10 Things

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

10 Things you didn't know about...

Anna Fetterman

1. When she was little, she wanted to be an engineer.

Her mother sent her to a science camp the summer before fourth grade, where the campers took classes in biology (which 9-year-old Anna declared "a boring waste of time" after the instructor refused to let her use a microscope by herself after she accidentally knocked over a tray of glass slides), chemistry (after which Anna decided she was probably safer away from bunsen burners and any kind of chemical), and physics (for which Anna recieved the highest grade in the class -- a fact that didn't go unnoticed by the Gallagher Academy Board of Trustees).

Anna fell in love with physics. She loved the way that she could manipulate variables to get the exact result she wanted. It was the one subject in which her lack of coordination didn't cause problems. She would have been happy as a physicist, but she would rather have worked on building something that would help people. She wanted to be the engineer in charge of building bridges, skyscrapers... And she never fully let go of her dream.

2. Anna grew up in Dayton, Ohio, in a white-picket-fenced neighborhood that most people would have loved. And all she wanted was to get out.

It was the kind of neighborhood where mothers sent their elementary-school aged daughters off two science camps because it would "look good for college" (in fourth grade?), where kids grew up wanting to be doctors and lawyers, already knowing that their parents could pay for a top-notch education. It was the kind of place where education was important.

Anna valued education, sure. But she wanted to leave her rich-kid neighborhood someday. She wanted to be seen as more than just a future PhD or MD or some other degree that everyone expected from her.

She wanted to have an actual purpose in the world, which is why she accepted Gallagher's invitation, no questions asked.

Her parents thought she was going to a school for the academically gifted (which was the truth... just not the whole truth). She knew she was going to finally have a purpose... And maybe she could still be an engineer, as a cover identity or something.

3. Most people made assumptions about her based on the unfortunate bloody-nose-slash-pringles-can incident.

Seriously, it had been her third day at Gallagher, and she had been paying more attention to the fact that she knew a grand total of eight words of French --which was the only language they were allowed to use during lunch that day -- than the fact that the can of chips she was trying to open was way too close to her face.

Most of the new seventh graders had laughed a little, handed her napkins to clean up the nosebleed, and let it slide. Anna always thought a few people (definitely Tina Walters, and probably Kim Lee and Cammie Morgan also) never forgot about the incident. It would certainly explain why so many of them seemed to question -- even if they didn't say anything aloud -- her ability to walk across a flat surface without finding something to trip over. They always made her feel somehow inadequate for the Gallagher Academy.

4. She met Carl when she was 13, over winter break after her first semester at the Gallagher Academy.

She went to "Camp Newton" over the summers in middle and high school -- anything to stay out of Dayton -- and over Winter and Spring Break she participated in a "Physics Club" that was run by the same company. Carl started out as just a normal boy there. Anna was the girl who was a little bit shy around guys, since she went to an all girls school. They were paired up during an experiment on gravity.

He asked her out a year and a half later, at Camp Newton the summer before her freshman -- his sophomore -- year.

5. When the elevator misread her retinals on the way down to her first ever CoveOps class, she almost thought that somehow they knew she wasn't really supposed to be there.

She knew it was ridiculous -- the Gallagher Trustees had made the decision, and something about their Level 2 Security Clearance made Anna know that they had made an educated decision and that she was supposed to be at her school. But still, the thought that maybe she wasn't quite ready to be a Gallagher Girl.

The doors finally opened a second later, and she walked into class late. Joe Solomon's disapproving look almost made her cry. Almost.

6. She wasn't really scared when that guy, Dillon, had advanced on her in the pharmacy that day in Roseville.

Anna knew that even she, who was extremely coordination-challenged, could probably have killed him with one of the magazines from the rack next to her. But when she looked at him, he looked a little bit like Carl -- just his eyes, and the color of his hair, but the resemblance was definitely there.

Maybe that's why, when Macey and Bex came to her rescue, she blurted out "I have a boyfriend!"

7. During her CoveOps final after the first semester of sophomore year, she got the chance to prove herself.

It was because of her small size that Anna finally had the chance to do what her peers could not. As she slid between the narrow bars and retrieved the disk, she finally felt like a true Gallagher Girl.

