The time until school started was filled with planning and even a few errands to collect goods. Sadly, it did not last and the day I dreaded was there. First day of school, I alongside hundreds of others streamed into the utilitarian buildings of the New Brunsburg Guild Academy. My schedule was not too bad, advanced lessons in math and sciences normal lessons in everything else. Everyone attending was expected to advance to University-level, so even the normal classes were at a high level, compared to others our age. If you couldn't cut it, you were expected to take make-up lessons or transfer out.

I had a slight feeling of déjà-vu as I walked through the hall to my first class, it felt so similar to my dream. I kept my ears open and heard snippets of conversation, some that stood out were those that said Clark would no longer play football. It was surprising, there was no way that he would give up his position willingly and I had not heard anything about him getting injured. I kept a look-out for him, curious what could have caused his sudden absence from his chosen sport.

Finally, I spotted him standing around with a few cheerleader types and a guy I had never seen before. The guy next to him was not bad looking, even taller than Clark and lean, looking like a runner or maybe a basketball-player. The cheerleaders did not look happy, something I had never seen when they were with Clark. Normally, they would happily applaud if he did anything, I suspected they would cheer him on when he took a dump. Well, what could I expect from them, they were chosen for looks and willingness, not brains.

Somehow, there was something strange about the guy next to Clark but I was unable to put a finger on the reason for the strange feeling. Looking at Clark gave me a similar feeling and comparing his looks to the last time I had seen him, something had changed. It wasn't so much a physical change, more one in his demeanor and his charisma. On the positive side, he either didn't realize that I was there or he didn't feel the need to make jarring remarks. Maybe, he had finally figured that he should let me live my own life.

The warning bell pulled me from my thoughts and I went to my first class.

Fortunately, the first class was math, not many would rejoice about math-class first thing on a Monday morning but to me, it was heaven. Today, the teacher went over the syllabus, demonstrating to me that I was wasting my time in class. It was a small class, only fifteen people, so the teacher had time for each of us, preventing me from simply tuning him out and going over my plans. However, when I was able to show him that I had done the work already, he left me alone, so it was not too bad.

Afterwards, it was time for English-Class and, boy, was I annoyed by that. Not only was the class large and rowdy, the teacher was a middle-aged lady with about as much assertiveness as a piece of bread. As in, none. So, it was a loud waste of time. Sadly, it got worse. The first class-discussion was about a text on cloning without super-science involvement. Now, I learned that she was not only a middle-aged lady, she was a crazy middle-aged lady. She interpreted something into everything, from the title to ellipsis within the text. And only her interpretation could ever be correct, so the discussion turned from 'have an opinion and explain your reasons' to 'guess what the crazy lady thinks and say it'. It was not fun. Not at all.

At lunch, I was once more isolated. Looking around the room, I saw Clark and his new friend holding court, not with the usual gaggle of cheerleaders but with a different gaggle of girls. After a single look, I decided to ignore them from now on. For some reason, my eyes were drawn to another lone person. I had never seen her before, she had to be new. I kept glancing her way, slowly but surely taking stock of her looks. The first thing I noticed was her hair. It was black and looked silky smooth. Add together her slightly olive skin, exquisite face and slender build and she looked like an exotic beauty to me. I tried to focus on the gross food and managed to distract my mind for a while. When it was finally time to leave the cafeteria, I looked at her once more and realized that she was tiny. She looked like a doll. I had to tear my gaze away before I made a fool out of myself by running into a door or something like that.

I spent the rest of my school-day in a strange daze, not really paying attention to anything around me. On the way home, I had to pick up one of my packages, taking the parts out and sending it back on its journey. It only contained a few electronic parts, so I was easily able to make the switch on the way home.

At home, I was once more alone at home so I went up into my room, telling Galatea about the parts I had retrieved and realized that with that, we had the right parts for the heavy-water separator.

“I did some research about locations, Alex.” Galatea told me and showed me a map of New Brunsburg on the screen.

“There are a few locations that you should check out, I believe they were more or less lost in the shuffle when the original Brunsburg was destroyed. I went through a few old databases and there were multiple bunkers that were built before the destruction but I can't find any mention of them in the new databases. I did not hack into any specially protected information but I cross-referenced everything I could find and there was nothing.” With that, spots lit up on the map, some were downtown, others were on the outskirts.

Brunsburg had been built around the eponymous Brunsburg, an old castle looking onto a river, protecting the land and harbor from enemies. By now, the hillsides making up the valley had been claimed by the city, mainly for housing but some parts were spared from the urban crawl. Our house was a good example, it was quite high on the hillside, almost at the crest and close to the protected woodlands on the crest of the hill. Nobody was allowed to built there to preserve the environment. Well, that's what generations of rich folks said, when they made sure that their mansions were not eaten up by the urban crawl but remained as prestigious and impressive as they always had been.

The spots Galatea had found were all over the place, one down by the river and the rest built into the hillsides. I'd have to make plans to visit them over the next few weeks, maybe one of them could be made into a hidden laboratory. For that to work, I needed an independent energy supply or I could just sent the city the address of my secret lab. So it was once more time for work.

I looked over the plans Galatea had made and decided that I could simply built it up here, it was comparatively simple. Letting myself slide into a trance, I got to work, enjoying the simple task of creation.

A few hours later, I was done and it was time for dinner. I didn't even have to go fully under to built the separator, I just had to cannibalize the vacuum. The system I had built was sadly a batch-system, not a continuous model so I'd have to run one batch after the other through it. For the future, I wanted something better so I asked Galatea for ideas. Sadly, she had none so I would have to do the work myself. But first, dinner.

As I warmed myself something the chef had prepared, Galatea warned me that the gate had just opened. I pocketed my phone and went to check who would visit me. To my dismay, the one who got out of the car was business barbie, aka my stepmother. A part of me envied her, she was undeniably beautiful, tall, long legs, golden-blond hair and a great figure. I believe she had modeled before marrying my father and it showed in her movement. It was made for the catwalk.

“Hello Grace. It's so nice to see you. What brings you?” I asked with a fake smile plastered on my face.

“Hello Alexandria. Your father was worried about leaving you alone all the time and asked me to look after you from time to time. I am sure we will get along great.” she answered, her smile at least as fake as mine before pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back, not willing to rock the boat too much. Somehow, my bullshit-detector was pinging like crazy, there was more to it than parental concern. The last time my father had concerned himself with my condition was when I had been brought to the hospital. And now, all of a sudden, he was worried about me being alone?

“Yes, I am sure it will be great. I was just about to eat, do you want to join me?”

Luckily, she declined, having eaten in the city but she still sat with me. I managed to make polite conversation about school, leaving out anything that might make her interested, sticking to the lessons and focusing on those parts she might not understand. Maybe that would make her back off.

Finally, I was able to escape, claiming homework and went back to my room. I'd have to install a few cameras to make sure Galatea could watch jailer-barbie to make sure she never saw me doing anything I should not do. It would make my plans a lot harder but I could hardly tell my father that I did not want him to park his wife at home. I was lucky that she would spent most nights in the city, not here.