Disclaimer: I do not own The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This story was made strictly for my amusement and I have no rights to the character's or anything.

My name is Danielle Stutler and my life has been pretty much miserable.

My first stroke of misfortune happened just a little before my birth; I lost the man who was supposed to be my father. I wish I could say he died in a heroic effort to rescue a small boy from a burning building, or that he was on the way to work when he was hit dead on by a drunk driver. I wish I could say he'd been severely ill, and despite his most earnest wishes, he couldn't hold on long enough to meet me. I wish I could say that.

But I'm a bad liar.

My "father" bailed on my mother days before I was ready to enter the world. He didn't even have the decency to tell her goodbye. She came home to their run-down one-room apartment to discover his stuff gone and a note saying "I don't want this."

This being me, of course.

So I was pretty much doomed from the start.

Mother was devastated by the loss, we had very little income, and since the bastard just about dropped off the map; we couldn't even charge up dear old dad for child support.

Needless to say we lived in a crappy apartment in a crappy part of town for years.

For four years actually, then we didn't really live anywhere at all. We free-loaded off her friends and her folks mostly, and some nights in between "sleepovers" we would stay at one of the cities shelters. I hated it.

Mom met this guy when I was five, and he was pretty well-off. She spent about a year wrapping him around her little finger until he finally gave her a ring and the promise of a better life.

Turns out that "better life" didn't include me.

Mother and Steve got hitched and, because the jerk's job "requested" he relocate, they moved off to some place on the other side of the country. His company thought tagging a kid along would make things "complicated."

I wish I could say I didn't care.

But, again, I'm bad at lying.

At least mom getting married allowed me a little financial security. I got put in one of Manhattan's less known boarding schools, Umbrage Academy for Girls. Fun Fact for ya, did you know Umbrage means resentment? Fantastic name, don't ya think?

So life continued to suck for the next four years. People at school didn't really talk to me; I was that "loser girl" whose parent's didn't want her. It kinda blew. Hard.

I think the only thing I liked about that place was that it was right next door to the local library and the schools own library was nothing to scoff at. It had the advance subject material I wasn't supposed to be able to tackle until much later in life; like algebra and classic literature and physics. But I liked it, and I understood it.

Even better than the challenging courses I pursued outside of my actual curriculum; was the books I would find at the public library on the weekend trips next door. Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Romance. The school had some fantasy and romance and such, but it was catered to chitty school girls; most of the books were cheesy and shallow and I just didn't like them. The books at the public library were different. I read about young women in unfortunate situations, who would rise up and show the world they weren't powerless. I read about bitter rivals overcoming outstanding obstacles together, learning from each other, growing to be friends, and eventually falling in love.

Most of all, I read about magic.

I snatched it up and pulled each word from each story deep into my heart. As if doing so would give me the ability to spell away my trouble's and conjure up a happier life.

Come to think of it, being a bookworm probably didn't help my social status.

Authors note: Did you like my first chapter? I welcome reviews of all kind. This is the first story I have ever posted online so any feed-back is great. Anyone know where I can find a beta?