A year has passed since the Empire rose to power. My parents have set aside a room in the basement for Master Windu to train me. They also bought him a home near ours so he didn't have to travel too far for our training sessions.

When we started, he quickly learned that I was already proficient in Djem-So, which was the form I preferred to use during the war. Therefore, he decided to teach me Vaapad, his preferred form, which was forbidden for most Jedi to learn. When he said he was going to teach it, I was surprised. I was proud of myself, as Master Windu only taught it to one Jedi before me. Also, I knew this training would be useful if I ever came into contact with a Sith, such as Sidious or his mysterious apprentice, Darth Vader, who I had been hearing about in occasional broadcasts on the Holonet. I had recently finished an intense sparring session with Master Windu, and he left to go back to his home.

Trina suddenly walks in, and before I have time to greet her, she states, "I am so upset! You won't believe who I got partnered with for the big showcase." The big showcase is a performance that her school, Coruscant Arts, puts on every year. The school invites people in show business from all over the galaxy, which is why Trina cares so much about this, but I think to myself, "Why would anyone in the galaxy want to sign her, she's untalented."

I ask, "Who?" She responds, "Andrew Harris, a tenth grader." Trina then tells me, "Andrew's coming over and you got to help us figure out what to do for the big showcase." She walks over to our piano and says, "I definitely want to sing." She then plays the piano while singing off key. I cringe, and she asks, "How was that?"

I hear a knock on the door, and Trina says, "Ugh, he's here." She walks over to the door and tells him, "Come in." Trina tells me, "Tori, that's Andrew," but he corrects her, and says, "André." He asks me, 'you go to Coruscant Arts too?" I reply, "no I'm not a performer, just my sister," and point at Trina.

Trina tells him, "I've got the talent, she's the Jedi." I glare at her for revealing my secret, and exclaim, "Trina!" Without warning, I use the force to lift her up, knowing that she hates when I do that, and she begs, "Sorry, please put me down!" I relent and gently bring her back to the ground, and she sighs with relief before heading back to her room.

André speaks up and says, "I thought Jedi were taken away from their families." I briefly explain how I found my family after the rise of the Empire. He then says, "I don't care that you're a Jedi, not all of us like the Empire, you know." "People like you?" I reply. He nods and tells me, "My parents were never very fond of Palpatine, so they decided to speak out against him on the HoloNet. In response, Stormtroopers came to my house and their commander, who I think was a clone, ordered their execution, which happened immediately. My friends and I were working on a project for our acting class at the time, and we saw everything." "I'm so sorry," I tell him.

He then tells me, "I'm living with my grandmother now," and continues, saying "She's coming to see me at the big showcase and it's gonna be the first time she's left her house in six years." I ask, "why?" André tells me, "because the woman's afraid of everything: people, umbrellas, priests, bikinis, breakfast foods." I ask, "so if she saw a priest in a bikini eating pancakes?" André replies, "The woman would burst into flames so quickly you'd think you were on Mustafar."

Trina, who is now wearing a light blue dress, exits her room, and she asks, "So, what do you think? Fabulous, right?" I reply, "you really need to wear that just to rehearse?" She responds, "A performer needs to look the part to feel the part." She then tells André, "let's get started on my song," and he replies, "and by your song, I'm guessing you mean the song that I wrote?" Trina then tells him, "no one cares who wrote the song, now go."

"André starts playing his song, and Trina yells, "Slower!" At the slower tempo, Trina sings, albeit horribly off-key, "You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action. You're never gonna fade, I interrupt her, and say, "Trina," while she, "you'll be the, what?" I tell her, "I think André was right, you should let him play the song in a faster tempo." She then states, "no, it has to be a power ballad so all the important people can hear my range and vocal clarity." I think to myself, "nobody wants to hear you sing," and tell her, "but I just think," before she cuts me off and says, "no, just take it from 'when I make it shine.'" André starts to play again, and Trina, while still off key, sings "when I make it shine," before saying, well?" André asks me, "do you have any aspirin, and I give him some."

