Rose’s Adventure

By Brigitte Gong

~Chapter 1~

MIDDLE SCHOOL

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Ugh, is it morning already? I rolled over to my side and felt around clumsily for the snooze button. Where is that thing? Ah ha, here it is. I slammed it down with my palm and the beeping immediately stopped. I snuggled back on my pillow and pulled the covers over my head. Much better.

Before I could fall back asleep though, my eight-year-old sister adopted from China, Michelle started yelling, “Rose!!! Rose, get up!! It‘s the first day of school!!” So much for my plan to get extra sleep. I moaned. Today, like what Michelle said, was the first day of school. Middle school, for me. I sighed, wishing—perhaps even praying—that I wouldn‘t have to go to school. I pulled back the covers and sat up on my bed.

Even in the dark, I could make out the shapes of a couple cardboard boxes filled with some of the stuff I hadn’t unpacked yet. We moved here only three weeks ago, and I didn’t feel at all excited about school. I sighed and stared at the blank sheet of wall in front of me for a second—reminding myself to get posters— before I replied. “I’m coming.” I stepped off my bed and walked to my closet. I slid the door open, revealing a bunch of clothes hanging lopsided on hangers. I yanked down a light blue blouse and slipped on a pair of Levi’s jeans. I pulled on a pair of white socks and hurried downstairs.

I bumped into Kara on the way down. She is the second oldest out of all the Walkman siblings. My parents adopted her about fourteen years ago in Japan when she was only one. “Oops, sorry Kara.” I said apologetically.

“It’s ok.” She replied, smiling. She started to walk away, but then she whirled around and said, “Oh, I almost forgot. I need your opinion. Which top looks better with these pants?” She held up a pair of dark blue pants and a light green shirt. She then swapped the green shirt for a lilac one.

I furrowed my eyebrows as she swapped the shirts again. I finally pointed to the lilac one. “That one. I think it’s a good contrast.”

Kara nodded and said happily, “Thanks, Rose. Oh, and don’t worry about middle school. It’s not as bad as it seems on TV.” She winked and walked to her bedroom.

I smiled to myself and walked over to my normal seat by Michelle and stared at the plate in front of me. There, on the white plate, stood eggs, bacon, a piece of toast, and a glass of milk, waiting for me to gulp it down. I knew my dad would never change our breakfast menu, but I still expected it to disappear and get replaced with a batch of chocolate chip pancakes or perhaps a nice bowl of Lucky Charms cereal. But, nothing happened. I picked up my fork and dug into my food.

After breakfast I collected the plates and forks and stacked them in a neat pile in the sink. I slipped on a jean jacket, slung my bag over my shoulder and stood in the hallway outside the front door to put on my shoes. My mom walked into the hall a few seconds later, her briefcase in her right hand and our school lunches in the other.

“Bye, mom.”

She leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Bye, sweetie. Have a good first day of school!” Then she handed me my school lunch--probably a ham and cheese sandwich-- and turned to help the other Walkman siblings.

I turned the doorknob and held the door open for Ricky, my nine-year-old brother, and Michelle to pass. They were like mustard and ketchup, ok maybe not mustard and ketchup. More like… two crazy, inseparable monkeys. It was their first day in third grade, and they seemed absolutely elated.

“Maybe we’ll get to do plays!” Michelle said, excited.

“Yeah, and maybe we can finally be old enough to join the chess club!” Ricky said. He, I must admit, is a geek. If he’s not playing chess, then he’s fixing a computer glitch. He also knows a lot about different cars and their parts.

“Rose, what are you excited about?” Michelle asked me as we walked to the bus stop together. Kara was in high school and took a different bus. David, who just turned nineteen, was studying at UCLA at the moment.

“Umm… lunch, and recess.” I answered, smiling.

“Really?” Ricky asked in disbelief. “You mean you’re not even excited about after-school clubs and stuff??”

“C’mon, Ricky. You know I was just kidding! Anyway, I’m mostly excited about Math class. Did you know that if you’re in the Advanced Math class, they might send you to the Math Olympiads?” I told him. His eyes widened in excitement.

