Gen One- Chapter Fourteen

I pulled back when Button once again decided to wet my face with her lovely wet tongue. I loved Button, but the one thing about her I detested was her bad dog breath. Eden had bought her some toys that supposedly helped to floss her teeth, and he had even been able to coax her to sit still long enough for him to scrub at her teeth with a toothbrush a few times. It felt like it didn't do much, to me at least. I wiped off the slobber and gently pushed Button away.

     "Come on now," I said, "You need to be brushed. It's not time to give licks."

Button sat down for a brief few seconds, but she soon stood back up to go at my face again. I sighed, but stopped complaining. I would rather deal with Button's kisses than have to deal with the inevitable that was going to happen soon. No matter how badly I wanted to get out of it, there was no way that was possible. In fact, it was only several seconds later when Eden called for me.

     "Ethereal! It's time to go!"

I frowned hard and reluctantly stood up. Button's tail drooped. She either could sense my somber mood or she knew I was about to leave her again for hours on end. Eden had told me she had done nothing but mope about all yesterday while I had been at school.

School. I was not looking forward to going back there at all. I didn't say a word when Eden handed me my backpack and lunch. I shuffled behind as I slowly followed him to the car. He unlocked the doors, but turned to me instead of getting inside.

     "You going to be alright?" he asked with concern.

     "I don't know. Yesterday was awful. I can't imagine that today will be any better." I pouted.

     "Well, I think it might be better. You know what to expect now, and you studied so hard last night. You're sure to understand more in your classes, and once you feel comfortable there you'll feel comfortable with everything else as well." Eden encouraged.

     "Yeah..." I responded unenthusiastically.

It was true I had studied right up until bedtime reading about the stuff Mrs. Chamois had taught yesterday and what we would be learning today. However, even doing all that still didn't feel like enough. I was also worried that Mrs. Chamois would actually choose me to answer questions today. What if she asked me something simple that everyone else knew, but was something I didn't know? I'm sure a lot of my classmates already thought of me as stupid considering the poor job I did reading yesterday.

Eden gave me a pat on the back and motioned for me to get in the car. I could pout and worry all I wanted. I had been hoping that would be enough to convince Eden to keep me home, but it looked like I was out of luck.

The day was already off to a a worse start considering my bad mood, and then there was the fact that I got to see less of Eden before I headed to my doom. There was no reason for him to come inside with me today. He parked momentarily on the side of the street, said goodbye before leaning over to give me a kiss, I got out of the car, and he left. I moped silently in my head as I watched him drive away. Then my situation already grew even more deplorable when I turned around to find out who else had also just been dropped off. Purity hadn't seen me, but I had easily spotted her. She appeared to be readjusting a delicate strap on her shoes. I noticed when I approached her that light, flowery scent enveloped her person. Her clothes looked even more expensive than her outfit yesterday, and she kept on carrying herself with that poise that I doubted I could ever have.

She gave me a disapproving look when I walked over. She turned her head away slightly as if I smelled bad.

     "Hi, Purity." I greeted her calmly.

     "Hello, Envy."

She spoke with gentle malice. I didn't dare show that I really hated her nickname for me. That would have made it harder for me to accomplish my goal. Unable to sleep the previous night due to my nerves, I had worked out how to deal with the other new girl. It was clear to me we weren't going to be best of friends. I doubted Purity would want that at all. The most I could wish for was to get rid of her disdain for me before otherwise leaving her be and hoping she would let me be. The only way to do that was to feed her attitude even though I knew that would just make her arrogance that much worse. However, I was willing to do it if it cleared up the bad air between us.

     "Um, I just want to say," I started timidly but as genuinely as I could, "That I'm sorry about yesterday. You're right that I don't know much about you or what you've been through. I honestly didn't mean any harm when I talked about your condition, so I hope you'll forgive me for bringing it up without your permission."

Purity eyed me for a moment.

