Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Three, Chapter Two ( Chapter 21 )

Ranma Onehalf: First steps Book Three.

Chapter Two.

The morning sun was beginning to slant into the yard over the wall as Lia and Matoko stepped out of the mud room and into the yard. Inside the Saotome home Ranma was setting out his and Akanes breakfast while Lia, Matoko, and Christian got ready for school.

Ranma sipped his tea and glanced up as Lia walked past and saw that something was amiss.

"Lia, tail." Ranma told her.

"Huh?" Lia asked as she looked behind her. "Arrrgh." she groaned.

Reaching behind her Lia undid the snaps on the back of her skirt and pulled her tail out of the tail hole.

"You know sometimes having a tail can be a real pain." Lia grumbled as she closed the snaps.

"Well, it is a curse." Ranma reminded Lia.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Lia sighed. "And we're running late of course." she added as she looked at the clock.

"Christian, you're gonna be late ! Get the lead out !" Ranma yelled upstairs.

"Okay !" Christian yelled.

Footsteps pounded across the ceiling to the top of the stairs. A few seconds later Christian came sliding down the banister and hopped off when he reached the bottom. Landing with a 'thump' he bolted across the room to hall.

"Bye mom, bye dad, see you when I get home!" Christian yelled as he ran by.

Ranma sipped his tea and winced at a crash from the end of the hall.

"I'm okay !" Christian called out.

Rolling her eyes Lia shook her head and stepped out into the hall with Matoko. "Bye Dad. See you when we get home." she said.

"See you when you get home." Akane called out.

Reaching the end of the hall Lia and Matoko found Christian finishing putting his shoes on. Stepping out of her slippers Lia pulled on her shoes and glanced at her brother.

"You know Christian, you need to learn a better way to stop other than running into the wall." she said, giving him a nudge.

"I did." Christian answered her. "I hit the door."

Lia and Matoko both chuckled at Christians comment at they pulled on their shoes. Getting up Lia grabbed her book bag and headed to the door.

"Lets go bro." she said as she stepped out the door.

Outside Christian walked ahead of his sisters, hopping on and off fences and practicing his punches and kicks on helpless trash cans and light posts while they talked. When they reached Onos clinic they parted ways as usual with Lia and Matoko continuing strait to Furinkan and Christian making a right turn.

Christian ran down the street until he came to another intersection. Making a left he slowed his pace and began to check for threats -and water. He had very quickly learned that his cursed form was considerably weaker and smaller and every kid who had lost a fight with him knew it.

So far he had only fought a couple of the older bullies at school but Christian knew it was only a matter of time before the other kids wised up and ganged up on him. He however wasn't going to give them the chance.

" I gotta be careful. Dad wouldn't let himself get ambushed, so I can't." Christian thought as he began to extend his senses.

Carefully but quickly Christian made his way down the street, alert for the slightest danger. So focused was he on the areas to the sides and behind him that he was caught completely by surprise when he ran into a brick wall.

"Oof!" Christian said as he landed on his rear. "Who put that wall there..." he asked as he looked up.

Christian was surprised to see instead of a brick wall a girl about his age lying on her rear rubbing her rear. She was a little shorter than him with her hair in pigtailed braids and a bandanna wrapped into a headband.

Her clothes were heavy, with a lot of pockets on them obviously full of stuff in them. She also had a backpack that an adult would carry, also filled to capacity.

Shaking her head the girl looked up and saw Christian getting to his feet. "Sorry about running into you." he said as he extended his hand to help her up. "But I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's okay." the girl said as she got to her feet. "I didn't know where I was going anyways."

"Huh?" Christian asked, puzzled by her response.

"I have a bad directional sense." the girl said. "It's not as bad as my fathers though. If I know the route I can get somewhere I can get there without getting lost." she added.

"Oh." Christian answered, not at all puzzled by the answer*. "Where you headed?" he asked.

"Kurikan Elementary School." the girl replied. "I just got enrolled there."

"I go there." Christian told her. "Can you follow people?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered.

"Good, you can follow me then." Christian said.

"Thank you." the girl said with a bow.

"You're welcome." Christian said as he returned the bow. "I'm Christian."