“Cool!!! I so want to go to middle school! Why do I have to wait three years?” He complained.

“Well, we can start preparing now, though. It will be good practice.” Michelle said, grinning.

I smiled happily as the yellow school bus labeled “Melham Middle School” pulled around the corner. I leaped up the steps, but as soon as I walked in, I knew I was wrong.

~Chapter 2~

FIRST DAY

I CLOSED MY EYES AND INHALED deeply. I expected the new, leathery smell that Kara and David had been telling me about would fill my nose, but instead, the bus smelled like raw meat, spoiled milk, and dirty socks. My eyes flew open and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. This did not look like the bus David had described to me earlier this month. It wasn’t new or clean. It was filthy. There were spider webs in about every window and the seats had a bunch of holes in them. I calculated how long it had been since David attended Middle School. Six years. Wow, a lot has changed in just six years.
“Hurry up, will ya?” A loud voice boomed from my right. I jumped. I hadn’t realized the bus driver was right there. He had a thick mustache and was going bald at the top of his head. “I don’t wanna be late, so find a darn seat!!” He shouted at me, his face inches from mine.
“Sorry,” I muttered and turned my eyes away from his. I looked around at the bus. It was still quite empty.
I walked down the aisle and found the nearest empty seat possible. As soon as I sat down, the bus lurched underneath me and sped off. I had to hold tightly to the empty seat next to me to keep from flying off. We rounded a corner and suddenly the tires stopped moving and my whole body flew toward the seat in front of me. “Ow,” I mumbled, rubbing my head. Who knew the seats could be so hard?
I heard the doors open and the bus driver named Kurt shout, “C’mon, c’mon, I don’t have all day!” Suddenly, a stampede of kids rushed on the bus, filling most of the empty seats. I figured this was the most crowded and popular community.
A girl who looked like she was in sixth grade too, came to sit by me. She had black hair and big, bright, chocolate-colored eyes. She wasn’t very tall, but she looked horribly fragile and weak, especially under her heavy-looking backpack.
“Hi, I’m Rose Walkman,” I said as she took her seat.
“Hi Rose, my name’s Jill Mataki,” She replied, smilingly shyly. Mataki, I thought while I shook her hand, It rings a bell…
“Are you also in sixth grade?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“I see… So, do you have any siblings?” I wondered.
“Yes, just one.” She said quietly. “I have an older brother named Jacob.”
“Oh!” I gasped. “Jacob Mataki! He was my brother, David’s best friend!”
“Really?” She asked, her big eyes widening.
I nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” I answered. It was the truth, I was quite sure it was the Jacob, the one my brother spent most of his afternoon’s at.
“You don’t look very much like him.” She commented, looking at my face, with probing eyes.
“Most people say that, but it’s probably because he looks more like my mom--he’s got her green eyes and almond-colored hair. A lot of people say I’m like my dad--he’s also got light blue eyes and what I call coffee-bean colored hair.” I giggled, showing Jill my dark hair.
She laughed too, a very quiet, timid sound, but I was sure it was a laugh.
“Hey, are those natural highlights?” She pointed to a strand of blond hair that was mixed into my hair.
“Yeah, but I don’t know where I got them from. Neither my mom or my dad has highlights.” I shrugged.
Our conversation ended there. I would normally have talked more, but I felt quite nervous. Jill didn't start any conversations either, which I was grateful of. I had a feeling we would be pretty good friends.