     "It's fine," she replied with another obnoxious flick of her hair, "I know it can be overwhelming to meet someone like me. People don't know how to react sometimes. I'll let your mistake slide. Although, I'm still going to call you Envy."

     "What? Why?"

     "Don't try to act surprised. You were dressed in all green yesterday, but now that you've met me you've added white to your clothes. Why else would you have done that if you didn't wish on some level to be like me?" she explained haughtily.

     "White is my favorite color. It has been since I was little. My brother bought me this outfit a long time ago, so that it has white on it has nothing to do with you. You can just ask one of my friends." I pointed out.

     "It's alright," Purity said as she placed a hand on my shoulder, "You don't have to make excuses."

I didn't get the chance to respond. Purity turned on her heel to walk into the building. I had to follow and take my seat because the first bell was going to ring soon. It irritated me greatly that Purity continued to think I was jealous of her, but as classes started I figured it was better that I hadn't been able to try and convince her more. I'm sure it would have led to her getting angry at me again- bringing us back to square one. As long as Purity was content to not push me about being jealous, I resigned myself to being alright with her thinking incorrectly and giving me a nickname I didn't like.

I mostly had to think that way because I had something more important to focus on. Classes begun, and I was thrown back into the fire. I have to admit though, the experience was not as awful as I was expecting. It was true I still didn't understand a lot of what Mrs. Chamois was talking about. My notes were the bare essentials because it took me so long to read what she wrote on the board. I flinched each time she wanted someone to answer a question. However, all my studying hadn't been for nothing. I at least understood more of what she was saying. I had a better grasp at her pace of teaching, and I no longer felt any animosity towards her. Mrs. Chamois was truly nice, and she could even be rather funny at times. I dare to admit that I was actually growing somewhat accepting of my situation.

Then something incredibly amazing happened. It was time for History. I had calmed down enough to recall a lot of what Eden and I had gone over. You can believe I was absolutely floored when I not only understood what Mrs. Chamois was teaching, but I was keeping up with it and even knew what was coming. The dates and names popped easily into my mind. It was a weird sensation to actually know something like that. Then the situation turned miraculous.

     "Is there anyone who can tell me who participated in the War of the Bordering Strip?" Mrs. Chamois asked the class.

I fidgeted in my seat. Like with a lot of her questions, no one was raising their hand. I could raise mine though. I had gone over the war with Eden. I knew the answer. It was simply a matter of gathering up the courage to speak in front of the class again. With a deep breath, I shoved my hand into the air before true fright overtook me.

     "Yes, Meadow." Mrs. Chamois called on me, looking pleased almost.

     "The battle was fought between the territory of Framboise and and the territory of Nasturtium."

     "Correct. Do you know the years in which the battles took place?"

     "The fights started on February 16th, 1631 and they ended on October 23rd 1632."

     "Excellent. Now, if you know, can you tell me the reason why the war began?"

     "After the separation of the country of Bromeliad because of its civil war, the two territories of Framboise and Nasturtium were created. Framboise lay to the east while Nasturtium lay to the west. Due to their long history of fighting, they left between them an unoccupied strip of land twenty miles long in order to prevent further bloodshed. It was only five years later when the territories discovered that vast amounts of then high demand metals such as copper, nickel, and zinc were buried beneath the earth of that neutral piece of land. Framboise and Nasturtium instantly went to war in order to claim those materials for themselves." I answered.

My whole body felt light and hollow the second I finished speaking. I knew the answer was right, but I tensed up when Mrs. Chamois frowned a bit and craned her neck to look at my desk.

     "You don't have your textbook out, do you?" she wondered.

     "No, ma'am."

     "It's...if I recall correctly that answer you gave is almost word for word identical to the introduction about the war written in your book."

     "My brother and I studied about the war last night. I just happened to remember that introduction." I explained.

     "Did you? Well, that's very impressive. Good job, Meadow." Mrs. Chamois smiled.

