Arana** sighed. It wasn’t fair. She loved her old school. Their raggy home. The small, dark neighborhood where she and all her friends lived. Sure, it was out in the boonies surrounded by trees and stony crags, but that just meant no one bothered them. They had free reign over their tiny slice of heaven.
Then mom had to go and get herself transferred.
“It’ll be fun,” said her mom after she broke the news to Arana.
Arana just rolled her eye.
“Think of all the new people you’ll meet,” said her dad.
“Oh yeah, that will be super fun,” Arana said.
Her parents looked at each other and shrugged. Arana always had a hard time making friends. She was shy and a bit awkward, but once people warmed up to her, they liked her just fine. It just took a bit for the warming-up part. Mostly because of her one eye situation.
“Everything will be okay, Punkin.” Her dad tucked her into bed. “I’ll walk you to the first day of school tomorrow if you want.”
Arana did want, but she was going into sixth grade. She couldn’t have her dad bring her to school like she was some baby fifth-grader. “Thanks, Dad, but I can go by myself.”
After her dad closed the door to her bedroom, she threw back the covers and scrabbled out of bed. One of her legs got caught in the sheets and she tumbled to the floor. She held her breath for a moment, expecting her parents to come barreling in, but they didn’t.
She checked her brand, new backpack for the twenty-seventh time to make sure everything was in order. Her crisp school uniform hung in her closet ready for the big day. She just wished she was ready for the big day. . .
“How’d it go, Punkin?” said her dad after she plunked her backpack on the kitchen counter and clamored up one of the stools.
“Great! I met this one kid who is pretty cool.” She plucked a treat out of the cookie jar and started munching.
“Well?” said her dad. “Don’t keep me in suspense!”
“You probably didn’t know, but I was kinda of nervous about going to a new school and all because of . . .” she paused and waved all her arms around. “. . . my only having one eye thing.”
Her dad blinked all his eyes rapidly. “Your mom and I are so proud of how strong and resilient you are.”
“I know that. Don’t get all mushy.” Arana smiled in spite of herself.
“So tell me about this ‘cool’ kid.”
“Don’t freak out, Dad, but he is . . . different.” Arana paused. “He’s only got two of everything.”
Her dad gasped, then tried to cover up his shock with a round of fake coughing. “Really? That’s . . . that’s interesting.”
“And he thinks my one eye is awesome.”
Her dad took a deep breath. He’d heard of these kind of anomalies before, but never came face to face with one. He shivered. Sure, Arana was different, but not that different.
“I can’t wait for you to meet him,” said Arana.
“Me either,” said her dad with more than a little trepidation.
“Great! Because I brought him home with me.”
“Oh. Oh!” her dad stuttered. “You mean, he’s here? Now?”
Arana opened the door and hollered, “Come on in and meet my dad.”
Her dad fixed all his eyes on the door and held his breath. He would not embarrass his only child by treating her new friend with anything but kindness and courtesy. But he couldn’t stop his heart from beating just a little bit faster.
“Dad,” said Arana when the two legged, two armed, two eyed and eared creature stepped through the door. At least it only had one mouth. And what in the world was that protrusion in the middle of its face!
“Dad,” Arana said again. “This is Tyler.”
Her dad gulped down a lump as he realized his daughter was barreling into a brave new world without a second thought. He stood up and vowed to follow.
“Hey,” he held out his hands. “Nice to meet you, Tyler.”
** Means "spider" in Spanish. . .