During our ride there, I tried to convince myself the worst thing that could happen on my first day is getting a lot of homework, but then again, that is still quite bad. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and I tried thinking about other things, like what I would do when I got home if I didn’t have much homework.
Kurt slammed our foreheads against the seats in front of us three more times before arriving at the school. I glanced down at my watch--it was eight ten, meaning I had five minutes to check-in and find all my classes. Jill and I walked together to the office which was located to the right of the parking lot. Inside the office, the chairs lined one side of wall, the other side was behind the long counter. There were three windows behind the chairs and they provided most of the light.
We walked up to the desk together, where the main receptionist helped us. She gave us both a map and a schedule of our classes. I looked at it and immediately groaned. Each day we had a different schedule. The only class that stayed at second period was History. How was I supposed to remember the order of my classes or the days when I had math third period? The receptionist told us not to worry, and that we will remember our schedules soon enough.
I hoped she was right.
As for the map, I tried memorizing where all my classes were, but I was quite sure I was going to end up walking around school with my nose stuck in front of it.
Jill and I only had Math, English, and Science together, but I didn’t really mind. Sometimes I liked being alone.
During homeroom period, Mr. Harrison told us about additional classes and after-school clubs we could sign up for next week. I’m planning to sign up for the Math Numbers Club and maybe Cooking or Drama class.
The rest of my classes went well. Not exactly good, but well.
I found the classrooms pretty easily, mostly because all the sixth grade classes are on one side of the school. Most of my teachers just talked about class rules and where to turn our homework in, stuff like that. They also handed out all our textbooks and I ended up getting six. No one assigned homework except Mrs. Mann who gave us a five-paragraph history essay due on Friday, which gave me only two days to work on it. She is the worst teacher I’ve had in four years.
I was happy, no, relieved to even make it out of her classroom alive.
I didn’t meet many other kids except for Nikki, a really nice eighth grader, and Sam, a kind and friendly sixth grader that was suffering with me in history class. It felt good to know I wasn’t the only one struggling to understand what Mrs. Mann was saying.
Before I knew it, lunch period had arrived and I found myself sitting between Jill and Sam. I opened my paper bag and found a ham and cheese sandwich. Jill had homemade California rolls and chicken teriyaki. I wondered how she could fit all the food in her tiny stomach. Sam bought lunch, and it looked like the cafeteria food you see on TV.
“It’s definitely meat loaf.” Sam said.
“No, I think it’s chili,” I objected.
“What do you think, Jill?” He asked.
“I don’t know,” She answered. Sam shrugged and we went back to arguing between meat loaf and chili. Jill just giggled every now and then.
“Why don’t you just try the darn thing and then we can see who’s right?” I asked him, annoyed.
“Fine, fine. But you’re sure you don’t wanna bet?”
“Ok, I’ll bet you five bucks it’s chili. But don't cry if I win!” I warned him. I was good at these bets, because I had David. He doesn't normally like to bet, because I won most of the time.
“Five?!?” He asked, outraged. I nodded stubbornly. “But I’ve only got three bucks!”
“Fine, three it is, then. Now, eat so I can prove you I’m right.”
He scooped some of the stuff up and shoved it in his mouth. He looked quite confident.
“It’s meatloaf.” He lied.
“Really?” I asked sarcastically. “Why don’t you let me try?”
“Ok, but take your own fork, I don’t want girl germs!”
I took a bite and immediately noticed the chili flavor. “It’s chili.”
“No it’s not,” He said stubbornly. I could tell he wasn’t going to change his mind.
“Chili!”
“Meatloaf!”
“Chili, chili, chili!”
“MEATLOAF!”
“Oh come on, we both know it's chili. Now hand over the money.” I smiled smugly and waited for him to answer.
"Why do girls have to be so cruel?" He muttered under his breath. He shoved his hand into his pocket and took out a brown leather wallet. He opened it and handed me three dollar bills. "Happy?"

"You believed me? I was just kidding! Keep the money, seriously." I said, pushing the bills back. I didn't wait for him to respond and got out of my seat, beckoning Jill to follow me to the gym.

~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~

The final bell rang and I rushed to the bus stop, Jill at my heels. I was sure that if I didn’t arrive at two forty-five sharp, Kurt would just take off without us and I‘d have to wait for the eighth-graders bus. Luckily we made it on time, though. I wiped the sweat off my forehead as I hopped on the bus. Jill and I took the same seats from this morning and we chatted about our classes the way home. She got off first and waved good bye to me. I got off at the next stop and it was only seconds after I stepped off the bus did I see another bus pull up to the stop. At first, I thought it was the one I just got off of, but then I realized it was the one for Collins Elementary School, the one Michelle and Ricky went to.
Sure enough, Michelle was the first one to skip down the steps, with Ricky slouching behind her. “Hi Rose!” Michelle said enthusiastically. I could tell she had a brilliant day, the exact opposite of mine.
“Hey, Michelle.” I tried to sound normal, and not at all worried about my essay. I did a pretty good job because Michelle just smiled. Then I turned to my brother and asked, "Ricky, what's wrong?"