I was beaming after that. Not so much on the outside, but certainly on the inside. Out of all the struggling I was doing, I could at least have one success. The fact that I had been able to answer not only one, but three questions of Mrs. Chamois' also had to help reduce the thought in the minds of my classmates that I was rather dim.

I felt happy for a brief time. Then Mrs. Chamois announced it was time for us to work on our vocabulary, which was going to be a memorization exercise. It was to be done with a partner. Those in the left column had to pair up with the person in front of them. Then everyone in my column and the middle column had to pair with the person to their left. I did my best to not shown my reluctance at having to work with Purity. She already made the time unpleasant for me when she strongly requested, essentially demanded, that I move my chair to the other side of her desk because the light was too strong in the other direction. To refuse to move was my intent until I remembered that it was a strong possibility that the light was actually irritating her. I was forgetting how the sunlight often burned my skin when I was white myself. Purity was bearable for the most part during the activity. She said nothing rude or condescending until we were halfway down the list of words.

     "Stop that." she frowned as she suddenly closed the binder Mrs. Chamois had given us with lots of papers full of new words.

     "Stop what?" I asked curiously.

     "Whatever it is you're doing to know the words. You're only reading through them once, but then you recite them back perfectly. That's not normal."

     "I'm memorizing them like we're supposed to be doing. What else am I supposed to do?"

Purity frowned harder and stuck her hand in the air. I tensed up. I didn't know why she was bringing Mrs. Chamois over. Our teacher had been weaving her way through the other groups, but she came right over when she saw Purity's hand.

     "Is there something you need help with?" she asked kindly.

     "I think Meadow's cheating." Purity unexpectedly stated.

     "Cheating?" Mrs. Chamois questioned curiously, "How so?"

     "She's only reading the words once, but she knows all of them perfectly when she has to recite them. I keep making her list of words longer and longer, but even then she doesn't make a mistake."

     "I see, but I don't see a way in which she could be cheating though. Each pair only has one binder, and I'm certain you're keeping your copy closed when she's reciting the words, correct?"

     "Tightly closed." Purity confirmed.

     "Do you just happen to already know the words, Meadow?" Mrs. Chamois asked me.

     "No. Reading and vocabulary...are some of my worst subjects." I admitted with a shake of my head.

And I had my terrible reading performance yesterday to back that up.

     "Hmm. Hold on one moment, you two. I want to try something." Mrs. Chamois said.

She went to her desk, grabbed another binder, and came back over. In the binder were more vocabulary words and definitions. They were harder ones that weren't in the copies our binders had. Mrs. Chamois sat down next to us. She helped me work through an entire page of words before giving the binder to Purity to follow along with while I was told to recite the page. My heart was beating so fast having both my teacher and Purity listening to me. I stuttered on some words, but I was able to read that whole page back to them from memory. Mrs. Chamois gave me a big smile before giving Purity a soft, chiding look.

     "It seems Meadow simply has an amazing capacity for memorization. Perhaps she even has a photographic memory. In any case, she is clearly not cheating. It is best to give others the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions."

Purity said nothing. Mrs. Chamois told us to finish up the original list we had been working on before she left and resumed walking around. I knew she had been supporting me by rebuking Purity, but she had undone my work from that morning. I was back in Purity's bad graces. Her tone and way of speaking was much colder and shorter. I could have been singing her praises and she still would have treated me harshly. There was nothing I could do about it, so I suffered through the rest of the exercise until it was over. Mrs. Chamois taught for a bit longer, but then it was time for lunch and recess. I was more than ready for the opportunity to get some distance between me and Purity. Amaranth and Allium were in top form during lunch. My sides were hurting from laughing so much when we were allowed outside. It was a slightly cooler day, so it was easier to run about without overheating. The metal slide also wasn't scalding hot. Sunflower and I spent a lot of time going down it. We had the most fun going down together so we went extra fast.

