AMSL Ch: 6

“Luke…. Luke…. Luke,” A hauntingly cheerful voice grew louder the longer he ignored it. “Mom says it’s time to get up.”

Cracking a single eye open, Luke peeked at his smiling sister standing over him before grunting and turning over to hide his face.

Not one to be ignored, Hailee ran around his new bed, only pausing a second to glance at the framed picture of Luke holding her as a baby, sitting on his nightstand next to a digital clock that read 7:24 am.

“Come on, we have that thing at school,” she grabbed his arm and tried pulling him out from underneath his sheets.

“It’s a placement test,” Luke groaned as he allowed himself to be tugged halfway out of his bed.

“Were you up late training again?” Hailee let go of him to place her hands on her hips, imitating their mother.

“Maybe,” Luke yawned as he sat up. Hailee hit the nail on the head with one swing; he had stayed up late training. It had been a few weeks since they moved in, and things were finally starting to calm down around the Walker house. Luke had all the opportunities in the world to catch up on his sleep, but he'd promised himself he'd get stronger, and there were only so many hours in the day.

Hailee rolled her eyes before turning away from him. She grabbed the black marker on his desk and put an X through the 19th on his calendar hanging on the wall.

“You know, I can’t get ready with you still in here,” Luke mirthfully reminded his sister.

“You’re not going back to sleep again, are you?” Hailee’s eyes narrowed dangerously, her hands twitching, ready to use her telekinesis to forcefully remove him if needed. She had grown wise to his usual tricks.

“Not today,” Luke snickered. He would love nothing more than to lie back down and enjoy his fluffy new mattress, but his little sister was right; it was time for him to get up.

Luke's reassurance was enough to placate Hailee. “Okay, see you downstairs. Mom’s making breakfast," she yelled as she rushed out of his room, pausing momentarily to shut his door behind her.

Luke could only shake his head and smile as he heard his little sister run down the stairs towards the kitchen. Where she found the energy to be this excited about school this early in the morning was anybody's guess.

Throwing the rest of his covers off, Luke leaped out of bed and started his morning stretching routine. As he limbered up, he smiled at his beige walls and the lack of floral wallpaper everywhere.

He and his family had been busy the last fifteen days. Not a single sheet of wallpaper was left in the entire house, and it looked a lot better because of it. They hadn’t even waited a full day after moving in before tearing the stuff off the walls, and their work showed.

Much like Luke, the Walkers could've taken their time to settle in, but it made more sense to start working on the house while it was mostly empty. That, and they didn't have a couch to relax on or a TV to distract them.

It took them three days to strip the place clean and another two to patch the walls and paint everything. By then, Luke's father had met with his new employers and got the keys to his company car, so they were no longer limited to Little Winging.

While getting dressed, Luke looked out his window at the dark green car in their driveway. It was a slightly used 1990 Ford Rover, small by American standards, but a car was a car. His parents still hadn’t found one for his mom yet, but that wasn’t a big deal because they now had time to look.

Things were starting to calm down— Mostly. Technically, Luke didn’t need to practice his abilities at night anymore, though he still did.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Luke opened his wardrobe and grabbed his single grey windbreaker hanging up. The temperature had dropped significantly since they arrived in London, making it almost seem like night and day by comparison. The news said it was supposed to heat up again over the following week, but nothing like when they touched down at the airport.

With a quick wave of his hand, Luke used his telekinesis to smooth out his short brownish/dirty-blond hair before opening his bedroom door to the smell of bacon and pancakes wafting up from downstairs. His stomach rumbled; it smelled so good that Luke had to physically hold himself back from rushing down like his sister had— He still moved fast, though.

“Well, well, well, look who’s up,” his father’s teasing voice came out from behind a newspaper as Luke passed the broom closet underneath the stairs and turned into the kitchen. “Sleep well?” Raymond lovingly teased his son as he entered.

"I was until someone woke me up," Luke playfully stuck his tongue out at his sister, sitting next to their dad at the kitchen table. She tried to do the same but couldn't because her mouth was stuffed to the brim with pancakes and bacon.

It was nice to have furniture again, Luke noted as he sat on the other side of his father across from his sister. Eating meals on the floor was interesting the first few days but quickly grew old for all of them.

“Don’t blame your sister,” Luke’s mother said from in front of the stove, where she was making a fresh stack of pancakes for him. “I sent her to make sure you were up. You’ve been sleeping in more these days,” she noted with a hint of concern.

