Danger Magellan's Invasion of Earth

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I thought I was hallucinating when I first saw the spaceship crash into Arthur Chung's backyard.

It was a normal August morning, and since I didn't have swim practice or rehearsals for the school musical, I was sitting on the couch relaxing and watching movies. I was debating on whether to watch West Side Story or Moulin Rouge! when to my irritation, my mother entered the room.

"Nora, don't forget that the exchange student from Albania is coming today," she reminded me.

I had almost forgotten. Our family was serving as the host family for a student from Albania who was spending his first semester of his sophomore year in Spragueville, Minnesota for some reason that I would never understand. Spragueville wasn't the most interesting place in the world, and I had no clue why, out of all of the places in the world, a kid from Albania would want to study here. "When is he coming?" I asked Mom.

"In about half an hour," Mom replied. "We're making a nice meal for him, so if you could help us out a little bit, that would be appreciated."

"I'll help," I said. I turned off the TV, got off the couch, and walked into the kitchen, where my parents were making something that looked like fried dough. "What's that?" I asked.

"Petulla," my dad answered. "It's a traditional Albanian dish, so hopefully, it will make our new exchange student feel at home."

"Go set the table, Nora," Mom instructed.

"Okay," I said. I still wasn't happy about having to stop watching my movie for some Albanian exchange student, but my parents were usually like this. That being said, I was lucky to have them. I took out four forks and knifes, and began to set them on the table, but all of a sudden, I spotted a gigantic metal rocket falling straight into my neighbor Arthur's backyard.

The shiny steel rocket was tube-shaped, with several fins at the bottom. However, I could only get a short glimpse at it before it fell behind the hedge that separated my backyard from the Chung family's and made a loud, crashing noise. "Did you see that?" I asked my parents.

"See what?" my dad said.

"Never mind," I said, certain that I had made the whole thing up. Maybe Arthur's belief in UFOs was contagious. If that was true, then it was a surprise that I hadn't been hallucinating spaceships falling from the sky earlier.

I finished setting the table, and about half an hour later, I heard a knock on the door. "I think our exchange student is here!" Mom exclaimed, and all of us ran to answer the door.

When I opened the door, I saw a brown skinned boy around my age who was carrying several suitcases. He had deep brown eyes, and he was wearing jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, even though it was nearly eighty degrees outside. The most striking thing about the boy, however, was his electric blue hair. "Hello," the boy said in a bizarre accent that sounded like a cross between Welsh, Japanese, and someone trying to poorly imitate a Russian accent. "My name is...uh, Dan! Yeah, I guess that works. I'm from Albania."

"Hi Dan," Dad said. "You can set your stuff down in the living room. We made petulla for you."

"What's that?" Dan asked as he opened up his stuff, which among other things, included several maps, a radio, and a cage with a hedgehog in it. I resisted the urge to squeal as I looked at the furry little creature.

"It's a traditional Albanian dish," Dad said. "We thought that it would help you feel more at home."

"I've never heard of it," Dan said. "I'd love to try it though."