After another long day of lessons, Wanda Li drove back to her parents' house and almost immediately collapsed on the couch. She was exhausted from all of the hard work she put into her flight lessons.

Wanda's life was probably the craziest out of the entire Frizzle gang. For starters, Wanda always had a daring, adventurous, reckless personality. Ever since third grade, she had always wanted to go where no kid had ever gone before and made fun of people who showed signs of fear by calling them "weaselly wimps." This led to a lot of trouble for the gang, such as the time they got stuck in Wanda's model plane after the controls were broken, and who could forget the time she had gotten rid of recycling just to get her plastic soldier back.

Wanda didn't get over this behavior in high school. If anything, it grew. Due to the fact that she wanted a life full of excitement and wouldn't settle for doing anything boring, she didn't really focus a lot on her studies. There were plenty of times where she skipped class, and she was often tardy to school. Her friends and her parents all wanted her to work harder and be a better student, but it was all in vain. Wanda just wasn't as serious as everyone else.

The one thing she was serious about was popularity. She felt that being popular was the most important thing in high school, so she did anything she could to maintain popularity. She joined the cheerleading squad in her freshman year, and quickly became a star. The squad helped her look really hot to pretty much everyone in Walkerville High. She became tan and muscular, and her entire body was now toned and lean, although she was still short. She also couldn't stop bragging about her full c-cup breasts to her teammates in the locker room. She also started using a lot of makeup to make herself look better, and she used a lot of hair care products to make her black hair really shiny. All the guys in Walkerville High drooled over how hot she looked. Things got better for Wanda when she became the captain of the squad in her junior year, becoming more popular. She also gained popularity by going out and partying a lot. Of course, this led to many instances of her getting drunk and kissing a guy randomly. Again, people who cared for her wanted her to stop, but she didn't listen.

In terms of relationships, Wanda, much like Ralphie, had never wanted to settle down. Any relationship that she was in was really just a quick fling for sex. The first guy she dated was the captain of the basketball team, and that was the guy she lost her virginity to. The closest thing to a real relationship that she had was with Arnold. They always had this really strong bond between them ever since third grade. Arnold tried to help her win tickets to Action Mountain, even though breaking records made him nervous, and there was the time Wanda was upset that Arnold couldn't come to see The Nutcracker with the group, so she and the group accompanied him on his train ride. Wanda always had a soft spot for Arnold, so when they dated, it was for real, not a quick fling for sex. Wanda cared to much about Arnold to have sex with him so quickly. Of course, the relationship only lasted about 6 months due to Wanda still having a promiscuous personality. Luckily, she and Arnold remained good friends.

Despite the fact that she wasn't the most serious student, she was able to graduate high school with a 3.46 GPA. All of her friends were shocked, to say the least. Not even Wanda knew how she got that GPA with her attitude towards school.

Wanda's life just became crazier after graduation. Unlike everyone else, she had no idea of what she wanted to do with her life. She tended to get interested in something and become obsessed for a while before losing all interest. This kind of pattern would definitely not be good for a successful life with long term goals.

One thing that Wanda did know is that she wanted to be done with school. After going through four years of high school, she had no interest in another four. However, Wanda's parents were not satisfied with that plan, so they forced Wanda to go to college. After having to put up with her high school behavior, they didn't want her to be lazy and just sit around the house all day. They wanted her to mature so that she could be a responsible adult. In the end, Wanda had to go along with their wishes.

First, she had to decide where to go. She had applied to a few schools at random, not really caring about where she would end up. In the end, she chose to attend the University of Florida. She liked the idea of being at a college that was in a tropical state, close to a beach, and in a place that was close to Miami (of course, she had no idea that UF is located in Gainsville, which is located in the north central part of Florida while Miami is in the southern part, and is not close to the coast).

After moving to Gainsville, she had to decide what to study. Since she didn't really care much about school, she decided to just pick a random major that was easy. In the end, she majored in sociology, but she never took her studies seriously. She continued partying excessively, and there were a lot of times when she would actually wake up in some random guy's bed. Wanda's parents protested and tried to get her to change her behavior, but Wanda still did not mature.

After four years, she graduated having focused little on her studies and was stuck with a sociology degree that was essentially useless for future employment. She didn't know what else to do, so she moved back in with her parents. Of course, her parents were pretty disappointed that she did not have the highest grades and could not easily find a job, but Wanda insisted that she could get a job sooner or later and be out of the house as soon as possible.

Wanda took some time to figure herself out and find out what she could do for a living. She thought back to third grade, and she remembered that one field trip where she flew a plane. She had almost completely forgotten how she used to call herself "Wildcat Wanda" and how the plane trip gave her this incredible sense of freedom and wonder from no longer being confined to the ground and being able to explore more of the world.

With that, Wanda decided that flight school would be the next step for her. Unfortunately, she and her parents had already burned through a lot of money with hefty college bills, so she was pretty much broke, and her parents refused to support her after what felt like a waste of money for four years. Wanda was still undeterred, and she figured that if she couldn't learn how to fly planes yet, she could at least learn how they worked and be around them.

With that, in September 2008, Wanda enlisted in the United States Air Force.

She wouldn't have been so excited if she remembered that the US was involved in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan at the time.

After 8 weeks of Basic Military Training, Wanda (now known to her fellow officers as Airman Basic Li) was assigned to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina to learn to be a mechanic for the 336th Fighter Squadron. It was here that Wanda began to mature, and she started behaving in ways that would've shocked anyone who knew her in Walkerville. She started staying on task and thriving, mainly because the military gave her the discipline and structure that she needed to mature. This would be really necessary when her squadron was deployed to Iraq.

