Chapter One: The Letter

Dear Miss J. Mijen. I read my letter that is printed on this heavy parchment. Parchment is rough against my fingers but I like it better than plain old paper. I read more of the words that are written in pruple ink. I like this letter a lot, but I can't figure out why.

Starshine Acadamy of Magical Learning. That sounds interesting. I like wizards and books with wizards, like Merlin. Merlin has a very long beard.

The person who wrote me this letter can't have a long wizard beard, though, because Tritany Lorrisal is probably a woman. Or do all wizards have beards?

My hands are at my chin for a minute before I know it, trying to find a very long beard. I do not have one. I will never have one. I am a girl. My dad has a beard, though. When I was little I wanted one just like it. Now I am eleven, eleven today, and I know better.

But I also just got a letter that says that I am a witch and there is a spot for me at a magical school. Am I magic?

When I look at the letter I see that my hands are flapping a bit, this way and that way and up and down. My hands do that sometimes when I'm thinking. They want to think too but they just move instead.

Getting a drink is something that keeps my hands still, so I do that and lean against the refrigerator as I drink my lemonade. I like lemonade and I like making lemonade. But my mom makes me let her help when I want to make some. This stuff is sour and makes my mouth pucker.

I have no idea what this letter means. I don't know if magic is real, because no one in my year at school believes in magic. Lise three years younger than me still does. But Lise doesn't do interesting things like I do.

I can make things move without touching them. I can bring something from my room into another room with my mind. (This is not a trick that works with food. The food always falls.) I can make things appear in my hand. And I can make people get away from me if they want to hurt me.

I have not told my mother these things because she worries about me anyhow and anyway. My daddy likes movies like that and also those ones in Space, but he doesn't believe. He does watch those movies with me sometimes, if he has the day off and my mom doesn't. He gets off at five, which is in one-and-one-half hours from now. My mom gets off at six. I'll have to wait one-and-one-half hours to talk to someone about this, and two-and-one-half hours if I want to tell them both. But there is a computer. My school now has a website. I bet Starshine has one too.

Half-an-hour later I find out that Starshine does not have one too.

That is rather annoying.

So I'll have to wait for Mom and Daddy to help me. They'll need to explain this to me, too.

Mom starts crying when I show her the letter. I waited for her to show up before giving the letter to Daddy. Daddy reads it, sitting next to me at on a stool at the bar table, frowns, and passes it to Mom. She reads it three times and starts crying. Odd. Mom doesn't normally cry if she knows I'm watching her.

"Nero," she whispers. Nero is my daddy's name because his parents did not think through naming him. "I'll kill them!"

This is an interesting turn of events, this really is. Mom doesn't like it when people are killed and they follow it on the news. But now she wants someone- more than one people, actually- dead. Hmm.

"Those boys," she sobs. "Those awful, awful boys. Because of Jaye... she isn't fooled! She isn't stupid..."

Boys. She might be talking about the boys who brought a dog leash to school and hooked me onto it all day because we had a substitute. Eddy who is their leader made me put the collar on and wear the leash under my shirt and he tied the handle to his desk and the sub didn't notice that but she noticed the collar and Eddy said I was not all there, and to just ignore me, that was what they all did, for my sake.

I got fleas because it was Eddy's dog's collar and leash, and Mom tried to make him pay for the doctor but his parents didn't believe that their sweet little boy would do something like that. The fleas came off. Mom didn't see the good side of that.

"Nero, they think that because she's different she's not human, she won't fall for it, they think she'll think it's real..."

"It isn't real?" I asked, and this was apparently not the right thing to say, because Daddy buried his face in his hands and Mom cried more loudly.

"No, Baby," Daddy says, and he slowly reaches out to touch my shoulder. He seems scared of me today. Sometimes he is, sometimes not. "No, Baby, you're not magic. Alright? Just forget about this. The boys were just being silly."

If the boys were just being silly, why is my mom crying? Mom doesn't cry when I watch a silly cartoon. Mom doesn't cry when I watch a show with magic. Why is she crying now?