“Just getting used to my new bed,” Luke lied while smiling reassuringly at his mother.

“Won’t be able to do that for much longer," Luke's father said as he folded the newspaper and passed it to him. “You guys are starting school in a few weeks. Nervous about the placement test?”

“Hardly,” Luke huffed as he browsed the headlines on the paper's front page. He might not know how they did things here in England, but he was confident he'd be placed in the English version of the fifth grade. After all, his previous school had suggested he move up a grade, but he’d chosen not to.

Regarding school, Luke preferred to take things easy and enjoy himself. He would do the same here if they suggested as much, but only now did he have a proper excuse besides saying he didn't want to be the youngest in his class like his sister.

Luke knew that people here spelled certain words differently, and their history class would focus on different subjects. Both were good excuses for not skipping a grade if he tested too high.

“What about you, Hails?" Their father turned his attention to Luke's sister.

“Mmmm,” she tried to answer with her mouth full but quickly caught herself before Shannon could correct her. "I'm going to ace anything they give me,” she proclaimed after swallowing her food. “Wait, do they grade the same way here?”

“Huh, that’s a good question?” Raymond rubbed at his stubble. He’d let his facial hair grow out over the last two weeks but would need to shave it soon before he started work in a few days.

“I guess that’s something we’ll need to ask once we reach your school,” Shannon noted as she placed a steaming stack of pancakes in front of Luke.

"Thanks, Mom." Not holding back, he dug into his breakfast with a fever that could only be quelled by syrupy goodness.

While he ate, Luke divided his attention between the newspaper in front of him and his family sitting around the table. The Gulf War had just started and was quickly picking up speed, so most of the headlines were about that. Luke still couldn't believe he had forgotten about such a thing; it just went to show that his memory wasn’t infallible.

Contradictory to the grim news, Luke’s family all wore smiles as they sat around the kitchen table. While the world was gearing up for another conflict, the Walkers were busy building their new life in Little Winging. They were so busy moving and settling in that Luke and his parents hadn't heard about what was happening in Iraq until a few days ago, days after it had started.

It had been one thing after another for the Walker family. Prepping and painting the inside of their house took them five days. After that, they took their first trip to London, the first of many. The family did so much in such a short amount of time that Luke still wasn’t sure how they completed everything in the time that they did.

Since moving, everyone in the family, including Hailee, had to open new bank accounts at the second largest bank in the UK, Barclays. Luke's parents had to get new driver's licenses. They visited multiple furniture stores until they ordered everything they needed.

Shannon scheduled today's meeting at their new school. The familiy’s boxes arrived, and they had to visit the post office to register their new address.

As if all that wasn't enough, Hailee and Luke had already visited Mrs. Figg and her cats twice. Hailee loved playing with the fascinating felines, and Luke enjoyed observing the mysterious creatures.

They were all so busy, but none more so than Luke. Again, he could've put off his training until everything was settled, but it was that attitude in the first place that kept him from pushing himself these last few years. That's why, even though he was tired almost every night these past two weeks, Luke still took the time to practice his energy control.

His dedication paid off. The grueling schedule fueled his growth, and thanks to his new way of tracking his progress, he could see his progress in real-time.

Luke always had the idea to quantify his powers floating around in the back of his head, but until now, he'd never taken the time to flush it out. However, since his goal was to push himself, Luke could no longer practice willy-nilly and feel good about it. So, over the past few weeks, Luke did what he always planned to do and quantified his powers. It wasn’t an exact science by any means, but at least this way, Luke could track his progress better.

The system he devised was relatively straightforward. His overall energy levels weren’t important. As Luke grew older and used his abilities, his inner fire grew stronger, producing more chaotic energy to draw upon. For all intents and purposes, it was basically infinite.

Sure, Luke grew tired and felt general fatigue if he channeled too much energy for too long, but other than that, the real bottleneck for his abilities was how much energy he could concentrate at once while maintaining control over it. So, Luke ignored trying to quantify how much energy he had in total and instead focused on measuring how much he could contain in his limbs, which came with its own set of difficulties.

First, Luke had to decide what initial value he would use to measure his energy. Since specific numbers were impossible, he turned to percentages instead, using the amount of energy that naturally flowed through his limbs as the standard for his calculations.

