The Golden Retriever

Prologue

Trent Garcia walked down the road to school. It was another school day in the Philippines. The life of a high-school student very rarely goes beyond the rut labeled "boring". Trent's life was, in his head, a very normal and largely uninteresting. So much so that he began to question whether God felt lazy when He made him. The only difference was that he had no family.

Perhaps his parents didn't want him. Perhaps they paid too much for a single night of pleasure in their case. Whatever it was that made them leave him in front of Saint Michael Orphanage, it must have been bad enough that it warranted them leaving their own flesh and blood on a stranger's front porch. Not that Trent was complaining; he was given three meals a day, had a bed to sleep in, and a change of clothes for every day of the week. Of course, now that he was 16 and in senior high, it would be changing very soon.

It began when he started bringing back some high marks as a result of working hard. Unlike most of the kids in the orphanage, he was always thinking ahead. A scholarship in elementary had paved the way for him to attend the prestigious school, San Seraph Academia. His ultimate goal was to become a doctor; saving lives, helping people- it's his way of proving the world that a poor background wouldn't stop him. Today was the opening ceremony- introduction of teachers and staff followed by the class introductions. By the time Trent arrived at the academy, the students had begun to pile into the spacious gym hall. On each side, set 15 meters apart, were large speakers. The stage was vacant at the moment and a lone microphone stood in the middle.

Trent took a seat in the first column, third row; hoping to avoid sticking out despite being only 5'6'' which made it hard for him to be noticed above the sea of girls younger than him that are a good three or four inches taller than him. As the minutes dissolve into an hour, the number of students steadily increased. Being a prestigious school, a middle-class student would never have made it in; the registration fee itself would have been able to feed Trent for a year and a half. Add the fact that the school standards were set at an average of 90. This resulted in a small amount of students attending; the school only had three sections with thirty students each.

The program began. Trent looked around, hoping that he could spot his best friends before the program got too serious. Spotting Matt, Scott and Gil across the room, he nodded in their direction. The three had seen him too and nodded in his direction too.

Not paying attention to the program at all, Trent's mind began to wander. It happened frequently; he'd stare into a wall for ten minutes with his mind absent the entire time doing goodness knows what. At times, he's being a doctor, at other times; he's a family man, at other times; he's writing stories- it always changes.

Then he saw her. A girl sat three columns down, on the front row. Hair cut up to her shoulders, glasses sitting on her face, a lock of hair tucked behind it, eyes rapt with focus. The way she sat, her uniform perfectly worn, though he doubted if she'd worn it before since she was a new face. From his angle, he only had a partial glimpse of her. By the time the program had ended, Trent had visited his world four times. Each time he did so, he was abruptly halted by thoughts of the mystery girl.

He ate lunch with the squad, the four of them laughing as they ate. All of them shared their stories and adventures over the summer. The usual "so what've you been up to lately?" and "dude, that was so cool". Soon though, the bell rang which ended their lunch break.

Trent sat dumbstruck. He'd found his classroom quickly and had introduced himself in the roll call. Then she came in. She was late, hair disheveled and panting. Apologizing for being late, our homeroom teacher let her in and told her to introduce herself. She faced the class, blue eyes sparkling behind glasses.
"My name is Alicia Torres. Nice to meet you" 

This is where our story begins