Solasta's enthusiasm from First Form withstood the next six seasons, and she excelled in Mathematics, found expression in Visual Arts class, and only warmed to her Music class despite having an accomplished musician and teacher at home. Her first love was Gym class since through all her Forms she was easily the tallest and most physically advanced in her class, which gave her an unfair advantage in sports with her agility and speed. Her grades were otherwise respectably in the high percentiles for her class.

Through those years her kitling fuzz quickly grew out to reveal a short white coat, and the orange markings on her face intensified and highlighted her bright yellow eyes. Her brown hair kept groomed short by her mother and fine brown stripes, most prominently on her face and shoulders, began to form and would continue develop and thicken over the next few years as she left girlhood behind.

When she returned for Seventh Form she was in her twelfth season and found many things would change for her that year, and for those that followed.

In previous seasons when classes resumed, her small circle of friends would all reunite in their usual spot at the far end of the playground under the shade of the trees to discuss what they had done over the summer, where they had vacationed, and what new 'things' their parents had bought for them during the break.

On her first day of classes this season she kissed Mom and Dad goodbye, grabbed her books as she hopped out of the Desler, and ran to their usual spot to meet with her friends. From the distance she could see the other girls in their new 'back to school' clothes while Solasta wore a pair of old faded activity pants and the new 'Go Navy / Republic's Finest' shirt that her father bought her while they were away.

Her friends were all sitting in a circle and laughing, but as she drew closer one of the girls spotted her and leaned forward to say something which made all the other girls turn to look at her and laugh. Solasta couldn't make out what the girl had said over all the shouting and noise on the playground, but as she she reached them the laughing stopped and everyone became unusually quiet.

Gloa Themna, a young Rodian girl whom she had known since First Form spoke first. "Hi Solasta, we've been waiting for you for over 20 minutes, did your father's old speeder break down or something?"

"Actually-" started Solasta, but was cut off by another girl.

"No, I bet she was late because she had to bath herself first," said Vascha Stilles a human child, and stuck out her tongue and licked the back of her hand. Before Solasta could answer the other girls all laughed at this and continued the joke, each taking turns to make comments.

At first, Solasta tried to laugh along with the girls but it quickly sunk in that they weren't trying to be funny.

As she sat outside their circle and just listened to the conversation, it changed from Solasta to what the girls had done through the summer and it became painfully obvious to her that none of their activities included her, just each other. She tried to join the discussion, "You should'a called me, I was home the whole time, except for my Dad's Navy reunion that we went to. My Dad bought me this shirt there."

This time Metho Nodjunri, a vibrant green skinned Nautolan girl said, "we didn't know if you could get holo frequencies way out where you live, and besides it probably would have conflicted with your visit with those old guys anyway," and with that all the girls were laughing at Solasta.

When the first bell rang they all stood and moved to the doors while Solasta just sat there dumbfounded.

She was still sitting there, trying to process all that had just happened, when the second bell rang to warn anyone not already inside that they would be marked late if they didn't hurry, so she jumped to her feet and sprinted for the school. The Commander would not be happy if a late mark found its way onto her progress report.

Solasta found her classroom and ducked inside before the late bell sounded. She could see her friends had chosen seats all close together but didn't save one for her. Gloa noticing her hesitation spoke aloud for the rest of the class to hear, "We saved you a seat at the back, because... you know, you're so tall you wouldn't want to block anyone's view."

The girls snickered at this and a few students laughed as Solasta walked to a seat at the back of the classroom and slumped down in the chair trying to make herself as small as possible, except that she now stood as tall as the kids in Ninth Form so even slouching in her desk she was still a full head taller than the kid in front of her.

Class began and the teacher read the morning announcements while handing out data cards with the lesson materials and assignments. Solasta was busy tracing a scratch in her desktop with her finger and didn't look up, but listened and took special interest in the yearly reminder that those students wishing to sign up for the 'Advancement Challenge Exams' (or ACEs) needed to send in their request before the end of the week, and the examination would take place at the start of the new month.

The ACEs were offered to students at the start of each season for those who wished to challenge the current Form, and those who successfully passed would be allowed to move directly to the next Form.

The rest of the morning was uneventful as everyone was attentive to the teacher, who knew better than to leave the class idle long enough to get into mischief or distracted in the first week of classes and derailing his lessons.

When the midday bell rang signaling it was time for everyone to make their way to the cafeteria to eat, her classmates grabbed their data pads and rushed from the classroom for their lockers. Solasta gathered her data pad and turned to find her friends but they had already left, so she simply slipped her data pad into her bag and walked slowly to the cafe.

She reached the cafeteria and grabbed a brown serving tray and got in line. They were the kind that had a deep reservoirs and raised partitions to ensure impenetrable walls kept your food from ever touching, and looking at this she wondered if each portion felt as lonely and isolated as she now did. Lost in her thoughts as she shuffled from one serving station to the next, she didn't have any idea what was actually being served or scooped onto her tray. Reaching the end of the serving line she picked up her tray and instead of looking for a spot at the tables, since she had a feeling that her friends didn't save her a spot there either, headed outside to the playground.

Once outside she walked to the shaded side of the building and slid down against the wall until she was sitting. Deep in thought, she picked at her lunch.

What was the meaning of the jokes the other girls were saying this morning? There wasn't anything wrong with Dad's speeder - sure it wasn't a brand new one like the speeder Metho's father had just bought for himself... and what was so funny about washing in the morning - didn't everyone user the refresher to get ready for school?

Her thoughts returned to the announcement that morning for the ACEs. Many students continued lessons at home through the summer and it seemed like most who took the exam passed it, so it didn't seem impossible. In fact, at the start of school last season Solasta's teacher encouraged her to sign up and try to pass the exams, but Solasta didn't take her seriously and wondered now what it would be like if she could just move to Eight Form.

When the bell rang signaling afternoon classes would begin soon, she collected her tray and realized that she hadn't really accomplished much more than pushing the meal around their individual compartments with her fork, and carried the tray to the conveyor that took it to the dish room for washing. Grabbing the piece of fruit from her tray for the walk to class, she headed off forgetting about all she pondered at lunch.