"Mom, I'm home!" Natalie Rosas barreled into her cute apartment, smelling fresh Empanadas cooking. "Dinner, already?"

"Si, Nina." Bold, beautiful, Emani Rosas was the epitome of all things maternal. Everything one could want in a foster mother. "We have a trip tonight, a surprise. An early dinner is a must."

Rolling her eyes, as Natalie always did, she with here dug into the food and told her all about her day. Like always Emani listened, utterly enraptured with everything her daughter said.

And then she wasn't, Natalie found herself calling out to her foster mother as she collapsed onto the floor, pounding on her chest as the women stopped breathing.

An Ambulance came and went, leaving Natalie sitting on her stairs, looking at where her mother's body had just been. An Aneurysm they said, a bloodvessel that burst in her brain. Something so small that shattered five years of happiness with the women that all but adopted her... All within a period of less then an hour.

Natalie wasn't sure when she passed out, all she knew is that she found herself still on the stairs, laying on her side. Her arm was numb, rubbery, and her head hurt. She wanted to die.

'It's still light out...' She frowned, moving towards the window with an exhausted gait. 'At least it isn't storming...' Sighing, she leaned against the window, sighing in a deep breath. 'I am sorry mom...' Absently, she walked towards a drawer in the kitchen. Her mother always put her surprises there, it was something silly she started doing when Natalie was young. Pulling it out, she looked at the contents and couldn't help the guilty chuckle that burst from her chest. "So that was my surprise... I was accepted into that school she wanted me to get into. St. Richards." Opening the letter, she smiled. "I had an appointment today..."

With a numb smile, she managed to call the number on the letter only to get a very grumpy lady. "Hello, St. Richards?"

"My name is Natalie Rosas, I had an appointment today."

The lady practically growled at her. "You had an appointment, I am afraid you missed it. We cannot accept you into our school if you cannot meet a simple appointment."

"My mother died." The lady choked on her words. "She died..." She looked at a clock. " Two hours ago. She had an aneurysm... can I reschedule my appointment?"

There was a long, awkward silence before the lady finally responded. "Uh, if you can get here in an hour, Mr. Peters has agreed to see you. He sends his condolences..."

Natalie nodded. "I'll be there... thank you."

Somehow, some way, she managed to slump into her room to get dressed and made her way to the school. She barely remembered her way there, she barely even thought. It was almost like she was sleep walking, her insides were numb. She was almost detached.

All she knew was that one moment she was in front of Mr. Peters. The man was ugly, not in terms of sheer looks ( He wasn't that bad looking in terms of sheer looks) but in his nasty eyes and sneer. He looked like dogshit was shoved up his nose leaving him with permanently wide nostrils, constipated sneer and beet red face.

"So you passed the entrance exam, your the second person to get a hundred percent plus all of the bonus points... twice." He sneered even deeper, making her roll her eyes internally. She knew the kind of man he was, he looked down on anyone that was blue collar or less then upper class. Growing up in the Foster care system until she was adopted by Emani, she was very familiar with that kind of look.

Still, she was used to ignoring it. "Yes, I did. Intelligence is the key to success, or so my Mother said. When do I start class?"

The man sneered even deeper, someone this was possible. "You may start Monday. It should give you time to mourn and bury your mother. You have my condolences." He turned away from her. " Your foster mother put in all of your paperwork, your shots, the records she obtained from your real mother."

" She was my real mother, Emani is my mother. June put me up for adoption." She tried to keep her hate to a minimum.

"And yet, according to this, she now has custody of you."

Natalie was ready to kick the man in his face, she was a cheer leader so she was sure she could do it, when a soft familiar voice echoed from behind her. " He is right Natalie."

Slowly, she turned and saw in great horror... her mother. June Rosas was a tall women, with auburn hair wrapped in a tight braid. Every part of her was perfect, save for her cold brown eyes. She was in a paintsuit that showed off her perfect curves, the epitome of perfection. Natalie hated her on sight.

"Mother... it's been a long time."