Usually, these types of tales start off with a handful of chapters dedicated and elaborating on the author's background, their childhood, and what was the initial trigger that drove them to do the things they did before publishing the full tale of said accounts. But I will spare you of such details as I see them as irrelevant until later on and will proceed to simply recount the initial beginning of how I ended up at Phideza in the first place.

There's not much to elaborate on in regards to my time in high school as it was as unremarkable as it was predictable. And by predictable do I mean that I was the weird kid who couldn't make friends, then yes. Tropes aside, I wasn't exactly "weird" as I was more solitary; none of the kids I went to school with appealed to as people I would want to make friends or even hold a proper conversation with. Sure I interacted with them when it was needed, i.e. when we had group projects and working alone just wasn't an option. Or while in gym class when you're assigned partners or a team to participate in the volleyball or basketball game. I didn't mind the interactions as much then, and since I kept to myself, my classmates knew of me and respected me in a way where they kept their distance and didn't cause trouble for me since I didn't cause trouble for them. I wasn't spared the occasional torment of a bully, however, but that's a story for another time.

My story begins in late May - I was on my junior year and school was finishing up before the summer. It was a rather warm Wednesday despite the sky being completely obscured by clouds; the windows of the class were open to allow in some of the fresh Colorado air, and I remember handing in my test to the front desk before my teacher at the time, Mrs. Hanson, handed me a survey. 

Keep in mind that during this time in particular, nearly every kid in the school - and even the staff - were ready for the school year to end for summer vacation. The seniors had already finished their exams and were eagerly waiting for graduation, while I - along with many others - had to wait another year to have that honor. So you could guess that I was pretty bored of being in school at that point, and with it being only the middle of the week, freedom seemed so far away. I dismissed the survey as some type of extra credit or a diversion to keep me from sleeping for the rest of the class (and you're a liar if you say you've never done that), but I looked it over anyway to sate my own curiosity. Across the top it read:

Phideza Ark University 

PAP Survey for Earth Students Who Seek Interstellar Curriculum  

Let me take a moment to say that I had not even considered the idea of college even while I was a junior. Really, at the time I just wanted to be finished with school and I was bitter at the fact I had to wait another year for that to happen. While college didn't interest me, the survey itself managed to pique my interests: Our teachers had mentioned Phideza University on a few occasions, mostly during college prep summits our teachers would hold for the juniors and seniors or for those who were having trouble deciding which college to attend to. Then, the year was 2134, and one of - if not the most - popular career choice was an IT programmer. Given the amount of tech we had available to us, seeking out a career in that field meant that you were almost guaranteed a lush job and life.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't interested in delving into the complex world of technology. It was the ideal field, yes, but I was more interested in archaeology and geology, and both had fallen into the pit of despair and disinterest now that the world had advanced in the last century. This meant that I wasn't particularly interested in anything my school presented to me in regards to colleges, and often I would throw away pamphlets or leave flyers collect dust in my locker in regards to the more popular IT universities in the country. In short, I wasn't very happy about my available options.

Looking back, the survey itself wasn't what particularly interested me, but the word "interstellar" was what really grabbed my attention. The idea of space travel wasn't far from the norm on Earth as we have been visited by many galactic beings who offered to share their technologies so that we could do the same thing. But rather than create ships that could get a small crew to the edge of our galaxy, we use it to livestream live feed from Neptune to catch glimpses of the Loch Ness monster and prove that the legendary urban myth was actually an extraterrestrial sent to Earth to spy on us  (for my extraterrestrial audience, please don't ask). We humans are a flawed species indeed, and it's often where I'm not exactly proud to say that I'm one of them.

Now, I will just come out and say that I had never once considered on being an astronaut (not a proper one, anyway. We've all but wasted our potential gateways to far off galaxies by using knowledge and resources to pull off the more mundane of tasks ever recorded in human history), but I was always intrigued by the idea of other worlds thriving with life, with different species, cultures, technology and the like. The idea of just being able to see any of it has been on my bucket list since I hit that ripe age of 13, but without a way to actually do any of it, that dream shattered a long time ago. And yet, here I was given a survey that may or may not give me that opportunity. While the GPA wasn't a factor of who could be picked, the process is randomized; only 10 of the students from each school are picked each year, and the rest are put on waiting lists to hopefully be picked the following year. Going by a rough estimate, that's 10 graduates out of 262 million others. And it's randomized. You had a better chance at winning the lottery. Actually, no, that would be the other way around...forgive me for that terrible analogy.