*5 days later*

The day of the big showcase has finally arrived. I am so tired of hearing Trina's singing. André is too talented to be stuck performing with someone as untalented as my sister. I see an elderly dark-skinned woman sit down in the auditorium, and I ask "oh hi, you're Andre's grandmother?" With a hint of fear in her voice, she tells me, "I don't know you," before hiding under the seats.

A man walks up to us, and asks my parents, "you're Trina's parents?" My father says, "yes," followed by my mother asking, "why?" He tells us, "please come with me," so we get up and head backstage.

We get backstage, and find that Trina's tongue is swollen. My father asks her, "what happened?" She replies, in a voice I can barely understand, "my tongue is swollen." "The Naboo herb gargle," I immediately say. Everyone looks confused, so I add, "She found the recipe for some herb gargle from Naboo that's supposed to help you sing better." The nurse, who was attending to Trina, replies, "Well she had an allergic reaction to it and can't go out on stage like that." "Then André's grandma came for nothing," I say with a forlorn look on my face. The man who brought us back here, who's name is Lane, says, "If only someone knew her part." André points at me and says, "She's watched us rehearse all week, she knows the song." I say, "no I'm not a performer." However, against my will, A bunch of students run up and help me get into Trina's outfit so I can perform, and I go out on stage. I think to myself, "trust in the force, it will guide you through this." The lights turn on, and I begin singing.

"Here I am

Once again

Feeling lost but now and then

I breathe it in

To let it go"

Feeling more confident, I signal to Andre to pick up the Tempo, and he obliges.

"And you don't know where you are now

Or what it would come to

If only somebody could hear

When you figure out how

You're lost in the moment

You disappear

You don't have to be afraid to put your dreams in action

You're never gonna fade

You'll be the main attraction

Not a fantasy

Just remember me

When it turns out right

'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination

Tomorrow you'll be everybody's fascination

In my victory

Just remember me

When I make it shine

You don't have to be afraid to put your dreams in action

You're never gonna fade

You'll be the main attraction

Not a fantasy

Just remember me

When it turns out right

'Cause you know that if you live in your imagination

Tomorrow you'll be everybody's fascination

In my victory

Just remember me

When I make it shine"

The crowd goes wild when I finish the song, and I am still in shock at the hidden talent I have that remained dormant during my whole time at the Jedi Temple. A man walks up to me and asks, "who are you?" I tell him, "I'm Tori Vega, who are you?" Lane says, "this is Mr. Eikner, our principal." He then asks, "Do you go to school here?" I point at Trina reply, "No. I just," before he cuts me off, asking, "Do you want to?"

"I am too taken aback by this offer to say anything, so André raises the curtain and asks the audience, "Should she go here?" The audience replies with a resounding, "yes!" André asks me, "okay," and I hug him and say, "Okay, I will go to school here."

Silently, I think about how I am going to hide my identity at this school while continuing my jedi training.

*The next day*

Trina and I walk through the doors of Coruscant Arts on my first day there. If I don't look too deeply, the place seems like a regular high school, and Trina tells me, "see, it's just a high school." I reply, "this is not just a high school. These kids are all artsy and creative and talented, and I'm just normal." Trina tells me, "it's okay, there's nothing wrong with being average. Anyway, you're not alone, I got your back." I begin, Okay, so… " before a random girl approaches us and excitedly yells, "Trina! Eric Paulsen got his hair straightened." Trina excitedly replies, "Shut up," and runs off."

In a dejected voice, l tell myself, "I'm alone." I see a shorter red-headed girl, and I can sense happiness radiating off of her." I walk up to where she is and start to ask her, "Hey, umm, can you tell me," before she interrupts, "Oh my god, you're Tori, right? You were so awesome in the big showcase." I reply, "aw thanks," and she says, "My name's Cat." I ask, "Like the animal?" Suddenly, I sense her mood shift to one of irritation, and she screams, "what's that supposed to mean?" I try to defuse the situation by saying, "nothing, I love cats." I feel her mood shift back to the happy one I sensed before we met, and she replies, "me too, they're so cute," before she runs off.

