pre Asuka got out of the pool and walked over to the bench to retrieve her towel. She didn't even bother to do her normal victory dance at having won the race. It really wasn't worth it anymore. No one had so much as given her a close race in weeks and no one had beaten her since she got to this school. It almost wasn't worth gloating about. Almost being the key word. She sat down and began to dry herself off.

Asuka looked to her right to see Rei Ayanami staring out of the fence. Rei had almost pure white skin, red eyes, and a light blue, almost white color for hair. It contrasted greatly with Asuka's tanned skin and red hair. She wondered why Rei always did that. Why she always looked at the outdoors no matter where she was or what she was doing?

Really that was how Rei was. Rei always stayed quiet until she was spoken to and even then she only answered half the time and it was only brief and blunt. Rei was considered to be the weirdest girl in school and had absolutely no friends. But that almost seemed to be the way she wanted it. Asuka could never understand this about Rei. She seemed to like being alone and being told what to do.

But also Asuka didn't like how Rei ignored her. No one in school had the nerve to ignore her and this little girl here ignored her almost all of the time. Asuka was used to being noticed, not ignored and here was a girl that just didn't care. No matter what Asuka had done she couldn't get Rei to even acknowledge her presence except when they were piloting Eva's.

Asuka took her eyes off of Rei when the women's athletics teacher walked up to them. She looked at Asuka and said, "Don't tell me let me guess. You've won again?"

"Yes I have." Asuka said; almost visibly inflating with pride. "Do you have anyone else I haven't raced yet? I haven't even been close to losing since I came here."

"Well." The teacher said as she looked down at the clipboard she held in her right hand. "As matter of fact I think I do." The teacher grinned. "Miss Ayanami your up in 2 minutes. Get ready to race miss Sorhyu here." Then the teacher walked away from them to oversee another race. Asuka still couldn't figure out why the teacher was smiling about her racing Rei.

Rei got up and began to stretch to warm herself up. 'Warming up.' Asuka thought, 'This is going to be too easy.' Asuka hadn't realized that Rei was already in her swimming suit before she stood up. She had only ever seen Rei get into the water when she was told to. "I won't beat you too badly wonder girl." Asuka said as she walked over to the poolside to wait.

Rei didn't say a word she just continued her stretching for a minute and then walked calmly over to the poolside. She was wearing her usual blank expression, which once again showed Asuka that she really didn't care about the outcome of the race. Asuka was considering whether or not to just beat Rei in the race as badly as possible.

Then the athletics teacher walked over and announced that Rei and Asuka would be racing. Immediately half of the girls there ran over. The other half seemed to be confused as to what was going on but came over anyway so as not to miss anything. Asuka was beginning to wonder why this race had even been announced and why it had attracted such a big crowd. She had never seen a swimming race announced before in the whole time she had been here. "On your mark!" The teacher yelled. "Get set!" Then the whistle blew.

Immediately Asuka dove into the water and began to swim as fast as she could for the other side of the pool. If there were this many people watching her then she would give them a good show. Really it was only natural that she would attract so many spectators but there being that many had surprised her. She turned her head to look back and check Rei's position and realized there was nothing behind her. She looked in front of herself and nearly floundered. Rei was at least three feet in front of her and moving faster.

She was being beaten by Rei Ayanami, her the most athletic and popular girl in school. Asuka began to put everything she had into swimming as fast as she possibly could. When both girls hit the wall they stopped and used it to push off. Rei someone had gotten more leverage off of hers because somehow she had gone twice the distance as Asuka had when pushing off. Asuka realized now that no matter what she did she couldn't win. Rei was too far ahead of her to do anything to win.

Then Rei hit the wall with her hand and everyone around the pool cheered. If anyone had been looking at Asuka they would have seen steam coming from the water around her. 'They were cheering for her not me!' Asuka thought as she watched Rei pull herself from the pool and walk over to where she had kept her towel. 'How did she beat me?'

Asuka quickly scrambled out of the pool and then fell back in. There was laughing now among the cheer and now several people did notice the steam coming from the water around Asuka and how red she was. Asuka then tried again to get out of the pool and this time she succeeded. She stood up and walked over to Rei who was beginning to head back to the locker room. She grabbed her shoulder and said, "Hey where do you think you're going. We're not finished yet."

Rei turned to look at her and shook her head. "We don't have time." Rei said and then shook off Asuka's grasp. Then without a backward glance she walked to the locker room to change back into her school clothes. Asuka looked at the clock that was suspended by the pool and wasn't happy to see that Rei was right They barely had enough time to get dry and get changed much less race.