In just over two weeks, Luke learned he could concentrate 5.6 times the energy he usually had in his hands and hold it for 77 seconds— an increase of five seconds and an overall improvement of 6%. It was good progress, considering how much he'd practiced lately.

Luke's hands weren't the only thing he trained; he'd also improved his energy control in his feet. Luke could now safely hold 3.3 times the energy there without losing control for 49 seconds. But the most significant improvement was his new ability to move stuff with his feet by making kicking gestures. It wasn't as good or nearly as controlled as using his hands, but it was something.

Sadly, compared to his hands and feet, Luke's progress with his head was less impressive. He could only hold 1.85 times the energy there for a measly thirteen seconds before feeling like his head would explode. He even gave himself a nosebleed one night when he pushed himself too hard. One day, he would be able to levitate things with his eyes or tongue, but that wouldn't be possible for a long, long time.

On a brighter note, it wasn't just his energy control that Luke tested. After quantifying how much energy he could concentrate in his various limbs, Luke tested precisely how much weight he could move.

The amount he could move directly correlated to how much energy he could harness. If Luke used his hands, he could levitate up to 98 pounds at once, so long as the weight wasn't spread out over a few feet.

By comparison, Luke could only move objects up to 43 pounds with his feet, and only as long as it was in a pulling or pushing motion. It was nothing complicated, but he was still working on that. Luke still couldn't force jump or slow his descent with his telekinesis like he wanted to, but at the rate that he was improving, it shouldn’t be long until he made a breakthrough. At least— Luke hoped so.

Luke only weighed 76 pounds, so technically, he should be able to lift himself with his telekinesis. However, his energy faced resistance when used on living things, including Luke himself. It was generally three times harder to lift a living object than it was to lift something that wasn’t, so by that logic, he’d need to more than double his current abilities if he wanted to float.

Luke shouldn’t need to go that far if his goal was to jump higher or fall slower; still, it was proving trickier than he thought. He felt as if he was missing a key component, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out.

"Why the long face, Son?" Raymond called out to him when he noticed his growing frustration, pulling Luke from his thoughts of training.

“The news,” Luke quickly came up with an excuse, frowning at the paper, as he couldn't say his Jedi training was giving him trouble.

Luke's father nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean; when will the world learn to get their shit together?”

“Raymond, language!” Shannon scolded her husband for swearing in front of the kids.

“Sorry, Honey," Luke's father apologized, looking adequately chastised.

“We should talk about something more uplifting,” she suggested.

“Like what?” Luke asked, pulling his mother's attention away from his father.

“Well, how are you feeling about school? Think you’ll finally make a friend?” Shannon smiled suggestingly at her son.

"Probably not." Luke did his best not to roll his eyes, as that would get him in trouble.

"I don't know," she pressed; her son's lack of enthusiasm didn't deter her in the slightest. "Mabe, you'll find someone you’ll get along with." Her face suddenly lit up like she had an idea. "I know; why don't you ask your sister to help you find a friend?" Shannon smiled playfully. “Think you can help your brother, Hailee?”

“Oh, please, no," Luke buried his face in his hands just as his sister perked up in her chair.

"Sure," Hailee chirped happily. "Leave it up to me."

"I will," Luke's mother nodded sagely as if assigning Hailee an important mission.

“God, help me," Luke grumbled exaggeratingly, causing the rest of the table to burst into laughter, which he soon joined in on.

Luke's mother may tease him about only hanging out with his little sister, but she’d never actually force him to befriend anyone. Though, that didn't stop Shannon from trying.

“Are the two of you almost finished eating?” She asked Luke and Hailee once their plates were nearly empty. “Our appointment is at nine, but I'm sure we'll make a better impression if we arrive early."

“That’s your mother’s way of saying hurry up,” Raymond laughed.

Nodding along, Luke shoveled his last strip of bacon into his mouth before picking up his plate and placing it into the kitchen sink. He then ran back upstairs, followed closely by his sister. The two brushed their teeth and made last-minute adjustments to their outfits. Once both were happy with their appearances, they went back down together, meeting their parents at the bottom of the stairs by the front door.

The family made idle chatter as they crawled into their father’s car. Luke and Hailee only paused briefly to wave at Mr. Tibbles, who was lounging on a patio chair on Mrs. Figgs's front porch.

The large cat loved to sunbathe in the same spot every morning; Luke was sure it was just a coincidence that that particular spot offered the best view of the entire street.

