Hi guys! This is the first in a series of short introductions to
the main story of "In the Interim". They will detail the
retroactive lives of the characters we care about. This will also
establish the relationships that will carry through to Hotaru's
gov't.

          In the Interim: In Your Anger, Do Not Sin 
                  by Beky NeRichnead

Disclaimer: I've seriously mutilated wonderful thoughts owned by
Takeuchi and Takahashi in this fic. This includes totally changing
the years involved. Please don't kill or sue me. Comments welcome,
flames okay too, keep them small you pyros ^_^

****************************************************

1994

     Rebecca surveyed the time she found herself in. Her companions
did likewise. "Look familiar?"
     Mikal grinned. "Oh, yeah. Do you think they have Street
Fighter in the laundromat?"
     Rebecca laughed. "It seems likely. Maybe its the version with
my favorite character."
     Thor blinked. "I understand not what you speak of." He looked
around, but didn't see anything unusual.
     Faye shook her head sadly. "You don't recognize my hometown,
Thor?" She paused. "Well, okay, second hometown. Whatever."
     He smiled wryly. "I only visited you beautiful abode once."
     Catherine interrupted, "Lets go. We have a school to set up."

                              *
1996

     Amanda Jacine glanced at the sign adorning Moravian High.
"Welcome, students." Actually, the only thing that was really
unusual about the sign was the written subtext. "Abandon hope, all
ye who enter here."
     Natalie smiled. "Well, you have to admit one thing - at least
we have *intelligent* pranks."
     Caterina nodded. "Yes. Are you ready, Amanda?"
     Amanda nodded nervously. The first day was always the hardest.
The second day was immeasurably easier, because that was when
sports tryouts started.
     So far, no one seemed to notice her somewhat shabby clothes...
and her sisters hadn't had problems with it. Maybe she could
maintain a pretense of not being poor.
     "Hi, Amanda!" she heard. She looked over and saw her school
friends Haethe and Molly. They had all gone to Junior High together
and somehow shared a lunch period each year. They were middle
class, but really nice.
     She smiled. "Wow. You guys got picked to go to this school
too?"
     Molly nodded. "I think that lottery must have been rigged -
I haven't seen any of the class bullies around."
     Haethe smiled. "It seemed like a good idea - but going to
school with high schoolers is kind of scary, too."
     Amanda grinned. "Don't worry, Haethe - we eighth graders have
to stick together."
     "Right!" Molly said.
     Caterina smiled at Amanda and her friend. "You wouldn't want
to be late on your first day."
     Their eyes widened, and the trio ran inside. The new students
were sorted into two groups - eighth graders and other new
students. She recognized a few of the other eighth graders. "Hey,
isn't that Katherine Thompson?"
     Molly nodded. "I heard that her father is still searching for
a school she'll fit into."
     Haethe blinked. "Wow, is this all the eighth graders?" There
were only ten, including them.
     A musical voice responded, "Yes." They turned to see a
dignified looking woman walk in. "Would you all please be seated?"
     They were, Katherine sitting in the far corner of the
classroom. "Hello, all. My name is Rebecca Carpentier, the
principal of this fine school."
     A red haired girl sitting there smiled to herself. "Gee, isn't
having the principal talk to you a bad thing?"
     The principal grinned at them. "Not always, Miss Serva." The
girl blushed. "Now, you've all been in a defined grade for most of
your school careers. That stops here. Moravian High is an
experiment in skill based groupings. You'll take placement tests
today that will assess your abilities. These can be retaken at any
time."
     One of the boys grinned to himself. She raised an eyebrow in
his direction. "Don't think cheating on them will help you. It'll
only put you in harder classes." She paused, then smiled. "I think
you'll find this school to be unique. We have a small student body
and faculty."
     She smiled. "Oh, by the way, I happen to be the basketball
coach. I want to see you all at tryouts."
     Katherine rose her hand. "Mrs. Carpentier, what are the
required courses?"
     The principal laughed. "Good question. Gym is required unless
you participate in a sport. At any one time you need to be taking
a science course, math course, english course, history course, and
a language/other course. Of course, if you beat out all the tests,
you can take anything you feel like."
     Katherine nodded.
     Mrs. Carpentier looked around. "Any more questions before we
begin the testing?" She waited. "Well, then, here are the tests."
                              *
One Month Later
          Amanda frowned. Why did Mr. Norvika put her with such
loser team mates? One was a nerd and the other didn't care to
participate. That made it three on two, with only her having any
skill at the sport.
     Time was running out in the period - Randi, her teammate, had
the ball. Only one point away from a tie. "Come on, Randi," she
muttered.
     Randi lined up carefully and took the shot. It flew with
agonizing slowness, then bounced off the rim. The bell rang, ending
the period.
     The three boys they had been playing against walked off
laughing. The great Amanda had actually been beaten.
     It wasn't fair! She glared at Randi. "Great going,