The girl blinked in surprise. "Well, I'm Buddhist." she answered.

"That's my name." he corrected her.

"Oh." the girl said. "Sorry. My name is Mamimi."

"It's okay." Christian said with a wave. "You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah." Mamimi answered as she hefted her pack.

Christian waited until Mamimi had her pack adjusted before starting off. As they walked he kept checking behind him to make sure she wasn't drifting off course.

"So you're new here." Christian said.

"Yeah. My parents decided that I needed regular education." Mamimi answered. "So when we did our last pass by my grandparents house they put me up there and enrolled me."

"You live with your grandparents?" Christian asked.

"Sorta." Mamimi answered.

"Sorta?"

Mamimi blushed. "They haven't came home yet." she admitted.

"Let me guess, they're from your dads side, right?" Christian asked.

"Uh -huh. My dad said they'd be back by the middle of winter." Mamimi answered.

"You're not worried?" Christian asked.

"No." Mamimi said with a shake of her head. "This is normal for my family. What about yours?" she asked.

Christian shrugged. "My mom and dad teach martial arts, and my sisters go to Furinkan high School." he said. "I'm gonna be like my dad and teach it."

"You're a martial artist?" Mamimi asked.

Christian nodded. "Yeah."

"Great ! I am too." she said with a grin. "You wanna spar after school?" she asked.

"Sure !" Christian answered.

At that instant Mamimi and Christian had been walking past a store with the owners apartment on top. The owners wife had just seen her children off to school and had sent her husband downstairs to begin his workday.

The night before had been hot and sticky, so they had kept the front windows open to catch the prevailing wind. The owners wife had also put her plants there to catch the morning sun as well and she had been walking over to them to water them when she caught her toe on a corner of the tatami matting.

The wife had managed to keep hold of the watering can, but the contents had went flying out the window and landed in the street. Right on top of Christian Saotome.

Flipping her bangs out of her eyes Christian looked down at herself. "Aw man, can't I get to school once without getting splashed?" she asked.

"You have a curse." Mamimi said from behind her.

Christians eyes bugged out and she turned around slowly to face Mamimi. But instead of shock or surprise Mamimi was standing there looking at Christian like it was the most normal thing in the world for people to change forms with water.

"Mamimi, I can explain..." Christian began.

"No need. My dad turns into a pig." mamimi interupted.

Christian blinked in surprise. "Your dad changes too?" he asked.

Mamimi nodded. "Yeah, he does. Yours does too?" she said.

"Yeah. My dad turns into a woman, and my mom turns into a man." Christian answered.

"So you inherited it." Mamimi said.

Christian shook his head. "No, I just got it. I somewhere where I wasn't supposed to be and there was an accident."

"Oh." Mamimi said with a nod.

Christian scratched the back of his head. "And my sister Lia got cursed too. She turns into a catgirl." he said as he started forward again.

"Wow. You have a neat family." Mamimi said as she fell in behind him.

"I know. If I tell you about mine will you tell me about yours?" Christian asked.

"Sure." Mamimi answered.

______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________

Lia and Matoko had made it to Furinkan and were now heading to their classroom. Lia hadn't been attacked by a mob of boys, largely due to the fact that the last mob had ended up with a month of bathroom duty and a new haircut.

That, and Lia had let it be known next time she would be using her claws on them rather than their clothes. Unfortunately the hentai weren't the only threat on their way to the classroom.

Passing a bulletin board Lia glanced over at it and stopped cold.

"You've got to be kidding me." she said.

"Huh?" Matoko asked as she glanced at the board. "What is it?"

"This." Lia said, pointing to a poster on it.

"A petition to have you become the official model for the Fashion and Cosplay clubs?" Matoko asked.

"Remind me to maul them severely for this." Lia told Matoko.

"They certainly are tenacious, aren't they?" Matoko said as they continued on down the hall.

"Yeah. Tenacious pains in the butt." Lia grumbled.

Matoko snapped her fingers. "That reminds me. We have gym today. Did you remember those bloomers that Akane modified?" Matoko said.

"Yeah." Lia said, patting her bag. "I put them in last night."

"Good. You might want to run them down to your gym locker before school starts though." Matoko said. "Unless you want to make the hentai hordes day."

