Aloooooha! Ma hedi mecuni manna. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome – to my next chapter.

Chapter Ten: Testday

Ok, thought Gar, just calm down, stay focused, and – I CAN'T DO THIS!

Garfield banged his head against the mirror, which he was soon sorry for. He rubbed his plate and sighed.

"How am I ever going to do this?" he whispered.

"Talking to yourself is the second sign of insanity," said Terra's voice from behind him. She walked over and smiled.

"Hey, Terra," he mumbled.

"You worried about today?"

"Yeah"

"Well, just remember that when you're done with the test and with the competition, we'll have the entire weekend, just the two of us."

Joy, he thought. Suddenly, there was a loud, honking sound, which made them both jump.

"Come on, Gar!" he heard Victor shout. "Hurry up or we're gonna be late!"

Gar grabbed his back-pack, hurried out the door, and jumped into Vic's car, where he and Rachel were already waiting for him. (Kori walked and Dick rode his motorcycle)

"So," said Rachel as he sat next to her in the back, "nervous?"

"No," he said, unconvincingly.

Rachel cocked an eyebrow. "Then why is your shirt inside-out?"

Gar looked down and saw she was right. He blushed. "Oops". He began to take his shirt off, when he said "Don't look!"

Rachel rolled her eyes, but she turned away, anyway. When he was done, Rach said "There's something I want to give you." She took what looked like a small, silver stone out from her pocket. She handed it to him. It had Chinese symbols on one side, and the word "focus" on the other.

"What is it?"

"It's a focaus stone. It'ssupposed to help you concentrate on stressful things. I thought you might need it."

He smiled and closed his hand around the stone.

"Thanks, Rea."

------

"So, how did it go?" said Dick. "You didn't really want to talk about it last night."

Kori sighed and looked at her feet. "I'm on probation."

Dick's eyebrows shot-up. "'Probation'? For what?"

"Well, I talked to Jeff, and then he had me talk to Val-Yor." She looked at him. "He said that if I missed another shift, he would fire me."

"But – it wasn't even your shift!" Dick said, outraged.

"I know. But, because Trevor's Val-Yor's son, he can do what ever he wants. I, on the other hand, am a different story. Besides, you know Val-Yor has had a grudge against me ever since I started working there."

"It's still not right."

"Oh, Dick, it's all right. I had a lot more fun at practice last night then I ever would have at that place."

"Yeah…"

Then, the bell rang.

"Come on," she said, "we don't want to be late."

------

"All right, class," shouted Mr. Buff, a guy who lives up to his name, "get ready for a nice, good game of dodge ball!" He pointed to a shopping cart full of red, rubber balls. "The team captains are… Xavier and… Richard! Choose your teams!" Red X glared at Dick. He still hasn't forgiven him for kicking him in the jaw in fifth grade. Dick smirked.

He and X picked their teams, and they took their sides on the opposite ends of the gym.

Come on Robin, Dick thought, don't let that circus life go to waist.

The whistle blew, and soon, the room was filled with flying, rubber balls. Many kids were laughing and having fun, others were hiding in the back, and all Red X did was try to hit Dick as hard as he could. Dick, however, dodged him at every turn. And, had fun doing it, too.

"Come on!" Dick yelled, spinning and twirling like a ballet dancer. "Is that the best you got?"

"Not even close!" and he began throwing like a machinegun.

Time to kick it up a notch.

Dick picked up a ball and ran to the back of the gym, gaining momentum.

"What's the matter?" taunted X. "Scared?"

"You wish."

Then, Dick ran up the wall a few feet, did a black flip, and landed behind X, who had been chasing him.

"Hey, X," he said. Then he threw the ball at him, landing it squarely in his stomach. "You're out."

------

Victor grumbled as he walked to Mr. Texbuk's class. He had to retake a quiz that he didn't know anything about in a class that he hates! Could this day get any worse?

"Uhhhh, Vic," said Dick, "don't look now, but Control Freak's headed this way."

Apparently, it could.

"Hey, metal mouth," he said. "Heard you're not doen' to well in history. That's too bad. What did you get on the quiz? A 57?"

"Back off man," Victor said, warningly.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?"

"I'm gonna whoop your butt, that's what I'm gonna do!" He was getting a little agitated.

"Yeah, right. Like you could beat me up."

"Victor can beat you up with one hand behind his back," Dick said, defensively.

"I thought he already was – oof!" Vic slammed him against a row of lockers. "I seemed to have struck a nerve."

"Vic, no," said Dick, putting his hand on his shoulder. "He's not worth it."

Victor was breathing between his teeth, glaring at Control Freak. There was a pause, and then Vic put him back down.

"Get yourself some tic-tacs," he said.

------

Ok, Gar you can do this, you came do this, I CAN'T DO THIS.

He looked at the library as if it were Death Row. Inside, Mrs. Byrd was waiting for all the students taking the AVAT.

Gar gulped and looked at his friends (Victor was re-taking the pop-quiz)

"You'll do fine," Kori said, reassuringly.

"I know you can do it," Dick said, confidently.

"Go get em', Tiger," Rach said with a faint smile.

He sighed and went inside.

I can't do this, I can't do this I can't do this…

He sat down at a desk that had a copy of the test sheet and picked up the pencil beside it.

I can't do this, I can't do this I can't – huh?

He took out the thing he was fiddling with in his pocket. It was the focus stone Rea had given him earlier.

I can do this.

Whew! ANOTHER long chapie! Hope you guys like it!

Luv ya

Tprinces