Unfortunately, recess wouldn't end on a high note. Sunflower and I had begun talking since we were running out of energy. That was when Purity and Flow suddenly showed up from nowhere. Purity gave me a smile- one that was sweet but made me feel sick. I could seriously almost see the dislike for me in her eyes. I tried to prompt Sunflower to start walking away with me, but she didn't get what I was trying to do. Purity and Flow reached us. We were stuck.

     "Who is your friend, Envy?" Purity asked too nicely to be genuine.

     "Envy? Who's Envy?" Sunflower questioned in confusion.

     "This is Sunflower. She's in Mr. Dark's class." I answered, realizing too late that it would be better if I refused to respond when Purity called me Envy.

     "You can just call me Flower though," Sunflower spoke with slight hesitation, for I think she would sense the tension between us, "You must be Purity Waters, right?"

     "Yes. I see you've already heard about me."

     "Frost did tell me there was another new girl in your class besides Meadow, so yeah, I heard about you."

There was a lull in the conversation. Purity was glancing between me and Sunflower. Thoughts were clearly running through her mind at a furious pace.

     "Meadow?" Purity said as if she had never heard the word before.

     "Meadow." Sunflower motioned to me with furrowed brows.

     "Oh, her. Her name isn't Meadow. It's Envy."

     "No, it's not." Sunflower scoffed.

     "It is, because she's incredibly envious of me. She's even wearing white now."

     "Yeah, because white is Meadow's favorite color. She's had that outfit for over a year now. It's not like she went out and purchased a whole new wardrobe because of you, because you certainly aren't someone to be envious of at all. When Frost was telling me about you, it wasn't good things he was saying. He overheard you teasing Midnight during recess yesterday. He said you were nothing but arrogant."

Did that bring a stern look to Purity's face! I think she had been planning on trying to sway Sunflower away from me or she had just been trying to find another way to make fun of me. She hadn't been expecting Sunflower to fight back so easily. I was actually somewhat surprised myself. Compared to Sunset, Sunflower was a lot more docile. She normally didn't say a bad thing about anybody.

     "Geez," Purity sighed to Flow, "I feel so bad for everyone. This happened a lot in my old school as well. Everyone is so quick to tear me down because they're jealous. The worst offenders were always the ones with gray on them. They got cursed with such an ugly coloring that they couldn't stand, and they took out their anger on me because I had the true beautiful color they wanted. Gray is nothing more than dirty, disgusting white after all."

My anger flared up. I guess it really was hopeless to think I would be able to at least get Purity to leave me alone. She had it out for me for whatever reason. I didn't care so much about that, but I definitely did care that she was going after my friend!

     "Get a grip, Purity!" I retorted harshly, which felt weird because I couldn't ever recall speaking like that before, "No one is jealous of you! People say bad things about you because you're selfish, spoiled, arrogant, and a nuisance, and I'm sorry you're too weak and pathetic to face that!"

My chastisement fell on deaf ears. Purity rolled her eyes halfway through and had Flow trailing behind like an obedient puppy when she turned and walked away again. I was half-tempted to not let her get away this time, but she was heading in the direction of the recess monitors. I couldn't go off at her if they were nearby. I instead focused on Sunflower, who wasn't looking too happy.

     "Just ignore her. She's a jerk and nothing more." I comforted.

     "I know. Frost really did tell me of how horrible she was. I'm not that upset, but...I was teased about my gray being ugly when I was younger. I guess I'm still rather sensitive about it, so her words do sting a little." Sunflower admitted softly.

     "Flower, you are absolutely beautiful. The only ugly one is Purity."

That got Sunflower to smile just a bit. I gave her a hug, and she cheered up more when we resumed playing.

