The month Alex was leaving for college was also the month of my birthday. It was like a celebration of both. I had been wishing that Alex would leave, but now I was sad to see him go. I wouldn’t see him too often anymore, he was starting life in the real world while I was still preparing for it. How sad that only now I was hoping that he would stay longer.

For my birthday, what Alex got me wasn’t too surprising. It was a DDR video game and dance controller. We already had a Playstation 2, so there were no extras that needed to be bought.

“One thing we never got around to improving for you is coordination. Rhythm. Reflexes. This will build you up on that now that once I leave.” He also felt one of my arms and smiled. “Very strong. Anyone with half a mind shouldn’t mess with you…” His voice trailed off. “But when I’m gone, I won’t be here to train you anymore. You can decide whether you want to continue… or just stop altogether. Whatever.” I smiled and spoke reassuringly.

“No way. I’ll keep it up. Just you wait… by the time I graduate middle school, I’ll be stronger than you.” He smirked and shook his head.

“Overpowering someone who’ll always be stronger? I’d like to see that happen.” I returned the smirk.

“Just you wait. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t.” He laughed and messed up my hair with his hand.

“Set your sights on dad. Once you can take him down, then you can start thinking about me.” He looked at me and sighed. “You don’t even look like what a guy would with your strength… very deceiving…”

…

The day before Alex was going to move out, he had most of the stuff already loaded into his car. He would get some furniture and other things later, but he was planning on staying light for the time being. I almost felt like crying, seeing him ready to go away. Alex snickered seeing my eyes.

“Come on now, what’s wrong you wimp?” I glared at him angrily and turned away.

“Forget it.” I was surprised when he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug.

“Don’t worry sis. It’s not like I’m never coming back.” He let me go and smiled. “Well, I better get going. I’ll see you soon, mother and father.” He gave both of them a hug and my mother kissed him on the cheek.

“Be good, okay?” Alex stared for a second before nodding very slightly and turning. He got into his car and started it up. I watched as he backed out of our driveway and waved as he took off… I waved back sadly before turning away and heading back into the house with a sigh.

…

Now with Alex gone, I spend a lot of time doing DDR. It was difficult for me at first trying to get coordinated to the arrows, but now I’m really good at it. I can even do most of the hard difficulty now. I do regularly the regular “ups”. Pushups, sit-ups, that stuff. I don’t have any weights and I can’t go to the gym, so I stick to those and do a lot of those. It’s not as motivating without Alex to push me, but I do it in hopes of being even stronger by the end of the year. I’ve challenged my dad to an arm wrestling match a couple of times, but he says he doesn’t want to embarrass me by beating me. I feel like he’s just afraid I’ll beat him.

At school, my friendships have changed. I talk with a few guys now. They’re ones who have seen me take down Jerry and they actually show me some respect and don’t get that sexual around me. As for Jerry, he refuses to do anything more than glare and turn away, while Scott can’t even look at me in the eyes without cowering. There are some new girls I have befriended, ones that don’t really care about my “tomboy manly” reputation.

Even now, it’s just eighth grade. I’ll have a lot of challenges to face once I get into high school and got on with life. But I had my brother, Alex to help me. With the preparations he put me through, I feel more secure about how my future will go. I still train regularly and I hear they have weight training offered at the high school I’ll go to. I plan on using that to my advantage…

Alex… my brother… my mentor… my tutor… my instructor. I hope when I see him next year, I won’t disappoint him. He’ll see the sister that could have been just like all the others, yet he’ll see what he made out of a turnaround. A girl strong in mind and body. A girl with strong will and courage. The girl that I am. A tomboy. The product of the intense years I had been put through. Something else… something different… me…

I can’t wait until next year.

The End