Just then, I see a curly-haired boy walk in, followed by an R3 series astromech. I say, "Hey, umm?" He responds with, "oh, hi. Hello. Female? Yes?" I ask, "Can you tell me where Mr. Sikowitz' classroom is?" The R3 unit pulls up a schematic of the school. In binary, the droid tells me, "Down the hall, swing a left at the water fountain, second door on your right." In a confused voice, I respond, "thank you." As I walk away, the droid beeps, "whatever it takes, cupcake.

I enter Sikowitz' classroom, and I set my stuff down. I turn around, and bump into a rather good-looking guy, spilling his caf all over his shirt. Shocked, I say, "oh my gosh," and he interrupts, "ah it's cool." I rub his shirt, while secretly lifting some of the liquid with the force, saying "No. here, I think it's coming out." He replies, "you might be making it worse, actually."

Suddenly, a dark-haired girl enters the room, and I sense anger coming off of her. I could almost compare the feeling to one I experienced during my several encounters with Asajj Ventress during the war. She angrily asks, "dude, why are you rubbing my boyfriend?" I say, "I just spilled caf on…" before she interrupts and says, "get away from him." He tells her "relax," and walks over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

A balding man, who I recognize as the guy who I thought was homeless and gave two credits to earlier, bursts into the room, saying, "Oh my god, there's a huge fire." We all start screaming, and seeing that he scared everyone, he says, "kidding, kidding, just wanted to get your blood pumping, which I did, Ha!" He continues, "all right! Now, let's get started. Rumps in chairs."

I turn to André, asking, "He's our teacher?" He nods, and Sikowitz continues, "Okay, first, I'd like to introduce our new student, Tori." He gestures towards me and I wave to the class. "And I'd like to thank Tori for her generous gift of two credits, which she handed me outside this morning. Not necessary, but much appreciated." André asks, "Why'd you give him two credits?" I tell him, "I thought he was homeless."

Sikowitz tells us, "now today we're going to continue our study in group improv. Tori, I assume you're familiar with improv?" Confused, I tell him, "no." In response, he continues, "okay, crash course. He explains, "improv, acting without a script, which means the actors must make up their own actions and dialogue as they perform the scene. Understood?" I nod, and he says, "excellent."

He turns to Jade, and tells her, "Jade, you will captain the first group of the day. Choose your actors." "Cat, Eli, Beck, and Tori," she says. Okay, let's give 'em a place. "Home." "Home. Oh, real creative." "You be quiet." "And now we need a situation," he says. "Big news," André offers. "André, nobody wants to see big nudes," Sikowitz says, with disgust in his voice. "News," André tells him. Sikowitz says, "ah, well that's different. Big news." "Ah, why don't you go wait in the hall," Jade tells me. "Uh, okay," I respond. Sikowitz says, "okay. At home, big news... and action."

Jade asks Beck, "hey, babe, how was work today?" "Ah, I got fired," Beck says. Cat and Eli ask, "again?" "It's okay. I have great news that'll cheer up this whole family," Jade states, excitedly. "What is it? Tell us!" "I went to the animal shelter and got us a dog," Jade explains. "Uh, yep. I'm the new family dog. Woof," I say. Annoyed, Jade asks, "Sikowitz, will you please tell this amateur that dogs can't talk, and that they don't walk on two legs? Sikowitz!"

Startled, Sikowitz claims, "oh, I'm sorry, I was sucking the milk out of this coconut. But it's true, Tori, if you're going to play a dog, be a dog. Woof. And action." "Uh, I went to the animal shelter and got us a dog," Jade says. Cat and Eli reply, "awesome." "Uh-oh, looks like this dog has bugs in her fur," Jade says. "Uh, woof," I say with confusion in my voice. "Eww," Eli and Cat say in unison. Jade continues, "aw, it's okay. I read on the internet that caf works great for getting rid of fur bugs."

