"Why don't you just use your locker?" Janet pestered me as we walked down the hall to our next classes. I shrugged.

"I dunno, not enough time I guess." I shifted the binder from my right hand to my left. It would be nice to not have to carry the thing around all day with my backpack. When I started the school day, it had been just fine. Everything had fit in my pack. But now, however, I had been getting books from all of my different classes, and there just wasn't enough room for it in my pack.

We reached my class first, and I waved to Janet as she walked off. I opened the door and headed into class. I choose a seat closest to the door, where not many people were sitting. I think I did it because I just felt plain out of place and really didn't want to have to sit near anybody. I was afraid of what they might think of me, or would they be trouble, or would they think that they are too cool to have someone like me sit next to them. I just wasn't sure. I figured it was safe enough if I just stayed away from them all together. I sat quietly as everybody shuffled into class. So far I didn't recognize anyone. The bell rang and our teacher stood up from his desk and headed to the center of the class. He was a Windian, of course.

"I'm Mr. Jackson," he brushed his hair out of his face with his left hand and waited for everyone to quiet down. I glanced around the room. A few people were talking to each other. Mr. Jackson cleared his through and they all turned their attention towards him.

"Alright," he continued. "I'm sure you all have just been so excited about the first day of school-" there were groans. "-but now you're in my class, and it's time to listen."

Mr. Jackson was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a door opening. I glanced up, along with the rest of the class, to see who walked in. I immediatly turned my head and looked down at my desk when I saw it was Ray.

"Why did you do that?"

I don't know... I just.. didn't want him to see me I suppose.

"And looking away is supposed to make you invisible..."

I don't know.. Tellka, I just want to go home...

"Soon enough, Kate."

I watched as Ray took a seat just a few desks in front of me. Mr. Jackson continued his talking. I stared down at my binder for a while.

*****************************************************************

The rest of the day was a blur. I fell asleep in fifth period, but that was okay because it was just math, and sixth period was PE. Janet and I shared sixth period, along with Ray, Justin, Jason, Lucy, Luke, a girl named Chelsea, and Diane, another Woren like me. It was actually a small PE class, with only eight girls and nine boys. All we did today was physical testing. I hate push-ups. I was just happy that PE was my last class of the day, not the first.

I was walking now, thinking of how much I hated school. I found my thoughts turn to Frank. I wonder what his day was like so far. I hoped it was better then mine. I wondered where he was, if he had left Windia yet, if he had found what he was looking for or not. My mind continued to wander as Tellka began speaking.

"Are you ready to start training?"

Huh?

"For fighting. In the Colosseum??"

Oh.. I suppose..

"Great, get over to the Colosseum and we'll use the practice arena."

I groaned and headed over to the Colosseum. There was no rest for the weary. I shifted the weight of my backpack a bit, it was really making my shoulders hurt. I had gotten a book from math, history, english and science, plus my binder, all in my backpack. I was amazed the thing hadn't split at the sides yet. I sighed. Can't I stop by home and tell Carrie first?

"I already did that for you. Come on, Kate, it's not too far from here."

I groaned and turned to head towards the Colosseum. I wasn't to excited to see that place again. That whole thing with Redwing had happened only two days ago, and I wasn't sure I wanted to get back into the arena anytime soon.

"Don't worry, Kate. We're going to go through a bit more training before I let you fight again."

Gee... I can hardly wait..

*****************************************************************

Tellka was standing at the front desk waiting for me when I got into the Colosseum. She motioned toward the receptionist.

"We have permission to use one of their spare rooms for practice." She began walking towards a corridor to the right of the receptionist's desk. I followed her towards it.

Just a ways inside the corridor, it branched off into three ways. One was the way we came, one was to continue straight forward where it led to three doors. And the last way was to the right where a small staircase headed up to another door. Tellka marched up the staircase. I followed, glancing about the surroundings.

It wasn't until we got to the top of the steps and at the door at the end of them that I noticed Tellka had been carrying a set of keys. She glanced over then quickly, took on marked with a piece of red tape, and stuck it in the keyhole. She turned the knob, and with a click the door swung open. She went inside the room, me trailing behind her.

Once inside she turned and closed the door again. Glancing around the room, I noticed our only source of light came from a large skylight that made up most of the ceiling of the room. The room itself was rather large. Its floor was covered in a soft sand, much like the one in the arena, and along the walls were racks of different weapons and armor. "Hey, this is kinda like that one storage room you lead me to a while back." Tellka shrugged.

"Yea, but that one was off limits. This one we are allowed to be in." She set the keys down on a bench beside the door and unstrapped her staff. (You see, Tellka is almost never without her staff. Most of the time she just carries it around in her hand, but sometimes, when she is doing a lot of walking or wants use of both of her hands, she uses her collar to tie it to hang close to her back. It's a lot easier for her this way.) I hopped out of my school skirt and unbuttoned the shirt. I had my normal, gray tank-top on under my school uniform. Folding up my clothes I jammed them in my backpack.

"Wow, I'm amazed they managed to fit in this stupid thing. Um... Tellka.. " I glanced over at her. "My claws are at home in the dresser...." Tellka sighed.

"Hold on a moment." And with that she vanished. I sighed and paced around the room a bit, examining the things in it. A few balance beams, some bars that had been connected to the walls. They looked like pull-up bars. The room had an amazing amount of floor space. It was almost half the size of the arena.

I suppose this place was built especially for practicing for battles, huh?

"Yea, now which draw do you have them in?"

Top drawer, under the zenny bags.

"Good grief, Kate. What are you going to do with all this money?"

I dunno...

"You should give it to Carrie, help her pay for your going to school."

Okay. I waited a moment and Tellka was back, claws in hand. She tossed them to me and I strapped them on. I sighed. Am I really going through with this? Did I really want to continue a carrier in Colosseum fighting? I guess I really didn't have a choice now. Tellka twirled her staff and we made or way to the center of the room where there was the most space to move in. She turned to me.

"You ready?"

"I suppose.."

e-mail author, talonr@hotmail.com