"Got that covered." Lia said with a cocky smile. "Watch."

Matoko looked as Lia held up her hand. Suddenly it blurred slightly and a piece of paper appeared in her hand. It blurred again and the paper disappeared.

"Oh, of course. The Chestnut Fist." Matoko said.

"Bingo." Lia replied. "Besides, if I tried now by the time I got to class I'd be late and I get enough bucket duty as it is."

"True." Matoko said as they entered their classroom.

Entering the classroom Lia and Matoko took their seats and chatted with their classmates until the teacher came in. Clearing his throat he got the attention of the class. Once everyone's eyes were forward he spoke.

"Today class we are having a somewhat unusual event. We are having a new student being transferred from another class at the request of his grandfather." the teacher began.

Sitting at her desk Lias ears perked up and she sat up in her chair as alarm bells went off in her head.

"Oh no, please, not him. Not in my class." Lia prayed to the kami that inhabited the school.

"So with that in mind, allow me to introduce you to your new classmate, Naota Sano." the teacher finished.

"CRAP!!!" Lia mentally screamed as Naota walked into the classroom.

Stopping in front of the class Naota turned and bowed. The rest of the class followed suit as the teacher checked the seating chart.

"There's a seat open in the second row from the window Naota." the teacher said as he pulled out his workbook.

"Thank you Sensei." Naota said as he went to take his seat.

Lia glanced at the empty desk, which happened to be the one right next to her.

"Of course that dummy sensei would give him the seat next to me." Lia thought. "Now I'm gonna have to fight the rumor mill again."

As Naota sat down the teacher pulled out his manual and began to write out the days lessons on the blackboard. As Lia watched him half -bored a note landed on her desk. Opening it Lia read it.

Lia

why did your boyfriend transfer over into our class?

Lias right ear twitched and she crumpled up the note. Slightly irritated Lia watched the teacher lay out the days lesson. Her irritation grew as four more note landed on her desk, all asking the same thing.

After the fifth one her patience finally broke. Crumpling the notes up into a ball Lia raised her fist.

"For the last time people, Naota is not my boyfriend !" Lia said, banging her fist on her desk.

The classroom was silent as everyone turned to look at Lia as she began to blush deep red. Lia tried to shrink into her seat as the class focused on her.

"Thank you for sharing that with us Lia." the teacher said as he adjusted his glasses. "Now go stand in the hall."

Lia got out of her seat and stomped to the hall, grabbing the buckets that sat by the door. Standing in the hall Lia fumed as she held her buckets. After about fifteen minutes Lia was surprised to see Matoko and Naota step out with buckets of their own.

"What happened?" Lia asked Matoko as she took her place next to Lia.

"There was a build up of notes on my desk." Matoko said.

"Ditto." Naota said as Lia gave him a glare. "What?" he asked.

"This is your fault." Lia huffed.

"Weren't you listening to the teacher?" Naota asked. "My grandfather asked that I be transferred."

"You could have said no." Lia answered.

"I would have, but I was too busy dealing with my fathers crap." Naota told her. "I knew he was being too overt." he grumbled.

"You should have paid better attention then." Lia snapped.

" Yeah, well, my grandfather was in cahoots with a panda." Naota shot back. "I didn't know about this until I got in to school this morning."

"Are you expecting me to believe that- oh never mind. He would be that stupid." Lia said. "Though when I get my hands on him I'm gonna turn him into a panda -skin rug." she vowed.

_____________________________________________________________ _________________

Somewhere in Nerima a panda paused as it felt a chill pass over it. Shaking it off the panda shrugged and finished taking out the trash.

_________________________________________________________________ _____________

"Can I watch?" Naota asked.

"You can help if you want." Lia answered.

"And you two don't keep it down we'll in the hall all day." Matoko interjected.

Lia and Naota both quieted down then and nothing more was said until the bell rang. After returning the buckets the three of them took their seats again and waited for the next class to begin.

As she sat there Lias cats ears picked up the gossiping going on all around her all too well. Lia put her head on her desk and covered her head with her hands.

"You okay?" Matoko asked from behind her.

"It's gonna be a long year." Lia groaned.

"We'll survive." Matoko said, patting Lia on the shoulder. "After all, we've been through worse."

