It didn't take Skylar long to realize their language database was out of date.
It was the first mall trip, with groups of teenagers all talking loudly, Skylar got to hear the evolution of language first hand.
"Oh, those shoes are so lit!"
"And I was like, Ok boomer."
"You look so fetch today."
"Ugh, has that creeper been here the whole time?"
“Do you think he's ghosting me?"
"Idk."
"What do you think?" A skinny girl twirled in front of a couple other thin teens. Her skirt fluttered around her knees, almost to the waistband. "Bougie or easy?"
Skylar groaned and let their head fall on Emily’s shoulder. “Why do you have so much slang? Trying to look up and update each word is giving me a headache. And my throat is hot.” The translation device wasn’t designed for constant updates inside a body.
“Because our language is fluid and teens like to rebel in every way possible..” Emily said while patting Skylar’s head. The girls who had been nearby walking away giggling, one of them unsteady in their three inch heels.
“Why don’t you update the whole thing at once?” John whispered.
“It would take hours.” Skylar spoke quietly, keeping an eye out for new people approaching. “I’d also have to have the device out of me. Which would leave me unable to understand or communicate.” Skylar sighed. “Not to mention the power demands. This thing isn’t designed to go on battery power that long.”
“How is it running now?” Emily asked.
“It siphons off some of the chemical energy created by the nearby cells, and some of the mechanical forces from breathing, swallowing, and moving.”
“Cool.” Emily swung her legs.
“Fascinating.” John sighed nodding towards an approaching family.A couple kids, dragging their parents by the hand, begging for coins to make wishes.
“When was the last time you made a fountain wish?” Skylar asked. Neither John nor Emily remembered an exact date, so Skylar insisted they all make wishes now.
Digging to the bottom of her purse, Emily found three pennies. On the count of three, they flipped their coins off their thumbs into the clear water of the fountain. The plops were nearly synchronized, and the ripples fought the tiny waves from the fountain itself.
Skylar knew they couldn’t say their wishes aloud, so they didn’t bother asking their friends what they wished for. But a part of them would always wonder if Emily and John wished Skylar would be going home soon. And if so, whether or not it was motivated by fear of getting found out more than worry about Skylar’s home planet.
Word count: 439
