Moving Forward chapter 4
It was quiet in the Echizen household; thankfully it wasn't an awkward silence, it was because everyone was enjoying their dinner and it wasn't polite to speak with your mouth full. On the table were many different dishes, coming from either Japan or the Western world.
The quiet was broken when Nanako spoke up, "This is really good Rinko-nee-san. I'm glad that you made Western dishes as well as Japanese ones," Nanako finished cheerfully.
Akira mentally agreed. The Western food set on the table had been a pleasant surprise, as she had gained a taste for the dishes whilst in America. She had also enjoyed the yakitori and jasmine-perfumed rice that was set out. (A/N: Yakitori literally means 'cooked bird'. it is usually chicken skewered on thin, wooden stick. The jasmine-perfumed rice is pretty self-explanatory.)
Rinko smiled happily at her niece. "Thank you Nanako-chan. I'm glad that you enjoyed it," she beamed, before suddenly gaining a worried look. "Oh dear. Did you like the Western food Akira-kun? I probably should have made all Japanese food. I'm sorry if you didn't like it," she rambled a little in embarrassment.
Akira felt the need to correct her; it wouldn't be polite to leave the impression that she disliked her hostess's meal. Then again, she usually didn't care about being polite. She inwardly shrugged. Perhaps Rinko was an exception.
"No Rinko-san. It was very good. I gained a liking for Western food after spending most of my childhood in America." It was a small white lie, but no one needed to know about her time in England.
Rinko perked up in excitement. "Really? You lived in America? So did we!" She rambled on for a bit about America after that, before she was interrupted by her son.
"Where's the rest of your family?" Ryoma asked rather bluntly.
Rinko looked a little bit mortified, already knowing the answer to that question.
"They're dead." Akira answered indifferently, before going back to her meal, not noticing the awkward silence that settled over the table.
Nanjiroh, in an attempt to dissipate the uneasy hush, blurted, "So, what school are you going to in the fall?"
Akira looked up from her meal to answer. "Seishun Gakuen." she answered, wondering how they would react.
"Oh really! Ryoma's going to attend there too! It's Nanjiroh's old middle school, you know. What grade are you going into Akira-kun? I mean, you look almost young enough to be still in elementary school!" she exclaimed the last part and as she didn't intend to insult her, Akira let the 'elementary school' comment slide.
"I'm going to be a freshman. I'm turning thirteen on July thirty-first." she answered, fiddling slightly with her silverware. Usually, magical children at age twelve would be soon entering their second year at their schools; thankfully, her magic was still recognized as an adult's by whatever instrument was used to write the Hogwarts acceptance letters. She would not have liked to deny the letter and hence draw attention to herself, as refusing was a rare occurrence. She never would have accepted, because she would be recognized as the missing Heather Potter despite her altered age.
Her mind was drawn back to the present as Rinko gave another smile. "Oh that's good. That means Ryoma will be going to his new school with a friend! Aren't you happy Ryoma?" she directed the last part towards her son.
Ryoma just turned his head away, muttering, "Che."
While Rinko pouted slightly at her son's indifference, Nanako decided to join the conversation. "Is it hard to live alone Akira-san? I'm sure it must be for a boy to live on his own," she said with curiosity.
Akira blinked slightly at her, processing the statement before answering. "Actually, I'm a girl."
The Echizen's reactions were amusing to say the least. Nanako flushed in embarrassment, while Nanjiroh gaped. Ryoma looked odd with his catlike eyes bulged out. Rinko had the most unusual reaction though.
"But you make such a pretty boy!" she exclaimed in shock.
Akira's lips twitched, almost smiling. They were an amusing family. The dynamics of their relationships were interesting to watch.
Nanako coughed slightly to hide her chuckle at her aunt's statement, but continued talking to their guest, wanting to get to know her better.
"Will you tell us a bit about yourself Akira-san? I must admit, I am a bit curious about you." she said almost sheepishly.
Akira tilted her head to the side, wondering what to say. She decided to go with the basics.
"Hah… you already know my age. My favorite colors are black and green. My favorite fruit is an orange. My favorite animal is either a snake or a cat." she didn't really know what to say next, but Rinko helped.
"Do you have any hobbies?" she asked curiously.
