• Chapter 1. Butterflies

    “Come on Sam let's go!” Liz called over her shoulder as we ran through the streets of New York. It was barely past six in the morning, and the streets were already crowded with people. Business men and women drinking coffee and jabbering on their cell phones. I hurried after my sister, trying to ignore the comings and goings of caffeine highs and exhausted boredom. I hurried down the entrance to the subway after my sister. I leaned against the concrete wall, out of breath and dizzy. The train wasn't even here yet! I checked my watch. We were half an hour early. I sent a glare in the direction of my sister. “Hey, don't you look at me like that.”
    “I can't believe you made us run for nothing. The freaking train isn't even here yet!” I said.
    “Whatever, at least we aren't late.”
    “I can't believe I'm related to you.”
    “Aww, I love you too.”
    “That response was so lame.” I snickered. My sister refused to be late on the first day of school. Even after I had been at this school since I hit puberty, I was still scared crapless. This year, I wasn't going to be an eighth grader, I was a freshman. The school I went to, Fates Academy for the Gifted, was a combination of a junior high and a high school rolled all into one. It was like a boarding school, except there were no uniforms (but there was a strict dress code), and we didn't live there. Instead we lived in a penthouse up on Park Ave. Yeah, our parents had money.
    With our dad being a big shot lawyer and our mother one of the most renowned interior designers in the state of New York, their income was pretty up there. We weren't the stereotypical spoiled rich brats that everybody thought so little of. Our parents were a bit rigid, but they cared a lot. My sister and I were polar opposites.
    I was born the fifth of January, while my sister was born October eighth. She had hair that was an awesome shade of auburn like our mother's that drifted an inch past her shoulders and I had dirty blonde hair that was nearly to my waist. She was the taller one as much as I hated to admit it, but we both had the same apple green eyes like our dad's. She was a complete girlie-girl and I was a tomboy. The train came to a whistling stop and the doors opened.
    “You better be grateful that I got us up early this morning,” Liz jabbed me in the ribs with her elbow.
    “Maybe if you just shut up about it I would forget and we could get on with this day in peace.” I said. My sister just rolled her eyes, pulled out her phone and proceeded to text. Probably that dude she wouldn't shut up about over the summer. I forgot his name. Then again, she likes a new guy every week, which is not enough time for me to remember them all. Even though I remember most of them.
    I set my backpack down on the seat next to me and made sure that I had all my stuff. Including the schedule and locker number I was sent in the mail, my books and all of my school supplies. I ran a hand through my hair that was streaked with green. It had originally been blue but the color had faded a bit.
    Liz giggled next to me and I rolled my eyes, pulling out my iPod and turning up the volume. The train stopped to admit a few more passengers. I checked my watch and knew that our stop was coming up soon. I turned the volume down a bit and observed some of the passengers. There was the same perverted old hobo who stared at my sister. Yuck. There was the lady who always smelled like cats and every time I saw her she always had a bag of cat food with her.
    The train came to a stop and I stood up, nudging my sister. Here comes the part where we have to walk another block to our school. Our parents had always been a little uneasy about us taking the Subway to school. They would much prefer to hire a driver, but we had insisted. The other students took the Subway and they were fine. If anything got out of hand, we could handle it. It wasn't long before the walls of our school came into our view. The only break in the solid concrete was the iron gates that admitted students. Liz and I stood in front of the gates, and after the full-body DNA scan was complete the gates opened. The courtyard had students roaming around all over the place. There weren't too many of us here in New York. But the school passed off as elite. There was always a rumor going around that they were going to start making us wear uniforms, but it had never come into play. The school itself was gigantic. It resembled the New York High School of Performing Arts except it covered a much larger expanse of land, which was why it was on the edge of the city. What the school couldn't build on the surface, was built underneath the ground. From a large indoor gym, to an Olympic size swimming pool, the school was the best in the state. Of course, with the exception that you couldn't get in with just a measly application.