"Sometimes you pick your friends, sometimes they pick you."
Ethan Shepard & Ashley Williams – Age 8
(History Class)
"Now children, Mindoir was founded in…"
"2143." All the children in the room said in an almost trance like state, each child sat up straight in their chairs, hands folded together overtop of their desks. Although, in the back of the classroom two students were whispering in hushed voices.
"Very good. Here is a good one for you, what is Mindoir famous for?"
A flood of hands raised yet the teacher sighed and stepped down the rows of students until she came to the intrusive students.
"Something you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Mrs. Perry asked as guilty heads raised.
"No ma'am." Ethan apologized quickly with a polite smile but Ashley grinned to herself, her black bangs covering her laughing eyes. "Then perhaps you would like to explain what Mindoir is famous for?"
"Mindoir is famous for being a… Agricultural colony, known as the fruit by many other worlds." Ethan replied to his teacher confidently, the eyebrow of his pretty teacher raising but she then nodded with satisfaction before turning and stepping back to the front of the class.
Ethan let out a breath of worried air as soon as she turned her back, his shoulders sagging with relief.
"Would you like to share anything with the rest of the class?" Ashley mimicked quietly.
Ethan turned his head, sending a glare at the smiling face of Ashley Williams before returning his gaze back to his teacher, making an effort to concentrate on the lesson.
Only a moment later a launch of three loud beeps interrupted the teacher, announcing that it was time for lunch. The children slid out of their seats and hurried to the back of their classroom, grabbing their small paper bagged lunches and heading into the cafeteria.
Despite all of the students walking down the hallway and to the overcrowded area Ethan and Ashley flashed each other a knowing smile as they ducked out of the crowd of students and down the hallway of the school, heading in a different direction. With their lunches tucked under their arms they crept down the hallway, ears and eyes wakened to hear even the simplest of noise. They dodged past two classrooms, only another classroom and a short way to reaching their destination.
Ethan stepped past the last classroom before he felt a hand grab his arm tightly and pull him back. The young boy was about to protest before a pint sized hand covered his mouth and brown eyes gave a quick glare.
Ashley slid her hand from Ethan's mouth and ever so slowly turned her eyes to the inside of the classroom, recognizing one of the 7th grade teachers, Mr. Burgess, a stern English teacher who was currently grading essays, cursing under his breath as he read each sentence. Ashley bit on her lip in concentration as she very quickly walked past the door, the teachers eyes not rising from the papers.
"Come on." Ashley mouthed to Ethan and Ethan peered into the room, watching as Mr. Burgess took a large swallow of black coffee before continuing to read. Ethan nodded and closed his eyes nervously as he walked past the classroom. He opened his eyes, seeing he was on the other side and smiled victoriously. "YES!"
Ethan's eyes widened as he realized how loud he was and Ashley grabbed his hand with her own, pulling him down the hallway before the angry English teacher could rise out of his seat.
They finally made it to the door of the school, pushing them open and running down the pathway and towards the forrest that lay gloriously behind the school. Ethan stepped over fallen tree branches and roots, finally starting to breath as they sat down against a wood log, their favourite spot.
Ethan began to dig into his lunch, pulling out a wrapped turkey sandwich, a small thermos of orange juice, a high protein vitamin bar, and finally an shining granny smith apple.
"What do you have?" Ethan asked Ashley, watching her spill the contents of her own blue lunchbox over her lap.
"Your favourite, PB and J." Ashley handed Ethan the sandwich and Ethan gave her his turkey sandwich. He was never allowed peanut butter and jelly because his cousin Eli was allergic, it was a treat whenever Ashley would give her his own, which these days were often.
"One day we are going to get in trouble for going outside." Ethan told Ashley, unwrapping his sandwich carefully and then taking a big bite, his eyes closing from the buttery taste of the peanut butter mixed with the sweetness of the jelly.