"But I am magic. No, really!" I say, and Mom looks horrified.

"Jaye, baby, no, there's no magic, baby, just the boys' idea of a joke, making you think things, just forget it, it's okay."

She isn't crying too much now, and my daddy tries to grin.

"Yeah, you don't have a beard," he jokes, and then Mom screams and points a finger at my chin. My hands go there and I find the beard I was looking for earlier. It is long and white and goes down to my knees. I shriek with laughter because it tickles and Daddy looks so shocked (Mom is covering her eyes), and then with a pop it vanishes.

"It's okay, Mom, I made it go away," I tell her, and she cries again. Then the doorbell rings, and before Daddy can decide if he wants to grab me, I jump of the stool and run over to the door.

I open it. It's a lady that is older than my mum and wearing a bathrobe that looks like my blue one but is not fuzzy and does not have a tie at her waist and has a collar and does not look like mine. She has brown hair and has pulled it back and she has yellowish eyes and a nicey smile.

"Are you Miss Mijen?"

I nod and my head flaps forward onto my chest, then backward onto my back. My hair shakes everywhere.

"May I come in? I am Tritany Lorrisal. I believe you have received the letter I sent. We have things to discuss with your parents."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," says Mom, who is almost crying again. (She is easily reduced to tears today.)

"I am afraid it is true, Ms. Mijen. And Mr. Mijen."

"Yeah, Mom. I'm a witch!" I add. This doesn't seem to help.

"Your daughter is correct. And as a witch, we have reserved a spot at a school for wizards and witches. It is called Starshine, as you have doubtless gathered from Miss Mijen's school letter. I am here to learn whether Miss Mijen will be attendingStarshine Acadamy come the last week of August."

Mom shakes her head.

"She's different, she's a good girl, she's our baby, don't take her away from us!"

"She is... different, you say? And we would want to take her somewhere?"

I look at this lady. "Tritany Lorrisal,-I-am-mildly-autistic-and that-is-a-fact-and-has-been-proven-by-a-doctor-who-thinks-I-ought-not-be-with-the-company-of-normally-behaving-people,-so-I-can't-come-and-learn-magicing, so sorry," I say all at once, and in a one big breath.

They all stare at me for thirty-eight seconds, I counted, and then Tritany Lorrisal says very clearly,

"That is ridiculous. Miss Mijen, would you like to come and learn magic? Autism will not make it more difficult. It might give you an advantage above the other students, and there is a potion that might sort out some- er,- quirks or yours, if you like and if your parents approve. Now, Miss Mijen, would you like to come?"

"Baby, would you?" Daddy says, and no one was expecting that, no one. I look at him and he looks confused and pleased. "Do you want to learn all sorts of magic spells, and go to magic school?"

I look at everyone. I think about how I make things fly, and how I want to learn more about that. I think about how I want to meet other witches and wizards my age. I think about how I hate my school right now. I think about how I could have a potion to make my thoughts a bit easier. I think about all these things.

And then I nod yes.

A.N.

Well, that was fun, no? I wrote this after the mugglenet fanfiction rejected my story on Luna because my writing style for her 'sounded autistic'. So I took that style and made Jaye. By the way, Jaye is said just like 'J' and 'Jay', but a bit more of a British letup. So you say her name "Jay Me-jean".

Reviews make my day. I know everyone says that, but when I read a review, I just grin so much and think about it all day. If you liked it, review. If you thought it was a bit iffy, review. If your two year old sister could write better, review. If you're going to flame my head of, review.

But one thing. No cracks about autism or autistic kids, 'cause I'm ADHD and that raised my chances of autism 80%, and I'm mildly autistic. Some of my friends are ADHD. I don't like jokes like that.

But, my readers, I love you! I love you! PM me, co-write something with me! I want to do something with you guys!

Peace. Oh, and tell me in a review what Jaye's wand should be.

Later.

Love You.

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