Chapter 4

Soon, September 1st arrived. It was the perfect day for a reality check.

Autumn had settled over the city with crisp, clear skies. The towering gates of Pemberton University buzzed with activity as freshmen and their parents flooded in from every direction.

I was wheeling my suitcase toward the main plaza when I spotted a scene that stopped me in my tracks.

All 42 of them were there, decked out in cheap knockoff Pemberton t-shirts they had bulk-ordered online, crowding the entrance to the freshman check-in lane in one enormous herd.

Phoebe stood at the front, face flushed red, in a heated argument with the security guards and the orientation volunteers.

"Can you even use the system? I told you, we were approved through an internal channel! All we have to do is scan our IDs, and we're in!"

She stomped her foot and slammed her ID card on the table.

The volunteer manning the verification desk, a senior student drenched in sweat, held on to his patience and tried to explain.

"Look, I've scanned you through the system three times already. Your names aren't in there. And you don't even have acceptance letters! There's nothing I can do."

"Acceptance letters don't mean sh*t! Those are for regular people!"

Gavin shoved the volunteer aside and jabbed a finger at the security guard's face.

"Is your system broken? Get the head of admissions out here right now! If you stop forty-two geniuses from enrolling, can you handle the consequences?"

The guard looked at them like they had lost their minds and let out a dry laugh.

"Geniuses? I've been working security here for over ten years, and I've never seen a ‘genius’ show up without an acceptance letter. What school are you people actually from? Stop causing trouble!"

Phoebe panicked and whipped out her phone. She pulled up Babble and shoved the chat history in the guard's face.

"Open your eyes and read! Babble already said our enrollment records have been set up! This is the AI that submitted our applications. Are you saying it doesn't count?"

The guard squinted at the screen. He blinked once, then burst into loud, unrestrained laughter.

"Oh, my God! Did you kids fry your brains by doomscrolling too much?"

He pointed at the phone screen, not even trying to hide his amusement.

"An AI submitted your applications? Then have your AI print you a diploma while it's at it! What are you doing, causing a scene at Pemberton's front gate? Get out of here before I call the police!"

The freshmen and parents waiting in line had gathered around by now, pointing and whispering, laughter rippling through the crowd.

"What kind of world do we live in? Someone shows up with a chatbot screenshot and expects to get into Pemberton?"

"They probably bombed their exams and lost it completely. That's actually kind of sad."

The color drained from all 42 of their faces at once.

Keira tugged at the hem of Phoebe's shirt, panic creeping into her voice. "Phoebe, what's going on? Babble said the plan was foolproof."

Phoebe bit down hard on her lip. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she was still clinging to the last thread of hope.

"That's impossible! Babble wouldn't lie to me! It said we were in, so we're in!"

That was when Gavin caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye, standing at the edge of the crowd, watching it all unfold in silence.

He looked at me like I was equal parts scapegoat and salvation. His eyes went red, and he charged straight toward me.

"Maren! What are you doing standing over there, enjoying the show? You're one of us! Get over here and talk some sense into these people!"

He grabbed my suitcase handle and shouted in my face. I brushed his hand away and let the faintest smirk settle at the corner of my mouth.

"Talk sense into them about what? About how all of you got played by a brain-dead chatbot?"

I ignored the stunned looks on their faces, reached into my backpack, and pulled out a gold-embossed acceptance letter stamped with Pemberton's crest. Then, I walked straight toward the verification lane.