I started walking home, and then realized I could call my mom using my new interface. I had not brought my phone along, because I didn’t have a purse with me and shouldn't have needed my phone anyway.

“Keyva, what's wrong?” How did she know?

My eyes were full of tears, angry tears. “Mom, I need you to come pick me up.”

“Okay, where are you?” I guess she knew not to ask about Brad. I told her where I was, and which road I was heading to. I also told her that when she gets near to call me if she doesn't find me, because I was going to keep walking.

“It will take me a few minutes to get Gemini in the car, but then we'll come and get you. Be sure you are somewhere safe. Don't walk in the dark if you can help it, and don't let any strangers stop to pick you up.”

“I know, Mom. I will stay safe.” I walked down the street, and turned in the direction that we had come from. I kept watching behind me, to see if Brad was coming after me. But I never saw him, thankfully.

She had to call me again, but we eventually met up. My tears had stopped by then, but when I got in the car I started crying again. Mom reached over to rub my back, but she had to keep watching ahead to drive. She didn't ask me how things went, it was pretty obvious. Plus, I wasn't ready to talk about it yet. Gemi was making cooing sounds in the back seat.

When we got home, I quickly got out and ran up to my room. I decided to get ready for bed, there was no use trying to do anything else. In the bathroom I could see that my mascara had run in ugly black streaks down my cheeks. I angrily cleaned all of the makeup off.

Mom came in to talk to me after I was in bed and sat down on my desk chair. “I'm so sorry, honey. I was a little concerned about Brad, after meeting him, but I was hoping that he was going to be a gentleman. Can you tell me what happened?”

I didn't want to, but she needed to know. “Well, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. The house was too crowded, the music was way too loud, everyone was drinking, Brad basically ignored me the whole time, talking to his friends, until…” I stopped. How could I tell her this? I decided I would be honest, except about Pawg.

“He took me up to one of the bedrooms. I don't know what he wanted to do exactly, but it wasn't good. I locked myself in the bathroom for a while. Eventually, I had to come out. I told him I wanted to leave, but he tried to grab me, so I had to defend myself. Luckily, I was able to get away from him, and out of the house. He didn't come after me, but I may have hurt him when I tried to get away.” My tears were flowing freely again.

She came over, knelt by my bed, and reached out to give me a big hug. That's what I really needed right then… someone to just love me, and hold me.

She stayed with me for a while, and we talked. I don't remember what we talked about, or how long, but I felt much better when we were done. She kissed my cheek before she left.

The next week in school, Brad avoided me like the plague. Even Keisha and her friends ignored me for once. That was a nice change of pace. I also noticed that I was not so self-conscious in my classes, and even able to respond to questions, without much distraction.

In gym class that week Mom tried to let me take it easy and sit out for some activities. But I told her I was fine, and I wanted to participate. I didn't want to have any special treatment, or get her in trouble with the school because of nepotism.

I actually found that I did much better in gym class. For instance, in volleyball I was quicker than I was before, so I was able to get to the ball and hit it much more often. My hits were harder, and more accurate than I used to be. I was also able to jump higher and spike the ball, which I had never been able to do before. I was beginning to think that volleyball was my new sport.

But when we played soccer on Tuesday, I discovered that I was better at that also. I could run faster, and dribble with the ball down the field between my feet, which I hadn't been able to do before. I even kicked one of the field goals for our team. I guess I will have to see how I do in other sports.

With my new found abilities, I was more popular with other students. People came up to me and congratulated me after the activities, even some I had never talked to before. Mom even commented on it, and congratulated me after class on Tuesday. In the lunchroom, more people talked to me as well, and even asked me to sit at their table, which I did. Maybe I won't have to sit at the rejects table anymore?

On Wednesday morning my alarm startled me, making me gasp and fall out of bed. It took a minute to figure out where I was and turn it off. I hadn’t slept well at all. I had stayed up late worrying about my first day at Azure Academy. Would the other students find out about my OCD quirks, and tease and make fun of me? Or would they be more mature? I know Ivy talked a lot about how they were careful with who they chose to invite to the school, but did that mean that the students were kinder? Or were they just better for the school? I wondered once again what they used for their actual criteria. What was it that prompted them to choose me? Even though Ivy had tried to reassure me, I still wasn’t certain.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Since I was already up, it didn’t take me long to get ready and join Mom downstairs. After I ate a little breakfast, I told Mom I needed to run to my room before we left. When I got there, I told Pawg I was ready to port. A few seconds later I was in one of the open pods near the wall in the portal building. I noticed several other kids arriving, just like I had. We all exited the building and walked across the way to the VanCamp classroom building.