“Chess club,” he answered simply.
“Still not old enough?” I guessed.
He sighed. “Yeah. You have to be in fourth grade! They just changed it this summer because a third grader beat a fifth grader! I don’t find that fair.” He said angrily, his eyes down at the sidewalk and his arms crossed over his chest.
“Well, life isn’t always fair.” I walked around Michelle to stand next to his small body and wrapped one of my arms tightly around his tiny shoulders. “Ok, just for today, I’ll make you chocolate chip cookies, all right?”
His eyes flickered up to meet mine. “Really? You don't expect me to do something back?” He asked.
"Nope, nothing." I said. But then, after thinking for a second I said, "Actually, there is something."

He looked at me anxiously. "What is it?"

"Don't be so upset. Ok?"

A tiny smile formed on his lips. "Ok." He was silent for half a second before he shouted, “Hey, race you home! Last one there’s a rotten egg!” He was off in a second. I gasped in shock and then sprinted after him.

It didn’t take long for Michelle and me to catch up to Ricky and we were soon running neck-to-neck. I cocked my head to the right to see Michelle huffing and puffing. I twisted my head to the left and saw Ricky with a determined look on his face.
That was when I heard the voice.

~Chapter 3~

Wednesday

THE VOICE WAS MUSICAL AND sounded like chimes tingling gently in the wind. “Rose, Rose! Over here!” It called.

I whipped around. No one was there. I looked left and right. No one. I looked down at the concrete and up to the sky. No one.

“Ew, get away!” Michelle shouted, waving her head wildly at a flying bug. “Annoying bug,” Michelle murmured. We walked the rest of the way. By the time I got home, I was quite convinced I just made the voice up. After all, it didn’t sound like Michelle or Ricky heard it either.

I closed the door quietly behind me and walked to the kitchen. On the island, there stood a plate full of apple wedges. Kara was standing behind them scribbling something down on a notepad.

“Hey, Michelle, Ricky and Rose!” Kara said enthusiastically, waving her free arm. She put the notepad and pen down and looked up at us.

“Kara!” Michelle replied, running to her. Michelle and Kara have also been very close to each other. Actually, Michelle has been very close to everyone. She wrapped her petite arms around Kara’s waist and hugged her tightly.

“How was your first day of school?” Kara asked kindly, pushing the plate closer to us.

Michelle immediately let go one of her arms and snatched an apple. “It was fantastic! Wasn’t it, Ricky?” She said through a mouthful of apples.

Ricky just nodded and shoved an apple slice into his mouth.

“How was your’s, Rose?”

I froze with my hand wrapped around an apple, inches from my mouth. I swallowed and put the apple down. How was I supposed to answer? Tell the truth? Or lie? Telling the truth would obviously be better—Kara could help me. But I didn’t want to say it in front of Michelle and Ricky. Kara stared at me, her elegant face screwed up in a confused expression.

“Um, it was…okay.” This wasn’t exactly a lie, and it was partly true. My day wasn’t that bad. I saw Kara’s eyes flicker with confusion before she understood. She nodded once and I knew she would give me some advice when we had time.

I didn’t hear the voice anymore the rest of the day and I was sure I made it up. I walked downstairs to Kara’s room after I put a book cover over each textbook. She told me not to worry and that first days were always the worst. She also advised me to not be self-conscious and be myself. I thanked her and walked upstairs to write a first draft for my essay.

Mrs. Mann told us we could do it on anything and I chose the Civil War. To me, that was the only interesting thing I ever learned in history. I was researching the end of the war when I heard the garage door open. There was a loud bang that followed and I knew my mom was home.

