Jenni walked into Stonewall high for her first day of high school. She had arrived early, asking her dad to bring her on his way to work rather than be seen arriving on the 'hick route' bus. Her next door neighbor, Trish, a senior this year, had warned her that those from the smaller towns on the edges of the school district were automatically labeled as hicks, and looked down upon by the 'townies', especially the richer ones.

'Not that they aren´t a bunch of uneducated rednecks themselves,' Trish had said. 'But some of them like to lord it over whoever they think they can lord it over. Especially the freshman, seeing as they are the new kids in the school.'

Jenni had heeded Trish´s warnings, picking out clothes and accessories that were not likely to draw attention (and of course getting her dad to drop her off). Jenni felt quite lost upon entering the high school. It was far bigger than her old elementary-middle school. She had been told that Stonewall High had an enrollment of nine hundred students, near 225 students per class. Jenni´s whole elementary school, grades kindergarden through eight, had 225 students. Even though only a third or so of those 900 students had arrived, Jenni still felt overwhelmed. She slid into her homeroom and chose a seat in the back. There were two other students already in the room: one girl, one guy. Both seemed thoroughly engrossed in the books they were reading. Jenni did ot know the guy, but recognized the girl. Jenni had forgotten her name, but knew that she was from the town of Hanover, like Jenni. The other girl, however, had not gone to Jenni´s elementary school. She had homeschooled through eighth grade. Jenni could not help noticing that they both wore identical moon amulets.

Other students slowly entered the classroom. At quarter to eight, the bell rang, and their homeroom advisor introduced herself as Ms Johnson, and began taking attendance. Jenni did not pay much attention to the other student´s names. The only name she remembered was the other Hanover girl´s name: Magaly. Ms Johnson had the standard teacher 'welcome to school, I hope you are all ready to learn' speech prepared, and their schedules.

Classes that day did not particularly interest Jenni. The first week or two of every school year, it seemed, was a review of the year before. At lunch that day, she sat in a corner with two of her elementary school classmates, Erin and Rick, but she had a feeling that this arrangement would not last long. Erin was the type of person who would quickly figure out who was who in the social heirarchy and do what she could to ingratiate herself with the right people. Jenni did not blame her. Nobody wanted to be an outcast. Jenni knew that Rick would soon find guy friends to hang out with.

After lunch, Jenni headed to her English class. She found that Ms Johnson was her English teacher, as well as her advisor. English was her last class of the day, and as she was on the way out, Ms Johnson whispered to her 'Do you have a minute? I need to talk to you.'

Jenni wondered what she possibly could have done to earn her trouble or punishment so early in the term.

'Don´t look so worried,' Ms Johnson said. 'What I have to say isn´t bad.'

Jenni felt only slightly relieved. Teachers would often say things like that to soften the blow.

'What did I do?' Jenni asked.

'What are you? Would be a far more appropriate question,' Ms Johnson replied.

'What do you mean?' Jenni asked.

'That amulet. Where did you get it?' Ms Johnson asked.

'My mom gave it to me when I was little,' Jenni replied. 'Why?'

'Because it is the mark of a Daughter of the Moon,' Ms Johnson said.

'A what?' Jenni asked.

'A Daughter of the Moon,' Ms Johnson replied. 'How much do you know about Greek and Roman mythology?'

'Some,' Jenni said. 'We read some myths last year in eighth grade.'

'Okay,' Ms Johnson said. 'Do you know who Pandora was?'

'Yeah. She was the goddess-person that had a box that she wasn´t supposed to open, but she did, and that let all kinds of bad stuff into the world,' Jenni replied.

'Exactly. But, one thing remained in the box: hope. An ancient evil, known as the Atrox, has been trying for millenia to steal hope from the world. But, Selene, the Moon Goddess, had pity on the human race, and sent her daughters to protect the world from the Atrox, so that hope would never be stolen. The hope is that the daughters will one day be able to destroy the Atrox forever.'

Jenni sat in shocked silence.

'Yes, I know, it is quite a shock at first,' Ms Johnson said.

'I don´t know whether to believe you or to think that you´re pulling my leg,' Jenni said.

'Think for a minute,' Ms Johnson replied. 'Have you ever done anything, or made anything happen, that a person could not normally do?'

Jenni thought for a minute. 'Well, in middle school, I started just knowing test questions a day or sometimes a week before the test, without ever being told or anything. Sometimes when the teacher would give an oral exam, I could see questions forming in the teacher´s head, well before the question was asked. Something like ESP.'

Ms Johnson smiled. 'Mind reading, or ESP, as you call it, is one of the powers that a daughter of the moon might have. Each daughter has a certain gift to use in her battle against the Atrox.'

Jenni stared.

'I know, this is a lot to take in for one day,' Ms Johnson said. 'I´ll let you go for now, but I want to continue talking with you about being a Daughter. I was once one, and now I guide Daughters.'

Jenni slowly got up from her seat. 'See you round,' she murmured weakly.

'See you,' Ms Johnson replied, as Jenni walked out the door.