Ender Returns to Earth *Currently Editing*

Chapter 5

Petra sat in her desk at the new school she was enrolled in. The teacher was babbling about the war and Ender, but Petra didn't feel the need to listen. Why should she? She lived it, although it didn't seem that the teacher even knew that. So she sat there on her ansible writing to Bean and Ender. It must be even harder for him than I, she thought. The publicity would be awful down here as well as just everyone. If only they all knew him like I do. The world wouldn't be treating him this way if they did.

"Miss Arkanian", Petra's teacher, Miss Stacey spoke and she looked up from her computer. "Would you please come up to the front to talk about your experience in the Bugger war? It would be very educational for the rest of your classmates." When she asked the question, Petra knew exactly what she was doing. She was using Petra as a way to get out of teaching her class. So she wasn't completely oblivious to her life in the army after all.

"Um sure", Petra was uneasy at first. It was her first day and already she was being singled out. Great. She got up and made her way to the board, stopping to turn and face the students. They were all waiting. All the while, managing to look intrigued. Wow, Petra was astonished. They actually wanted to hear what she had to say. She smiled. She knew exactly what she was going to do.

"I was enrolled in BattleSchool when I was very young. Although, age obviously wasn't an outstanding factor there. Proven by the level of achievement by my friend Ender Wiggin." She paused and watched as the class looked surprised that she was close with the legend. That they were friends. Now, they were even more interested than ever.

"I landed with my launchie group, and spent the first 2 years learning the drills and the language of BattleSchool. After that, I was in Salamander Army led by a fierce older boy, and was singled out because of my gender. BattleSchool was very judgemental." She continued.

"So when Ender came into the group everyone else looked down to him. But I saw potential and welcomed him with open arms. Nobody deserves to be treated with the disrespect I was, and I knew that Ender's time at BattleSchool had been rough." She stopped once more and saw phones out. They were recording her and she secretly smiled to herself. That was what she was counting on.

"But I trained him in the Battleroom, helped him with technique before he, sooner rather than later became better and more strategic than everybody else. After a while, he no longer needed my help and I regained my initial goal. Every student in that school wanted to be a Commander. A commander of an army. If you're lucky enough to be upgraded, well then in a couple of years you'll graduate; going to command school. I was unexpectedly moved though into Ender's own army before I was granted my own. Dragon army. He lead us to the top of the scoreboard, and obviously ended up being the one to lead final battle towards the Formic's home world. So I, just like many of his other friends, worked under Ender's command during the battle and watched as the Buggers were destroyed. But I never saw Ender as a monster. I'm sure that none of us in the Jeesh ever did. When you know a person for as long as I've known Ender Wiggin, you end up getting to know them better than you know yourself. And I know what kind of person the saviour of the human race is. He's a hero. Despite the controversy and the publicity. We were sent to BattleSchool to find the one person who could save us, and that's what was delivered. Nothing else. Yet, there's a god damn court Martial. I just hope that you all, my new class look to see the good in the boy who didn't choose his future as Ender Wiggin. He had no choice to be in a war. Just as I didn't. So to finish this, BattleSchool has such a complicated history. Everyone's experience is different and that's what makes it unique. There's classes and tests and even down time. But the thing that was really different was that there was always a feeling of utter loneliness. There was no communication with the outside world, and you were in complete isolation." She stopped to take a seat on the teacher's desk.