Asuka wasn't one to give up however and she intended to get her rematch next time if her life depended on it. Asuka sighed and walked into the locker room to get changed. She went over to her locker by Hikari's and opened it. Hikari walked up and opened hers as well but didn't say anything. She knew Asuka was in a bad mood after losing so badly to Rei.

"Did you know?" Hikari looked up when she heard Asuka speak. "You did didn't you? You knew who was going win that race. So did everyone else watching. That's why they all crowded around."

"Well..." Hikari said. "Yeah kind of. I mean we have all seen it before. At least those of us who have been here for a while."

"So she did something like this before I came here." Asuka said. "What exactly did she do?" Actually she was interested despite herself. Here was a chance to here something about Rei that was different than "She's just anti-social".

"Well it happened a few weeks before you came." Hikari said. "There was another girl here who used to be the best swimmer we had. She's moved by now. But at the time no one could beat her. She also had a thing for picking on Rei. Rei never reacted to it but that isn't surprising. At least she didn't until during parent teacher conference a man with glasses, a dark suit, and a stub for a beard came with her. They acted almost alike even though they looked different. The girl began to insult the man believing him to be Rei's father. Then Rei did something no one expected of her. She challenged the girl to a race. None of us know why but we believe it is the fact that swimming was the girl's source of pride and it would really hurt her ego to lose. Well they raced and Rei won by a few seconds, which as you know is a lot. The girl went ballistic. She began to scream at Rei and insult the man again. You know what Rei did? She punched her. The girl went straight back into the pool unconscious. The water around her face started to turn red and we had to pull her out to keep her from drowning. The girl was in the hospital for three days afterward and she never picked on Rei again."

"Three days in a hospital." Asuka said. "I don't think so. Wonder girl isn't very strong at all and we both know it. But she actually showed emotion? What are the odds of that?"

"I'm not lying." Hikari said. "And if you think she isn't strong then why did she beat you so easily. It wasn't surprising to me that she defended her father."

"He isn't her father." Asuka said. "He's our boss. You know about our job and you know what we do. He seems to have a soft spot for Rei."

"Oh I see." Hikari said as she finished getting dressed. "So what are you going to do now that you're no longer the best?"

Asuka stiffened at the comment and glared at Hikari. "I am the best or I will be!" Asuka yelled. "I don't care what I have to do!" Asuka keep taking glances at Rei. Should Rei have bothered to look away from the window she would have noticed the glares from the redhead. Almost every student the class read the signs and knew there definitely was some tension between the two female Eva pilots. Shinji was trying hard not to give into instinct and flee or crawl under the desk. Kensuke had his camera under the desk just in case something did happen. Hikari had also taken the hint and was talking to Touji instead of braving the storm with Asuka.

Asuka's contemplation on her eminent revenge and victory after school was cut short by an announcement the teacher made. "Now today we are handing out progress reports. You still have 3 weeks before a final report card so this isn't your permanent grade but this is to show you where you are. I will hand these out after class."

Asuka began to get nervous. It was five minutes before the bell and she knew that Misato wasn't going to be happy with anything below an A. 'Really Misato is impossible.' Asuka thought. 'I've seen her grades before and a C was a rare and good thing for her. Of course if accused she would answer "Let that be a lesson to you".' Asuka was worried that some of her grades would be less than satisfactory. True she had taken college level courses before but she still had some weak points, mainly those being Social Studies and Literature. Math and Athletics were a breeze for her and anything else was decent.

She completely forgot her argument with Rei and spent the last few minutes of class fretting about what she would see. She couldn't just dump her progress report in the trash because Misato calls into the school to get her information. Really she was stuck if there was anything below a B. Asuka began to pray as hard as she could, at least as hard as she could with her dignity intact.

Then the bell rang and the teacher came down the row to pass out the report cards. Asuka could tell by some of the kid's faces exactly what their grades were. Then her card was placed face down on her desk, always a bad sign. The reached up hesitantly and picked up the card. Math A, Athletics A, Technology A, Japanese as a second language B, Social studies D, and Literature F. She resisted the urge to squeeze the card with all of her strength. She tried to keep a blank expression so that no one would notice her grades. But someone did notice.

"She's going to kill me!" Asuka said as she and Shinji began to walk back to Misato's apartment. "And all because the stupid teacher assigned us the most boring book in the world. Who in the world god damn cares about Gone With the Wind anyway!" Shinji knew she was going to be like this the whole walk home.

"Well it's your fault for not reading it." Shinji said and received a slap for his efforts. He didn't need to ask what he had done this time.

"I don't want to hear anything from you do you understand me!" Asuka practically yelled into his ear. "I don't care what you have to say I am wallowing in self pity here.

Then a car drove up right beside them and the driver's window rolled down. Misato was staring out at them. "Do you need a ride home?" She was smiling but her voice held an edge. 'O boy.' Asuka thought. 'I'm in for it now.' They both nodded and got into the car.

