Chapter One

I longingly watched my best friend Tulip Turner eat her lunch contently. "I can't believe the lunch staff forgot to give me lunch," I said, massaging my stomach. "It's got to be not that bad," Tulip said, shoveling french fries down her throat. "I went camping a couple years ago, and I didn't eat for a day." "Well, that's different," I said, propping my head up on my fists. "You're tough, and I'm a softie." 

"That's not true," Tulip said, now stuffing waffles into her mouth. "Well, it actually sorta is." "Not helping," I said testily. "Sorry," Tulip said with a mouth full of blueberry muffin. "It's just, I don't lie." "I know," I snapped. "My point exactly." "Oh cheer up," Tulip said, taking her cell phone out of her hoodie pocket. "Look what Anabel posted on Instagram." There was a five-second-long video of Anabel Baxter chewing what looked like bubblegum and holding up a brand Hubba Bubba bubblegum wrapper. It was captioned, Who at Houston Middle School likes Hubba Bubba? "I've never understood that girl," I said after Tulip had played the video several times. "Me neither, but I have to admit it is kinda satisfying," Tulip said, taking a bite of gravy-slathered salad.

"Satisfying? I'll jump off a cliff before saying one of Anabel's posts is satisfying!" "Jeez," Tulip said, putting her cell phone back into her hoodie pocket. "It was just an opinion." "Sorry," I said, clutching my growling stomach. "You know how I get when I'm hungry." "Cranky," Tulip said.

Suddenly, just for a second, I was sure that Tulip's eyes had turned green. She started blinking profusely and the green vanished from her normally fawn-colored eyes. "Tulip, what the - ?" "Sorry, Cassy, I needa go to the - uh - bathroom, yes, that's it! The bathroom!" "Tulip, 

wait - " But before I could finish my sentence, Tulip had gone.

"She didn't even get out of her seat," I whispered to myself. "It's like she teleported or something. But, teleporting's not possible. 'Cause it's magic. And magic is totally not real." 

Suddenly, Tulip came jogging back, her eyes now normal colored. But she wasn't alone. An adorable pink-haired girl was trotting at her side. Wait...pink hair?! Why would a seventh grader have pink hair? She had bangs, but of course they weren't normal bangs. They were rainbow! "Cassy, I want you to meet my new friend. She just moved here," Tulip said, pushing the pink-haired girl closer to me. "I'm Pinky Ponder," she said, shaking my hand. "I just moved here from Ohio." 

Ohio...at least she hadn't moved from Dreamland or whatnot. She adjusted a cat ear headband on her unusual colored hair. 

"Ohio," I said absentmindedly. "Ohio...how nice." Tulip glared at me, obviously saying introduce yourself right now or I'll get you back for this so good. I cleared my throat. "Uh - I - the name's - name's Cassy - er - O'Brien - Cassy O'Brien." I grunted. Pinky pursed her lips. "Well, you already know my name, so - best friends?" "What? No!" I shouted, shocked. Tulip was now staring such sharp daggers at me I was actually starting to feel it. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but now - I'm really late for Algebra!" And with that, I was off. I was running at breakneck speed, and bumping into a few nervous-looking sixth-graders in the process.