She checked on Michelle and Ricky’s homework first, to make sure they knew what they were doing. She was clanging around in the kitchen when I walked downstairs.

“Hey, Rose. How was school?” She asked as she stirred some soup. She put the spoon down and wiped her hands on the white apron she was wearing and walked over by me.

I didn’t reply to her question and just asked, “Can I help you with anything?”

“Yes, you can. But first, I want to know how school went.” This was how my mom was. If I didn’t tell her about something, she would just keep asking me about it until I answered.

“It was okay.” There was nothing else to say.

“Just okay?” She seemed surprised by my answer. Maybe she expected school to go better for me, although it never did, not even when we lived in Kansas.

“Just okay.” I answered. “So, what can I help you with?” I asked in a lighter tone.

“Um, well…the vegetables need to be cut and the meat needs to be seasoned. You sure you’re okay?” She eyed me anxiously and I nodded quickly.

“You don’t look so well to me.” I assured her it was nothing and she said, “Okay, well wash your hands and get started. Dad will be home soon.”

I washed my hands thoroughly and then started on the veggies. I wasn’t really concentrating on cutting, I was mostly just letting my thoughts float around and think about random things. Most of these things I thought about had something to do with school. Like bullies—and how I hadn’t bumped into any yet—, buses—and that horrible smell; I shivered at the thought—history, math, stuff like that.

I was thinking quite absent-mindedly too, so I didn’t realize I wasn’t moving my hand until I felt a stinging in my left index finger. I held it up to the light to examine the cut. It wasn’t very deep or long, it just hurt a lot, like a paper cut.

Mom almost dropped her knife when I walked past her to get a Band-Aid. Luckily, it didn’t fly out of her hand. I cleaned it up and stuck a Care Bears Band-Aid on it. Unfortunately, Michelle only used Care Bears Band-Aids and mom always thinks it’s unnecessary to buy more than one pack at a time.

My mom, Nancy, stopped letting me help her so I just started playing piano. I was the only one who played piano. David played guitar and Kara plays the flute. I also swim every day, but this week, my swim team was taking a break. I just started a Mozart Sonatina when the garage door opened again.

“It’s dad, it’s dad!” Michelle shouted, running to the garage door. One of the things I loved about Michelle was that if you were gone even for half-an-hour, she would still welcome you back like you’ve been gone for half a day.

“Michelle-bear!” My dad’s gruff voice boomed through the house as he bent down to pick her up. “Michelle-bear” is Michelle’s favorite nickname and only my dad, Henry Walkman, gets to use it. “How was your first day of school, sweet pea?” He asked in a gushy voice. I continued playing, so it wouldn’t sound like I was eavesdropping.

“It was great, daddy! Ricky and I got to sit next to each other!”

“Oh, really? Well, make sure Mr. Ricky doesn’t talk too much.”

“He didn’t, daddy.” She smiled and my dad put her down.

“Ricky Mickey!” My dad always made up nicknames for everyone—everyone that is, except for me. He called me Rosalie. My mom said it was because he picked the name for me and liked the name Rosalie, not Rose. “How was your day?” He asked, bending down so his face was level with Ricky’s.

“Horrible.” Typical Ricky. Even though it was only one tiny thing, it mattered a huge amount to him.

My dad frowned. “Why horrible?”

“They didn’t let me into chess club.” Ricky crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s not fair!”

“It’s okay, Rick, we can make our own chess club. You can be president. Why don’t we start tomorrow evening? Get everything set up, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll do it right after dinner!”

“Wait!” I shouted. “Do I have to join too?”

“Of course you do, Rosalie.” My dad answered.

“But I suck at chess! I suck.” I put a huge emphasis on “suck”.

“But Ricky here will teach you how to not suck. Right, Rick?”

Ricky nodded his head excitedly. “We can start right after school tomorrow!”

“After homework,” My dad corrected.

“After homework.” Ricky agreed.

Dad stood up then, and walked over to me.