"Maybe you shouldn't, Jade," Beck says, but he does not stop her from pouring Caf all over me. I look at her in anger, and she asks, "what's the prob, dog?" I then run out of the classroom into the hall.

André follows me into the hall, and asks, "hey, whatcha doing?" I respond, "calling my mom to tell her I wanna go back to my old school." He asks, "why? "Because I don't like having black coffee in my hair," I respond. "Then I'll get you some cream and sugar, everything will be chill." He says. He continues, and says, "these are all people you can trust, they were with me when my parents were killed, and hate the Empire as much as I do." That comment makes me let out a little sigh of relief, and I think, "maybe I don't need to try so hard to hide who I really am."

However, I still make the call, and say, "hey, mom, I need you to... Uh-um. No. Gimme back my mom!" Angrily, Trina exclaims, "You're gonna quit this school on your first day, just because of one mean girl?" I tell her, "it's not just her! It's just... I don't fit in here with... All this." She explains, "c'mon, this place isn't that different from other schools."

"Oh yeah, like regular schools have improv classes with barefoot teachers and nerds with droids and bipolar cats and mean girls who make you bark like a dog," I say. Robbie walks out and says, "uh, you guys... Sikowitz wants you both back in class." The droid beeps, "he asked me to tell them!" Quietly, I tell André, "this never happened back at the Jedi Temple."

The droid beeps, "will you guys be cool? Him? Be cool? You're a demon!" "You guys, Sikowitz really wants everybody back in class," Cat says. The astromech beeps, "and you really wanted a date to the prom last year, but you didn't get one, did ya?" "Rex," Robbie yells. Rex is what Robbie calls that R3 unit, whose designation is R3-X16.

Cat yells, "tell your clanker to quit being mean to me!" Robbie yells, "don't call him a clanker! That's an offensive term!" "Yeah, this school's pretty normal," I say, sarcastically. "Just please go back to class and tell Sikowitz we'll be there in a minute," André tells her. "You better hurry," Cat replies. Yeah. I was gonna say yeah! Just keep it to yourself, I don't want to hear it. "Okay. This school's not normal," I tell Trina. She tells me, "really, you're not normal either. I've seen what you can do on stage. You're special. You're fantastic. You belong at this school. Normal's boring." Cat cuts in, saying, "it's true." I ask, "that normal's boring?" However, she says, "no, that no one asked me to the prom."

*A few hours later*

At home, Trina tells me, "you know, you're actually not terrible. You're really gonna quit Coruscant Arts?" I ask her, "what do you think I should do?" She replies, "I think you should come back. Why? "When your master died on Malibu, did you give up?" "No, I respond." She continues, "right, you kept fighting until you made it here and met me for the first time. I also don't want to be known at school as the girl with the lame little sister who quit on her first day. And I think you were really good in the big showcase." Thanks, Treen," I tell her. "But I woulda been amazing, Tori," she says.

*The next day*

I enter Sikowitz' classroom, and he says, "You're back. Have you ever thought about coming in through the window?" I think to myself, "I may have cut holes through blast doors and separatist warships to enter places, but I want to put that part of my life behind me." "No," I tell him. "Think about it," he responds. He continues, "now, sit, sit. Okay, today, we're going to do some alphabetical improv. What is alphabetical improv, You ask? So I answer. It's when we give a letter to the first actor who speaks in the scene. If we used the letter "a" as an example, then the actor must make his first word start with the letter "a" Which might go something like." He points at Beck, who says, "apples are falling out of my butt." Sikowitz continues, "lovely. Now the next actor who speaks must start his line with the next letter in the alphabet, in this case, b, so he might say," putting his hands on André's shoulders, and he says, "bring those apples, so that we may all enjoy the fresh fruit from Beck's butt." Sikowitz continues, "charming, now who wants to lead the first group?" "I do," I say. "All right, Tori," Sikowitz says, "Choose your actors." I say, "Okay. André, Cat, Beck and Jade." Jade glares at me, and I say, "yeah, you."