In the right light, Mr. Tibbles almost looked like a sphinx guarding a tomb and had the attitude to match. Only instead of riddles, he demanded scratches from everyone who wanted to pass— A fair trade, in Luke's opinion.

Luke had grown much more relaxed around Mrs. Figgs's cats over the past two weeks. He still felt as if they were watching him and his family now and again, but Hailee assured him it was just them being protective and that they weren’t hostile in any way.

He still had a few reservations about them, but they were mostly about what the cats represented rather than about the cats themselves.

Since meeting Mr. Tibbles and realizing that animals could have an inner fire, too, Luke has second-guessed every creature he encounters. He double and sometimes triple-checked every animal he saw, though nothing yet had come from his new paranoia, which just made things worse.

He was dying to know what was so special about Mrs. Figg’s cats, so much so that he briefly considered asking the slipper-wearing woman on more than one occasion. Luke never did, of course, but the thought was there.

Letting out a quiet sigh—something he was doing a lot more these days—Luke put the cat issue behind him and relaxed in his seat as his father drove them to their new school.

St. Grogory's Primary School was only a fifteen-minute walk from their house, and it took less than half that to drive to it.

Like all the houses around it, the school was brick and mortar. It was still summer vacation, so there were almost no cars in the parking lot, making it easy for them to find a spot.

As he exited the car, Luke’s first impression was that it looked like any other school and was nothing special. The central part of the building was one big rectangle with smaller additions connected to its base. Luke could see the school's playground from where they were, noting the old-timey metal playground equipment and the few trees dotting  it’s surroundings. If anything, St. Grogory's Primary School looked bland and lifeless without any kids around.

While Luke was critiquing the school in his head, his mother did her best to keep Hailee from running around. Hailee's eyes darted over every inch of the building, looking at it all with barely contained excitement. Luke gave it a week before she befriended most of the school.

“Well, let's head in,” Luke’s mother took the lead, tightly holding onto Hailee's hand.

The Walkers walked through the front doors of the primary school, and for a second, Luke felt as if he were teleported back to their old school in Tacoma. Generic school posters cluttered the walls, a bright contrast against the bland linoleum floor.

To the left, a sign that said administration was hanging above a door propped open with a small metal chair, the kind common in a child's classroom. Luke could sense the smoldering embers of three people inside, two just inside the entrance and another further back.

“Hello, how may I help you?" As they entered, a librarian-esk woman in a blouse with her hair down asked them from behind a desk.

“Morning,” Luke’s mother cheerfully greeted in return. “My name is Shannon Walker. I stopped by a few days ago to schedule my kids for a placement test and enroll them.”

“Let’s see what we have here,” the woman started to leaf through a planner on her desk. “Ah, yes, the Walkers. Right here. You’re a little early, but let’s see if we can get you two in. Sydney?” The woman helping them turned around and addressed the only other woman in the room, who was sitting behind a separate desk.

“Yes, Agnes?” The woman named Sydney looked up from her administrative work.

“We have a couple of kids transferring in. Can you inform the headmistress while I get their paperwork started?”

“I can do that.” She agreed to help. Sydney stood up and walked into a nearby office. Luke couldn't hear what was being said, but he could hear her talking to the third person he sensed.

“If you can, please start filling these forms out,” Agnes said, handing Luke's mother a small stack of paper. They were your standard acceptance forms, requiring general information about Luke and Hailee, such as their addresses, birthdays, and emergency contact information.

Shannon passed Hailee’s form to Raymond while she worked on Luke's. They were roughly halfway through them when the second secretary came back, trailed by a third woman in an emerald dress suit who radiated authority.

“Good morning,” the school's headmistress greeted the Walkers with a refined English accent. “My name is Headmistress Roemmele,” she introduced herself as she smoothed a crease in her long skirt before offering her hand to Luke's parents.

“Pleasure,” Luke’s mom reciprocated her greeting with a smile, gently shaking her hand.

“Thank you for seeing us,” Luke’s father added once it was his turn to shake the headmistress’ hand.

“Oh, believe me, the pleasure is all mine,” she beamed at Luke’s parents. “I've been headmistress here for seven years now, and this is the first time we've had children from America join us."

“I hope that won’t be a problem?” Shannon fretfully asked.

