Like every time Audrey had to take her ballet class right after school, and if he didn't have football practice, Jonathan was the one to walk Valerie home. This was one of those days. He stood taller than her even if he was shorter than Gabriel. He claimed he still was on his last growth spur, sharp jawline, he was lean, he also had bushy eyebrows, and a very easygoing smile. Unlike Gabriel whose smile was big and always clear, Jonathan's was more subtle and after years of knowing him Valerie knew when to pick it up.

"I'm going to miss walking you from school," Jonathan said looking at the street and giving her a side eye but the corners of his mouth slightly rising upwards. "When I leave for Harry Richard College, that is."

"It's not that far away," Valerie shrugged "I'll still see you I'm sure of it, if not I will go and sneak into your school until you see me. It's not that far from home, and worst-case scenario, you'll write, or I will" she assured. "Still want to get into Biology?"

"Yes," he stated adjusting his schoolbag. "It feels like the right call for me."

"You can always run away to London and begin a career in music if plants and bacteria don't work for you. I'll be your first fan" Valerie beamed with pride clashing her shoulder against his arm.

"If I make a career in music I want you on stage with me. We could be an amazing duet, going across the world" he moved the hand in front of both of them, grabbing her shoulder with one hand as he reached to her level, the view he was pointing at was a man in a bicycle going downhill with a dog following.

"But I don't sing" Valerie laughed.

"So? You'll play the tambourine. If I get to sail the world I want my best friend there with me. Otherwise, how will I annoy the scary fans away, you'll stay with a fencing sword in the doorway and slice the suspicious ones"

"You just want a bodyguard then." she said raising an eyebrow, the smile on her face remained unaltered.

"Yes," he said, "But a cool one, with a sword, who is my best friend." They stopped in front of Valerie's house, a plaque with the number 11322 was on the right side of the door. Valerie laughed putting her keys into the door's lock, waiting until she heard it unlocking.

"See you later Jon," she waved her hand.

"Until later, Ree," he waved as he crossed the street to his house.

Valerie waited for a few seconds before walking inside, opening the door slowly and looking around. She dropped the schoolbag on the floor near the door before closing it behind herself making sure to lock it. Taking careful steps, she walked towards the kitchen, where her aunt was talking on the phone.

"Yes, that would be, great. Thank you, have a lovely day" The woman turned to Valerie as she hung the phone and a smile graced her features, she was wearing a dark blue buttoned shirt and dark jeans combined with silver high heels, her hair was braided and parted in the middle instead of the free curls her aunt tended to proudly flaunt, her dark skin as flawless as always, her blue eyes lit up the moment she saw Valerie rushing towards her niece.

"My dear lohikonnie" Aunt Moira said wrapping her arms around the teenager who hugged her back tightly. "I ordered food for us. I'm pretty tired from the flight and I'm sure you must already be tired of having to re-heat your meals" The woman took steps towards the living room.

The room still maintained most of the furniture Valerie's parents have bought alongside some furniture the previous owners decided they wanted to leave behind. The sofa in a dark red tone rested above the wooden floor, there was an old coffee table in the middle that her aunt had confessed once it had been a wedding present, there was a TV in front of them that was hardly ever turned on, next to the couch were two chairs; an olive chair with dark red cushions and a rocking chair that rested opposite from the chimney with pictures above it, one of Valerie's parents' wedding day, one with her grandparents and family from Mexico and one of her and her aunt. The cabinet behind them held more pictures and other things they deemed precious; in a corner, next to the window with green curtains was a vase with flowers that never seemed to grow old and there usually was a footstool that always seemed to change places. That day, it also had Moira's luggage and suitcases resting around.

"Now, where did I put your present" Moira looked around as Valerie sat on the rocking chair allowing her aunt to move around the suitcases. "I couldn't have forgotten it, well, I could" the woman mumbled, opening an old brown weathered down suitcase where a gift bag was kept above the clothes. Aunt Moira let out a gasp of joy lifting it from the ground to hand the bag to her niece who hadn't taken her eyes away from her, the adult handed her the gift.

Valerie took the bag carefully knowing there was no way of telling what her aunt had bought for her. Careful, she put her hand inside until she pulled a box out, the box was colored white, with golden details all around it, Valerie held it in awe noticing how it seemed to decorated with small jewels and showed butterflies and flowers all around it, she opened slowly, under her aunt's curious eyes, revealing a small dragon and a small necklace with a key inside, and an already worn out mirror on the back of the box.

Excited, Valerie searched for a keyhole where to put the necklace, and soon, the room was filled with music. The dragon, whose eyes were shown as two small rubies circled at the rhythm of the music.

"Amazing what you can find in Austria" the woman not missing the expression of pure glee on her niece's face.

"It's beautiful!" Valerie commented still in awe.

"I walked into your bedroom once, and figured I could bring you something where to put all those bracelets and necklaces that you have all over your vanity." Aunt Moira smiled "You still haven't taken everything out, though" upon her words, Valerie opened her eyes wide in surprise looking into the gift bag, finding a second article, smaller this time. The outside seemed to have a snapdragon in a worn-out golden color, over dark blue ceramic, the other side only had the same golden color on its corners. Valerie had open it to realize it was a pocket mirror.

"I can't believe this" Valerie said looking at it up and down and staring at her reflection, the mirror inside looked as if it was brand new. Moira didn't have to ask to know the teen had enjoyed all her presents, muttering a quick apology the teen rushed upstairs to put the gifts on her vanity.

"Now" the woman said when the teenager stepped back into the living room. "We still need to discuss that camping trip you and your friends are having," Moira began, crossing her legs waiting until the teenager sat down.

"I thought I already had permission," Valerie hesitated, sitting on the couch.