I was glad she got to escape having to face Purity after that. Naturally, I was not as lucky. Amaranth and Frost had told me that the class seating arraignment usually changed at some point during the year. I could not wait until that time! Purity sent glaring daggers my way throughout the rest of the afternoon. She would mumble something offensive, I'm sure, under her breath whenever I was able to answer a question. It took all my effort to ignore her. I wanted to tell Mrs. Chamois, but I didn't want to become a tattle-tale on my second day of school. I put up with Purity until the day was done. The bell finally rang, and we were free to head out on our way. However, it seemed both Eden and Purity's father or mother were running a bit late. The buses left and most other students were picked up. The school was growing quiet. I had been wandering about keeping an eye on the parking lot. That was when I spotted Purity still around. The truth was that I should have let her be, but I was feeling highly unsatisfied with how she made walked away from me before.

     "Purity," I went right over to her and spoke before she could escape, "I really don't want us to not get along, but you're making that very difficult. It's very rude to call me Envy and to say Flower is ugly because she's partly gray. If what Flower said about Frost saying that you were being mean to Midnight too, I'm afraid you're going to find yourself friendless before too long."

It was instantly clear my words had no effect. Purity had some kind of blockage on her that prevented her from absorbing what she didn't want to hear. It was scary to think she was that warped or that she had deluded herself to that extent. She scowled at me and sighed heavily.

     "It is such a curse to be white sometimes. This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday. You don't understand how hard my life can be with everyone being so secretly jealous. I know you are, and you can't convince me otherwise. And I'm sorry you don't like what I said to your friend, but that's the other thing about me- I tell the truths that no one else wants to say. Gray is the ugliest color out there. Even brown has some sort of interest to it, but gray is just dirty and revolting. It's dull and depressing. It doesn't have the life and radiance that white does. It's nothing more than a cheap knock-off."

It was my turn to sigh heavily. I began to wonder why I was bothering. Purity was simply ridiculous, and I was most likely doing nothing more than making my own day worse by provoking her. Still, there was no way I was simply going to walk away and make her think that she won.

     "You know what? I'm not going to try and convince you to think differently about the color gray. If you want to have that messed up perspective, fine. What I can't accept though is the fact that you feel you have to 'tell the truths that no one else wants to say.' There's no point in picking on Flower. It's not going to make her be not gray or anything."

Purity shook her head.

     "No, it's the complete opposite actually. I know it's hard for her to admit that having that gray on her is an ugly thing. Deep down she knows how nasty it is though. However, if I tell her the truth then she can't deny it anymore. That means she can come to accept her unfortunate situation and feel better about herself. I'm doing her a service."

     "That is a load of-!"

My sentence got cut off by the arrival of another person. It was a good thing because I had been about to use one of the words Eden told me never to say. It was also a good thing because of the very person himself who interrupted our debate. I grew timid because he carried the aura of an intimidating person even though he was smiling at us. I knew it was a fake smile though. It was clear Principal Fog had been listening to us. For how long he had been listening was unsure, but he had definitely heard enough.

     "You two must be the new students in Mrs. Chamois' class. Meadow and...Purity, right?" he asked.

His smile was genuine for a moment when he looked at me, but with how that smiled changed and with the way he had said Purity's name it didn't take much to see that he wasn't pleased. We both nodded.

     "Purity, it's such a change to have a student like you with us. I would actually like to talk to you in my office for a moment." he said.

     "My dad will be here in a moment." she responded reluctantly.

     "That's alright. He can join us when he gets here. I think it's better that he be involved with the discussion anyway."

Principal Fog motioned for Purity to follow him. I couldn't see the expression on her face, but I definitely would have liked to! The satisfaction I felt was even sweeter when Principal Fog subtly turned his head so Purity couldn't see and winked.

I was alone in the hallway after that. It was an eerie feeling to be alone so I went outside past the main doors. It was the right choice because Eden had been about to come in to collect me.

     "How did your second day go?" he asked with a lot of intrigue.

     "Better," I began before having to pause, "But worse in some ways. I think I just made myself an enemy."

Because Purity was not going to be happy with me after she got done being lectured.

