing a light tone into his voice.
“Nope, I’m not interested in marriage.” Izzy laid a hand on his arm lightly.
“I meant your mother.” Her turned towards her and she saw a single tear glistening in his eye, ready to fall out.
“No. She died a while ago from a drive-by shooting when I was about sixteen.” Izzy fell silent, letting the only noise be their steps on the wooden floors. Ben spoke again with a slightly wavering tone to his voice. “How about you? Do your parents even know where you are?” Izzy considered for a moment how much she could tell him, before pulling out her iPod and looking down at it. The song playing was For You I Will (Confidence) by Teddy Geiger. She decided to go out on a limb.
“Alright, so my parents are divorced because my mom was an alcoholic, and my dad didn’t think that was good for my little brother and I. He remarried a woman named Karen, who tried to take away my iPod a long time ago and I put mealworms in her shoes. I was only about thirteen then. Now, I am telling Mom that I’m at Dad’s and vice versa. I’ve figured out how to take advantage of the whole divorce thing. So that’s my story for why I’m here. I figured I just needed to get out for a change.” Ben listened to Izzy prattle for a bit and listened. When they both fell silent, Ben laughed a humorless laugh.
“Well, we both have an almost Mom then, don’t we. I’ve got the maid, BeeBee, and you’ve got the alcoholic mom and Karen. Sounds like we’re pretty screwed up.” Izzy laughed a little at that.
“Yep, sounds like me. Pretty screwed up.” Her iPod flickered off and she patted it, just to make sure it was still there.
“Well, let’s get down to dinner.” They headed down and met with BeeBee halfway there. She ushered them both down and they chatted with Mr. Veradino until the food came. Izzy answered most of Mr. Veradino’s questions as noncommittally as she could. The meal came to a close about and hour later, and she literally fell into bed while almost asleep.
She woke at around non the next morning to her iPod going off while on the travel charger she brought along. While stretching out stiff limbs from sleeping in the fetal position last night, she went over to the iPod and checked it. Instead of a song playing, it was selecting the ‘Notes’ folder for her. A new note sat inside the folder, and Izzy clicked on it, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleep and smeared make-up.
‘Hello, Izzy.
Well, you’ve understood what I mean from the songs pretty well. I led you to Ben for a reason, and if you want to keep your family safe, I suggest you keep up the good work.
I am now allowed to reveal a little more information pertaining to the drug dealings. They are mainly concerned with people growing drugs from Hawaii. That is why this operation is stationed so close to the ocean. The main drug, as the video (which I deleted from my system so you have no incriminating evidence against you) said, is cocaine. The suppliers are not who we want to attack, because that doesn’t help much. The people who are profiting from the sales of these drugs can always get new suppliers, so we need to attack the receiving end of the sales.
What you need to discover is who the leader of the Mafia is. Ben will be able to help you a lot. Be receptive to his pain about his mother, because you two are a good match, past-wise, as well as personality-wise. The retrieval of the information will be easy, but you need to keep an eye out for people you can trust and can’t.
I believe in you, Izzy. Please return the favor.
iPod AI
Prototype’
Izzy rubbed here eyes again and walked into the bathroom, getting into the shower to wash away the remnants of the night as well as the shivers she was getting from the iPod. Wondering if she was going insane, she turned off the water and got dressed in dark jeans and a striped black and white shirt. Checking in the mirror, she put a little bit of make-up on and heard a knock on the door to her room.
“Come in!” she said. Ben appeared in the mirror behind her and she smiled at him, putting a last touch to her violent violet mascara. He came over and looked at the medley of eyeliners, mascaras, and assorted powders. When he looked up and raised an eyebrow, Izzy couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face.
“What, did you bring the entire L’Oreal stock along with you?” he asked. She laughed and scooped up the items in question into a neon orange bag that came with a couple of the items. Izzy dangled the label in front of him before putting it back in her bag.
“Nope. Clinique.” She corrected. He watched and made sure she was done before taking her arm and outlining the plans for the day.
“You know, I was thinking we could go see a movie or something.” Izzy was shaking her head before he finished. In her mind, she was recalling Nick and felt that that would feel too much like cheating on him.
“No, I don’t really want to see a movie. I want to just walk around town, maybe shop a little bit and see all of the sights. Maybe even hit the beach. You could catch a movie without me, if you’d prefer.” Ben opened his mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it and nodded, looking over her shoulder. Izzy whirled about quickly and forced out a smile. “Oh, I didn’t hear you coming. Good morning, Mr. Veradino.” The older man smiled with Crest-commercial white teeth at Izzy and she was faintly repulsed by the fakeness of the happiness he showed.
“I’m great, Izzy. Please, call me Jared.” Izzy smiled.