Once the doors were closed, the window rolled up and the car moving Misato's expression quickly changed. "What the hell did you do this time Asuka." Misato said. It surprised both of them since Misato very rarely cursed. "An F in Literature and a D in Social studies! Even Shinji got higher grades than yours!"

"Thanks a bunch." Shinji said sarcastically. He really didn't like what was implied in Misato's words. She didn't seem to notice however.

"My goodness all B's like Shinji is better than what you've got." Misato said. "And Rei's beaten both of you. She's got all A's except for athletics."

Losing to Shinji once in a while was painful enough. Losing to Rei twice in a day was unbearable. "SHUT UP!" She yelled. "I'm not a mindless doll who only does what I'm told. I actually can think. If they had a class where free will was a requirement she would fail miserable. She only does well because she told to do well!" Dinner had been a battle to say the least. Misato and Asuka had gone at it all through dinner even when they were chewing. Shinji had locked himself up in his room so that he wouldn't here the latest World War in progress. Finally things had come to a stalemate with Asuka doing her homework at the dinner table while Misato sat down in the living room watching TV.

There was a knock at the door and Asuka heard Misato yell out, "Asuka will you get the door. I'm in the middle of something."

"Get it yourself!" Asuka yelled. "I'm in the middle of homework. After all didn't you say I should study more Miss Misato?"

Misato grumbled and walked to the door and opened it. Asuka listened for a clue to who was at the door. "Hi Ayanami," Misato said; her cheery voice back again. "Are you here to see Shinji?"

"No I'm not." Asuka could hear Rei say. "I'm here to speak to pilot Sorhyu." Asuka nearly broke the pencil that was in her hand. Had wonder girl come to gloat at her?

"Oh she's at the table doing her homework." Misato said. Then Rei heard the door close and footsteps coming toward the table. Misato had obviously gone back to watching the TV.

Rei walked in and sat down on the other side of the table in front of Asuka. "So are you here to gloat Wonder Girl?" Asuka said.

"No." Rei said. "I am not here to gloat. That is what you do not I." Asuka was on the verge of explosion already and Rei wasn't helping anything.

"So why are you here then." Asuka said. "I already heard that you didn't come to speak to Shinji and what possible reason could you have to want to see me. After all you ignore me most of the time."

"Have I done something to offend you pilot Sorhyu?" Rei asked. She didn't have a clue what had gotten Asuka so upset.

"Stop calling me that!" Asuka said. "I have a name it's Asuka. Asuka Langley Sorhyu, not pilot Sorhyu. Act human for once in your life!"

Rei sat there and blinked a few times. "That is acceptable." Asuka growled and sat back down. She hadn't realized she had gotten up during her rant.

"So what did you come to speak to me about?" Asuka said while trying to regain her composure. Getting that out of her system had done a lot to calm her down.

"I came to speak to you about this." Rei said as she placed a wrinkled paper on the table. Asuka took it and opened it. It was her report card. The one she had crushed into a ball and had thrown into a dumpster. Where had Rei gotten this?

"Yeah so you came to tell me I could do better like Misato huh?" Asuka said. "That's not much different from gloating wonder girl."

"I didn't come here to say you could do better." Rei said. "It is obvious to me your pride is making you work as hard as you can. I came to offer you help."

"What do you mean by help." Asuka said suspiciously. She had never been offered help by anyone unless they wanted something in return. "Did someone order you to do this?"

"No I came on my own." That statement would have floored Asuka had she not been sitting at a table. As it was the pencil in her hand finally did break under the pressure she was putting on it.

"Then what do you want?" Asuka said. She still couldn't fathom this girl's motives. Asuka had never seen Rei do anything unless she was told to and yet she also knew that Rei didn't lie.

"I don't want anything." Rei stated calmly. "I came to offer my help with your Social Studies and your Literature. Is that a hard concept for you?" Asuka would have bristled at that last statement had it been said any other way than Rei had. She had said it perfectly innocently and curiously. It was fairly obvious that Rei hadn't meant any harm by it.

"What are you saying you want to be my tutor?" Asuka said. 'Now why would Wonder Girl offer this?' Asuka thought as she stared at Rei.

"If that is what you call it then yes." Rei said. "But don't waste my time pilot Sorhyu...Asuka. I'm offering to help you but you mustn't make this a waste. Do we have an agreement."

Asuka looked at the pros and cons and realized that she had nothing to lose. "Alright then I'll let you be my tutor, but only if you keep this an absolute secret. Do I make myself clear?" Rei nodded her head. "Ok then." Rei got up and walked towards the door. "But I'm still going to beat you!" Asuka called after Rei as she left./pre