Akira sat up a little straighter to talk about her interests. "I like chemistry a lot." she gained an odd smile as she stated her first hobby. She really did like chemistry, watching the reactions of the different ingredients; but her favorite thing to do was to see if the concoctions would explode. "I have also played tennis for around three years now." she finished.
"Oh really?" Rinko asked in delight. "That's wonderful! Ryoma has been sulking about having no one to play tennis with except for his dad." She ignored her son's glare and continued talking. "With you here, maybe you two can play against each other and get better."
Akira had an odd sense of foreboding as Rinko's eyes gained a strange glint.
"Plus we can play dress-up! I can fit you into a bunch of cute little outfits, and give you a cute hairstyle and maybe even show you how to put on make-up!" Rinko exclaimed excitedly.
Ryoma was looking at his mother like she had grown another head. Nanako was giving her new neighbor a sympathetic look, having gone through something similar with her aunt. Nanjiroh winced slightly as his wife continued to babble on about how she was going to basically use their neighbor as a dress-up doll. She had always wanted a daughter; he had just barely stopped her from putting Ryoma in a dress when he was three-years-old.
Akira just stared at the Echizen matriarch with a blank look on her face. She wasn't quite sure that she wanted to be neighbors with the Echizens anymore.
Akira withheld her grumbles as she roughly pulled the small braids out of her short hair. She was walking next to Ryoma, on the way to the metro stop. Today was the day of that tournament Ryoma had signed up for. He'd be playing against sixteen-year-olds, much to her amusement.
Over the course of the last winter months, they had gotten closer. They hadn't really had a choice, as Rinko kept shoving them together, so they had struck up a sort of camaraderie so they wouldn't be bored out of their minds over the summer. Rinko had been ecstatic when they had become friends.
Sure, Akira had kept to her normal work-out schedule, waking up at six and then running for two hours, and then various exercises that she had picked up to stay limber during the war. She had also added to her regimen every day, including weights on her wrists and ankles disguised as sweatbands. Following that, she would usually read for a while, but then, at around noon, she would be dragged over to the Echizen's for lunch, and kept there for at least three hours.
Rinko had become very fond of her over the months they had known each other, and had kept her threat of doing her hair and trying to force her into 'cute' outfits; hence her picking braids out of her hair, and resulting in it being messier than usual when she was through. Thankfully, she hadn't been subjected to anything other than a hairstyle today, and was a bit more at ease wearing her boys' clothing.
Akira ruffled her hair edgily, making sure that all the tiny little braids were undone. She had no desire to go aboard the metro with a girly hairstyle. Especially if there were fan girls. They never seemed to notice that she was, in fact, a girl, and just thought she was a feminine boy with a feminine hairstyle, which only seemed to increase their incessant giggling; much to Ryoma's mixed amusement and irritation.
Once they had finally gotten onto their mode of transportation, they immediately took seats near the door and next to each other. One of the reasons they had gotten along so well was their semi-antisocial attitudes. Ryoma was cockier and more oblivious, while Akira was calmer and more observant. Their personalities had clicked better than they had expected, which had helped them to survive Rinko's mothering.
She slumped a little into the hard plastic bench attached to the inside of the train, trying to find a better position. She twitched in displeasure as her tennis back poked into her side as the train hit a small bump. Looking around irritably, she caught a glimpse of a semi-familiar person sitting across from them, but didn't bother to dwell on it further.
A few minutes later, the metro had stopped to pick up a few more people. Much to Akira's chagrin, among those people were a loudmouthed teen bragging to his little friends about his tennis skills. After a while of listening to the aggravating boasting, she looked at him funny when he was bragging about his grip on a tennis racket; one of which he was swinging around carelessly. The guy didn't even know which was the Eastern grip or the Western.
She would have been content to watch him make a fool of himself even further, but after another bump in the track, in which the teen lost his grip on the racket, Ryoma decided to speak up.
"Can't you keep it down?" he asked, his chin resting in his palms as he leaned his elbows on his legs.
The high-school guy started in surprise, losing his grip on the racket he had been swinging around. Akira inwardly rolled her eyes; the first rule of combat was to never drop your weapon, and that applied in sports as well.
"Ahahaha. This is embarrassing! Getting told off by a little kid and all!" the guy tried to shake it off as he reached to pick up his racket.
Akira's eyes sparked in amusement as she saw Ryoma twitch in irritation out of the corner of her eye.