But I took the survey anyway just on a whim, thinking that it wouldn't hurt to allow the school system to see how I felt about being able to travel through the galaxy one day. The questions were simple, mostly asking things like Have you ever wanted to be an astronaut? and Would you like to be able to visit another planet?  My favorite question in that entire survey was Have you ever felt the urge to just leave your home planet for any particular reason? A part of me believes that the people of Phideza were aware of how idiotic humans could be, and opted to reach out to the more intelligent audience. That or they knew that we were also tired of the constant bullshit. Nevertheless, I answered the questions truthfully, turned it in, and went on with my day.

Now would be a good time to elaborate on my very boring but humble beginnings. I grew up in the small Victorian town of Breckenridge, Colorado, which sat at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Even a century into the future, Breckenridge remained true to its heritage and remained the famous ski-resort and gold mining location. The town itself has expanded over the years, yes, but with the mountains so close and the people's respect for nature, Breckenridge has turned into a town of harmony between Mother Nature and her humanoid children. Just walking through the town itself does wonders to the troubled mind, with the fresh mountain air rolling through everyday and a clear view of the famous mountains right outside your window. Often, many novels would romanticize a town like this, but in this case, I love Breckenridge to pieces for this very reason; There was always something to do there and the tranquility was appreciated by the locals. As long as you could live with the normal floods of tourists on a regular basis.

My family was the standard middle class family that lived in a decent neighborhood. Mama and Papa were doctors, so we had a balanced income for the most part. I was the second youngest out of four other siblings; My oldest brother was in college aiming for a PhD at the time, my older sister was pursuing that ideal IT path, and my youngest brother turned out to be a prodigy and graduated high school by the time I hit junior year. I was the only child who hadn't finished high school, so you could imagine that I was subjected to a fair amount of pressure of following my sibling's footsteps. I was the odd ball of my family of tech-nuts and doctors as I liked archaeology and geology rather than anything regarding computers or aiming for another doctorate of some kind. I would be a liar if I didn't say that my parents were disappointed that I didn't want to pursue the same career options as they did, but supported me nonetheless. My siblings couldn't care less honestly, but it was my sister Dominique who gave me the proper encouragement and told me to take my time through high school rather than rush to keep up with the family. 

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"I honestly don't blame you for wanting to do something different." She told me one day in late August shortly before school started that year. She had came home to accompany us as we were taking a small vacation at a resort near Copper Mountain. "Mom and Dad enrolled me into this school without even consulting with me or getting my consent. Sure I wouldn't mind wanting to learn how to make programs or put one together, but I honestly wanted to try my hand at becoming a singer."

"Well, can't you still?" I asked her. "At least now it will be easier for you to use music based programs, right?"

"That may be true," she shrugged "but I would still need to learn how to read music sheets. So that's why when school starts up again, I'm dropping my current classes for music courses."

"Are you going to tell Mama and Papa?"

"No?" She looked to me with an incredulous look of shock. "Do you honestly think Mom and Dad would approve of me dropping my current classes in exchange for learning how to read and produce music? They'd cut off my financial support in a second!"

I made a promise to my sister that day that I wouldn't speak a word of her endeavors to Mama and Papa, and in exchange she would support me in any way she can when I started college. While one would think being co-dependent on our parent's finance was the mindset of a child, you need to understand that Dominique worked in retail at the time and trying to support herself and hefty student fees through a retailer's paycheck just wasn't going to cut it. Unlike Devon who had a well paying job, she needed Mama and Papa's financial aid just to get through the month. Mama and Papa had this mindset where, if any one of their kids wanted to pursue a career rather than what they desired, then they could do it themselves. If it was anything within the fields they favored, they would support them without a second thought. This worried me to the extent where I wouldn't be able to pursue my own dreams as I knew they wouldn't support me, but I had my sister in my corner should things between my parents and I went sour.