butterfingers." She stomped off towards the locker room.
     As she angrily stripped off her clothes, she realized she had
been mean to Randi. But did she have to flub up a really important
shot?
     She sighed and gathered her backpack, heading off to her
English class. She walked through the halls, barely seeing the
people around her.
     She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Faleoh
Serva, a classmate of hers. "Hey, Amanda, what's wrong?"
     She quickly fabricated an excuse. "I think I'm going to screw
up on the test tomorrow." It was true, it just wasn't the reason
she was upset.
     Faleoh frowned, "That stinks. Have you gone for tutoring?"
     Amanda blinked. "What do you mean?"
     "Some of the students in advanced courses tutor for class
credits. You're allowed to do that instead of go to class - just
make sure you sign in."
     "Really?" Maybe she could pass that test, after all. She
really had to pay more attention to school work. "What room?"
     "214. I think my big sis is in there this period. She's pretty
cool, you'll like her."
     "Wow... thanks."
     "No problem, Amanda. See you around."
     "Yeah... you too."
     She changed course to the nearest set of stairs. Why was
Faleoh being so nice? She'd never really talked to her before,
except about homework. Oh, well.
     Amanda shouldered her backpack and knocked on the door to room
214. There was a sign up sheet on the door. She quickly wrote her
name and teacher's name.
     "Sign in and come in," someone called.
     She opened the door, and stopped short. Behind a brown table
sat Randi. The girl didn't look up. "Just sit down and I'll be with
you in a moment."
     Amanda swallowed hard. This girl was going to tutor her?
     Randi looked up. "Hello, I'm...", she started. Then she
laughed and continued, "Butterfingers. What can I help you with?"
     Amanda began to back towards the door. "Sorry... I must be in
the wrong place..."
     Randi glanced at the english textbook in her hand. "Lucky in
basketball, unlucky in English class. Why don't you sit down? What
teacher do you have?"
     Amanda forced herself forward and sat on the edge of the
chair. "Mr. Ankare."
     Randi nodded. "Right. You guys have a Shakespeare test
tomorrow, right? On R&J?"
     Amanda nodded. "Faleoh said you could help me."
     Randi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's the spore, always
volunteering my services. You read it, right?"
     Amanda glared. "*Yes*." How could Randi think... <Great going,
butterfingers. Great going...>
     Randi smiled. "Good. I don't help students who don't want to
help themselves. Now what exactly are you having trouble with?"
     Amanda frowned. "I don't get the plot. The words are hard."
     Randi looked at her appraisingly. "Yet you haven't tried the
movie or cliff notes?"
     "Umm... no. Are we supposed to?" Amanda felt like an idiot.
     "Nah, its not a good idea. What you really need to do is read
the beginning of the acts."
     "What?"
     Randi laughed. Amanda still couldn't believe the girl was
helping her after she'd been so mean to her. "This is a Penguin
version. It has a summary before each act, smooshed in the notes
on the left hand page. It will help you interpret the text and
understand the general picture."
     Amanda took out her copy of Romeo and Juliet and opened to Act
III. There was a summary right where Randi said it would be. "Oh.
I didn't know that."
     "Not many do."
     "Oh. Thanks, Randi."
     Randi shrugged. "No problem. I'll give Mr. Ankare a call."
She dialed an extension. "Hi. This is Randi Serva. Yeah, I have a
student of yours... no, not Faleoh. Amanda. Nope, no idea where my
little sister is... yeah, I'm sending Amanda back to class. She's
doing fine now, but take it easy on her. Bye." She hung up. "I
wonder where Faleoh could be. Anyway, you can go to class now if
you feel like it."
     Amanda stood up, grabbing her bag. "Um, Randi... sorry about
earlier."
     Randi blinked. "What.. oh, that. No problem. I have no
athletic talent, I'm afraid."
     "I could... coach you."
     Randi smiled. "A kind offer, but I'm not healthy enough to
play basketball well... I have really bad asthma and a few other
things. Thanks anyway. You'd better get going - Mr. Ankare will get
angry."
     Amanda nodded. "Yeah. Thanks." She walked out. How could the
girl be so infuriatingly *nice*?
                              *
     Later that day, Amanda frowned comically. "No fair!"
     Roger Toutarien laughed. "It was probably luck, since this
isn't really my sport."
     "You should join the basketball team."
     He smiled. "Nah, Coach Norvika would kill me if I left the
baseball team. And Coach Carp said I can't play both. I'll stick
with baseball for now."
     Amanda pouted. "Oh, fine."
     "Are we still on for tonight?"
     She smiled. "We'd better be. I'm going to kick your butt."
     "At pool? Think again."
     She chuckled. "I hope no one thinks we're dating."
     He shuddered. "Faleoh would kill me!" He blushed. "I think
she'd be unhappy... she can't date for another year. But we can go
shoot pool tonight."
     "I'm still going to win."
     "You can try," he countered.
     She grabbed the ball. "Okay, how about a round of Horse...?"
                              *
     "Hey, Amanda, want to come over my house? Mom's making cookies
and I hear there's going to be cookie dough around. Haethe is
coming too." Molly grinned.
     Amanda nodded. "Sure."
                              *