For the next few years, Wanda was deployed to Iraq three times. Wanda felt excited at first, despite knowing that war is an awful thing. That attitude changed quickly when she experienced the cruelties of war firsthand. Wanda's fellow pilots coming back with thousand-yard stares and a story of death and destruction. Fires raging across the sand with seemingly no end in sight. Civilians looking terrified and confused while wandering aimlessly through cities turned to ruins. Mutilated and decaying corpses on the side of roads and in many different places on the ground. Squad members coming back with severe injuries and missing limbs, or not coming back at all. All of this changed Wanda. She saw a lot. She saw things that she didn't think anyone should she. She tried to stay positive by reminding herself that her squad mates that engaged in direct combat saw much, much worse. It was all in vain, though. What Wanda saw was enough to change her from the fun-loving, adventurous woman she was into a cold, hardened, toughened woman. Wanda hoped that she still had her old personality deep inside, but if she kept this up, she would potentially change forever.

With this in mind, Wanda, now Staff Sergeant Li, decided she needed to distance herself from the military, not wanting to try and become a technical sergeant, despite her squad mates encouraging her to continue. She had been a great addition to the Air Force, and it was a shame that she didn't want to contribute anymore, but Wanda's mind was made up. After the third deployment, she didn't re-enlist. It was September 2015. She had given 7 years of her life to her country, and while she was proud of it, she wasn't sure what she got out of it. She hadn't seen her family in a long time, and her friends less. She thanked social media for allowing her to keep up with what everyone was up to, so she knew a lot about her friends' lives, but they had very little information about hers.

Now that her military career was over, she moved back in with her parents, and they immediately hugged her, having worried about her for seven years. She could finally enter flight school. That was still her long-term plan, but something stopped her. After going through everything in Iraq, she felt weird. She was now pretty quiet and shy and did not want to talk a lot about her military career. She was constantly deep in thought, and she developed a thousand-yard stare herself. On top of that, stuff like fireworks triggered a distressed response from her. Many people would say that Wanda had PTSD, but she refused to believe that she had that. She was Wanda, a tough, daring, adventurous woman. A mental disorder could not affect her. She was not a weaselly wimp. Despite denying to herself and everyone that she had PTSD, she took a few months off to process everything that she had experienced.

Finally, in March 2016, Wanda enrolled in flight school and started acing all of her lessons with flying colors. She currently has a student pilot certificate and is working to get an airline transport pilot certificate so she can fly for an airline. Of course, that wouldn't happen for a while, until she had the required hours and experience needed. She just hoped that she could finally be a real pilot soon.

Once she got home, her mother came downstairs. "Hey Wanda, you look tired. You work really hard on your lessons?"

"Yes, mom."

"Well, I hope you really are. You must understand that this is not a permanent arrangement."

"I know mom! I really want to be out of here as much as you do, and I'll be out as soon as I get my license." Wanda groaned.

"I know, and I hope you begin your actual adulthood really soon. Well, I need to go buy some groceries. I'll see you later."

"Bye mom." Wanda's mother then left to go to the grocery store.

Wanda then went to the kitchen and made herself dinner. While she was eating, William came downstairs. "Hey Wan."

"Hey bro. What's up."

"I've going to another interview." William had graduated from college two years ago, and he was still looking for a full-time job.

"Typical. How is it really difficult for you to get a job?"

"The same reason why you took so long to figure out what to do with your life, I suppose."

"Hey! I spent seven years fighting to protect your ass and this country! At least I did something meaningful while you wasted your time in college learning useless information and getting a useless degree."

William rolled his eyes. "Whatever. At least I have spent most of my time trying to get out of here while you've been sitting around here for months doing nothing before flight school."

"I had to deal with what happened, William! You wouldn't get it. You haven't seen what I've seen."

"Right. Well, anyway, I have to go. I'll see you around." William was about to exit the house when he turned around. "Oh, and there is mail for you." He then left.

Wanda went to check the mail, and she too found the letter from Walkerville Elementary. She opened it and read the entire thing. When she finished, she could've sworn the world stopped spinning. Ms. Frizzle is dead!

Her phone rang, and she answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey Wanda. It's Tim. I need to talk to you."

"What?"

"Did you receive a letter from Walkerville Elementary?"

"Yes. I just read it. I don't believe it."

"I know. I can't either. Which brings me to my follow-up question. Will you be at the funeral."

"Well, I'm already in Walkerville. I guess I will."

"Good. I'll be there, and I know Carlos and Ralphie will be there, and Ralphie is checking with Keesha. Can you check if anyone else will be there?"

"Well, maybe I could check with Arnold."

"Oh, I don't know about that. It may be a waste of time."

"I know, but I still have to try."

"You know how he is. You know how he feels. You know why we rarely speak to him anymore. You might as well save yourself the trouble."

"Tim, I get why you don't want me to check, but I have to. I know how Arnold has been, but he could have changed since we last spoke to him. Maybe he will want to attend the funeral after all this time."

"Okay. If you are sure, call him, but be prepared for what we all know will happen."

"Don't worry, Tim. I'm sure I can reason with him."

"Alright, I'll see you around." With that, Tim hung up.

Wanda then dialed Arnold's number, hoping that he had indeed changed. Come on, Arnold. Don't let us down. She thought as she called Arnold.