“No, no, not at all,” Headmistress Roemmele assured Luke's mother with an administrative smile. "They'll need time to adjust, but I'm confident they'll fit right in. We’ve had children come in from all over the EU, some of whom could barely speak English, and most of them have done just fine.”

That was enough to put Shannon at ease, but Luke didn’t miss what the headmistress did there. She said most of them, meaning some foreign exchange students, couldn't handle the change and likely were forced to drop out or were currently struggling. Worse, she didn't look bothered by it in the least.

“We’ll know more after they take their placement tests,” Headmistress Roemmele explained diplomatically.

“And these tests are necessary?” Luke’s father asked.

“Indeed,” Roemmele nodded. “It wouldn't be necessary if they were coming from anywhere else in Great Britain. But because schooling can differ wildly between nations, I fear it's a necessary evil. Don’t worry; no matter what, your children will be admitted for the following term; our test will just make sure they're placed where they belong.”

“If that is okay with you, shall we proceed? Are the two of you ready?” The headmistress addressed Luke and Hailee directly for the first time since walking out of her office.

“Let’s do this!" Hailee shouted, pumping her fist in the air, surprising Roemmele and the two secretaries.

“Why— Aren’t you an excited one,” Headmistress Roemmele forcefully smiled.

Hailee must have sensed the true emotions behind that fake smile because she blushed in embarrassment before sinking in on herself. Luke wanted to remind his sister that she should never be ashamed of who she was but figured now wasn't the best time with Roemmele staring at them.

“We’re sorry,” their mother apologized on Hailee’s behalf. “She can be quite enthusiastic.”

“That’s a good thing,” Headmistress Roemmele waved off his mother’s concern, but Luke didn't miss how she looked at Hailee. It was the same look all teachers had when faced with an energetic child. She was weighing the pros and cons of having Hailee in her school, trying to determine if she would be a problem in the future.

It didn't matter why she was judging Hailee; if she didn’t cut it out, she'd have a problem now. Luke gnashed his teeth as he stepped forward with his hand outstretched. “Luke Walker,” he introduced himself, forcefully pulling the headmistress’ attention away from his sister.

Blind to Luke’s motivations, Roemmele accepted his gesture as a show of good faith. “Well met, young man,” she praised, but it sounded hollow to Luke's ears.

Luke wanted to squeeze her hand with all his might, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything. Instead, he chose to move the conversation along: "So, the test?"

"Yes, I suppose we should get a move on," she agreed. "As for the tests you two will be taking, they're slightly different than what I'm sure you are used to. There is no passing or failing," Roemmele explained to Luke and his sister. "If you don't know the answer to a question, we ask that you leave it blank. On the other hand, if you think you know the answer, you should answer like any other test."

"Why?" Hailee asked for further clarification, this time in a much more reserved tone of voice, to Headmistress Roemmele's delight.

"Our staff will review your answers, not just to grade them, but to see what you know or what you think you know. Leaving a question blank means you haven't been taught that subject yet, while a wrong answer might indicate you have been, but remember it wrong."

"Then couldn't people just leave everything blank?" Luke asked.

"Yes and no," Roemmele answered with a straight face. "Each of your tests will reflect your age group. It'll make sense you won't know everything, but we expect you to know enough to answer at least half the questions."

"Sounds easy enough," Luke noted.

"It's supposed to be," Headmistress Roemmele offered the two of them a small, encouraging smile that felt more calculating than anything else. Hailee forcefully smiled back, doing her best to change the headmistress' opinion of her. Luke didn't bother.

"Now," Headmistress Roemmele said, again turning her attention to Luke's parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Walker, I'll be escorting your children into a separate room where they'll take their respective tests. It shouldn't take much more than an hour. In the meantime, please finish filling out the paperwork and take a look at our school's handbook. Inside, you'll find everything you need about the supplies they'll need and what's expected of you as parents."

"We'll do that," Luke's father said, lovingly placing a hand on his wife's shoulders before smiling at his kids.

"Excellent. Children, please follow me." Headmistress Roemmele left the office without pausing to check if Luke and Hailee were following her.

"Do your best," Shannon shouted words of encouragement as they scampered after her.

Just as they did most things, Luke and Hailee followed after Roemmele, side by side. She led them out of the administrative area and down the main hallway. As they walked, she had at least the courtesy to point out the various classrooms they passed and where they were likely to be placed.