"You do, however I need to know at what time are you planning to return, and who will pick you up after your competition" Moira questioned.

"Well, Gabriel is picking me up after he picks up Jonathan and Audrey, we will probably return before noon tomorrow"

"Are you sure you will be safe?" Moira inquired, this set Valerie aback for a second. Most of the time her aunt didn't ask anything about reasons and only grounded her when she saw fit, which wasn't very often since most of Valerie's misdoings were dismissed as 'not a big deal' or 'things of the youth'.

"Yes, everything will be alright aunt, don't worry."

Only then, Valerie noticed how tense her aunt's shoulders were, but any comment about it was prevented due to a knocking on the door. Moira left the room for a few seconds returning with enough food for them both.

They held a peaceful conversation afterwards, forgetting about Moira's previous interrogation. Valerie listened attentive as the woman told her about how she nearly missed her flight and in return, the woman listened to everything that had happened during the week she had been gone.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Valerie's ears were filled by Jonathan and her aunt's cheers of support as she removed her helmet congratulating her opponent for being a good fighter. The marker stood 15-8 in her favor. She leaned to shake the girl's hand watching the other girl put up a tensed smile. Turning her back on her almost as soon as possible, there were no signs of effort on Valerie as she approached her coach who had to get her ready for her next fight.

"One more Valerie, one more fight and you get to the next stage. You've got this" Valerie awkwardly nodded to the man's enthusiasm as she put her helmet back on, her opponent seemed to be a couple centimeters taller than her. Not that it should make much of a difference.

There was a loud sign, and Valerie was the first one to rush to her opponent, her feet moving fast, giving her the right of way and enough advantage to slash the sabre across her chest giving her the first point. She sighed, both girls returning to the positions, allowed to attack each other again, this time, Valerie rushed backwards trying to stop the girl from getting a point out of her which worked the opposite way.

The girls, then, rushed to each other, both of their swords touching each other at nearly the same time, yet, Valerie was the one to earn the point. Valerie looked at the girl up and down a second time, deciding she would jump backwards again, the sound that indicated they now could attack resonated in her ears and it took a second for Valerie to adjust herself, it was enough for the girl to get another point.

When the fight was over Valerie removed her helmet and went to congratulate her rival who was now heading for the regional competition. She didn't need to see the score to know she had been beaten, 15-14 with the other girl getting the final point. Valerie smiled at her.

"You nearly had me," the girl admitted, removing her own helmet she had honey eyes, tanned skin. "It was fun, we should do it again sometime," the girl said, smiling proud. Valerie nodded shaking her hand congratulating her for her victory before returning to where her coach was waiting for her.

Somehow, it was nearly amusing to Valerie when people from her same school lost, because her coach's face contorted almost entirely, his mouth twisted, and his eyebrows nearly touched each other of how furrowed they were. This time there was no sign of any of that when Valerie approached him, just a plain roll of the eyes and a loud sigh as he withdrew held her sabre while she removed her gloves.

"I've been training you for years Pendleton," he stated, back when she had started attending the class there was another Valerie, so the coach thought it would be better to call her Pendleton, by the time the other Valerie withdrew herself from the sport, her last name was far too ingrained in the man's mind for him to conceal the idea of calling her anything else "And I still don't see your problem."

"My problem?" Valerie questioned tilting her head, sounding offended.

"Yes, your problem" He stated simple "I've gone against you, I've seen you fight students who were older than you, and you held up to their level. But whenever there is a competition, a show or anything like that is like you tone it down. It's not fear of the crowds, I've worked on this too many years to identify it upon sight. So please, light me up, what is it? Because if you don't have the economic resources to afford going to competitions somewhere else, the school can manage"

Valerie shrugged her shoulders "Maybe I'm just not as good as you think."

This time, the teacher wrinkled his nose "Well, that is a terrible mindset to have. It doesn't matter how good I think or know you are, what matters is how you feel when going up there." The man reasoned and gave the girl a pat on the back "Oh, well, not point crying over it now. We'll figure out what happened next class, you did great despite, you know" He made a vague gesture with the hand. "I'll see you on Monday, Pendleton"

Valerie nodded walking to where she kept her bag where she would put her equipment.

After changing, she walked outside noticing how Gabriel and Jonathan were waiting for her talking amongst each other. Her aunt stood over them waiting for her, hiding the blush on her face she put the loose hair behind her ear and walked to them adjusting the bag tightly over her shoulder.

"Hey Ree!" Jon was the first to notice her presence. "That was great! Such a shame you didn't make it to the next stage" He walked to her taking her bag off her shoulder and ruffling her hair before putting one hand over her shoulder.

"It was awesome," Gabriel congratulated, giving her a path on the shoulder, Valerie blushed under the contact. "You were so fast it was nearly unbelievable. I couldn't keep up with you and the other girls," he began walking ahead. Jon waited for her until she rushed to follow Gabriel.

"Yeah" she mumbled "Fighting with saber is quite fast" Valerie cursed herself inwardly for the choice of words. Moira laughed amused.

"I see that" he smiled. Inside, Valerie felt her heart beat faster trying to remind herself to tell her aunt no to laugh at her when she was in front of the boy she liked.

"I will take Valerie home," Aunt Moira said, "She needs to get ready before she can leave. I trust you will be there to pick her up Jonathan". Jonathan nodded muttering a soft, 'Yes, Madam' before following Gabriel to his car.

"See you later, milady" Jon smiled making a small horribly made vow towards Valerie.

"Idiot" she mumbled getting into her aunt's car, looking at Gabriel starting his own car's engine out of the corner of her eye.

AN.
After it was adviced to me I decided to turn chapter 1 into two parts, so, I hope you guys like it and if you'd like to, please consider giving this story a vote or a comment, thank you and have a lovely day!