Acknowledgements:

I would like to acknowledge Dr. Marina Gair for crossing the word, "impossible" out of my vocabulary and showing me anything is possible.

I would also like to acknowledge my peers for the time they took away from their stories to focus on mine.

The leaves were just becoming crisp in mid-November when Marcus had to start a new school.

He slowly approached the front door of the school and looked up to see what he thought was the tallest building in the world. He gasped then swallowed as he stepped inside, never looking back at his mom.

Marcus pulled the door open and his heart almost jumped out of his chest when he first heard the piercing sound of the school bell.

He glanced over to see if anyone had seen him jump and there was Annabelle.

“Are you new? You look new. My name is Annabelle! How old are you? I’m in 4th grade. Are you in the same grade as me?” Annabelle peppered Marcus with questions left and right.

Marcus paused then said, “Uhhh. I am Marcus, I am in 4th grade too. I’m in Mrs. Braverman’s class.”

SECURITY

The two of them began to walk.

"Me tooooooooo!” replied Annabelle. “You’re really going to LOVE our class. We can even sit at lunch together and you can meet my sister!”

Marcus seemed a little relieved he was not going to be sitting alone at lunch, but at the same time felt a bit nervous. He wasn’t sure why Annabelle was being so warm to him. Usually when he started a new school the kids would bully him, but this time it was different.

Marcus smirked, breaking a sweat, “Lunch sounds cool. What is your sister like?”

Annabelle took off her glasses, “Just like me but with two eyes instead of four."

“Her name is Luna and we’re twins. She’s silly and she always makes my family laugh."

 “She adores being in the sun and having her toes buried in the sand, but she never swims.”

“She always comes to my theater performances and sits in the front row and cheers me on!”

"She always comes to my soccer practices, even though she's not on the team.”

Luna sounded nothing short of awesome to Marcus.

Annabelle showed Marcus the way to class and lunch time came shortly.

As the seats filled up in the lunchroom, Marcus’ eyes searched the room for Annabelle. He could not find her anywhere but he found a girl who looked like she could pass for Annabelle.

She had the same brown hair, she had the same smile, the same sparkly eyes, but something was different.

This girl was surrounded by the same people in Marcus’ class, but she was sitting in a special chair.

She had the teacher helping her eat. This girl was not even holding her own spoon! “How strange,” thought Marcus.