“Well, enough about chess. How was your day Rosalie?” He asked me.

“It was okay.” The same reply I gave to everyone.

“Oh,” was all he could say. He shrugged and walked to the kitchen to say hi to mom and Kara. I went back to the piano and started on that Mozart piece.

Dinner was finished a couple minutes after that, and I didn’t talk much. I just chewed, swallowed, and listened. Simple enough. It was working perfectly well until mom asked for details on my day. I simply shrugged and told her how the bus ride was fast—I left out the bumpy part—and how my teachers just lectured about nonsense—to me. Mom didn’t ask about my day anymore and I was happy about that.

After dinner, I helped wash the dishes before I started on Ricky’s cookies. I didn’t realize the batter made fifteen cookies, so I placed them too close to each other and most of them stuck together to become one big cookie. Ricky didn’t seem so upset about it, though.

While he was eating, I went upstairs to revise my essay. I had a lot of work to do. I even spelled Abraham Lincoln’s name wrong once! I finished revising and before I knew it, it was bedtime.

Chapter 4

~Voices~

THE NEXT FEW DAYS OF SCHOOL were in some ways better and in others, worse. Much, much worse. It was better because I finally remembered my schedule, after hours of practice. Okay, maybe “hours” is an overstatement, but you know what I mean. I turned in my essay and got an “A” on it, which made me feel so relieved.

I got a chance to sign up for after-school clubs and I decided to join the Math Numbers Club so I could learn some advanced math. I decided I wouldn’t sign up for Cooking or Drama class until next year, when it was required.

I also bought a car air freshener over at the 7Eleven store right by my swim practice pool. I asked—I mean begged—Kurt to use it and surprisingly, he said yes. I still couldn’t get used to that rancid smell.

It was much worse because the homework piled up on me and I had to drag my backpack off the bus. There were also days when I stayed up until midnight to finish all my homework.

It was also much worse because I actually bumped into a bully while I was taking out my Pre-Algebra textbook. He threatened to kill me the next time I bumped into him. That made me extremely aware of my surroundings and when Michelle playfully poked me while we walked home, I flinched. She asked what was wrong, and I just told her I was cold. That, however, was a mistake because then, she lent me her jacket. And her jacket has Barbie on it.

Talk about a horrible day.

When I came home, I skipped the apples because I didn’t have an appetite and headed straight upstairs. I decided to start on my math homework. Right when I was going to take out my math textbook, I heard the small voice again.

“Rose, Rose! I’m over here!” It shouted. I spun my head to the direction where I heard it came from.

“What?!?” I asked out loud. “Where are you? Who are you?”

“I’m right here!” The voice now sounded irritated, but still very musical.

I jumped. The voice sounded so close. I dropped my textbook with a loud thud and turned around in my chair. I froze. In front of me, about four feet in the air, was a fairy dressed head to toe in fuchsia pink. She had curly blonde hair and bright, blue eyes.

But how could this be possible? I thought there were only fairies in fantasy stories. Maybe I was dreaming. Yes, I probably was. And at any moment, I would wake up in my bed. I squeezed my eyes shut and said to myself, Rose, wake up!

“What are you doing?” The voice shouted. I jumped again, flying off my chair and landing on the ground. I opened my eyes. The fairy was still there, inches from my face, a confused expression was painted on her face. “Are you okay?” She asked and I realized that Michelle wasn’t trying to hit a bug; she was trying to hit her.

“Um yeah, but who are you?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too rude.

“Oh, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself properly yet! I’m Alice, helper of the fairy princess, Christina. Most of us call her Tina, though. She doesn’t like the name Christina.” She said these words fluidly, like someone playing the piano. “You must be Rose.”

I stared at her in shock. My actual name was Rosalie, but everyone called me Rose. How did she know to call me Rose? “How do you know my name?” I blurted out.

“Well, first, your name is on your jacket. And secondly, you are in our humans-to-see book.” She explained.

“No, I meant to say, ‘How did you know to call me Rose?’”

“Do you like Rosalie better?” She asked, confused.

