trees, summoned dolphins, and spoke twenty-four languages including seven different dialects of Hindi. In addition, she lived in a house made of mercury on top of a waterfall surrounded by a garden of amethyst, emerald, and sapphire flowers and only ate 58% dark chocolate for breakfast.
Although my parents forbade any chocolate from entering the house after I told them about my imaginary story, they encouraged me to transform my daydream into reality wherever it was possible. After crossing out “breathe underwater” and “resistance to fire,” the only attribute that remained on my list was “be freaking cool” (also known as uniqueness).
Great, I thought, more change. However, this was different from spitting out lyrics to “We’re All in This Together” like a jukebox; there was a strange emotion kindling within me. It must have been genuine passion unlike the counterfeit devotion from before. Even though my mother implored me to never wear the color orange because it made me look like a pumpkin, I still sported my Camp Half-Blood shirt with pride.As fifth grade came to an end, a new era of my life was dawning as I checked the box for Mandarin on my middle school course registration form instead of Spanish.
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