My feet padded at a quick pace down the hallway. I could not be late, not again. All I could think of was what my teacher would do to me if I was late again or what kind of grade I would receive. Let alone what my teacher did…what would my Master do? I scrambled to get ready that morning. I decided I could sleep 5 minutes after my chrono started beeping and wake myself up with ease but I wound up sleeping in for another .5 standard hours. I had jumped into the robes and tunic I found closest to my bunk, grabbed my books and quickly headed out of my quarters and to my first class. I opened the door to my class and surprisingly it seemed people were just getting settled at their desks. I let out a sigh of relief. My teacher soon came to the front, an Aqualish female with an attitude problem. None of the padawans liked her. She wasn't even a Jedi, she was just the only one they could get to teach 'The Operation of Quantum Physics in a Second Language' It was the worst class anyone could ever be stuck in and I was. At least my friend was stuck there with me. "Scalsh, how do I look?" She looked me up and down and let out a short giggle. "You look great Obi-Wan, fantastic." I frowned slightly and turned to the front of the room. Her words were submerged beneath a pool of cheerful sarcasm that only Scalsh could ever muster. "I will call attendance now, little ones." We were all 16 in this class, why were all the teachers and Masters still calling us that? "Zepra?" "Present." "Lizabiya Cizta?" "Present." "Scalsh Darkran?" "Present," Scalsh replied adding under her breath, "by no choice of my own." I smiled at her. She was always the comic relief. Ever since we were but 4 when we met, she had been the funny exciting one. Up until a week ago I was the…well I didn't have a title until I became 'Mr. Spontaneity' That's what Scalsh calls me now because the other night I started skipping out to the lower levels and visiting a club about 20 standard minutes away from the temple. I had been going every night, which caused me to wake up a little or a lot on the groggy side, which in turn made me late for class. "Obi-Wan Kenobi?" "Present." The teacher looked up and passed her gaze over me. "Padawan Kenobi, what happened to you?" I shrugged. "I am sending you back to your quarters with a note that you were ejected from my class because of your substandard appearances. I expect you to show it to your Master and then return it to me signed when class resumes for you next week." "But?!" "No but! Out now." I stood and she handed me a note as I left the room. Oh Qui-Gon was just going to love this. I walked a short way down the corridor and slumped against the wall. I slowly began to slide down to the floor as I brought my fingers to my temples to rub away the headache I felt building up. I slid my fingers behind my ear to hold on to my padawan braid like I always did when I was frustrated and I realized it wasn't there. The hair was there but it wasn't braided. You royally screwed up this time Obi. I don't know how long I was sitting there but it must have been about 60 minutes because when I snapped back to reality my class was coming out of the room I had just been "ejected" from. Scalsh immediately jogged up to me and moved my hand from my ear. "Don't fret, Obi-Wan." She said as she proceeded to braid my hair. "Qui-Gon will get over it." I wish what she said was the truth. She unraveled one of the binding threads of her braid and wrapped it around the bottom of mine. She held out her hand and I took as she pulled me up. She didn't let go of my hand as she led me down a long hall separate from the one the rest of our class was going down. "Where are you taking me? We have class Scalsh." "Oh, please." Was her only response and I allowed her to drag me this way and that until we were in my favorite meditation garden. "Why are we here?" The sound of trickling water and the smell of the sweet, colorful fauna floated through the air. "Because we don't have to learn here." "I can't afford to cut class now." "Obi, you're 17, live a little." I sat down with her on a stone bench with heavily detailed carvings on the sides and the seat. "They say on Ando that the hands and face say a lot about a person." She said suddenly as she began to play with my fingers. I only nodded. Why was she acting all weird? I studied her face. She had skin that made her look like she always had a tan. A small nose was positioned between full, light pink lips and azure colored eyes. "The way the eyebrows are shaped." She continued. "The size of the nose." I added tapping the end of her nose with my finger. "The prominence of the cheekbones." She said brushing her knuckles over my cheek. I couldn't say anything. This was different from how we usually were with each other but I can't say I didn't like it. "The shape of the lips." I finally said placing a fingertip on her full lips. "The taste of them." She said as we tilted our faces in toward each other. Now this…this was something we had never done with each other.