It was April. Shepard was doing well in school. Her galactic history teacher reminded her of her asari Literature teacher on Mindior, so she dropped the class and got a male teacher. He was strict, but allowed her to pass with a C minus.
She took up smoking cigarettes. She sneaked them in from the pot and sand dealers and smoked in the bathroom. She sat numbly on the floor in the largest stall and lit the cigarette with her biotics. She inhaled a drag and exhaled slowly. Her eyes closed as she leaned her head against the wall. It burned her throat, she felt an increasing headache growing but she took another drag. Fuck the fear of lung cancer, she'd be dead before she was thirty anyways.
She was about to take another drag when she heard the bathroom door open.
Fuck. She scrambled to stand up and flush the cigarette down the toilet. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and wiped her hands on her pants and opened the stall door. She walked calmly to the sink, washed her hands quickly and left the bathroom.
"Miss Shepard," she heard a male voice call from behind her.
She turned around and faced the principal.
Shit.
"Please follow me." Shepard sighed and walked slowly next to him.
"How are you settling in, Miss Shepard?"
She shrugged, "I'm doing alright. Sir."
He smiled. "That's good. I plan on hiring a new counselor as soon as possible. I know he really helped the students here deal with post traumatic stress disorder, depression, insomnia."
Shepard nodded, feeling every nerve in her body turn numb.
"I know what you went through, Shepard. The fact you're still standing proves your strength. Your grades are excellent. What do you want to do when you leave here?"
She smirked, "I want to join to the Alliance. I just need biotic training."
He looked surprised, "You're a biotic?"
"An adept. I was exposed to element zero when I was fourteen."
"I used to be in the Alliance, Shepard."
Shepard blinked, taking a step back, "You were?"
He smiled, "Yes, ma'am. First Lieutenant Kahoku, at your service." He saluted and Shepard smiled, saluting back. "Get back to your dorm. You know, I see you as a Commander one of these days, Shepard. Don't let your past control you."
She wanted to drop out. She was going fucking crazy inside a classroom. It was honestly considered cruel and unusual punishment by forcing students to sit still in a classroom and listen to lectures on a vid-screen. It was stupid. The orphanage was unable to pay for teachers, so they taught lessons digitally. Perhaps if she were interested in technology, like an Engineer, she would learn something, but she was simply bored. Time went by so slowly. She needed to use her biotics. She wanted training. Maybe if this school had a gym…
The bell rang and she jumped.
Shepard started pacing in her room, using her biotic powers tentatively to grab a textbook and pull it towards her. She smiled. It had been a few months since she had used her abilities for anything and she missed the rush it gave her.
She rolled back in her chair and pushed herself to her desk using a blast of biotic power. She grinned and flipped open her laptop. It was an older model, but it could sufficiently search the extranet and download information onto her omni-tool. She pressed a few holographic buttons and pulled up the page for the Alliance. She would join the ICT program after basic training and train to be an N7 officer. Her father never made it that far, and he was a damned good soldier…
With lead on her tongue, she clicked "Apply."