"You're right." Lia said as she sat back up. "Thanks Matoko."

"You're welcome." Matoko answered.

______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________

The next class was English, much to Lias annoyance. Her annoyance was with the fact that she had to take a class about her native language and was being taught things she learned when she was six. And in her opinion, being taught badly as well**.

So when the English teacher announced that they were going to be doing joint book reports comparing English novels and their Japanese translations Lia rolled her eyes and laid her head on the desk. She half listened as he called out pairings and assignments.

"Mashida Kenji, Saotome Matoko, you have Red Storm Rising." the teacher said.

"Hey..." Lia said as she sat up.

The teacher glanced up at Lia before continuing. "Don't worry Lia. You got a partner." he said.

"Who?" Lia asked.

The teacher glanced at his list before replying. "Sano Naota." he said. "You've got The Hunt for Red October."

"WHAT?!!" Lia yelled. "YOUR PAIRING ME UP WITH THIS HENTAI?!!" she yelled as she pointed at Naota.

"Yes." the teacher said. "And if you're done screaming you can go stand in the hall." he said.

"I..." Lia began as she choked up. "ARRRRGH!!!!" she growled, throwing her arms up in the air.

Stomping to the door Lia grabbed a pair of buckets and slammed the door on the way out. Matoko blinked as her sister left the classroom.

"Bucket duty twice in one day." she thought. "A new record."

After English Lia and Matokos class had gym for the rest of the day. In the locker room Lia fumed as she changed into her gym attire.

"Ooohh, I cannot believe the nerve of that little rat." Lia growled as she stepped into her bloomers.

"Ah, Lia, somehow I doubt that Naota or his father or grandfather would try to engineer him getting paired up with you the same day he got transferred into our class." Matoko pointed out.

"I wasn't talking about Naota Matoko." Lia growled as she pulled up her bloomers. "I was talking about that dumbass Fujimori." she said as tried to button the snaps on the tail hole.

"Oh. That I can believe." Matoko said as she reached up to Lia. "Here, let me help you with your tail hole."

"Thanks Matoko." Lia said. ""Whats his problem anyways?"

"Ego. He can't stand the fact you speak better English than he can." Matoko said as she finished. "So how does it fit?" she asked.

Lia twitched her tail experimentally. "Perfect fit." she said. "As usual Mom does perfect work."

"That she does." Matoko said as she pulled out her own custom made gym shirt. "Though look at it this way Lia. At least your partner doesn't choke up when a girl so much as speaks to him."

"Mashidas that bad?" Lia asked as she pulled on her shirt.

"He's shyer than I was when we became friends." Matoko answered.

"Oh boy." Lia said as she got out her gym sneakers. "And I thought I had a tough assignment."

"You said it Lia." Matoko answered.

______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________

After school Naota was walking out the front door and thinking about what to have for an after school snack when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around he was surprised to see Matoko be hind him with Lia nowhere in sight.

"Hello Matoko." he said.

"Hello Naota." Matoko answered with a bow. "Do you want to come over to our house to get started on your project?" she asked.

"I'd love to." Naota answered. " Though I doubt your sister would like it."

Matoko chuckled. "It was her idea, actually." she said.

"You're kidding." Naota said. "Why?"

Matoko gave Naota gave him a rueful smile. "She wants to work with you where she has the quote 'home field advantage' unquote."

Naota nodded approvingly. "Smart move. Speaking of Lia, where is she?" he asked.

Matoko sighed and rolled her eyes. "Right now she's tracking down my partner, who seems to be terrified of me." she said.

"Kenji? Afraid of girls? That's an understatement." Naota said.

Matoko blinked and looked at Naota. "You know him?" she asked.

Naota shrugged. "We've been friends since before we started school. We live in the same apartment block." he said. "He's got issues with his height. Which is a shame, cause he's really athletic. I mean, if he wanted to he could rock at basketball."

"Well, height is hardly an issue with me." Matoko said, indicating her own considerable height. "I mean, I'm almost 178 cm*** after all."

"Try pointing that out. That might help break the ice with him." Naota said.

"Thank you." Matoko answered.