"Nuh uh." Ashley had taken several bites out of her own sandwich and swallowed greedily "Teachers are buttheads."
The little girl reached a hand into her bag, rummaging through it until she huffed angrily. "My mum didn't pack me anything to drink."
Ethan had just taken a drink of his own juice but reached it out towards Ashley. "You can some mine." He offered and Ashley made a face of disgust. "Ewww, no. Boys have cooties."
Ethan looked at Ashley before crossing his arms and looking away.
"Sorry." Ashley apologized but Ethan suddenly felt something cold and wet dribble down his hair and over his face, already beginning to soak deep into his white tee shirt.
A moment there he heard soft giggling and looked up, seeing Ashley holding the thermos, but dropped it and began running away as Ethan stood up, her giggling growing hysterical.
"Get back here!" Ethan threw the other half of his sandwich towards her as he began the chase.
Later that day...
Ethan stepped off the bottom step of the school bus, his feet making connection to the hard earth beneath him and he ran up the dirt road, his gaze on the house in front of him. He took a quick moment to look back and wave to Ashley who was sitting at the end of the bus before continuing to run forward. Things had changed dramatically in Ethan Shepard's life, he no longer lived in the city but on a farm.
Ethan's father had quit his job at the citadel when Ethan was five, he wanted to be there to be apart of Ethan's life and be there for his wife aswell, not wanting a life that he couldn't enjoy. With the money that they had saved they purchased an affordable farm, able to grow a range of different crops including corn, wheat, and potatoes. The work was hard and exceeding strenues but Ethan's father loved it and they could be together.
The young boy had been excited to say the least, they no longer had a small apartment but a large farm with a big comfortable house, a barn, lots of trees and a tire swing that swung back and fourth in the wind. One of the best things was that Ethan went to the same school as Ashley Williams, after their first introduction their mothers decided to get each others numbers and set up small playdates, where it usaully ended with Ethan getting pushed to the ground. Eventually they grew to become close friends, together all the time at school and even getting their parents to take them out for ice cream together.
"Dad!" Ethan yelled happily as he ran into the house, bumping directly into a body that didn't belong to his father. What stood before him was not near human, with four eyes, a green face with pale facial ridges, and a sneer now looking down at Shepard.
"Another fleshy creature." His mouth opened, exposing a row of sharp teeth.
Ethan stepped back and felt a hand drop over him shoulder giving him a reassuring squeeze. Ethan turned seeing his father with a scowl across his face.
"I hope you reconsider our offer Mr. Shepard." The stranger pushed back his coat, Ethan gulping as a gun became exposed, the batarian lightly fingered it before pulling out a piece of white paper from his pocket and handing it to Ethan's father.
"I won't be." Steve said, watching as the creature stared at him, his eyes narrowing at them before walking past Ethan and Steve and out of the house.
"Who was he daddy?" Ethan asked immedietely after the stranger had left.
Steve grasped his sons arm, gently leading him to their living room couch. "Son that was a batarian."
"Whats a batarian?"
"It's an alien, just like the asari you hear about at school except batarians are very aggressive and dangerous." Steve explained, his sons eyes widened.
"If you see a batarian here again I want you to run away, they won't bring anything good here."
The front door suddenly slid open, Steve standing up quickly but then sighed heavily as he saw Hannah walk in, carrying several bags of groceries along with a gracious smile.
"Hi boys." Hannah chirped with another smile and set the bags down on the dining room table before walking to Ethan and planting a big kiss on his forehead then her husbands lips.
"We need to talk about something." Steve whispered, taking her hand and leading his wife into the kitchen, leaving an unknowing Ethan.
A/N - Wanted to apologize if my information doesn't match up with actual Mass Effect facts or history. I am trying to mesh everything as best as I can and make the story work as well. Next chapter will be better, Ethan Shepard and Ashley at 12, their first encounter with an asari that you know. Thanks for the reviews and helping me out with my little errors, your all fantastic :)