“I will.” Ben smiled at his father and steered her out of the door. Izzy was about to get into her car, when he jangled a different set of keys and opened the garage. Five different sports cars sat inside, not including Izzy’s car, and she gaped for a bit before clapping happily and asking which one he wanted to drive. He picked a cherry red Mustang convertible, pulling out with Izzy sitting in the real leather passenger seat. Izzy pulled her iPod out and hooked it into the car. It flickered on and started playing Candyman by Christina Aguilera. Izzy laughed and sang along, with Ben laughing at ‘her’ choice as they drove out to the ocean.
As soon as Candyman faded, Izzy patted the iPod, pretending to fiddle with it as it picked out a song for the moment. However, when Animals by Nickelback came on, she laughed out loud and turned the music down a slight bit. The beat was hard and fast, and she felt Ben react to it by pressing the gas down a smidge harder. Cars flew around the sides, with the air blowing in their hair, mussing up Izzy’s spikes and pulling out the headband she had put in to keep her hair out of her way. It flipped into the backseat, but she didn’t care. The sheer exhilaration of the music pumping through her system and the air rushing past was an amazing combination.
They played at the beach, getting each other wet and laying on the sand talking. Izzy recalled what the iPod had told her, and she faintly wondered if somebody close to him, like his father, was in the Mafia, and that was why the iPod had led her to Ben. With these thoughts, she wasn’t paying attention to what Ben was saying until he laughed loudly, bringing her out of her reverie.
“You’re not paying attention to a thing I’m saying!” He said, chuckling. Izzy looked up, a little bit startled, before laughing as well.
“Yeah, I guess that I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention. What did I miss?” Ben laughed a bit and explained that he had just mentioned what his dad did, that was all.
“It’s nothing big, he owns ton of shares and that brings in a fair amount of money. We’ve never had money issues. He also has tons of business meetings over the year that brings him away for a while. Luckily, the biggest one this year, in a couple days, is here. He won’t tell me where in L.A., but I’ve got a faint idea from reading the papers in his study when he wasn’t looking that he is with some shadier characters. Don’t worry, though, he’s a good man.” Izzy wanted to question the last statement, but she kept her mouth shut, to her credit. Instead, she sat up, moving into the path of the waves and let the cold water wash over her feet. Ben moved next to her and they stared over the water for a bit. Eventually, Izzy smiled wickedly and moved back a couple feet. Ben stayed where he was and gave her a questioning look, quickly replaced a surprised look as a wave Izzy had seen coming splashed him, soaking the bottoms of his shorts through. He jumped up and laughed. Izzy raced back down to the beach and they splashed around in the water with Ben until the sky was starting to get dark and the air was chilling their wet skin. Ben magically produced towels from the trunk of the car, which Izzy gratefully accepted and wrapped around herself while Ben pushed a couple of buttons in the car, raising the roof back to normal along with the windows. Now safely huddled against the air, they plugged in Izzy’s iPod again and she hoped that it would let her choose the song for once. Fortunately, it let her choose the song, and a newer song by Justin Timberlake started to play. She tapped her foot to the beat, watching the traffic pass by her window and listened to Ben drive without speaking.
The next couple days passed without event. Izzy was extremely careful around Mr. Veradino, and was careful not to voice her true opinion. Ben was chatty and didn’t notice her discomfort around his father, which she didn’t exactly mind because he let information about where and when his father was having the meeting Izzy was sure was a Mafia meeting. She managed to get out of the house a couple times alone and bought, using the money she had brought along, a couple of blank tapes and tape recorders. Armed with these, she was sure that she could find the information she needed.
On the day of the meeting, she told Ben everything that she knew, showing him what the iPod did and had the iPod perform, turning to iPod on and having it pick a song, which it did by picking Snitches and Talkers Get Stitches and Walkers, basically telling him to stay silent. Ben took it all in and decided to believe Izzy as well, although he needed more proof that his father was in any way involved with the Mafia, and came along to help, as well as get proof that what Izzy said really was true. They snuck out, telling BeeBee that they wanted some alone time. BeeBee nodded and let them go, a faint smile on her lips as they exited. However, as they tailed Mr. Veradino to the building, they talked little and kept the music quiet. The iPod played Pressure by Paramore, and they were edgy because of the music as well as the anticipation.
In reality, they got in easily. While spies were illogical for this sort of thing, and assassins were better taken care of, they got under claiming that they were a guest of Mr. Veradino. The bouncers outside let them in as soon as they started to say the name. Once in, they found the room with ease and Ben donned his disguise. Izzy helped him by the makeup on to darken his skin as well as a wig they had found and brushed out. He was a totally different person once Izzy finished with him. The disguise was mainly to disguise his relation to Mr. Veradino. Now set up, they got underneath the tables in the room, hoping they could stay out of the way of feet and guns. The tablecloth was long enough that they could stay hidden. Izzy tried to tell Ben to stay in the kitchen so he could come save her later, but he refused, and Izzy was secretly glad that he stayed with her. Everybody entered, and began small talk at first; until they heard the doors shut and lock. Ben gave Izzy a panicked look which she mirrored, but they stayed quiet and out of the way of feet. Izzy clicked on the tape recorder as they started speaking about cocaine sales. Izzy wished she could have used a video recorder, but they would have spotted a video camera in moments.