The both of them turned as Lia came around the side of the school dragging a knocked out Kenji Mashida. As she stomped up Matoko and Naota couldn't help but notice that Lia was now dressed in an super -kawaii version of the Furinkan girls uniform.

"What happened to you?" Matoko asked. "And why is Kenji unconscious?"

"Well.." Lia began "Kenji boy here fainted when I caught him." she continued, giving Kenji a shake.

"And the outfit?" Naota asked.

"The Cosplay club jumped me when I pulling him out of his hiding place." Lia said. "Now lets get going before Pineapple Brain shows up."

Handing Kenji off to Naota he easily lifted the larger boy into a fire mans carry. A fact that was not lost on Matoko and the other girls in the vicinity, except for Lia who was trying figure out how to remove the ribbons from her hair.

Everyone was quiet on the walk home, except for Lia who demonstrated her knowledge of English cuss words as she removed the ribbons. Arriving at the Saotome household his vocabulary increased Naota planted himself and Kenji at the table while Matoko got some snacks from the kitchen.

Lia meanwhile stomped off to wash off the makeup and glitter and get changed into something more comfortable. When she came back Lia found Matoko finishing introducing Naota and Kenji to their parents.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad." Lia said as she came in. "Whats up?"

"Hi Lia." Ranma said as he got up. "Your sister was introducing us to your classmates."

"Oh, okay." Lia answered as she took her seat at the table.

"And I must say that it's nice to meet the person on the other end of the contract." Ranma said. "You're not what I expected."

"Thank you Mr. Saotome." Naota said with a bow. "It's nice meeting you as well."

"You're welcome." Ranma replied. "Hey Lia, you think you'll up for a game of whack -a -panda on Sunday?"

"Oh yeah. Most definitely." Lia said with a grin.

"Good." Ranma said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a late class with Evans."

With that Ranma stepped out onto the porch and walked around to the side of the house. Naota watched him go with a puzzled look on his face.

"Evans?" he asked. "Who's that?"

"Oh, he's one of our advanced students." Akane said as she got up. "He's an American stationed here."

"I see." Naota said. "What branch?" he asked.

"Army." Akane answered. "And if you'll excuse me, I have a dojo of students as well." she said as she headed towards the hall.

Naota looked at Lia. "Your parents both teach martial arts." he said.

"Yeah. Mom normally has the morning classes and Dad has the afternoons." Lia told him. "And if you don't mind, we are here to do a book report, not discuss my family." she said as she opened her book.

"So where do we begin?" Naota asked.

"First we figure out what to do.' Lia said. "Matoko?"

"Well...." Matoko said as she pulled out her note book. Flipping through it she reached the correct section. "We're supposed to do a book report about the novels we've been assigned and a comparison between it and the Japanese translation." she said.

"Which means?" Lia asked.

"We're going to need to take a lot of notes." Matoko answered.

"Oh boy." Lia said as she took out her notebook.

After two hours the four teens had collected a large volume of notes and had figured out their plans of attack. Naota and Kenji headed home while Lia and Matoko finished their other homework finishing by dinnertime.

Lia was helping Christian clear the table afterwards when he found a notebook under the table.

"Who's notebook?" he asked, holding it up.

Lia immediately recognized it. "That's Naotas." she said.

"It's your boyfriends?" Christian asked, looking at the notebook.

Lias right ear twitched. "He's not my boyfriend." she snapped, snatching away the notebook.

"But you had him over here-Ow!" Christian began before Lia thwapped him with the notebook.

"I said he's not my boyfriend." she repeated.

"Okay, okay. Don't make such a big deal about it." Christian said, rubbing his head. "Sheesh."

Picking up his load of dishes Christian walked into the kitchen. Lia looked at the notebook thoughtfully for a moment and rapped on it twice. Walking over to the kitchen door Lia stuck her head in.

"Mom, Dad, Naota left his notebook here. I'm gonna go return it.' she said.

"Why not give it to him at school tomorrow?" Ranma asked.

"Because I don't want to encourage the rumor mill at school any further." Lia said.

"Okay." Ranma said. "Don't be too long."

"Trust me, I wont." Lia said as she turned to leave.

Lia was in the mud room putting on her shoes when Matoko poked her head in.

