I was riding inside a deep maroon locomotive, it was night and the sound of the wheels turning and kids snoring rang in my ears, I, on the other hand, am awake, aware and slightly annoyed My name is Ari. Not Arianna, just Ari... Well... Truly, my real name is Aries but.. well, Just stick with Ari. I cracked the window open and felt my hair being ruffled in the cold night breeze. “Ughh!” It was sticky hot in the train and I was starting to get claustrophobia.. another girl woke up at my complaint or, more specifically noise...

 “Shush!” She hissed through her teeth, I could tell because it sounded extra aggressive and prissy.. especially since she was still half asleep. I nodded and her plop back down onto her bed. I yawned and propped the window back into its frame, I lay back down onto my

bed and in the midst of all the noise, I felt my green eyes droop until I fell asleep.  Next morning I woke up to a loud horn, of which made my ears ring for 30 minutes afterward Oh did I mention, I am going to a fairy-tale school called Mother Goose Academy or MGA. I’m not sure what grades an academy actually is but MGA is for any and every grade. I qualified because I’m basically a witch, which is super dumb by the way. I have long hair and elvish ears, (P.S. I got elf ears from my dad) I suppose that illustrates why I am joining MGA. Everyone here was ‘different’ just like me! I thought I’d fit in flawlessly

As the train door opened kids basically FELL out of the train. Everyone was so hyped to be entering this new school and seeing all these people! I ran to my dorm which was assigned to me the day before. Once I got there what I saw was insane, three girls were having a pillow war and a boy was sitting on his desk with his laptop clicking away on the keys. Another girl was sitting on her bed protecting her pillows, alongside her was a little brown dog. Once they noticed me the girls stopped mid-air and the boy flipped his head around so quick I swear he might have lost the darn thing! The boy seemed to be a normal elf, but he was super tall compared to other elves. He was barely taller than me The three girls were much shorter and they must have been sisters since they all had the same nose.

The girl in her was a witch too in fact I think we all were. I made my way to the top bunk and realized that there were two bunk beds and four mattresses, and an air mattress. “The twins are sleeping together.” all the sudden I heard a whoosh and the little dog jumped off the bed and became human mid-air. “Yo! I’m Landon,” the dog person said, he seemed quite peppy. he gestured towards the elf “That’s Max. the three girls are Lilac, Iris, and Rose. Oh! And the girl in the bed is Amelia. Who are you?”

“I’m Ari” I was astonished at this entire exchange. “I have to pick up my schedule.” I told them. Landon nodded and Amelia waved, I walked outside. I thought back to the group of people I’d just met. Landon was party lab, with brown hair,  Max was a tall elf boy with black

hair, the twins all looked identical... Long strawberry red hair, and super short. Amelia was a bit smaller than me. She had long brunette curls and olive skin. Amelia looked a lot like Landon I wondered if they were siblings. They all fit in too. I wondered what was wrong with me... How was I not normal?

After arriving at the office I collected my things and sighed deeply, I think adrenaline may have been fogging my brain but I heard lots of snickering and whispering. As I passed by groups of people, they would go silent. I felt so alone This was the same thing that happened in my old school, which was why I left. Eventually, I started running as fast as I could, as if that would actually stop them from whispering and spreading rumors. I ran into my dorm as quickly as I could and tripped over part of the door. Landon, Amelia, and Max all ran to help while the twins were knee deep in their pillow war.

Immediately Max, Landon, and Amelia all said: “Are you okay?”

“Why are they laughing...?

“Huh?” Landon looked at me as if I was insane

“Uh-oh..” Max murmured “That was you?”

“Huh?” Landon now looked at Max as if HE was insane

“I don’t believe it’s her,” Amelia announced

“Huh?”  Landon looked at all three of us now

“Huh?” The twins repeated and walked over to overlook the commotion.

“Marlene has been spreading rumors of a girl with silver hair,”

“I didn’t even know who ‘Marlene’ was until now!” I exclaimed and ran up to my bed, covered my head with a pillow and yelled: “I JUST NEED TO BE NORMAL!”

After my own pity party, I must’ve fallen asleep because I woke up to Max shaking me uncontrollably and Landon panicking “What!?” I exclaimed and got up. Max pointed to the door. There stood a girl my age, she had long blonde hair that made her look fake and big glassy green eyes. She was wearing a short skirt and a blouse that just barely covered her stomach she didn’t seem special or magic, so she must’ve had internal powers instead of external, like me.“Hey, mystery girl.” she sneered

“What do you want?!” I hissed through clenched teeth

“Wow, don’t be so mean. I just want to make sure the rumors are true”

“You must be mistaken, barbie doll.” The girl looked at me

she went from cocky to aggressive so fast that I almost laughed. It was quite amusing. I snickered and started to remove my phone from my pocket. I was still in my bed so, it seemed that my plan was going to work.

“Look, RAT! I need a picture of you to prove you’re alive. Smile!” the girl smiled evilly and I quickly ducked back under my pillow as I heard a little click, I must have evaded barbie doll’s camera because she growled and looked up at me. I took out my phone and when she looked up, click! I slipped under my covers I looked at my phone, I had gotten a picture of the girl. I posted it on almost every social media I could find, I knew people would think she stole from Landon, which was what I wanted.

Later that day, fewer people talked to me behind my back and more to my face, most of them said things like: “Did she steal anything?” and “Was this true?” but, the one I enjoyed most was “Why’s her hand reaching for dirty underwear?” which was from a naive boy who was quite concerned that she may steal his underwear too. I felt powerful. It was amazing how social media affects the school so quickly. RING! I started my way to class, even there Some people even treated me like a king, apparently, that girl who was actually Marlene had caused everyone in the school a great deal of trouble. Our teacher also gave a lecture about prime numbers. After the social media incident Marlene was looking for me, in fact, she was stalking me!

When I was walking to ELA class Marlene pointed to me and said: “THAT'S THE IMPOSTER GIRL! SHE’S A LIAR!!” everyone looked at me then Marlene, this process continued for about 30 seconds before everyone ran away. Now both of us are alone in the hall and she has full control over me. I ran off and told my ELA teacher that I needed to go to the nurse because I almost threw up and ran to my dorm, I hate hospitals. Soon I heard a little ding from my phone. Marlene posted a picture of me, Landon, Max, and Amelia hanging out in a caption it read “Geek Squad 101, how to be an absolute dunce.” I put my phone down and sighed. “It’s only the second day” I whispered this to myself as if it’d change something and hoped that Landon, Max,