     "What? Why?!" Eden asked with alarm.

I was forced to tell him everything that happened. He kept quiet, nodded a lot while I explained, and was a lot calmer when I finished.

     "I guess you now have a solid example of what I've been telling you. Unfortunately, this Purity is a shining example of how most albino people are."

     "Do you think I would be like her if all that stuff hadn't happened?" I wondered.

     "What are you talking about, Meadow? What stuff?"

Whoops. I had been referring to something I should have been referring to. I couldn't see anyone around, but I hadn't seen Principal Fog around either. It was likely someone was nearby and could potentially stumble across our conversation. Eden thankfully was more observant than me and had cut me off before I could say something dangerous.

     "I don't know. Never mind." I shrugged.

Eden gave me a 'be careful' look.

     "Let's head home, huh?" he suggested, pulling his keys out of his pocket.

I nodded.

Eden didn't chastise me about my near slip-up. We chatted normally while in the car, and soon we forgot about the whole thing. Despite the whole Purity issue, I felt rather upbeat about the whole day. I walked into the house in a much better mood than I had the day before. I was even greeted with a wondrous scent that pulled me into the kitchen.

     "Cookies?" I remarked in excitement.

     "Yup. It's why I was a little behind in picking you up, but I have a feeling you would rather have waited a little longer instead of having burnt cookies." Eden chuckled.

     "And you're right!"

I sat myself down on one of the bar stools. Eden took off the towel covering the fresh plate of cookies and set it down in front of me. We both stuffed our faces full with the snack before taking more appropriate portions.

I had just taken another bite when Eden asked an important question.

     "So besides the Purity situation, anything else interesting happen today?" Eden asked.

     "Actually, yeah," I recalled, "Well, I don't know if there's something weird with me or not. Purity said it wasn't normal."

     "What isn't?"

     "A lot of that stuff the two of us studied- even though we went over it once I was able to remember a lot of it perfectly. Then we were doing a memorization exercise in class with vocabulary words. I was able to recall everything perfectly after one look, including the long list of harder words Mrs. Chamois had me go through."

Eden gave me a curious glance. Then, without saying a word, he grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote on that paper long enough for me to finish my current cookie and eat another one. I was brushing the crumbs off my dress when Eden handed me the paper. It was a list of simple words, but there were a lot of them and there were many similar ones grouped together. Knowing what Eden wanted, I read the list once and only once. I then gave the list back and watched his eyes grow wider as I recited the list perfectly.

     "Well, I'll be..." Eden whispered in amazement.

     "Is that really not normal?" I wondered.

     "Definitely not!" Eden laughed, "Although, it does prove my suspicions. I knew there was something going on when you began learning everything so fast once you began to read better. This is somewhat scary too. This is pretty much how I am- how I was able to complete my schooling so fast."

     "Really?"

     "Yeah."

     "Do you know why I can remember stuff so well?" I asked next.

     "Not really. All I know is that our brains are just wired differently than others. In your case, the ability might have come about because of the tampering The Company did to you. Their goal was to make you white, but who knows what else they triggered while doing that."

Eden and I split the last cookie while we pondered over the matter. It was a good thing he hadn't made too many or else we would have gotten fat. I stared at certain parts of the room while Eden began loading the dishwasher. My eyes were attracted to everything white- the fridge, the windowsill, the dishwasher, the dishes, and so on. I thought of Purity, and then a certain question came to my mind.

     "Since you mentioned The Company and them tampering with me..."I began somewhat apprehensively, "I wonder...what color am I supposed to be?"

Eden let out a breath and gave me a sympathetic smile.

     "I was wondering when you would finally ask that. I'm surprised it took so long. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to give you." he revealed.

     "Wasn't it marked somewhere or something? You knew that my parents are married." I pointed out.

     "And that was the only unique thing listed about them. Not even their names were on the records. They were simply called Donor M66 and Donor F66. For all I know, you could be yellow. You could be pink, gray, and orange. You could even be green."