“No… but… oh forget it!” That was when I realized she didn’t only say my name was on my jacket. “Wait, did you say I was in a book?!?

“Yes, silly! This is the book where we keep all the information of the humans we should see or visit. There are five of us in this department; me, Chloe, Victoria, Rachel, and my best friend Jessie. We all visit the humans for a different reason. Some are the same though. Like exchanging a tooth for money, or filling Easter baskets. It‘s kind of fun, actually. All the humans react differently to us, like your sister Michelle. She thought I was a bug!” She giggled to herself.

“How did you know her name?” I asked, confused.

“Well, along with your name, we also have all the names of your family members or friends. It updates itself every time you make a new friend.” She explained.

“Oh.” I mumbled.

Then, Alice turned around and examined my room. “Nice room,” she commented. Without a sound, she fluttered onto my bed and settled on the covers.

“So why are you here anyway?” I asked after a moment of silence.

“Oh, I didn‘t tell you?” She seemed a little disappointed with herself. “Well, I‘m here because Princess Tina wants you. She said it was for a ‘secret’ mission although have the kingdom already knows what it is.” She rolled her eyes.

“But, don’t you know I need to go to school?” I asked, although to myself, I was hoping I could skip school.

“Yes, of course we know. We’ve got that all sorted out. Basically, every second in your world, equals one minute in ours. So if your gone for sixty minutes in our world, you’re only gone for one minute in yours. Understand?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. This wasn’t so hard, in fact, it was a lot easier than Pre-Algebra! “So do you expect me to go now?”

“No, of course not! You get to choose two other people to come with you. Princess Tina said before Friday, so that’s three days,” She said. “Now, if you don’t mind I think I’d like to do something.”

“Do what?” I asked cautiously.

“Well, since I’m gonna be here for a while, I might as well blend in, right?” She asked me. I nodded once and she waved her finger again.

All of a sudden, she began to grow. Her head grew to the size of mine, and then her legs and arms extended out. Before I knew it, she was my height with no more wings. She sat motionless on my bed and for a second, I thought she was a statue.

“Wow.” I mumbled.

Beep, beep, beep! “Oh, give me a second.” She said and flicked open a pink phone. “Hello?” She spoke into the phone. “Yes, I finally got through and I was able to find her… No problem… Yes, I did… She… she took it pretty good…I know, right?” There was a small pause and then she laughed. “No way! Haha, well I’ll see you soon. Uh huh… okay… good bye.” She snapped the phone shut and turned to me. “That was Princess Tina.”

“What did she say?” I asked curiously.

“She just wanted to check in and make sure I’ve got you.” She said.

“I see…” I mumbled. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘getting through’ and ‘finding me’?”

“Oh, well you see, we can only find the humans by going into your thoughts. We call out your name, and once you hear us, we will be able to find where you are. But lately, you’ve had no extra room in your thoughts so I couldn’t get in until now.” She explained.

“I see…” I said again. This definitely explained a lot. Like why I heard the voice on my first day of school and not anymore. It was because of all that endless homework.

Then, I heard footsteps. They were slowly getting louder. I could tell someone was coming up the stairs. This broke my train of thought and I shouted, “Snap! You’ve got to hide, you’ve got to hide!” I hissed to Alice.

“Why? I’ll be invisible to everyone except you and the two people you choose. But I don’t want to bump into anyone, I guess.” She mumbled and walked into my closet.

Just then, there was a small knock on my door.

Chapter 5

I hastily picked up my textbook, opened it to some random page, and set it down on my desk. I swerved my chair around so I was facing the open book and picked up a pencil. I flipped madly through my notebook and found a blank page. I scribbled my name on the top of the page and cleared my throat. “Come in!” I shouted.

The door opened and Kara’s head poke through. “Is everything all right? I thought I heard you talking to someone.” She probed my room.

“What? No, I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just, you know, doing my math.” I muttered. I always sucked at lying and this was by far the worst I’ve done. Kara shrugged, pulled her head back, and closed the door quietly. I let out the air in my lungs with a loud swoosh and turned to my closet.

