Prologue
prologue
Eileen Brady remembers the day she became a Bronze.
She remembers what she was wearing (pastel green crop top with short shorts) what she had for breakfast (three gallons of orange juice and a protein bar) and most of all, she remembered how she felt as she held the Bronze wristwatch in the palm of her hand.
Eileen will confidently say, to this day, that it was the second worst day of her life. The first being the discovery of her Dad's murder, but that's another story.
Being a senior in high school, she had had many bad days. Listening to depressing Nightway songs after breakups, landing her ass in after-school detentions for being a little late to class, and the typical stress-fests about ordinary things an ordinary teenage girl would be worried about.
But Results Day was by far the worst.
It just... didn't make sense. Eileen was a straight A student. Hermione Granger of her grade. Studied like crazy for every test, especially this one. She was taking test prep before any of her peers, constantly cramming study time in, even on her busiest days, and wouldn't stop practicing until she got every question right. She was guaranteed to be a Gold.
So how the hell did she end up being a Bronze?
She had no idea, and neither did her mother. She called in immediately, sure that it was some sort of mistake, that it had been mailed to the wrong person, but no mistake had been made, according to the woman on the other end. Her mom had pressed, but was greeted with the typical motto; "The Results Are Final," before the woman hung up on her.
Eileen had to face the facts; she didn't have a choice. Retakes weren't permitted on the test. Once you took it, you took it. So Eileen had to accept her score, and her level.
Eileen was a Bronze.
But that wasn't stopping her.
