1 The Dream

It was dark. All dark. She felt nothing as her body floated through the relentless abyss. Suddenly, warmth began to spread through her chest. All around her, the world lit up in brilliant colors. The entire galaxy seemed to stretch out around her. She could see it all, feel it all. She was at one with the stars, with the universe. The warmth spread through her whole body, reaching through her arms to her fingertips, down through her stomach into her thighs and down to her toes. She felt her head become enveloped in the safety, the kind feeling that soaked into her body. Her feet touched down on.. something. The ground? She looked down to see the same sights that surrounded her, more stars, more galaxy. She looked up to see a glowing figure standing in front of her. She moved forward, her steps soft and easy. Her body had never felt this light. Something about the figure called to her, beckoned her forward. Closing the distance she leaned forward and wrapped her bare arms around the figure. A shrill noise interrupted the warmth.

Waze shot up in bed, sweat dripping from her forehead. What was that? Where was she? The sound of her alarm blaring on the ground next to her bed shook her from her clouded thoughts. With a groan she rolled back down and clicked of the alarm clock. Waze buried her head in her pillow and let out a muffled scream. Oh how she wished she could go back to her dream. To that warm, blissful world of shimmering stars and swirling colors. But who was that in there? The glowing figure she had felt so drawn to... With a sigh she shrugged off her wishful thoughts and rolled out of bed.

Waze took a quick shower, threw on some clothes like usual and then wharfed down some breakfast. It was the same old routine she did day in and day out. As she went to wash her face, she looked up in the mirror and stopped for a second. Since when was her skin so clear? Since when was she so.. pretty? Waze knew that if she tried and put on a little bit of makeup and a cute skirt she would look as nice as the next cute high school girl but she usually aimed more for 'plain bystander' than anything else. Deciding that she must have just woken up on the right side of the bed because of her pleasant dream, she ignored it. Still, her body felt stronger, and lighter than usual.

"Bye mom. I'm heading out." Waze peeked into the room where her mother slept. After shopping all day yesterday, her mom was essentially immobile. Her mother was sick with an invisible illness, the things that were normal to most left her body aching for days.

"Goodbye honey! Have a good day at school," her mother called from the bed with a smile. Waze shot her back an identical smile, then closed the door and let her face fall flat again. She jogged to the shoe closet and pulled out her worn slip on sneakers. She looked... drab to say the least. Her gray hoodie and baggy black sweatpants, both hand-me-downs, paired with her dirty sneakers made her look practically homeless. Not that she cared. She walked out the door and fumbled for her keys before locking it behind her. Waze had a long school day ahead of her.

School was unpleasant to say the least. The classes were easy, she got good grades, but wasn't quite top of her class. Someone was better. They always were. At some point, she had stopped caring about being the best. Her school was close to her house, it was about a twenty minute walk. She trudged along, a deadpan expression on her surprisingly beautiful face. As Waze entered the school, a few people's gazes lingered on her a little longer than usual. She guessed she wasn't the only one who had seen the slight brightening of her facial features.

"Looking trashy as usual, Miss Waverly." A shrill voice rang out behind her and Waze cringed slightly. She hated when people called her her full name. Waze turned around to face the girl who had spoken.

"Damn straight. When are you gonna realize 'trash' is my brand, Jessabelle?" If she was going to call her Waverly, then she was gonna have to deal with being called Jessabelle.

"That's Jess to you."

"Thats Waze to you, dear Jess."

"Anyway whats got you looking so chipper? Dreamed you were someone else other than this boring person in front of me?"

"I did have quite a nice dream. You weren't there, so that was a plus. Anyway I've got people to ignore- and you're one of them. So I'll be going now." Waze turned to walk away before Jess put a hand on her shoulder.

"You think you can get away with speaking like that to me? Apologize and maybe I'll forgive you." Waze really didn't feel like dealing with this today. She was feeling slightly fresher than usual and didn't need this. Plus she wasn't looking forward to the beating she would probably get if she tried to resist. Not only was Jess gifted, like most other students, but she was fairly powerful. This put her high up on the high school food chain, and Jess had decided with her new-found authority she'd do all she could to make Waze's life miserable. Not that Waze paid her much mind, she didn't have much dignity to start with, armed only with her sharp tongue and quick wits.

"What are you waiting for you cripple?" Ah, there it was. Cripple. The magic word. There were those who were gifted and those who were not. Those who were not, were often called cripples. Waze found it amusing, in all honesty. Jess acted like she was on top of the world, like some stereotypical movie villain. Suppressing a small smile, Waze put on her most fake, fearful face.

"Oh Mistress Jess, please, forgive this incompetent cripple for ever daring to step foot in your path! A lowlife like me should never have dare spoken to a god like you, Mistress Jess!" Waze stopped and suppressed her laughter. Maybe she was odd for finding joy in the little interactions like this. But the indignant look on Jess's face made it all worth it.

"Get lost, weirdo."

"As you wish, my Mistress." Waze dropped her expression and walked away. A few people had watched the conversation roll out. More than a few, in fact, it had become somewhat routine for people to watch Waze's daily humiliations carried out by gifteds higher up on the social ladder. No matter what they did, though, it never really got to Waze. Sure she drew the line at some point, but no one had ever dared cross it. Little did she know how that would change today.