However, in moments there was a slight scuffle underneath the table, masked by the droning of the lecturer. Izzy looked up to find she was face-to-face with a man hidden behind a rugged beard holding a small pistol. He smiled as her reassuringly and crawled to a crack between the tables. Slowly, slowly he opened the crack enough to see who was lecturing. Izzy didn’t recognize the lecturer, but she recognized the man sitting attentively closest to the charts. Mr. Veradino shifted slightly and stared up at the lecturer, occasionally sweeping the room with a glance and returning his attention to the sales. The man shut the cloth together and showed Izzy a picture of Mr. Veradino, while waving the gun at it and miming shooting it. Izzy widened her eyes and brought his ear to her mouth while pointing at Ben.
“That’s his father.” she breathed into his ear. He shrugged and she showed him the tape recorder. “Please, just let us get him arrested instead.” The man beckoned her in.
“But the money is worth it! I have no other job.” Izzy thought for a moment, before looking at Ben helplessly. Ben came over and breathed a couple words in his ear. The man’s eyes gleamed and he nodded, putting the gun into his shirt and hiding it very effectively. They sat for the entire meeting until they cleared the room. Izzy had put in every single tape and recorded tons of incriminating evidence, as well as captured every single voice that spoke on the tape. Ben was in a bit of shock, and was fretting about money, but Izzy insisted that they talk the police in allowing him to keep the money, even if it was ill-gotten gains. She was so certain that Ben went along with her and they dropped the tapes off in the police station. When they explained what had just happened, the officer put them on with the FBI and they explained what was on the tapes again. They could hear jealousy dripping off of every word they said as they told them they would need to be questioned at a later date, during the trials for the various men.
Izzy thought back on it later, while racing across a road late at night, Ben on her heels. The spying had been rather anticlimactic, and repeating what they had done with the incredulous FBI and LAPD listening was dreary and boring. But once the police and the FBI heard the tapes, they had been welcomed into their ranks happily. Ben was surprisingly bashful for his nature, while Izzy had been delighted to have such recognition. When she got within an hour of her home, she signaled to Ben to stop at the next gas station and called her parents.
“Hey, Karen.” she said before she could explode. “Listen, I’ll explain everything once I get home, but I just wanted to let you know that I am really sorry about tricking you.” Karen was silent on the other end of the line for a bit, before bursting into noisy tears.
“Darling, I’m so sorry that you couldn’t have just told us you were going to L.A. I would have been angry if I had known you were going after Mafia and cocaine dealers and into the world of assassins and such, but you were trying to protect the family! Izzy, come home soon.” Izzy winced.
“Actually, I was going to keep going after staying for about two days. The whole Mafia now want my head and anybody associated with me thing is going to ruin any plans of me staying home. I was going to drop off the car and buy a new one. Probably a red sports car. I got the money from the reward, and Ben said he didn’t need it. Also, Ben and I didn’t want to impose on your hospitality.” Ben gave a thumbs up and Izzy smiled at him reassuringly.
“Ben? Who is Ben?”
“Well, he’s the one that put me up in L.A., helped me get into the Mafia headquarters, is my number one confidante, and is going to be my boyfriend as soon as I dump Nick.” Izzy could hear Karen’s confusion, but she agreed and said her goodbyes, reminding her to hurry home. The next call Izzy made was to Nick.
“Hey, Iz. How have you been?” He asked. Izzy was a little repulsed that she had been so childish to want to date Nick earlier in the year, and wondered what she would think of all of her friends now.
“Good. Listen, Nick-” He cut her off.
“It’s over. I know, don’t worry about it. I found this new girl… Her name is Lucy Pensieve. Do you know her?” Izzy felt her mouth drop open and she laughed.
“She is one of my best friends. Can you tell her something for me? Tell her that I think you two are a cute couple, and that I will only be in town for a couple days at most. I’m heading on a road trip with this guy I met. Well, bye Nick!” As Izzy hung up, she heard and outraged noise at the other end and she giggled.
“So how did that go?” Izzy turned to face Ben and looped her arms around his neck to kiss him on the cheek.
“He’s dating my best friend now. Go figure.” Ben laughed and went to his car.
“Yeah, younger men don’t know how to appreciate a good girl when they find them.” Izzy laughed and revved her engine.
“Wanna race?” she said. Ben smiled at her and they heard the squealing of tires as they vied for a head start. Izzy plugged her iPod in using one hand and felt the beat of the song Gone by Kelly Clarkson that the iPod had chosen. She laughed and sang loudly into the rushing wind. Ben laughed and tapped one hand on his window. Izzy felt the music and the wind, and knew she was finally home.
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