When the high-school-guy grabbed the racket to pick it up, Ryoma spoke up again.
"Bingo. Holding the upper part of the grip and clamping it - that's the correct Western grip." he said, pointing to the position the guys hand was in. "Another thing - the 'shaking hands' grip you were talking about earlier? That's the Eastern grip. Don't feel bad though. It's common for people to learn the opposite way."
Before the reddening teen could respond to Ryoma's 'well-meant' advice, the train pulled to a stop and the intercom proclaimed that it was Akira and Ryoma's stop. They waited for the leaving people to get off the train, watching as the teen also got off, his friends laughing at him.
Akira followed Ryoma off next. They stopped in the middle of the station, neither of them remembering which way the Kakinokizaka Tennis Garden was. Akira didn't particularly care, as it wasn't a tournament she was playing in, but she could see Ryoma getting slightly agitated.
She was about to suggest that they leave through the northern exit, when she saw Ryoma turn his head to look at something. She followed his gaze, and saw him staring at a familiar-looking girl. Akira blinked in surprise as she noticed the telltale braids, and realized that this was Ryuzaki's granddaughter that she had seen when exploring Seigaku.
"Do you know the way to the Kakinokizaka Tennis Gardens?" Ryoma asked the girl bluntly.
The girls face lit up with a nervous smile. "Ah! I'm heading there to watch the matches too! Are you going to be in a match? Tennis is so new to me!" she rambled slightly.
Ryoma just stared at her while Akira watched in amusement. "…so which way is it?" he asked.
Ryuzaki flushed in embarrassment. "Ah, sorry… I just… Exit from the south gate, and you'll soon notice it." she said.
"South gateway… right, thanks."
Ryoma turned and walked away without saying anything further, Akira following and observing everything with an sharp eye.
Akira wasn't quite sure that they were going the right way though, and after walking straight south for fifteen minutes and not finding the tournament's location, she put a hand on Ryoma's shoulder.
"Ryoma-kun, we had better turn around. This isn't the right way." she said bluntly.
Ryoma pulled at the rim of his baseball cap in irritation, before turning around, and running off back towards the train station. Akira jogged after him lazily, not really caring if she lost sight of him, as she'd find him later. She never did though, and continued to follow him as he passed by the train station and running north of it.
When she heard the 'pok-ing' sound of tennis balls, Akira knew they had come the right way this time. She wasn't sure if Ryoma was going to be on time for the sign-up though, especially after their little detour. She caught up to him just as he reached the registration as they closed down.
Akira saw Ryoma's face twitch in irritation, before he started to mumble under his breath. When she heard what he was saying, she smirked slightly.
"Ryoma-kun. It is not polite to swear. Perhaps your mother should teach you some better manners." she added the last sentence thoughtfully, subtly teasing her friend.
"Che. From what I've heard from her, I'd be better off learning from you. After all, you're the 'ever so polite' Akira-kun." Ryoma mocked back.
Akira smirked at her friend as he settled down a little bit. "Touché," she said as they reclined on the grass near the courts. They both leaned back against their respective tennis bags and crossed their legs. "We might as well watch the matches and see how good the players are around here." Akira said. Ryoma just nodded absentmindedly, and she knew that he'd probably just fall asleep. So, she pulled out a psychological thriller book from her tennis bag, and started to read.
About ten minutes later, Akira heard soft steps coming their way. She briefly looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at the downcast looking girl.
'It's that Ryuzaki girl again…' Akira thought curiously.
"Ah!" Sakuno exclaimed as she saw the two from the train lying on the grass. She walked timidly up to them. "Um… the match… were you late?" she asked anxiously.
Ryoma glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, before closing it again. "Five mintes late, disqualified." he said in an uncaring tone.
Akira smirked slightly as the girl stuttered out, "S-sorry… Was it because of me…?"
"Bingo. Did you come here to cause more trouble?" Ryoma asked pitilessly as he sat up.
The girl just fidgeted uncomfortably, her face red with shame and embarrassment.
Akira looked between the two, before giving an inaudible sigh as Ryoma abruptly stated, "I'm thirsty."
The girl immediately took that as a way to make it up to them for giving them wrong directions. "I-I'll buy some!" she stuttered loudly.
Ryoma walked lazily over to the nearby vending machines, Sakuno trailing behind him like a kicked puppy. Akira followed them unenthusiastically, still reading her book.
