Unlikely Friends

Prologue

C

"Jody! Where'd you put the Ritz?" C yelled at her brother as she walked through the door and flung her backpack onto the ground. She didn't even bother checking the pantry; they were never there.

"Here, Ritz-Piggy," he retorted halfheartedly, shoving the Ritz box away from his spot on the couch. He didn't even glance up from his video game at her as she eagerly snatched up the crackers and stuffed some into her mouth.

"How'd your assignment go?" she teased him. He had been working with his crush on a science project that had been due that day. He threw an elbow her way, but she dodged it.

"We got an A+, of course." He smiled despite himself, and, content with her work, C headed up the stairs to her room. She set the Ritz box down and immediately went back down the stairs, having forgotten her backpack.

Once back in her room, she put away her school things. Then, in her very best spy fashion, she checked out her window and door to make sure that no one was watching before barricading her door and pulling out her 'secret' box from under her bed.

No one would actually catch her; her brother would be playing video games all day and her Dad worked till 6:00 at the museum, and then night shift, too. Her mom had died when she was three and her brother a newborn.

She spread out the box's contents - notebooks, pens, books, papers, and some other random objects - across her floor. She then began her daily work. Reading adventure and fiction stories, and writing her own. She'd sketch pictures of things from her books, she'd make models.

This was her life. Normal, boring school and this. Her secret dreams of grandeur.

She was considered highly antisocial, but she couldn't care less. She didn't have a boyfriend, or even a crush. She lived in her stories. Life was such a disappointment to her. The stories were so much better.

All she wanted was to do something important, like people did in her books. But she began to doubt that the opportunity would ever arise. I mean, who was she in the grand scheme of things? What could she do? And at 16, her youth was quickly leaving. She was losing her last chance.

What she didn't know was that she was special, and that she would get that chance.

Destiny

"They don't know how good they've got it," she muttered to herself as she walked through the hallways toward her school's exit. She always walked the long miles to her home in the countryside, rather than riding the bus. She felt like she needed to be alone.

Destiny was special. And, as irony goes, she wanted to be normal. Breathing underwater was no good to her. Sure, she adored swimming. But she couldn't just stay underwater all the time. And if anyone learned of her ability . . .

She sighed to herself as she walked home. Alone. "But alone is best," she chided herself mentally. She was always trying to convince herself that this was best. She was alone, so she might as well just accept it. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. She was indescribably jealous of all of the happy, lucky, normal people she met.

Even her own family didn't know. She was truly alone. She hardly even noticed other people anymore. Her parents were getting concerned, but there was nothing that they could do for her.

Tigerlilly

"H-hey," her best friend panted as she ran up.

"Hey Trace," she said sadly. Tracy grabbed Lilly's arm and forced her to stop.

"What happened this time," she demanded sympathetically.