8. She hated Jessica Boden.

Anna had pondered over the form for days before Mr. Solomon had even passed it out to the class. Would she continue CoveOps next year?

And then she heard Jessica Boden's loud, nasally voice from behind her. "Oh, come on. Aren't you the one who couldn't even open a can of chips without giving yourself a nosebleed? And you seriously think you can take on CoveOps? Besides," Jessica added, "My mom's a Gallagher Trustee, and she's always been against letting people who can't handle the spy stuff into Gallagher. But I guess she got outvoted on that one." Jessica turned on her heel and left.

"Don't mind her," a soft voice said from behind Anna. "She told me pretty much the same thing a couple years ago when I got to help Dr. Fibs with an experiment," Liz Sutton said. "She's just mad that she switched out of CoveOps before Buckingham left and doesn't get to have Mr. Solomon."

"But what if she's right?" Anna asked.

Liz shook her head. "You belong here just as much as anyone else," she paused. "I guess there is one way to show Jessica that."

"How?"

"Prove her wrong. Show that you can handle CoveOps."

And so Anna checked off the box on the form.

9. Carl broke up with Anna over winter break in her sophomore year.

He dumped her for some prissy, bleached blonde cheerleader who in turn only went out with him for three days before breaking up with him. Carl tried to apologize to Anna, saying that he wanted to get back together with her.

Anna declined. Then she hung up the phone and cried.

10. The Blackthorne Boy on her tail in D.C. deserved what he got.

After she and Courtney Bauer had split up, in an effort to free at least one of them from a tail, Anna noticed the boy following her through the tall pillars of the Lincoln Memorial. He tried to talk to her at first, half-jogging to match her quick strides as she hiked along the mall, searching for anyone who seemed to appear twice.

He told her his name was Kyle, asked about her favorite sport ("Soccer," she lied), her favorite class in school ("Physics" -- not a lie), her favorite color ("Um... red?" -- Actually, also not a lie, even if she sounded unsure when she said it).

He bombarded her with questions throughout the entire 0.7 mile hike between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. And then, as she climbed the stairs to the top (she had hoped that Kyle would have opted for the elevator, but he followed her anyway), he asked her the question that she didn't want to hear.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Carl. He wanted to know about Carl. Or maybe he was just trying to flirt with her.

Anna didn't even say anything in response. She just let her P&E training go on autopilot and shoved him into the closet, locking the door behind him.

Mr. Solomon's smile when she reached the Ruby Slippers tail-free made it all worth it.

Take that, Jessica Boden.

A/N: I love Anna Fetterman, but this chapter was actually really hard to write. I mean, compared to Zach and Preston, we really don't know very much about Anna. We know that she's from Dayton, Ohio, she once gave herself a nosebleed by opening a can of Pringles, she's coordination challenged, she retrieved the disk in the CoveOps final (LYKY), she was the only Gallagher Girl to successfully get rid of their tail (CMH), and she has a boyfriend named Carl.

It was really hard to write this based on those facts alone, so I added a lot – the whole thing with the engineer and Jessica Boden and Kyle and Carl breaking up with her.

Remember Jessica Boden? She's the girl in LYKY who tells Macey about a million times that her mother is a Gallagher Trustee (it's in there… right when Macey first gets accepted to Gallagher).

And before you ask:

No. Kyle is never mentioned in the books. That's because I made him up. But it said that only 3 Sophomore Blackthorne Boys came to Gallagher, but there were at least eight of them on the mall. So Kyle was there. And then he got locked in a closet in the Washington Monument.

I don't mean any offense to anyone who lives in Dayton. I'm talking about Anna's neighborhood specifically when I say that she hated it. I'm sure Dayton is a great city.

I've never actually been inside the Washington Monument (but it really is 0.7 miles away from the Lincoln Memorial), so I made up that there are stairs and an elevator. I actually have no idea. So for the purposes of this chapter, it does.

Thanks so much for all the reviews! You are all *so sweet*!

And if anyone has a suggestion for a character let me know, because I'm not sure who to do for the next fic…