Akira resisted the urge to chuckle as the Ryuzaki girl realized that she had no loose change for the vendor. She watched as her friend sighed, before digging in his jacket pockets for some loose coins and pushing them into the machine. He pressed a couple of buttons and two cans of grape Ponta and one orange fell through the dispenser.
Akira smiled slightly as he tossed the orange-flavored one to her. One of the perks of friendship was the fact that he knew her favorite soda and didn't mind buying one for her every once in a while. She slipped her bookmark in between the pages that she had most recently read, and stuck it back into her tennis bag.
She was just about to open her can of soda, when she heard an annoyingly familiar voice.
"Hey. Isn't that midget the little boy I saw before?" Akira turned her head to the side, and much to her displeasure, she saw the boastful teen from the train, flanked by his friends.
"Heh. Looks like he lost so he's leaving." the teenage girls said contemptuously.
Akira saw Ryoma look at the trio of teens with a frown, and Sakuno start to sweat in fear and nervousness.
Then, her sharp green eyes caught the malicious grin on the ringleader's face. A split second later, he was charging towards Ryoma, tennis racket held out like a club. Akira moved reflexively, catching the racket before it hit her friend's face.
Akira tilted her head, her bangs shifting over her eyes, and gripped the tennis racket until the wood creaked. A spine-chilling smile appeared on her face.
"It's not nice to threaten people," she said simply. "Then again, you know the Golden Rule, right? Treat others how you want to be treated. Perhaps you wish to be hit with my tennis racket?" she said in a contemplative voice, almost talking to herself.
The teenager quickly gathered his nerve, only gulping slightly, before jeering at his target. "Hah! Can't even defend yourself! You need your little friend to do it! How dare you talk to me about tennis?" He glared down at Ryoma. "Thinking you can beat me with just theories is a big mistake. Keep that in mind!" he sneered, before turning to walk away.
Akira watched through narrow eyes as he knocked into the Ryuzaki girl, her Ponta spilling all over his shirt.
"Ahh! You got crap all over my shirt!" he yelled as he glared at the timid girl. "It's sticky! What am I gong to do now, idiot! Unlike the little boy, I have matches!"
"S-sorry…" the girl stuttered out.
Just before things could get out of hand, the was a 'pfsh' sound as Ryoma opened his can of Ponta. Everyone turned to look at the sound. Ryoma gave them all an indifferent look.
"Hey… Did you learn how to grip yet?" he asked nonchalantly. He took a sip of his favorite drink, before smirking. "Well if you didn't… I might even teach you a move!" he said cockily.
The teen stared at him, before sneering out, "You're on!" and walking in the direction of nearby empty tennis court. His friends trailed behind him, making snide comments about Ryoma and how fun it would be to see him crushed by 'Sasabe.'
'So 'Sasabe' is that fool's name?' Akira thought impassively as they all walked onto the court. She accepted Ryoma's jacket as he took it off so he could play better, folding it and setting it on the bench next to her.
She rolled her eyes as she heard the cheers coming from Sasabe's friends.
"Yo guys, Sasabe is being really public with this! He must be really confident!"
"Beat him into the ground!"
"Go go go!"
And then from their mouth of the moron himself, "Yo little boy! Seems you need a beating to get your mind straight! Don't regret it!" he said arrogantly.
Ryoma eyed him with boredom. "Is that so?"
No one volunteered to referee, so the game started when Sasabe proclaimed, "The best of one set match! Sasabe service play!"
Akira narrowed her eyes at him again as he hit the ball. She didn't like the fact that it was a self-refereed game. Especially given the kind of person her friend was playing.
"Hah! You think you can return my serve?!" he yelled as he swung his racket.
Akira watched with boredom. As her friend played against Sasabe. Ryoma missed the first serve purposefully, wanting to see its capabilities. Then, Sasabe served again and was promptly shocked as Ryoma easily returned it. The teen then gave the customary 'you got lucky' comment, and was proved wrong as his next serve was also returned.
After that, the match sort of degenerated into the high-school player saying things along the lines of 'No! It's not possible! You can't be beating me!' and Ryoma easily scoring point after point.
Soon, the first game was finished, Ryoma in the lead and ready to service. Akira watched lazily as he served. It wasn't the Twist Serve, but it was a lot faster than average.
