Chapter 2

My superb test scores and achievements from my earlier years of schooling allowed me to enroll in a private cohabitated academy called Colleseo when I turned eighteen, it was more so for children of important individuals or the upper echelon of FirstBourne bloodlines. It was a prestigious place well known for it's graduates becoming venerable members of society and living on to have their names written down in history for discovering the cure for cancer and the like. Which meant my mother was ecstatic to get a gold lined parchment letter from the academy accepting me with a full scholarship as well as a big brown package that took up most of our living/bedroom space.

I on the other hand was less than enthused. I was already an outcast in the public school system with other humans, I couldn't imagine how I'd be treated living, working, and studying with Echoes too. Something I constantly grumbled about whenever my mom was in earshot.

"Mom," I whined. "I'm a freak as it is. Like look at me…"

I gestured to my oversized black hoodie and baggy pants. A pair of store brand grey sneaks on my feet.

"These, these… people are from the high quarter. I know I'm smart or whatever but they'll be smarter and have more connections and better clothes… How am I supposed to ever find a girlfriend if I go to school lookin' like I stepped out of a lipo office…" I cut off, getting a hard glare from my mom.

She stood up from our dining table, little more than a stool with bit of wood drilled to it, and stalked over to me. I was already a hearty six foot tall at fifteen and my mother barely reached my chest by those deep grey eyes of hers always made me feel like I was ant under the foot of a toddler.

They were like a storm, and it didn't help that her face was porcelain perfection carved by Michelangelo itself, giving her an eerie statuesque look whenever she was mad. She pursed her lips and squinted at me.

"Did I hear something about a friend… Girl…" She snapped her fingers and cocked her head like she hadn't understood what I said. "I remember me saying something along the lines of-"

I cut her off before she went down that schizo thrill ride of a mantra.

"As long as you're under my roof I better not even see a Playboy magazine in this house let alone a living and breathing girl. Or even a dead one." I let the worlds tumble off my tongue like they were lead weights leaving me with a heavy sigh.

I never got why she brought up the last part, like she half expected me to start going to morgues or cemeteries to dig up cadavers to play house with. But my mom was quirky like that, she had a weirdly dark sense of humor.

"Yes ma'am I understand. But y'know I DID, y'know mention other things besides girls too." I raised my eyebrows and thinned my own lips expectantly. But I could already hear what she was going to say before she even said it herself.

"Well my little baby hec, this is an opportunity and as you know this family isn't going to pass on any of them. Baggy clothes or not, you're going to Colleseo and you're going to get rich or famous or both and retire me at forty and buy me a house with a cute gardener I can seduce."

"Besides" She added before I could gag.

"You're too gifted for public school now. Mentally and physically. You need room to grow, and this little apartment isn't going to be enough for any longer. Plus it won't even matter what clothes you have since you'll be wearing your uniform anyway." Mom gave me that look that moms give their kids when they let them know it's final and turned back to her plastic patio chair to finish the rest of her watered down coffee.

"Now… I have work in an hour and I have to get ready." I nodded, already knowing that meant I had work too. Or at least I thought so until she added; "I've already put your resignation in as well as collected your check for the rest of the month. I need you to get ready for Colleseo's opening ceremony."

I must've looked at her like she was slow or something because she quirked her eyebrows at me and gave me a sly little grin I knew too well.

"Did I forget to mention you start today? And that you need to pack-up before eight to make it all the way to the High Quarter by half past. Sorry must've forgot with the whole 'FriendGirl' situation." She chuckled mischievously and sipped on her coffee while I just started dumbfounded at this imp of a woman. I didn't even have a second to calculate how long it would take to get ready let alone get to all the way to the High Quarter in less than a hour and a half before she pointed at the brown package and to a faded green duffel we always had.

I knew I couldn't argue. So with as much move my ass I could muster I packed what little valuables I had and tore open the package. Inside was a crisp all black uniform with lavish red roses emblazoned on the cuffs. It even came with a pair of shiny black dress shoes, a belt with an intricate metal rose embossed on the buckle, and some gold plain cufflinks. It was all brand new, and when I touched it I couldn't even describe how soft and new it felt. How… my own it felt. I didn't hesitate to pull it all on and I didn't have words to say about how it fit. It seemed mom had already given them my measurements or something because it all fit like a glove. And when I went to our tiny bathroom to see myself in the mirror I thought I had switched bodies for a second, because the boy… No, the man looking back at me looked like he was ripped right off the cover of a fashion magazine.

I always knew I wasn't ugly. But I never exactly thought myself as handsome even with as much as my mom or our work friends doted on me. But look at myself now in our dingy slightly cloudy mirror it felt like I could finally see myself. My hair was dark, whereas my mom's was bright, curly, and maroon mine was pitch black and a sort of wavy straight. I had high, elegant cheekbones and a jawline made of marble. My eyes were a bright hazel, and even my nose seemed to be a little straighter.

"I look like dad." I thought aloud. From what little mom described him I was like carbon copy just younger.

I turned to look over my shoulder when I heard her footsteps behind me and I felt her wrap her warm little arms around my stomach. Her cheek pressed up against my back looking up at me with a sad sort of love. Almost how someone would look at the picture of a dead family member.

"So much like him hec, everyday I see more and more of him in you…" I could already see the tears welling up in her soft eyes. I turned to embrace her tightly. I knew she meant more than just physically. She was scared I'd abandon her like he did, and I hated him for putting that fear into her heart.

"I know mom… I know. But I'm not him. And when I graduate from Colleseo and get a big important office job I'll make sure to retire you and find some handsome gardener guy for you. So don't cry, please?" I could feel my own heart ache from the fear and sadness inside her but she pulled away and gave me a wet sniffling smile, wiping at her eyes. "I know baby. So get out there and make something of yourself for me, okay Hecate?"

I nodded and gave her another big hug before awkwardly shifting out of our tiny bathroom to grab my stuff. Stuffing the big glossy looking tomes that were also in the package and shoving them into my bookbag which made it weigh an extra ton. I hiked my backpack on, then grabbed my duffel bag and let out a sigh before walking to the door and turning to give my little slip of a mother a kiss on the cheek. We didn't have to say anything else then. Though I wish I had said more. She gave me a sweet smile, and opened the door for me before giving me my check from work and a surprisingly strong push out of our tiny apartment. Stepping out onto the musty crusted hallway carpet with my glistening shoes felt like sacrilege but I carefully made my down to the lobby and then out into the morning air.

Taking a breath as I stepped out. The sunlight felt like warm kisses on my face and I closed my eyes to it, letting myself smile a little. Excitement bubbling in my chest I began to walk to the tram system. All my possessions in my hand and my future life resting heavily in my backpack.