T.S.

It had been four years since Naet had kept her late after class. He'd gushed about her being Gem's protégé and had mentioned that he couldn't wait to see how she did. Though he'd also said that even if she was Ayeri, attitude with him wouldn't be tolerated and she'd have to work on controlling her behavior.

Tara, had hounded her over the years, finally etching a place in her heart as a best friend, and partner in crime. Her hair color had also kept changing. Finally staying blue for more than a month.

Gem had been busy trying to keep Acott and Fresor from meeting her. Though the deans had finally gotten past their defenses and were going to meet her in a few days, to 'celebrate' graduation. The fact that it took them four years to meet her was testament to how hard the team worked to keep them away.

And Rou was still searching for information about Caperd's family. He had said after about two years that it was almost as if they had fallen out of existence. Totally disappearing. He never really commented on the fact that she was from Pasef, seeming to be totally focused on the fact that she knew Caperd.

Annabelle was sitting in her window seat, listening to Tara rant about Avis again.

"Can you believe that jerk? He acts like he's all that because he's graduating, when the only reason he's graduating is because he's going to die in seventy years!"

Avis had been rubbing his graduation in their noses, acting as if it was a big deal that he got out sixteen years earlier than them.

"He's short-sighted, I'm surprised that Acott okayed his graduation. He barely passed the classes that discussed different sentient species. He couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that species that live for long periods of time don't really care about twenty years, because to them it's just a blip. Whereas for humans like Avis it's when they're in their prime."

"You say humans like Avis, but aren't Cass and Marc human?"

"Yeah, but they're more receptive to things and people that are different. Hell, they befriended Jazz even though he was assigned as their 'keeper'."

"True. Hey, do you know what they're planning on doing for graduation?"

"Well I know that the deans are making Gem and me go to dinner with them afterwards. It'll probably be so boring."

"Are you sure you're okay with me leaving? I don't have to go home; I can just stay here, and my family can come visit me. You could come with me if you want? I'm sure Jazz wouldn't mind."

"Are you kidding? Have you ignored everything Jazz has said over the years? He'd never let me go."

'For good reason. I'd be toast on Ayer… With my luck I'd probs be found out in a heartbeat after stepping on the planet.' She thought as she looked at the people walking below.

"It feels weird that almost half our class is graduating. Do you know if we have any transfer students coming in?" When she didn't get a response, she turned to look at her friend. "Hello anyone home?"

"Sorry Tara, what were you saying?"

"Do we have any transfers coming in?"

"I don't think we do, but I can ask Acott when I meet him after graduation."

"Cool."

"Hey Tara, your boy toy came to pick you up!" Cass yelled from the stairs.

"And people wonder why you're such a brat, it's because of your wonderful role model." Tara rolled her eyes as she got up and grabbed her bag.

"See you when school starts up." She said to Annabelle. Then shouting down the hall to Cass. "He's my boyfriend not my boy toy! Stop getting jealous over the fact that you're an old biddy that's stuck living with your brother and best friend!"

"Hahaha! Get your butt out before I ask him to stay for dinner."

"I dare you hag! I'll hang you upside down through dinner!"

'I swear if I didn't know better, I'd think they hated each other.' Annabelle shook her head as she listened to the two banter back and forth.

'Cass will never grow up I swear… Though it's surprising how well she and Tara get along.'

"Hey Annabelle! Naet wants you to go online and find the hacker that's been causing chaos on the school's server."

"Seriously? Can't someone else do it? The data stream for the school is brutal!"

"I'll have some pain meds waiting for you, just get it done so he gets off my ass!" Marc called back, disappearing from the bottom of the stairs into his room.

'Jeez, why in the hell is their server so cluttered anyway?'

She took her IO out and entered the space that Gem had set up for her, placing her forehead on the device she prepared herself mentally before diving into the sea of data. Streams of numbers passed her by as she walked around the room that simulated the school's main page.

"Hey, you do know that this place is usually so full of data that I can't see an inch in front of my face, right?"

"Of course, but it wouldn't be fun if you couldn't see me coming." A man appeared in front of her, holding a pointer in his left hand he offered her his right.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Rasta, I'm a transfer student from Darzebena. Sorry for the dramatics, Dora told me to see how long it took the school to react if I started messing with the school's site."

Annabelle was frozen, she knew from his aura that he wasn't her brother, but hearing his name caused her to stop functioning.

"Um, I'm sorry if I scared you, but are you alright?"

Shaking herself she grabbed his outstretched hand. "Yea, sorry about that it's been a long day. So, Dora put you up to it huh. I'm not surprised she probably thought Cass would be put in charge of fixing the problem."

She looked at the numbers in the room. "How'd you do this? It's almost like you stopped traffic to the site."

"I did… There were too many people on, so I decided to block users from the front page."

"Well unblock them for me please, I'll tell Dora to stop making you do this, and to have you visit us at some point in time. I have to go, bye." She left just as abruptly as she had come, appearing in her room, she dove face first onto her bed.