"Since you're playing in the finals, I'd better make this quick!" Ryoma taunted as the high-school kids were all amazed by his serve power.
"He wasn't at the tennis grounds, so he was at a place like this? Ya sure can't reason with that prince." a voice said near the entrance to the court.
Akira turned her head towards the new voice in the court, only to have her eyes widen slightly as she saw Seigaku's coach, Ryuzaki Sumire. She listened on as she talked more to herself.
"His form is killer, eh? He's so much like his father!" the coach said, watching the match with nostalgia.
Akira privately agreed. Ryoma needed to branch out and get his own style. She was going to listen to what else the coach had to say about her friend's performance, but that hope was dashed by Ryuzaki's granddaughter exclaiming,
"Grandma! It c-can't be… Your disciple's son… is him?" she cried in shock.
Akira sat up a little straighter. Seigaku's coach trained the 'Samurai'? A small smirk lit her face. She was more than sure now that Seigaku had been a good school choice. Especially since the principal agreed to let her wear the boys' uniform as opposed to the girls' extremely short sailor-esque uniform.
"That's right." the coach told her granddaughter.
"Wha? The four time American Junior Champion?!" Sakuno gasped out in amazement.
Her grandmother nodded slightly. "The whole family visits this country every few years, so their names are unknown. Before the tournament, they told him, 'Since you are very skilled, instead of the twelve year division, join the fourteen year division.' Bah! That kid went and joined the division with the sixteen-year-olds!" Ryuzaki said in amusement.
Akira tilted her head slightly. 'Ryuzaki must have a high opinion of Ryoma, or is at least amused by his attitude.' she contemplated. 'Perhaps because she know that he is going to attend her school and wants him on the tennis team?'
"He's good enough, so it doesn't matter anyways." the older woman said, watching the match with mild interest. She didn't seemed to notice the impact of her words on the high-school players friends. They were all gaping at the courts, watching Ryoma in disbelief.
One of them seemed to gather his nerve, for the next minutes, he was shouting, ""Sasabe! Go up to the front! There's no need to show any mercy! Show him your special net play!"
Akira smiled slightly in amusement as she rested her chin on her hands. 'They think something that simple will work on Ryoma? Besides, he can't go up to the net because he has to return the balls that Ryoma is hitting towards the baseline.'
She watched as the player rallied the balls. Ryoma seemed to be aiming towards the edges of the courts so as to tire his opponent out. She could tell that Sasabe was getting irritated and fatigued.
"Hey… aren't you going to use you special net play?" she heard her friend say. She rolled her eyes slightly at his cocky attitude.
Suddenly, Ryoma hit the ball fast enough that Sasabe couldn't react, and it flew past him. She heard mini-Ryuzaki cheering in amazement from the sides.
"Hold up!" one of Sasabe's friends said. "Wasn't that ball just out right now?" he asked.
Akira kept an impassive expression on her face. Apparently she was correct in her earlier assumption. The high-school attendees didn't seem to be above cheating.
Sasbe stared at where the ball had hit earlier, the mark clearly still inside the court. He got an odd expression on his face. "Heh. Idiot! Who said it was in? Of course it was out!" he said arrogantly, resting his racket on his shoulder.
Akira saw her friend stand there, saying nothing. The next ball he hit was also in, but was claimed 'out' by Sasabe when he missed it.
"What are you talking about! That was definitely in!" Sakuno burst.
Akira sighed slightly. "This is a self-judged game." she said, drawing the two Ryuzaki's attentions to herself. "The fools will judge it in whatever way it benefits them most." Akira said bluntly. "However… Ryoma-kun has no chance of losing."
Ryoma, not wanting his next hit to be declared 'out' didn't hit his next shot towards the deep end. Sasabe took the chance and hit it back, immediately moving up to the net with a smug expression on his face.
Ryoma returned with a lob. Everyone on the sidelines watch in awe as the ball didn't bounce, stopping right before the baseline. There was silence for a moment.
"Hey. The ball I just hit. It's in right?" Ryoma said in a bored voice, hiding his mocking tone.
Akira heard Seigaku's coach chuckle at Ryoma's playing. 'I wonder when Ryoma will hurry up and finish this.' she thought in boredom. She was just going to voice this opinion when she saw an odd glint appear in the losing player's eyes.
