Enid knew that it was one of those horrible days. She couldn’t deny it. It was in the air. Her best friend, Amia, was absent, she got a D- on a math test, and she had lost her science journal.
Just when things couldn’t get any worse, Camille, the prettiest and most popular girl in school, walked by. Her long, wavy, golden hair tickled Enid’s face. Her green eyes flickered with mischief.
“Where did you get those moose ears? The trash can?” she asked snootily.
She and her friends howled with laughter. Camille had four friends. Fiona had lazy, tangled, brown hair, and she always wore a white jacket the color of snow. Her eyes were the deepest blue. Charlotte, who had been wearing a choker since kindergarten, wore a jade green shirt that said “SASSY” on it. She had short, strawberry blond hair that was dyed pink and purple. Her hazel brown eyes were intriguing, and she was way too pretty to be real. Bella was skinny and had the reddest hair anyone could ever have. She wore real diamond earrings and a tank top that said “I’M PREPARING FOR A NETFLIX MARATHON” with a smiling emoji. She had reddish eyes that were a little creepy. And there was Veena, but they called her Vee. Her brown hair reached down to her feet, and she spent most of her time checking her texts. Her eyes were beady and black.
“Where did you get your shirt? Creaky Woods?” said Charlotte.
Again, they howled with laughter.
Enid glared at them. “Well, Charlotte, where did you get your glasses?” she threatened. “Did your dog make them?”
A huge “Oooooh!” erupted from the passing crowd. Enid smirked at the appalled Charlotte.
“Y-you don’t know what you’re talking about!” stuttered Camille.
She and her group strutted off. Enid also strutted off, showing off her moose ears all the way to science class. It was only when Mr. SciFi asked the class to take out their journals to write about the difference between kinetic energy and something-else-energy that she remembered she had lost her science journal.
When she got home, she immediately collapsed on her loft bed and sobbed into her pillow. She had been given a huge pile of homework from Mr. SciFi.
What a generous gift, she thought.
Camille and her goons had made fun of her antlers and threw them under the bus when dismissal rolled around. They had been smushed and destroyed. On the bus ride home, everyone whispered to each other about her, and no one sat next to her.
Enid sadly looked at her smushed antlers. They looked like a manhole that had been around since the 1500s. She had managed to save them before the bus took off. Amia had given them to her when she was five, and now she was almost twelve. She couldn’t believe that they still fit her. Crystal blue tears formed in her eyes as she clutched the antlers.
“Why?” she yelled up at the ceiling. “Why me?”
Tears streamed down her face. As soon as her last tear escaped out of her eyes, it hit the mattress. A swirling blue light appeared, and Enid screamed as she was sucked in.
She woke up in a field. But it wasn’t any ordinary field. There was something about it that seemed magical. The leaves on the grass were crystal, and the trees were blue. Golden-crusted grass covered the field. Beautiful fairies danced in the wind. They gasped when they saw Enid and flew away.
“Oh no,” said Enid, knowing exactly where she was.