Ellie knew that the changes had also made her feel caged and far more anxious than her former care-free self. She longed to go back to the girl she ha... been, to leave this intimidated weakling behind and return to a time when she had been happy…or at least had believed herself to be happy. She hated the feeling of apprehension, but that was what she felt most often these days. The fear that she’d felt as she’d realized that Jake and Alec knew exactly who she was…well, that was intolerable.. .." Mother," I answered for him, each of us with eyes glued to the photo, not even comprehending that there was a plethora of others stacked just below that one that we hadn't really looked at yet.The fact this particular photo, along with many others, was in black and white, told us these had been taken many years earlier, not to mention the fact that our parents likewise looked very young. Obviously, this had been going on for a very, very long time now. I was at first shocked and surprised. And this must be Paul. Would anyone like another drink ... you don't mind if I join you, do you?"Penny had met some of Stevie's girlfriends before, but she couldn't recall any of them being anything like as beautiful as Fran, with her shock of auburn hair and green eyes. Even Paul, who was usually immune to other pretty girls, found himself looking intently at her."Stevie said you're both doing A-levels ... how are you finding them?" Fran asked."Oh, quite different from the GCSE," Penny said.. I happen to know that the day is wide open for all of you, so we’re going to have two tournaments. The first one is going to be with everyone using gauss pistols. You’ll each be allowed two magazines with fifty rounds each, so you’ll need to reload about halfway through the course.”“After the pistol tournament, we’ll take a quick break for dinner and then meet back here for the pulse rifle round. That tournament will have no restrictions, it’s just to help maintain your proficiency and earn.