Dominique turned out to be a heavy influence in my life, now that I think about it. The eldest - Devon - was in New York for school, so we didn't see much of him. Mama and Papa were busy with their own jobs, and my little brother Jeffar was too busy basking in his newfound fame and praise. And then there was me who was just...there. I should also mention that my parents expectations were the reason I kept those flyers and pamphlets in my locker; After Devon became such a success, they pushed for Dominique to do the same and enrolled her to the best college that was willing to take her. Jeffar undoubtedly would be subjected to the same treatment, but I refused to be shoehorned into a college that I wouldn't like or take classes for a specific field that didn't interest me at all. Don't get me started on the amount of geology books I hid from them (I have Dominique to thank for that as she allowed me to use her closet as my hiding place).

By the time school finished for the year, my plans for my supposed future was still an uncertainty of a mess. I left the pamphlets and flyers to rot in my locker until the next unfortunate student was left to clean them out the following year, and spoke nothing of my college plans to my parents while I spent my summer vacation exploring the mountain trails and taking part time jobs at the local resorts for a quick income. The survey was nothing more than an afterthought - if that - for those couple of months as I already knew that I wouldn't be one of the lucky 10 who would be able to travel through the galaxies.

Little did I know that I was going to be in for a surprise the following school year.

* * *

There's not much I can recount that's too interesting or note worthy as I transitioned to a senior the following school year (although there was that incident where a maintenance droid went haywire and dug up the entire football field, postponing homecoming for another week). While I wasn't the ideal student with a GPA of 3.0 and higher, I still made decent enough marks where I only needed three classes to receive the rest of my credits in order to graduate. Unfortunately, one of those classes was trigonometry, so I struggled a bit to earn that credit before the year ended. Of course, my parents were ecstatic knowing that their final child would be graduating within some months, and were quick to look for the nearest university willing to hand me a PhD or doctorate or what ever degree is handed to an IT major. I wasn't going to make the same mistake as my sister before me, and told my parents that I would rather pick my own college. Fortunately, they obliged, and turned their attention to their prodigy instead.

Senior year was as uneventful as my other years in high school, the only exception being that now we had prom to attend to towards the end of the year. If you, my readers, know me well enough by now, then you should be able to figure out that I had little to no interest in prom. Now try telling that to my parents who tried to set me up with every boy within state lines who so much as said 'hello' to me. Devon and Dominique had attended prom, of course (both of their dates ended up dumping them both several weeks after), and from what they have told me, I wasn't missing much. Really, prom was only a method of upping one's social status in high school just before graduation where it was highly likely you wouldn't see your classmates up until a high school reunion maybe 20-something years later. It's at that point one has the opportunity to either go on with their life or focus on trying to outdo your fellow classmates. Prom king and queen is the same thing - you're given a fake crown, a title and paired up with a guy you barely know for one night, and the pair would most likely end up at a shady motel where the girl returns home with a broken heart and a fertilized egg weeks later. And for everyone else? Nothing; close friends and couples have a good time while others show up to show off their dresses and dates and judge everyone else for their dates and their choice of attire.

Let's be honest, I was not going to subject myself to that. My parents were desperate for me to go, but for what? Just to get a few pictures? No thanks. 

Fast forward to, let's say, early April; as seniors, we had to study for our exams moderately early since we would have to take them the following month, and their results would dictate whether we would receive our credits and graduate. I had grown tired of being in the school and seeing the same faces, attending the same classes and being subjected to the typical social requirements of a high school student. Although it was mostly me just tired of school. I had stationed myself in the library to study for my trigonometry exam (and slowly dying in the process) when I was approached my Mrs. Hanson.

I would like to say that Mrs. Hanson and I had a decent relationship - I was far from her ideal student, but I wasn't a pain in the ass either. She knew I always struggled with her class and was willing to tutor me during lunch just to ensure I would pass her class with a decent C - that would be enough to get the credit I needed. She even let me hide out in her classroom when I didn't want to deal with the noisy cafeteria when I was able to get my own lunch. I considered her as more of a pleasant associate and mentor rather than just my teacher and I knew her well enough to be able to read her enough to know what her current mood was. So when she entered the library with this gleeful gleam in her eyes...I could only assume that it was good news, for her at least.

"Minuet?" Hearing my name was enough to avert my attention from the essay I was working on at the time. "I just received an email from Phideza - you've been accepted to into the program!" She gripped my shoulders, her smile ever wide while I just stared at her, slacked jawed in a speechless stupor. "Congratulations! Oh my goodness, you must be so excited! They will send the scholarship and the rest of the information needed for when you depart in September. Your family will be so proud of you!"

Oh, Mrs. Hanson...you had no idea.