Chapter 1

First day of school--we've all had it. Maybe you were one of those popular kids, where it didn't matter what you wore or did because then everyone was copying you. Well, I can assure you that school in 2063 isn't exactly any different.

You still have the same cliches. (I mean, did you think humanity was going to advance that far?) The jocks, the cheerleaders and flirts, the tech geeks and brainiacs, the nerds... And then you have me.

I could easily fit into any of those groups--some better than others--but instead, I sit at a table by myself in the corner of the cafeteria. No one thinks anything of it the first couple days, but by the end of the month, I could as well have been a stain or abandoned milk carton.

Yeah, yeah, I know, doesn't everyone try to fit in? And why wasn't I?

I wasn't here to stand out, to be adored, chased after, or paid to do other people's homework. I was here because...well, I actually didn't have a clue. That's what happens when you finally stop trying to sneak off on your own missions from the top-secret anomaly training school and just do what HQ tells you to do.

It'll land you in some pathetic school that sees kids doing more drugs than math problems...

Which, at first, I thought maybe I was there for the drugs that were transported through the school before shipment somewhere else. But HQ didn't even contact me after week upon week of torturous algebra and biology.

Looking around the noisy cafeteria, I wondered if this punishment for all my years of being a pain in the rear end. While I can't say I missed anyone, I'm not going to lie and say that this was my dream...something or other.

Sighing, I gathered my trash up and headed to the trashcan. A couple people shot glances my way, but they didn't show much interest. After all, schools have plenty of loners from the dredges of society; to them, I was now no different.

Good. That's how I wanted it.

Briefly, I considered what it would be like not to be invisible. Have people smile at me, wait by my locker, walk me to class...

No, that is certainly not what you want.

"Invisible is better," I muttered to myself, moving back to the obscurity that's waiting at my table.

"Sorry, what?"

Startled, I looked down into a pair of emerald green eyes that belong to a red-haired girl who came only to my shoulder.

"Sorry, just talking to myself," I said.

"Oh." She squinted, like she was trying to place a name to my face. I doubted she would be able to. Finally, she gave up. "I'm Arianna Saints."

She probably expected me to give my name too, like any other normal person would do. Well, that was not happening.

"Nice to meet you, Arianna." I smiled as I starting walking away.

"And you are...?"

She wasn't giving up, and I could have pretended not to have heard her (which was believable in the din) but I'd have to answer eventually.

"Dani Gryfter."

It was time for class so, without a backward glance, I merged into the stampeding mass of teenagers leaving one Arianna Saints behind for what I hoped was forever.