He paused in a manner which left me suspicious, and his laugh only made me more so.

     "You could even be Purity's sister."

     "No way!"

     "But you could be," Eden pressed teasingly, "It's not like we know how she was conceived. Perhaps her parents struggle with infertility problems. Maybe they had to use different tactics in order to have her. If her mother had to have some eggs taken out, well, she had eggs taken out. Plural. They usually use more than one for things like that. Her father could have provided a sample too. They could have conceived Purity through in-vitro, then they could have decided to donate their extra samples for 'genetic testing.' Given that her parents clearly both have the albino gene and given the respective ages of you two, why couldn't you be her sister?"

My mouth was left often to drop in horror at such a though. However, I was soon laughing loudly while Eden was left to curse. He closed to dishwasher door and started it. No sooner had he done that did an incredibly vicious sound come from the machine. It sounded as if the whole thing was about to explode. I stood up slightly in my seat to peak over the island counter to see that the dishwasher was spewing water out all over the floor. Eden hurriedly turned it off.

     "Ha! That's what you get for saying such a mean thing." I jeered victoriously.

     "It still doesn't change the fact that you could be sisters with your new enemy." Eden jeered back with a smug grin.

I frowned.

Eden quickly dropped the teasing attitude and groaned as he stared at our broken washing machine.

     "I knew it was on its last leg, but I didn't expect it to go quite so nastily. Could you grab the mops while I call a repair company?"

I did as he asked. For how short a time the washer had been on, it really had made a big mess. I had barely made any progress with the mopping by the time Eden finished the phone call. We were scrubbing when one last important thing came to my mind.

     "Eden?"

     "Yeah?"

     "Mrs. Chamois gave us a homework assignment that I think might be troublesome. We have to bring in a baby picture."

     "Baby picture?"

     "Uh-huh. The plan is to create a big collage type of thing. We'll each have a baby picture, then we'll have the pictures we're going to take next week on picture day, then Mrs. Chamois said we're going to take pictures at the end of the year. It's so we see how much we've grown or something like that."

     "I see. Does the picture have to be baby baby picture or can it be a bit older?"

     "She said no older than two years."

     "Alright. Let me take care of it. It will be troublesome, but not impossible."

Eden helped me with my homework while we waited for the repairman after we finished cleaning up. I worked by myself while Eden supervised the repairs, and then when that was done he helped me finish my work. It all went a lot quicker now that we knew my brain had super awesome memorization. Eden showed me some of his studying techniques. He also gave me a talk that good memorization wasn't everything. It was one thing to be able to recite the knowledge. It was another to think about it critically or use it practically. I kept those words in mind while I did some more studying on my own when Eden left to deal with the baby picture situation. As it was, I couldn't focus on my schoolwork for too much longer. I was much more interested in testing out my new ability. When Eden had been homeschooling me, he had allowed me to use notes and books for every test and quiz. Relying on my memory was something I hadn't really done before. Now that it was going to be such a major thing for me, I wanted to see how far I could take it. That's why I took an easier book from the bookshelf and read a whole page while concentrating hard. I then closed the book and tried writing out that page myself on the computer. I could actually do it. I tried it with another page, this time surfing the internet first for several minutes before doing the rewriting. I made more mistakes, but I still got most of it.

It was absolutely remarkable.

I was so into my work that I didn't notice Eden coming back over. He tapped my shoulder and was grinning widely.

     "Come see your first baby picture." he said proudly.

I jumped out of my seat, eager to see what he had done. Eden led me into his bedroom where a picture of a young, green toddler was now framed on his dresser. He also handed me a small copy of it.