Ivy Jackson was out front, and welcomed me and a couple of the new kids to our first day of classes. Then she escorted us to our first classroom, inside the building.

Since it was our first day of classes, Ivy had us take some time to introduce ourselves. There were only seven other kids in my class, four girls and three boys. Everyone took turns giving their name and telling a little bit about themself. I'll just put the highlights here.

* Binda was from Richmond, Vermont and liked to ski and snowboard.

* Jett was from Denver, Colorado and had a really large family.

* Olivia was from Las Vegas, Nevada and loved birds and hated gambling.

* Aislin was from Chicago, Illinois and had her hair dyed pink and had a twin brother.

* Kevlin was from Calgary, Alberta and liked science fiction.

* Carli was from Scottsdale, Arizona and could speak spanish.

* Leif was from London, Ontario, which was NOT in England and loved to ride horses and motorcycles.

We were told that we would be together for our first four classes of each day, and that lunch was between the 3rd and 4th. After that, Ivy left us with the class teacher.

This first class was called World Histories, and the teacher's name was Veya’zi. She was another tall, elf-like woman. She reminded me of Azu’ria, whom I had met when I was agreeing to the contract, but she was older and not quite as tall.

She explained that in this class we would be learning about the various known worlds, including Earth, and important events in their histories leading up to today. We learned that Visitors had been here on Earth for about 1,200 years. Since this was during what we call the dark ages, Earth was far too primitive and warlike to begin teaching us.

In 1975, at the end of the Vietnam war, the Visitors decided it was finally time to start teaching Earth humans about the aether and their advanced technologies. Their goal was to help us better take care of the Earth, and the people in it, to try to prevent needless destruction and war, and to have us start to help theirs and other worlds.

Veya'zi was from a world called Fiel’un. A year there is shorter than a year on Earth, by about 20%. The days are also a little shorter than our 24 hours, by about 30 minutes. Gravity was also about 15% less there than here, so the people tended to be taller than here on average. There's less land and fewer continents than Earth has. And there are vast forests, with very tall trees, rivers and lakes, with only a few mountain ranges.

Another major world was called Anax’il. A year there is half again longer than a year on Earth. The days are about 27 hours, and gravity is 18% greater than here. People there tend to be a little shorter and stockier than on Earth. The continents there are very mountainous, and there are many caves and mines, with underground dwellings where people like to live.

The last world she talked about was called Norams’ti. A year there is about 20% longer than a solar year, the days are about 2 hours shorter, and gravity is about 40% greater than Earth. So the people from there are even shorter than those from Anax’il.

Carly raised her hand at this point and asked, “So, are they all human?”

“I assume you are asking if all the Visitors have the same basic physiology that you do here on Earth. The answer is yes. We all have one head with two eyes and ears, two arms, 10 fingers, two legs, and 10 toes. Though, I'm certain you've noticed the ear shapes are a bit different.

“It's important to know that diseases from one world could potentially cross to another, which could cause terrible plagues. That's why when anyone ports between places or worlds, all harmful viruses and bacteria are eliminated.”

That got me to thinking, so I asked, “So, does that mean if someone was sick before porting, afterward they wouldn't be?”

“Yes, that is correct. However, if someone is very ill, it is not advisable for them to try porting in order to be cured. The sudden dramatic change could cause undue stress on the body. In that case, they should be treated by a healer first.”

Our next class was Introduction to Aether. This class was taught by Mr. Sutton Whitaker. Aether, by the way, is our word for the energy medium which is spread throughout the universe, not their word. Scientists actually theorized the aether during the 1800s. But other, more popular scientists, debunked the theory, supposedly proving via a flawed experiment that it didn't exist. Actually, the experiment wasn't flawed, but their reasoning and conclusions were.

But without the aether, nothing could exist. Matter and energy are both different forms of, and originating in, the aether. Atoms, molecules, magnetism, electricity, light and gravity are all manifestations of the aether. All waves need a medium in which to propagate. Sound waves propagate through the atmosphere, but light and radio waves propagate through the aether.

Our next class was Career Explorations, which was taught by Jemma Hughes, who was from Great Britain. She had a bubbly personality, and was really easy to talk to.

We learned in her class that once we had received our augments, gained experience with them, and learned how to sense, control and manipulate the aether, we would have many more career opportunities available to us than we had previously.

It might even be possible that we could work on another world, either by the job or full time, if we chose. Another possibility was that we could work at one of the academies around the world. In future classes, we would go into more detail on each type of career, and talk about advantages and disadvantages of each. She promised to cover how the augments and aether manipulation techniques would help with each job.

After that, it was time for lunch.