I am NOT and Never Will Be A Jedi

The Metal Pen Accident

Hi, my name is Kevin. Kevin Groundcrawler. I'm going to tell you a story, and in this story, you're going to learn a lot about me. But the one thing you need to know is that I am not, and never will be a Jedi.

The reason I'm telling you this is because although I wasn't trained since birth, and although I have never used the Force or battled a Sith, last year, I had a pretty hard time convincing people that I wasn't a Jedi Knight. It all started last fall- around September- I was twelve years old and was starting my first day in the Coruscant School for Gifted Children. Not many kids made it in at such a young age. In fact, I was at least six years younger than everyone else.

I guess you could say I'm somewhat of a genius. I don't like to brag though, on account of bragging gets you a one way ticket to a swirly. But I honestly am a pretty smart kid.

Anyways, that was when the "accident" happened. I was on my way to the Universty of the Republic when I passed a street gender. I wouldn't have stopped if it hadn't been for the rock stuck in my shoe. You know how those feel! So I stop and shake the rock out of my boot and this guy starts shouting at me. "Kid! Hey kid! Don't just stand there if ya ain't buying somthin'!" I turn around and see this big guy standing by a cart decorated with all sorts of cheesy junk. He steps right in front of me and waves a handful of pens in my face. "Need a pen kid?" I step back, "No thanks!"

But the guy doesn't back off, "Come on! Everyone needs a pen!" I pull out the pen I was keeping in my pocket, "I already have a pen."

That's when the guy takes my pen and throws it into a storm drain. "Now you don't!" He replies, shaking the pens at me. I sighed and pulled out some money. Before I can ask how much a darn pen costs, the man snatches up my cash and tosses me a little metal pen. "Pleasure doing business with ya!" He exclaimed. I rolled my eyes and started walking toward tram that was taking me to the University.

Once I get there, it takes me about ten minutes to find my class. That building was huge (not as huge as the Jedi Temple though!) But when I finally get there, I'm late and the professor says to me, "Ah, Mr. Groundcrawler, how nice of you to join us. We were beginning to worry."

Now, I'm a pretty scrawny guy. So imagine a kids about Jawa height walking into a giant class of older kids and the teacher calling you by your embarrassing last name. Its not fun!

So I quietly hurry to find my seat. Unfortunately for me though, I can't figure out where in the galaxy I'm supposed to sit! I have a strict rule for myself to never sit in the front because that leads to the teacher making eye contact with you! And the back row isn't good either because my short little neck doesn't see past all those tall kids. I couldn't decide where the ideal so I would be and in top of that, every kid in the class is staring at me like they want to squish me with their shoes.

Just then, this girl waves me over, "Hey! There's a seat right over here!" She has long brown hair tied into fancy long braids and her big brown eyes twinkle with kindness. I hurry over and sit down in the isle seat next to her. "Hi, I'm Kevin," I whisper. The girl smiles, "I'm Padme. Aren't you a little young to be in this class?" I nod shyly, "I guess." Padme quickly shakes her head, "I'm sorry, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that I'm already nineteen years old and I haven't passed it yet!" I laughed a quietly, "That's okay, I skipped a few years of schooling."

Then the professor began his lesson, "If you would all please take out your pen and take notes..." he instructed. That's when Padme dropped her pen. It rolled right past my desk and into the middle of the isle. You know, the middle part of the isle where neither side can reach it.

So with my metal pen in my hand, I reached out to try to pick it up. But with my short arms, that wasn't going to happen. Not without a little power of magnetism.

Apparently whatever metal my pen was made of, it was attracted to Padme's pen. As I was stretching my arm to its maximum extent, the pen on the ground comes flying into my hand! I hand Padme the pen back but she has a look of surprise on her face. Once I look around, I realize that the entire class, including the professor, has the same face.

From what they had seen, I had magically picked up a pen with my bare hand.

And that's how I was identified as a Force Sensitive Individual.