"Stella"

Oh how Stella wished she would out grow all the secrecy and oddities that went with being her. Just once she wanted to be excited at the sound of the ice-cream truck as it turned down her block. How many times had she ran with her friends eager to purchase her cone, only to choke it down, finding it hard to swallow. How many times had she used her perfected famous fake cry when her ice cream fell "accidently" to the ground?

Just once she wished she could fear the shot from her doctor as all her friends had, instead she secretly wished for two. She was unlike any of her friends and she spent much of her time not letting them know. It was getting harder now that she had reached middle school. Especially during gym class. She hated faking a missed shot when in reality she could make that basket from the moon if it was needed. She could outrun and out maneuver any one of the jocks on the football team, but little did they know.

Her secret was almost exposed the day Turbo Tom bullied her friend Jack in the alley on the way home. Somehow she managed to save the day without exposing herself, she blazed in with such a furry she was but a whirlwind, knocked Turbo into his place and had Jack upright and astonished before they knew what hit them. That's one time she laughed all the way home!

She hated how it took hours to camouflage her differences each morning. And all her parents could tell her was they rescued her from a UFO that had crashed in Baker Field years ago. She knew they loved her very much. And that would have to do for now.