"Lia, before you go don't forget several of our classmates live over there." she said. "If they see you..."

Lia flashed her sister a grin. "Trust me, they wont." she said.

Finishing putting her shoes on Lia stood up and grabbed the notebook. Stepping outside she left the Saotome compound and turned left. Picking up her pace Lia accelerated into an easy jog and loped towards where Naota lived.

As she neared the apartment block Lia slowed to a walk and invoked the Umi -Sen -Ken. Quietly Lia padded up to the front entrance of the building and checked the registry. She located the Sanos apartment listing and then headed around back.

Standing a away from the building Lia looked up at the building looming above her and considered her next move.

"Lets see here." she thought. "Which balcony is Naotas?" she thought.

Lowering her gaze Lia looked at the ground floor apartments.

"He lives in apartment C-16." she thought. "That's apartment A-1." she thought, pointing at the apartment at the end.

"Which means....floor A, floor B, floor C." Lia counted up to the third floor. "And apartment one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen." Lias gaze came to rest on the apartment balcony second to the end of the row.

Grinning Lia saw that the lights were on, showing someone was home. Hopping easily up to the third -story balcony Lia alighted on the rail and was surprised to find the apartment deserted. Training her ears forward Lia listened for sounds.

Hearing nothing Lia slipped off the balcony and padded to the sliding glass door. Testing the lock Lia was surprised to find it unlocked.

"That's odd. Why would they leave their door unlocked?" Lia asked herself as she quietly eased the door open.

Padding inside Lia tested the air and found three strong male scents, but no female ones.

" All males. Odd." Lia thought as she headed to the table.

Keeping an ear open for trouble Lia put the notepad on the table. As she did that Lia realized that she was alone in a boys apartment and felt a tingle of excitement run up her tail.

Lia froze and gave herself a knock upside the head.

"What am I doing, thinking about boys?" Lia thought as she shook her head. "I should be getting home now!"

Lia jumped at the sudden click of a door opening. Spinning around on instinct Lia dropped the Umi -Sen -Ken and assumed a combat stance in the direction of the threat.

And got an eyeful of skin as Naota jumped backwards in surprise, only wearing a towel. Momentarily stunned Lias normally strong mental discipline lapsed and allowed part of her mind that was interested in boys to surge forward.

"He is totally ripped." was the only thing Lia thought as Naota staggered back against the doorframe.

Then Lias hormones overloaded her brain and she did the only thing she could do: Develop a nosebleed and pass out.

Leaning against the doorframe Naota looked down at the passed out Lia Naota voiced the first thing that came to mind.

"What the hell?" he asked.

_________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________

Lia came to feeling the touch of a compress on her forehead. Opening her eyes she looked up at Naota, now dressed in sweats and a muscle shirt. Blinking, she looked at Naota.

"Naota..." she began.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked.

Naota shrugged as he sat back. "I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me." he said. "I come out of the bathroom after taking a shower and you appear right in front of me, looking like you want to kick my ass. Then you get a nosebleed and pass out."

"You startled me." Lia said defensively.

"Yeah." Naota said. "Anyways, what are doing over here?" he asked.

"I was returning your notes." Lia said, pointing to the table.

"Oh. Thank you." Naota said as Lia sat up. "You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." Lia snapped. "Are your father and grandfather home?" she asked.

Naota shook his head. "No, they're out drinking. They won't be home for a while." he said.

"Okay." Lia said as she stood up. "I'm going home." she said.

Naota stood up with her. "Is there someone I can call?" he asked.

"No!" Lia snapped at him. "And I want you to promise not to tell a soul about this." she added.

Naota nodded. "Okay, I promise." he said.

"And if word about this gets out..." Lia said, holding up her hand and flexing her fingers.

"I read you loud and clear." Naota said as Lia opened the sliding glass door and stepped out.

Naota watched as she hopped off the balcony into the night. Walking over Naota stared off into the darkness before shutting the door.

"Don't worry Lia. Your secrets safe." Naota said to the night.

_________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ________________

*After all, when your parents change genders and one of your grandfathers changes species with a splash of water it takes a lot to surprise you.

**English was the class where Lia got most of her bucket duty.

***that's about five feet, ten inches.