St. Grogory's Primary School was four stories tall. The bottom floor contained the cafeteria/gym, the teacher's breakroom, and the British equivalent of kindergarten, commonly referred to as first-year students. The second floor, where they were heading, had classrooms for second-years and third-years, while the third floor was dedicated to fourth and fifth-years. The top floor was solely for sixth-year students.

The headmistress told Luke that he would be testing into the sixth-years, while Hailee would do the same for fourth-years. Luke's birthday was March 3rd, having turned ten this year. Hailee's birthday was December 12th; because of how their birthdays lined up, even though they were roughly three years apart in age, Hailee was only two years behind Luke in school.

"We'll be right in here," Headmistress Roemmele directed them into a nearby classroom after they walked up a single flight of stairs.

The room didn't have your typical classroom vibe, leading Luke to correctly guess that it was a spare classroom they used to store spare equipment. This made sense, seeing how everything was carelessly arranged.

Luke and Hailee took seats at the desks closest to the front of the room while Roemmele slowly walked to one of the many filing cabinets lining the far wall, where she retrieved their tests.

The headmistress handed them their packets and a standard yellow #2 pencil before directing them to begin. "Take your time and read over every question carefully. Remember, if you don't know the answer, you can skip it. You may begin."

The first thing Luke did was flip his test over to see how many questions there were. The test was three pages long, front to back, and the last question on the backside of the last page was #100.

Turning his test back over, Luke eyed Hailee out of the corner of his eye. Her head was down, and she was already through the first three questions of her test, working on the fourth.

At the front of the classroom, Headmistress Roemmele was sitting behind a spare teacher's desk with nothing on it. She was watching them like a hawk, but she didn't say anything about Luke's eyes wandering. They had different tests, so it wasn't like they could cheat off one another.

Deciding to start, Luke read through the first question and almost asked if he was given the correct test. It was a math problem: What was 276 times 79….

These weren't multiple-choice questions, meaning they couldn't guess, not that Luke needed to. He worked out the correct answer effortlessly, showing his work in the space provided and circling his answer of 21,804.

The following questions were just as easy. They covered math basics: adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division. One question was on decimals, and another was on fractions, but both were comically easy to Luke.

Luke blazed through all twenty-five math problems at a frightening speed. He wasn't worried about appearing smarter when it came to math because he'd always shown an above-average intelligence in the subject.

The following twenty-five questions were slightly harder. They had to deal with science, and Luke wasn't ashamed to admit he left a few of them blank.

The second half of the test was English and History. Luke felt he did rather well in the reading and writing sections, but when it came to history, he could only sigh and hang his head in defeat. He had been right; when it came to history, schools here in the UK focused on different things than in the US.

He could answer some of the questions and made a few educated guesses on others, but he ultimately left more than half of the social studies questions blank.

"Finished already?" Headmistress Roemmele asked from the front of the room when she saw Luke put his pencil down. "Do you need to check your work?"

"I think I'm good," Luke answered confidently. He was sure he got the majority of the questions he answered right. Returning to his work now would only lead to him second-guessing himself on the things he wasn't as confident with.

"Very, well then," Roemmele said as she got up and collected Luke's test. The clock on the wall read 9:37. When he started, it was 8:42. Luke had completed his test in under an hour. And judging by how Hailee was halfway through the last page, it wouldn't be long before she finished either.

Six minutes later, Hailee put down her pencil, sporting a wide smile. Headmistress Roemmele collected her test and promptly led them both back downstairs to the front office. On their way, Luke caught her scanning his and Hailee's tests, and they must've done well because Roemmele was noticeably more cheerful toward them after doing so.

"How was it?" Luke's father didn't even wait for them to walk through the door fully before asking them how they did.

"I know I did great," Hailee grinned, holding up a peace sign.

"That's my girl," Raymond walked over and hugged his daughter.

"What about you, Dear," Shannon asked Luke, noticing his conflicted look.

"Honestly, it was harder than I expected," he admitted.

"Was it that hard?" Shannon asked, concern marring her normally beautiful face.

"Some of it. I know I aced the math section, and I think I did okay on the science and English parts, but I left most of the history questions blank," Luke told his mother.

"But you love history?" Shannon was confused. To her, Luke loved watching the news and had always done well in the subject.

"I do, but most of the questions were about European history. I knew a few things, but not a lot."

"That's quite normal," Headmistress Roemmele forcefully inserted herself into their conversation. "It's the same with every student who moves here from out of the country. I'm sure you do not need to worry; from first glance, your children did exemplary."

