When I got home that day, I told my mom I was meeting up in the park for a while. Of course, she just shrugged it off. She wasn't a bad mother, she was just…very… absent-minded. While I changed into some sweatpants and a blue shirt with a little cookie on it, all I could think is about the two partners. Especially Soul. He seemed like he knew a bit more. Or at least that's how I perceived that strange look on his face. Maka seemed to be an average miester. I worried about my mister threat. What if he was a pedophile? I guess I could turn my arm into a scythe and use that. Still, my threat would be invalid, and that would suck. These thoughts kept me awake until around 1 where I couldn't stay awake anymore.

Ha! Cha! My alarm clock was switched to strange sounds like apparently a man yelling gibberish. Ugh, Andrew. Every. Week. How many times would I have to switch it back? I really don't like little prankster brothers. I blinked. Then I remembered; the game with Soul! Looking at the time, I saw I only had about half an hour to get ready. I slipped on some shorts and a tank-top. I chose to wear some comfortable sneakers. Then, after putting my curly hair into a high pony-tail I rushed out the door and to the Death Park's basketball court.

"Hey, you showed up!" Soul was surrounded by another guy and two girls as well as Maka. Jeez, where does he find friends? Who has 3 white stripes on one side of his head, and has two random girls just following him?

"Hey!" the smaller of the two girls chirped. "I'm Patty!"

"And I'm Liz," said the other of the girls.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I am Death the Kid," added 3 stripes.

"But we just call him Kidd," said Patty.

"Hi. I'm Angarika. But you should probably call me Anj."

"I think I remember you saying you didn't know how to play?" Maka said, although it seemed more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. Can you teach me?"

After around 20 minutes of getting educated on basketball things, I felt I was ready.

Apparently not.

"Anj! You need to pass the ball! Don't try to do everything yourself!" Soul shouted at me. I felt my cheeks heat up. Idiot!

"Sorry!"

"It's alright!"

"I should just sit down," I muttered under my breath. Next thing I knew I felt a cold hand on my shoulder.

"Keep playing; I'm sure you'll get better." Oops, Kidd heard that.

"Okay." Next thing I knew I was slam dunking. Metaphorically, that is. I was still the worst player on the team. The only reason my team one was because Kidd's crazy ability to score. But maybe that was because 3 stripes was 80% legs. Speaking of Kidd, he looked cool, and I wanted to hang out with him more. But he probably went to the DWMA, and until I found a miester he wasn't going to remember I existed. Although I did catch him stealing a few glances at me. But that was most likely just me being self-absorbed. I don't know.

"Hey are you down for another game tomorrow?" asked Soul. "That would be cool."

"That," I replied, "Would be totally cool."

The next few days, the same pattern repeated, stupid alarm clock, basketball (which I was getting better at), and practicing turning into a scythe.

On the ninth practice I stopped early because I felt sick. Unfortunately, sitting on a bench for the entire game was annoying. I wanted to play so bad. However, when the teams were unequal Kidd got Soul to sit out, so we hung out on the bench.

"Am I the only one who noticed that Kidd is extremely cold?" I asked Soul.

"Yeah, he's Lord Death's son. Grim Reapers are cold almost all the time." Soul answered.

"Also I didn't think it was humanly possible for his legs to be that long, like, its not-" I giggled. "I almost said not human."

Soul laughed an extremely deep laugh that, despite his low-pitch voice, surprised me a bit.

"Jeez, you laugh is so…"

"Weird? Yes. Cool? Also yes."

"Well, I was going to say deep but whatever." We both laughed in unison.

"This has been fun, but I have to help my mom cook some her horrid, I repeat, horrid vegetable soup. Bye!"

"See ya!" they all said.

As soon as I finished making the soup I had a flash of inspiration.

I changed my arm into a scythe and started to practice running into saplings and cutting them. Next, all I needed to do was find a miester. I figured I should use this as a training routine.

One day, during practice, as I was brutally slashing at a maple sapling, I heard a laugh. Not just any laugh.

It was Souls.

I stopped, my scythe arm still halfway through a sapling. I removed my scythe from my body and turned it back into an arm. Waving, I smiled and said, "What happened that you're here?"

"Well usually, I'd be home, but I needed to buy Maka some stuff. How do you manage to cut with only one arm? Where's your miester?"

I scratched my neck. "About that…"

"Don't tell me. You don't have a miester. Why else would you spend your summer alone with a scythe arm ruining little trees?"

"Yeah. I had a pretty crappy threat anyway."

"Anyway, while I'm shopping you wanna look for a miester? Then you join the DWMA."

"Yes, hold on, I gotta tell my parents. Otherwise I'll never get to see the light of the next day."

"Okay, I'll wait."

I went into the house, asked my parents for permission, grabbed my iPod and tied a sweater around my waist, in case it got cold.

"Alright, I can go!"

I jogged off with Soul. Who knew that this trip would change things?

And when I say change things, I mean-

Everything.