     "Woah. How did you do that? Is that actually me?" I asked in amazement.
     "Partly. There are programs on the internet that allow you to blend two faces together to get a vague idea of what a baby between those two people might look like. I used your face, of course." Eden explained.
     "And the other face?"
     "Well, mine was the only green one I had handy, so..." he chuckled.
     "I see," I laughed, "That's kinda weird, but whatever. I look cute!"
     "Glad you think so. I did a lot more work on it besides blending our faces. That didn't look very believable. Thankfully, I do have decent photo editing skills, so I was able to make 'you' more realistic. I'm actually thinking of doing several more, because it'd be strange otherwise for us to have no pictures of you."
     "I'm down for that. I like how you added a white headband."
     "I thought it was a nice touch. Now you have more proof to show that Purity that you wearing white has nothing to do with her."

Eden looked at me more seriously.

     "And if she stays nasty, if she takes her anger out on you and bullies you- let me know. I'm not going to tolerate that nonsense."
     "Thanks." I said, giving him a hug.

Though Eden said to tell him if Purity was mean...I did downplay her actions after that. Obviously, she practically hated me after that second day. She was even so upset that I was too beneath her for her to acknowledge me, which was something I was not going to complain about. That was what I had wanted from the beginning. After that first week though, she went back to making snide remarks, saying mean things, and calling me Envy. It was annoying, but it didn't feel as if it was something I couldn't handle. I felt like I didn't have to worry even further when Amaranth caught on to what she was doing. With him sitting right next to the both of us, there was no way he was going to remain oblivious to it all for long. It seemed Purity actually liked Amaranth to some extent, so when he sent her those "Stop" looks she did reel her attitude in.

By the middle of that second week, I was glad Eden hadn't gone along with my whims of wanting to be homeschooled again. I was still having some trouble with keeping up in a few of my classes, but I was steadily improving. I would pass them all at the very least if I kept studying like I was studying. The second Friday came. It was picture day. I was excited to dress up and wear one of the nicest outfits I had. Unfortunately, I rolled out of bed that morning cursing my nose. It was so runny it was if it was trying to drown the floor in my snot. I went through my old box of tissues in no time flat. The second one I took was sure to go down the same way. I felt weak and unsteady on my feet, and the sides of my head began to hurt.

I shouldn't have even thought about going to school, but when Eden called for me to come downstairs I did what I could to pass myself off as being healthy. It was picture day! I didn't want to miss that. I gave my nose one last good scrub with a tissue, I rushed into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face, and I quickly learned how to breath subtly through my mouth without showing that my mouth was open. My ruse worked on Eden for that first appearance I made. He made sure I was ready before scurrying about as he finished up a few things of his own. I snuck into the living room to rest on the couch. Already my body was protesting. My nose was stuffed once more. Standing up seemed like it would take all my energy, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I probably looked half dead, and Eden confirmed that when he came into the room to get a proper look at me.

     "Alright, I'm...Ethereal? Are you alright? You look positively awful." his said in concern as he sat down close by.
     "I don't feel the greatest, but I'll manage." I croaked out.
     "You think I'm going to let you go to school like this? Absolutely not!" he rebuked gently as he felt my forehead for a fever.
     "But we're taking the pictures today..." I mumbled.
     "There'll be a make-up day."
     "But-"
     "No, Ethereal. I know you haven't forgotten what the doctors told us. You can't take any risks when you're sick unless you want to make it that much worse. I'm certain the last thing you want is to make another trip to the hospital."

I had to agree with that. I would have rather spent a whole day trapped alone with Purity than go back to that place.

Eden helped me get up the stairs. I was feeling worse every second. It was no surprise when the thermometer gave a reading of 100.1. The coughing started after that, which was a combination of my being stressed and the cold I had. Eden instantly got me medicine, got me a cold pack for my head, had me change, and set me up as comfortably as possible in my bed before he went and called the school to tell them I wouldn't be coming. He stayed with me after that until I fell asleep. I made no attempt to fight unconsciousness. The medicine made that impossible anyway. I accepted my disappointment and drifted off, for it was better to be disappointed than to have a repeat of what had happened that winter.