Later that day, Brandon Hicks, the boy who had spoken rudely to Kyla the day of the band try-outs, admitted that it had been he who had vandalized Kyla's locker, and Mr. Ward expelled him from Valdez Senior High. Kyla bore no hatred for him; in a way, she pitied him, but it still bothered her that he never apologized to her personally.

As soon as the whole incident was over, Kyla sent Alex and email telling him all about it. He wrote back to her a short time later.

Hi Kyla,

Wow, sounds like things have sure been crazy at your end. That's terrible what happened to you, and I'm glad the guy finally admitted it. And you're right, I think that he should have apologized to you personally as well, but at least it's over with now. I wish you had told me about it right after it happened. You shouldn't have worried about upsetting me. Please remember that I am always here for you, Kyla, no matter what.

Things are about the same around here. Dad has been showing me a few things about how to pilot a starship. He says that if I want to attend Starfleet Academy in a couple of years, I need to start thinking about it now.

Kendra seems to be just a little bit less annoying than she was before. She still talks and giggles too much, but her looks are changing. She's getting taller and developing curves in just the right places. She wanted me to play monopoly with her the other day and I actually enjoyed it. Little Will is still a pain in the butt, however.

I'm still missing you a whole lot and counting down the days until I see you again.

Take care,

Alex

Kyla felt funny inside. She thought that she had never realized how much she had truly missed Alex until just then. She wrote an email back to him.

Hi Alex,

We just had our first snow of the season. Everyone tells me I haven't seen anything yet. My God, it's just so freaking cold. I really miss Dad's split pea soup. Paula makes it too, but hers just doesn't taste the same as Dad's.

Things seems to be back to normal at school. Everyone still goes out of their way to be nice to me. I still can't believe that Lucy and the others got the entire class together to do that just for me. I still cry when I think about it. I truly couldn't ask for better friends than the ones I have now, including you, of course, dear Alex. :)

I miss you too, as well as my parents and all my friends aboard the Enterprise, and can't wait to see you all again.

Yours truly,

Kyla

Kyla felt guilty that she hadn't told Alex about Ethan, but whenever she thought about doing that she just felt so funny about it, so she hadn't been able to bring herself to.


At last the school term ended for the holidays, and Kyla rejoined her family aboard the Enterprise. Her parents were, of course, very happy to see her again. Her mother hugged her as if she would never let go, until her father said, "Hey, don't I get a turn too?" Kendra and Little Will both tried to talk to her at the same time. Alex said, "My gosh, Kyla, you're even prettier than you were the last time I saw you." Kyla noticed that he looked talller, his voice sounded deeper, and he also had some peach fuzz above his lips.

Besides Alex's parents, Uncle Tom and Aunt Deanna were there with their little girl Natasha, Captain Jean-Luc and Dr. Beverly Picard were there with their little boy Rene, who was the same age as Natasha, Ensign Alexander Rozhenko, a recent Starfleet graduate, was there visiting his father Worf, and Wesley Crusher was there with his wife Robin and their children, Jack and Brianna. Kyla thought about how strange it was that, although the two boys were the same age, Rene Picard was actually Jack Crusher's uncle, since Rene's mother was Jack's grandmother.

As usual, the kids divided into a group of older kids comprised of Alexander, Alex, Kyla, Kendra, and Little Will, and a group of younger kids comprised of Rene, Natasha, Jack, and Brianna. Alex admired the older boy who shared his first name very much, and so he tried to divide his time between catching up with Alexander and visiting with Kyla. Kendra and Little Will vied for their older sister's attention, and among the younger kids, Brianna, who was a couple of years younger than the other kids, struggled to keep up.

Once everyone had had the chance to catch up on each other's news, Kyla's father gathered Kyla, Kendra, and Little Will together. He said that it was fine for Alex to sit in with them as well, since he was such an old friend.

"Your mother and I have some important news to share with you," Will Riker announced. "We've known about it for some time now, but we wanted to wait until Kyla was here so that we could tell you all in person. There is an important change coming to our lives soon, one that will affect all of us very much, and we all have to start preparing for it right away."