Her eyes widened as she saw him throw the racket at Ryoma's face. It hit with a muffled 'thwack'. Sasabe's friends started to laugh as blood dripped from Ryoma's forehead.
"Sorry this happened, my hand slipped. Why don't we just stop?" Sasabe asked 'kindly'.
Akira narrowed her eyes at him, and was seriously considering cursing him, when Ryoma spoke up again.
"Hmm… You still haven't shown me a proper grip… This is just the beginning!" Ryoma declared, pointing his index finger at his assaulter.
Sasabe scoffed. "Let's see how long you can use such big words."
Akira chuckled darkly. It was Ryoma's serve now. Sasabe was going to regret throwing a racket at her little friend.
She watched knowingly as Ryoma started to bounce the tennis ball. 'So he's going to use that serve, huh? Good.' she thought ominously.
"C'mon! Hit it already!" Ryoma's opponent yelled.
Ryoma obliged. The ball hit in front of Sasabe. He smirked haughtily. "I got this!" he shouted smugly.
Akira watched in vindictive glee as the ball shot in the opposite direction, knocking the racket out of Sasabe's hand. The court was silent except for the disbelieving comments from the high-school students.
"15-0." Ryoma stated, before throwing the ball in the air, arching his back, and hitting it towards the other side of the court.
"Twist Serve?!" one of the sixteen-year-olds screeched in horror. The ball shot upwards and hit Sasabe in the nose. He fell to the ground on his rear, staring at his opponent in disbelief and anger.
"30-0." Ryoma stated the score again.
Akira started to get bored once more as Ryoma hit another Twist Serve, this time hitting Sasabe's elbow.
"40-0." Ryoma acknowledged, getting ready to serve again. "Eat this." he said, staring directly at Sasabe.
Much to Akira's amusement, Sasabe broke down, cringing behind his upheld racket and shouting, "No… Noo!"
The ball bounced harmlessly beside him, without the signature spin of the Twist Serve.
"Fool." Ryoma stated. "Game set!" he turned to walk towards Akira, wanting to get his jacket back, when Sasabe ran up to the net.
"Wait you little midget! When did I say we were only playing one set?! Play another and you'll taste the bitterness of defeat!" he shouted.
Akira listened in disbelief. He sounded like one of those intellectually-challenged villains on a children's cartoon.
"If you are a real man, you should know to fairly accept defeat." Seigaku's coach said in amusement. "Besides, no matter how many times you play, you'll never beat Echizen Ryoma."
Sasabe's eyes bulged in fury. "What was that!? You old hag!" he howled. "Give me your best shot!" He turned to Ryoma, only to find him already in his serving position, the racket in his left hand.
"What!?" he yelled as the ball streaked past him and Ryoma earned another point.
Akira tilted her head backwards, hearing rapid footsteps coming in their direction, only to see one of the officials running the tournament coming towards them. In a flash, she was next to Ryoma, shoving the jacket into his arms and dragging him off the court.
"Hey, you punks! You're not supposed to play without permission! Get off the courts!" he yelled, huffing and puffing as he jogged towards them.
Akira turned the corner and slowed to a walk, letting Ryoma gain his bearings.
"Well… that was fun." Akira drawled. "It seems that the players, at least the sixteen-year-olds here aren't that great at tennis. They're only above average in athletics and break down mentally so fast it's almost pathetic." she stated mildly. "I hope the middle school player are better than that."
"Che." Ryoma agreed with a grunt of annoyance as they walked into the train station.
"Well, at least we'll be able to see for ourselves in a few days. Seigaku is supposed to have a good tennis team." Akira smirked slightly.
Ryoma blinked in surprise as they boarded the metro. Apparently he had forgotten that school started in a few days. They sat in silence, Akira reading her psychological thriller again, and Ryoma snoring slightly as he napped.
They hit a bump in the tracks and Ryoma's head slid from its resting place on the window onto Akira's shoulder. She looked down in surprise, resisting the urge to pull away. She inwardly shrugged, before going back to her book. A few minutes later, the train had stopped and Akira was poking Ryoma into consciousness.
He scowled at her without any real displeasure and together they walked to their street, parting ways to go to their respective houses.
Akira sighed happily as she sunk into the couch in her mini-library. She was looking forward to starting middle school. Hopefully they had a good chemistry class.