They all walk up to the front of the class, and Jade kisses Beck. Sikowitz tells her, "Jade, kiss your boyfriend on your own time." "Oh, I will," Jade replies. Sikowitz explains, "okay, if you start your line with the wrong letter, you're out. Robbie, give us a letter," He chooses "P." Sikowitz then says, "okay, the scene can be about anything you want. The first letter of the first line is 'p.' Tori, action." "Please go take a shower," I tell Jade. "Quit telling me what to do," Jade responds. "Relax girls, let's all try to get along," says Beck. "Totally," Cat says. Sikowitz interrupts, "Cat, your line had to start with an 's.'" "Aw, my life's the worst," Cat says. Sikowitz tells her, "here's a piece of candy." Cat excitedly yells, "yay, I love candy," before running back to her seat.

Sikowitz tells André, "All right, André, letter 's' to you." He begins, "Something Just bit my toe." "Turtle. That turtle just bit his toe," I say. "Unbelievable that you're even here," Jade tells me. "Very immature of you to say that," Beck adds. André asks, "what if the turtle bite broke my toe-bone?" "X-rays are the only way to find out," I tell him. "You should shut up," says Jade. "Zap! I just healed your toe with my magic finger," Beck tells him. "Thanks," André replies. "André, your line had to start with an 'a' sit down," Sikowitz tells him. "Aw, and I just got my toe-bone fixed," André states.

"Tori, letter 'a' to you," Sikowitz says. I say, "an alien species from the unknown regions is the only species that can heal toes by finger-zapping." Jade says, "by the way," before Beck interrupts, "correct, I am an alien." "Oh, a twist," Sikowitz interrupts "Don't hurt me, please," I tell him "Even though she's extremely annoying," Jade adds. "Fainting, because I can't breathe your world's air," Beck tells us, before pretending to faint.

"Gosh, it fainted," I exclaim. "Excellent! Tori and Jade, keep going," Sikowitz tells us. "The next letter's h!" Jade points to the back of the room and asks me, "hey, why don't you go jump off that cliff over there?" I tell her, "I think you should." She asks, "just where did you come from?" I change the subject, saying, "kangaroos." She says, "lousy animals, kangaroos. They're awkward and dirty." I tell Jade, "maybe they learned from you." "Ooh," the entire class says at once. "No one talks to me like that," Jade angrily tells me. "Obviously someone should," I retort. Jade tells me, "please run in front of a landspeeder."

I reply, "quite obnoxious of you to say." Jade asks, "really?" I tell her, "sure was." Thanks," she replies. I tell her, "up your nose, I see boogers," and she replies, "very clever." I ask, "wish you'd thought of it? "X marks the spot I'd like to punch," she tells me. "Your finger smells weird," I add. Jade continues her insults, saying, "zero is what you are on a scale from 1 to 10." "And back to the letter 'a,'" Sikowitz tells us. "As if I care what you think," I tell Jade, showing her I'm the mature one. "Better watch yourself," she yells. I ask, "can't take it?" "Don't push me," she replies. I tell Jade, "eat your pants," and she yells back, "You eat your pants! Wait!" "Sorry Jade, the next letter was…" Sikowitz tells her, before Jade yells, "'F!' I know," and sits down.

Sikowitz tells Beck and I, "keep the scene going. Letter g!" "Get up, alien," I tell Beck. He gets up, and says, "head... feels dizzy." I tell Beck, "I know what'll make you feel better." He asks, "jumping jacks?" "Kiss me," I tell him. He replies, "let's do it." We stage-kiss, and I can sense Jade's anger through the force. "Man, I love this school, I say."

Back at home, I train more with Master Windu, and once we are done, I reflect on my experience at this new school, thinking, "I'm glad I did not give up. Coruscant Arts isn't so bad after all."