     Amanda held her weapon carefully, examining the enemy for any
weaknesses. Unfortunately, he seemed unassailable. She held her
weapon at ready and started to attack.
     Scrub! Scrub! Scrub! She began to scrub the window vigorously.
It stank really - here she was, spending a perfectly nice day
cleaning some rich guy's windows. 
     She could be hanging out at the Youth Association with Fahl
and Roger, practicing her basketball, shopping with Haethe and
Molly, or something *fun*. But instead, here she was.
     It was a fit punishment - she'd lost her temper with Natalie
*again*. It seemed she was always doing that. And always making up
by taking her older sisters' chores.
     The window was beginning to look more clean - maybe this was
worth doing. At least Cathy was getting a day off... she
volunteered to help their parents too often. She'd even volunteered
to help Amanda, but Amanda had refused the help. This was something
she had to do to make up for her actions.
     Natalie always did manage to get out of this, somehow... or
at least, made it fun. Natalie had a gift for persuading people
they wanted to do things. If this had been her job, she would have
had a bunch of friends helping her. But Amanda hadn't thought that
far ahead.
     Natalie had really gotten her goat that time, teasing her
about Roger being a boyfriend. Amanda had been filled with rage,
and kicked a wall... and put a hole through it. Oh, why couldn't
she control her temper?
     "Hi, Amanda!"
     She turned around, blinking. "Roger? What are you doing here?"
     "Well, I heard you could use some help, so I came over."
     "Really?" she asked. Then she smiled. Roger was truly her best
friend. "Don't you have something else you have to do?"
     "Nah, nothing's more important than helping my best friend.
So, what can I do?"
     She pointed sheepishly. "That bay window has to get done
too... but I can't ask you..."
     He shrugged, picking up a sponge. His clothes were his typical
t-shirt and jeans, with his pride and joy - Adidas sneakers. She
winced as he began to scrub, the water dripping on his clothes.
"I'm sorry..."
     He waved her away. "It's not a problem, this will all wash
out."
     "But your sneakers..." Why did he put her in this situation
anyway? She raised her voiced. "Why are you doing this to me?"
     He blinked. "Um, I was under the impression that friends
helped each other."
     She frowned, then blushed. "Oh, yeah... right. Sorry."
     He shrugged again. "No problem, like I said. This is a nice
break from McDonalds."
     That was what she liked about Roger... he owned more things,
but he worked for his personal possessions. Her own parents didn't
want her to work 'til she had stabilized her grades, which she was
close to doing.
     Randi Serva was a taskmaster from hell... and incredibly
competent. She had a gift for teaching, and was well ahead of her
own work. She had spent the last year brushing Amanda up into shape
to keep up with the richer kids, who had more access to review
books and such.
     "I'm planning on getting a job soon, too."
     He paused. "Really? Where?"
     She shrugged. "I was thinking maybe McDonalds."
     He laughed. "We'd love to have you. You're grades are high
enough to please your parents?"
     "Yeah. Randi's pretty good."
     He grinned. "Cool. Can't wait to see you there."
     The rest of that afternoon floated by in blissful
companionship.
                              *
     Amanda looked up at the principal/coach, who was giving her
closing speech.
     "Thank you all for a wonderful year. Remember, next year we
have lots of new students coming, so be ready to compete!"
     <I will.> she swore.


Name Change Notes:

Caterina Jacine - Kasumi Tendo, Earth Mage
Natalie Jacine - Nabiki Tendo, Queen Pluto
Amanda Jacine - Akane Tendo, Queen Saturn
Haethe O'Connor - Hotaru Tomoe, Queen Solaran
Molly Belham - Naru Osaka, Queen Uranus
Roger Toutarien - Ryoga Hibiki, King Neptune
Kathering Thompson - Kodachi Kuno, spoiler