“Alice, you can come out now.”

“I know. Turn around.”

I spun around in my chair and saw Alice sitting on my bed. “What? How did you get here?”

“Fairies have special powers, you know. All of us have super speed and we all know magic. We also have a different and unique power that’s never the same. For example, I can see into your thoughts. Like right now, your wondering what Princess Tina can do.”

I gasped. She wasn’t kidding about her powers. “But, if you said that no two powers are the same then how can your co-workers”—

“You mean Victoria, Chloe, Jessie, and Rachel? And how they can get to the humans, right? Well, duh I’m right, huh?” I nodded and she continued, “They don’t get to you the same way I do. Victoria, for example, has super hearing. Whenever she hears the name of the person she’s supposed to find, she instantly knows where they are. Your wondering how we know where to find you guys, right?

“Well, for Victoria,”—she picked her words very carefully so she could explain it better—“no two voices are the same. When she hears the voice, she can tell if it’s coming from the south, north, east or west. She can also tell if it’s close or not. From there, she navigates her way to the humans.

“For me, it’s pretty much the same. But it’s a bit more complicated in my case. For one thing, finding the specific person’s thoughts are hard. It takes some getting used to. You see, I can hear a bunch of voices in my head. The ones I don’t want to hear are stored away, like in a filing cabinet. The people I want to hear, I can take out the files and hear what the person says.

“When I try a new person, I have to break through to their thoughts and it takes a lot of complicated spell work, but once I do, it’s easy from there. If the person has very crowded thoughts, it’s extremely difficult to perform the spell, but if the person doesn’t think much, it’s a lot easier.” She shrugged and then answered my question, “Yes, I can hear people from China if I wanted to.” She smiled and laid down on my bed.

“Jessie can see the house of the human she’s looking for and she can steer herself there in a matter of minutes. Rachel can smell the person and find them. It’s quite interesting how we all find our way, though.”

“But, how do you become a fairy? You weren’t born a fairy right?” I wondered.

“Oh, I wasn’t born a fairy, but becoming one is kind of… difficult. Princess Tina doesn’t want you to know that, though. Not now, at least. Now, I believe someone has a lot of homework on their hands. Get started. I’ll be keeping in touch with you!” She winked and with a small poof, she was gone.

I sighed and got started with my Pre-Algebra homework. Before doing so, however, I glanced at the clock. It was only 3:05, but Alice seemed to have been talking a lot longer than that. I shrugged and flicked through my textbook. Here we are exponents.

I already learned everything since I was in an advanced math class back in Kansas, but I didn’t want to give my teacher a blank sheet of paper and say, “I already know this”. Besides, I decided it would be a good review for me, especially for state testing.

The Math Numbers Club I signed up for didn’t give me much homework, but the stuff they taught was hard! That was probably because most of the members were eighth-graders and I was only in sixth. But I liked a bit of a challenge—it keeps me working.

After I finished my math homework—which was indeed very easy—I started on English.

I never really liked or hated English. It was kind of just floating there and sprinkling down assignments. The only part of English I always looked forward to was reading. I liked reading. Wait, I take that back. I loved reading. If I wasn’t swimming or doing math, you could probably see me with a three hundred-page book in front of my face.

I stared at the textbook page and read,

Direct Objects.

Direct objects are nouns or pronouns that come after an action verb and answers the questions What? or Whom?

I frowned. I already knew all this and I had to finish twenty problems? That was unfair. Now I really wished I could just turn in a sheet of paper with the words “I already know this” scribbled all over it. That would be much easier. And more efficient. I sighed and wrote “#1”.

“Rose! It’s dinnertime!” My mother shouted.

“I’m coming!!” I yelled back. I snapped my history book shut and switched off my lamp. I yawned lazily and opened my door. I walked down the long hallway before I reached the soft, carpeted stairs. There was a delicious aroma that filled the air as I ran down the stairs.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked curiously.

“Lemongrass Chicken and corn,” my mom answered.

“Yum,” I replied as I skipped into the dining room.