"When will we know how well they did?" Luke's father asked the headmistress.

"It'll take a few days for us to review your children's answers, but it shouldn't take more than that. You'll receive a letter in the mail with their results along with the uniforms you ordered."

"We get uniforms, like in the movies?!" Hailee excitedly asked.

Headmistress Roemmele wasn't surprised by her outburst this time and looked slightly more accommodating. In fact, after glancing at his sister's test, Luke noticed a shift in how Roemmele viewed Hailee. She probably recognized Hailee's brilliance and was willing to look past her loud exterior because of it.

"You do; we paid for them just a minute ago," their mother patiently explained.

"I can't wait!" Hailee started to shift her weight back and forth excitingly. She was having trouble containing herself and would almost certainly demand a duel from Luke when they got home.

"And we can't wait to have you," Headmistress Roemmele smiled professionally. Only Hailee and Luke noticed the glean in her eye. Luke spotted it because he was looking for it, but Hailee could sense her emotions.

"Ready to head home?" Shannon asked her kids. "It's looking like a nice day. I'm thinking we can have lunch in the backyard. We can plan a trip into the city and see the sights before you two start school and your father goes back to work. How does that sound?"

"Yes!" Hailee answered for the both of them. She was excited about the trip but mainly wanted to get away from Headmistress Roemmele.

"If you're planning on taking a trip into London and like history, might I recommend the British Museum?" Headmistress Roemmele did her best to appear friendly in front of Luke's parents. "It's over 230 years old and has exhibits from around the world."

"That sounds fun." On principle, Luke didn't want to agree with her, but that was actually a good recommendation on her part. Hailee didn't look as convinced, but she would agree to anything to leave right now. "I bet they have an exhibition on swords," Luke playfully suggested to his sister, knowing how she would react.

Hailee's eyes immediately lit up. "Let's go!"

Their father chuckled at Hailee's excitement regarding all things sharp and pointy. "I guess we know where we're going."

"I think you'll enjoy it," Headmistress Roemmele assured them. "I look forward to seeing such bright and energetic children in school in a couple of weeks. Did Agnes or Sydney give you a school calendar yet?"

"They did," Luke's mother held up a sheet of paper.

"That's good. We do things a little differently than in America. Mrs. Walker, Mr. Walker, children, I hope you have a pleasant day." Headmistress Roemmele offered them one final polite smile before turning and returning to her office.

Luke and his family left St. Grogory's Primary School a few minutes later. While the parents chatted in the front seat of their car, Hailee and Luke whispered to each other in the back.

"What do you think?" Luke asked his sister.

"She didn't like us until we returned to the office," Hailee confirmed Luke's suspicions about their new principal. "After that, she felt weird. I don't know how to describe it. It was like she still didn't like us, but at the same time, did."

To Luke, it sounded like Headmistress Roemmele wanted to use them for something; for what, he could only imagine. Luke told his sister his suspicions, and the two agreed that it would be best to avoid Headmistress Roemmele until they figured out what she wanted with them.

One thing was for sure: things would be interesting this year. Luke just hoped it wasn't too interesting and wouldn't overly affect Hailee. He only had to spend a single year at St. Gregory's before transferring to secondary school, but Hailee would be there for a lot longer than that.

Luke kept that in mind as he enjoyed his last two weeks of summer vacation with his family. They enjoyed the museum together, and Raymond went back to work. Luke helped his mom with the front and back yard, and in his spare time, he continued his training.

Luke stopped staying up late, but thanks to his open schedule, it didn't impact his training. He wanted to be ready for whatever British school and Headmistress Roemmele could throw at him.

Luke didn't know it then, but Headmistress Roemmele would be the least of his problems, and there would be no going back.

-X-X-X-

Author's Comments:

With this, we're done with the prolog's prologue. Could I've just have started at this point? Yes, but these first few chapters helped set the scene and introduce my original characters far better than if I started on Luke's first day of British school.

A funny thing I feel I should mention, originally, I came up with my own original headmaster. Roemmele was going to be an Irish man with a different name, I even had this chapter completed with that as the base. It wasn’t until halfway through writing the next chapter it occurred to me to check, and low and behold, Headmistress’ Roemmele’s name showed up somewhere at some point making her cannon, so I had to rework everything.

What do you guys think? Tell me below, and thanks for reading.