Page 5

*heads up*

First day of seventh grade

W HEN I STEPPED OUT of my mom’s car and saw all the students standing in front of the building, waiting for the doors to open, my stomach went wild with butterflies.

Really good butterflies.

Because the possibilities of this year were monumental.

Last night, when I checked the wall in my bedroom (yes, I measured myself by marking the wall), I discovered that I’d grown almost a full inch since the last time I measured.

It was happening!

And this morning, when I’d compared my reflection in the bathroom mirror with last year’s yearbook photo, my hair was a little lighter.

Not anywhere close to blond yet, but the kind of lighter that the sun took care of after a long summer.

The kind of lighter that assured me magical transformations were underway.

I wanted to jump up and down and perhaps turn a cartwheel (although my cartwheels were garbage) while simultaneously singing something from Hamilton at the top of my lungs (probably “My Shot”).

But I wouldn’t.

I would play it cool and save that trash cartwheel for when they announced I was the seventh grade senatorial representative.

“Seriously, I can’t even,” Kennedy said as we approached the crowd of people waiting to go inside.

“Chill, Ken,” I muttered as she literally bounced up the sidewalk. Allie was on the other side of her, strutting with the slinky walk of a runway model (she’d become graceful now, too), which left me to just, well, move like a normal human.

“I can’t, though.” Kennedy readjusted her backpack as we walked toward the front doors. “I mean, my pits are already sweaty because I’m so excited.”

I rolled my eyes, because I was trying really hard to evoke an I’m-too-cool-for-everything vibe this year—mostly because I’d heard my brother’s friend call me “a weirdo who always seemed to be hopped up on sugar beans,” and I wasn’t a fan of that description—but yeah… I kind of could’ve died, too.

Because there was no doubt in my mind that the AT3 was now the GT3 (“the grantee threesome”).

Last night, right when I’d turned off my light and was going to sleep, Kennedy FaceTimed me and Allie because she’d done what was apparently impossible and beaten Level 825 in the Battle of Borgledoush game.

That was cool, as in good for her, but what had her losing her mind was when she looked at her follower count (or whatever you called it in gaming) right after she did it and there were literally thousands of people watching her stream and commenting.

AND—this was the important part—she’d given us THE look when she informed us that she’d woken up yesterday, on the fourth , suddenly better at the game than she’d ever been before.

The lore of four.

For a quick minute I’d been tripped up by the timing, thinking she’d had two wishes granted in one week, but then I realized that was impossible. It didn’t work that way. Since the wishes were secret, I guessed she’d probably said something like I wish to slay at the game without braces , or something that made both things part of the same wish.

Regardless of the unknown, the first day of seventh grade hadn’t even started yet, and already our wishes were coming true.

“Does this look stupid?” Allie asked, tugging on the adorable pink dress that made her legs look twenty feet long. She seemed more nervous today, as a beautiful person, than she’d ever been as a commoner.

Which made zero sense.

If it were me, I’d be tossing my gorgeous hair around and talking loudly to ensure no one missed out on seeing me walk by. I was envious (but not jealous, because yay for Allie!) of the speed with which she’d been granted whatever her appearance wish had been. Waking up completely changed—that was like a dream come true.

People were definitely going to say “wow” when they looked at her; I had no doubt of that.

I didn’t love that my “wows” were slower to arrive.

“No, it’s cute,” I said, taking a deep breath as we approached the entrance. I had the first-day-of-school jitters big-time, mostly because I hated the unknown. Who would be in my classes? Were my teachers going to be cool? I knew I had lunch with Allie and Kennedy, but who would we sit with?

I could already see people looking at us (at Allie) as I reached for the door handle, and somehow I knew everything was about to be different.

This was going to be the year of the GT3.

“Heads up, Rockford!”

I turned my head just in time to see Jackson Matthews grinning at me, and for a football to slam into the center of my face.