I hadn't been here for years. I'd spent childhood here, but then mom had gotten remarried and we moved to Qatar. Why anyone had thought that Qatar would be a good place for me to be growing up, I will never know.

But at last, Kevin's posting was over, and we were able to move back to the reservation.

Mom met my dad at college. He died in the DRC when he was a Blue Beret. Mom doesn't tend to go into the events in between. She doesn't tend to even mention him. It's enough that she named me after him.

I went back to the letter I was writing. It was to Anne-Sophie, the French ambassador's daughter. We'd been dorm buddies at boarding school. It had been run by the British, but even so, in an Islamic country, you cover yourself when you're at school, regardless of who runs the school itself. We were united in the fact that we really didn't like it there.

We kept in touch via email, but since receiving actual letters was so fun, we also wrote to each other. She had moved back to France two years before I moved back to the states. Apparently she was having a marvellous time over there, wearing singlets in public. And getting snowed on in winter.

We both spoke each other's languages, not to mention a few others, but out of courtesy to each other, we both wrote in our native language. If nothing else, it meant that we were more up to date with foreign slang than our language teachers at school.

A while later, the car pulled to a halt. In an instant, I was out of the car, looking around. The place looked exactly as it had four years ago when I had left. I was twelve then, and sixteen now, and although I knew we'd be unpacking for ages, externally, it looked as if we'd never left.

"Oh. My. God. Jimmy?"

I spun around, to see a girl walk out of the woods a few metres away from me. She was over six feet tall, and seemed to be about eighteen. I desperately racked my memory for who she could be. Since she recognised me, I assumed we had been somewhat familiar.

"Leah?" She'd be about twenty-two by now.

"Jimmy! You've grown. You're practically a tank."

Yeah. My dad's name was James. I'd been known as Jimmy all my life. Way to go mom.

"You're one to talk, Leah."

"Wait until you see everyone else here. I was expecting some demure little thing. Weren't you in Kuwait or something?"

"Qatar. I was at the British school. There was rugby. It was awesome."

We hugged. "You really haven't changed since you were twelve. You always played with the boys then, too."

"What can I say? It actually took a while to train them to actually tackle. They kept going on about how they couldn't throw themselves at a girl with the express intent of flooring them. Apparently tackling girls isn't 'cricket'."

"I'll tell the boys you're back. No-one expected you for another few weeks."

"We were going to stay in Seattle for a while until we were able to get more stuff out of storage, but I really wanted to get back here. How are Colin and Brady now anyway?"

"Sixteen and too hormonal for their own good. What do you think? I've got to head off, but I'll tell them you said hi. No doubt they'll visit sometime soon."

"Thanks. Good to see you again."

"You too." She said before heading back into the woods.

When we were young, Colin, Brady and I had been like triplets. We'd kept loosely in contact over the years, but as far as I knew, anything could have happened in the past four years. I just hoped they weren't Goths.

I went inside, only to be presented with a pile of rugs and a baseball bat and be told to beat them out. They'd been in a closet, but had somehow still gotten dusty. Just my luck.

As it turns out, baseball bats are quite ineffectual. So I moved onto Tae Kwon Do. That was more effective. As was boxing.

I was on the last of the twelve rugs (who has the need for twelve rugs anyway), delivering a perfect roundhouse kick to the middle of it, when I heard "Holy shit, Jimmy! Where'd you learn that?"

I turned around, only to exclaim "Holy shit, guys, when did you start looking like you were in your mid twenties?" I was only sure it was them because at a certain point, who else could it have been. When I'd last seen them, they had been scrawny little twelve year old boys.

They exchanged a slightly guilty glance. One of them then said "The growth spurt kicked in early."

"Just tell me it's not steroids." After all, it was a plausible explanation.

"Just genetics." Said the other. Damn it. I needed to find out which was which.

"I'm really sorry about this, guys, but you look nothing like I remembered. Mind reminding me who's who?"

"Shame on you, Jim. I'm Colin, and he's Brady." Colin was the taller one, and Brady had green eyes. In retrospect, I should have picked up on the eye colour – it hadn't changed. It had been a while.

"So…you available?" asked Brady.

"Tool." Colin punched him in the arm. "But seriously. We should at least get a head start on everyone else."

"Yeah. We've known you the longest."

I could tell they weren't serious. Good to see I was one of the boys again.

"Fraternisation with the opposite gender was forbidden at school."

"This is you we're talking about." Pointed out Colin.

"Fair call, I suppose. Yes, I'm available. I broke up with Tom just before I flew back here."

"OOOOOOOOOOH. Who's Tom?"

"Captain of the rugby team." I'd made the boys team after I made five tackles in three minutes. Two of them involving me throwing myself at him while he had possession.

My fling with Tom (it hadn't really been a relationship, more just us letting off a bit of steam) had been fun, and we were still friends, but neither of us was going to be pining after the other.

"But seriously guys, I would never even consider going out with you guys. It would be like incest."

"Nice. Way to make it weird. We just wanted to get our facts straight before we start repelling every guy who wants to 'get to know you better'."

"Thanks, guys. Good to know you still see me as a sister."

"Hells to the yeah, and as a result, it's our duty to ensure you get with no-one."

"You're such douche, Colin."

"Harsh, but fair. You just got back here?"

"A few hours. It's good to be back."

"Good to have you back. You'll be coming to school tomorrow, right?"

"Tomorrow will be a Wednesday, won't it?"

"Awesome." They said in unison.

"We've got to go," said Brady, "But we'll give you a ride to school. The last thing you want is to be dropped off by your mom on the first day."

"Thanks guys." I returned to attacking the rug.

"Seriously, Jimmy. Where did you learn that?"

"The most important thing a girl can learn is how to defend herself."

"Shit. Remind me not to piss you off."

"I'm pretty sure you'll remember, Colin. I could probably still kick your ass, tank as you are."

"That, I doubt, shorty." He said before he and Brady went off on their merry way, leaving me to wonder how on earth I was going to find any of my school stuff. Not to mention how the British curriculum would mesh with the US one.

Oh well. I assumed that all of today's rekindling of acquaintances was over. Tomorrow was bound to be hectic. I hadn't seen anyone in four years, and judging by how Colin and Brady had turned out, I was in for a few surprises.

I walked back inside with the rugs, only to be met by Kevin.

"Hey, Jim." He pronounced it like 'Jum' because he was a New Zealander. He tended to speak his vowels somewhat strangely. "Who were those two?"

"Colin and Brady. They were my best friends here. Seems they still are." I grinned. "And I won't be needing a ride to school. They've got me covered."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you sharing a car with a bunch of sixteen-year-olds."

"Relax, Kevin. They know that should anything happen, first I'll kill them, and then Mom will. Numerous times. And anyway, you know I'm sensible."

As I walked down the hall, I heard him mutter something along the lines of 'Sensible my ass. Sensible girls don't get caught necking rugby players.'

"It's not my fault I got caught." I called out. The shit had really hit the fan when mom had walked in on Tom and I engaging in a rather heated make-out session. That had been somewhat awkward. Kevin had almost given me 'the talk'. I had assured him that it had nothing to do with a lack of male authority figure.

I was still completely jet lagged so I dumped the rugs where mom would no doubt find them and headed upstairs to my room. Which was lacking a bed. Great. I ran back downstairs and carried up my suitcases. Once in my room, I pulled a blanket out of one of them, and just fell asleep on the floor. I'd probably wake up stiff, but I didn't care at that point.