She was also much more intelligent than her background reports initially suggested. In and out of care, an abysmal failure even in special education, ...o stable family life and no prospects - she would have been destined to a miserable life of drudgery if Stephen hadn't found her.But was she intelligent enough to understand her new situation? He waited for her first question."Uhhh, th-this ... so big, s-so c-cruel ... w-why?" Her voice was tiny, like a barely audible whimper and she spoke with a. And then I went to the kitchen to listen to mom. "Oh Mike you didn't tell me it was going to be people I knew! I don't know if I can do this, what would Trudi think of me and Karl is..." Mom, there's nothing you're going to do to Trudi that she isn't going to do to you, and Karl, what ... he's my age? He's with his mother? There's nothing you and Karl are going to do that Trudi and I aren't going to do. So number one, the only thing Trudi is going to think about is if she is having as much fun. I wiped my hand on my pants, scrabbled around for our notebooks and stuffed them in the back of my pants (they were those small steno kind and I'd carried them there before.)Puberty had hit Val and me at the same time in May. We'd spent the summer moaning and groaning to each other, falling down and knocking each other down. We'd both shot up at least six inches, and I'd put on a lot of size and muscle on my chest and shoulders.I was really glad of my new strength because once I had the. We boarded the bus right after school. We were all happy when we finally arrived after the long ride. There was a rush to get into the changing room to use the facilities.When it came time for the game, it was obvious that the home team’s support was more than we would likely ever get, it was loud, I mean horns, cowbells and all sorts of noise that we didn’t get at the last home game.We had a warm up period, where we got our arms loosened up. I had to do extra, since I needed to do defensive.