Hi guys! Welcome to the first chapter of the story. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own "The Hunger Games" or "My Big Big Friend." All credit goes to their respective authors and creators.

Late Night Sadness

It was that time again.

Caesar Flickerman's interviews with all the tributes had just finished replaying before her, and the room had been plunged into silence. Tense and sad for her current tributes, their mentor, even the stylists. For her, just…routine. Except this time, there was one difference: she could feel the sadness in herself as well.

Effie Trinket, tribute escort for District 12, stole glances at everyone in the training center's penthouse living room—Cinna and Portia, District 12's new stylists, mentor Haymitch Abernathy, and of course her current tributes, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark—and suddenly felt a powerful lump in her throat. She knew why she was about to cry, but the reason for it was exactly why she didn't want to get so emotional. Yet she knew there was nothing she could do to stop any tears from coming out, which left her with only one choice: smile away, and pretend she was only crying tears of joy. Like anyone who'd been raised in the Capitol would for real when the Hunger Games were to begin on the very next day.

Knowing there was not much time to bid final farewells to her tributes, since she wouldn't be seeing them tomorrow morning (at least, not in person), Effie took Katniss and Peeta by the hand. Her eyes filled with tears before she even began speaking, and she did her best to hold them back. Now was not the time to wonder what was going on with her emotions. Now was the time to act normal—as normally as possible.

"Peeta…Katniss…I wish you both well," Effie told them, doing her best to sound as upbeat and cheerful as she always did. "Take care of yourselves, and thank you for being the best tributes it has ever been my privilege to sponsor…I wouldn't be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!" And with that, she quickly kissed the two tributes each on the cheek and fled the room just as her tears began streaming down her cheeks. The last thing she heard before darting into her training center bedroom and softly closing the door was Peeta asking Haymitch for any final words of advice.

Once she was in the safety of her room, Effie sat down on her bed and tried to compose herself. She couldn't understand it—she had spent her entire childhood enjoying watching the Hunger Games on television, and ever since her 15th birthday, she'd had a dream of becoming personally involved with making the Games more authentic. Since she had always had an exceptional talent for being polite, punctual, and most of all, fashionable, it hadn't taken Effie long to decide she wanted to become a tribute escort. The problem was, once she'd finally become eligible for the job, President Snow had assigned her to work with the least presentable district of them all: District 12. The residents there had always disgusted her with their lack of manners and sickeningly plain clothing layouts, but she always put up with it nonetheless—knowing that in the end, she would still have a good show to watch, and hopefully someday she would get a better escort job; in a district with more wealth and potential like District 2.

But this year things were different. Effie's routine had mostly gone as it always had just before the Hunger Games, but somehow her newest tributes had…gotten to her, and in a way unlike any other. Peeta was very kind, considerate, and smart, but when it came down to it, he could be quite unpredictable. And Katniss…well, she was by far the most skilled and talented tribute that had ever crossed paths with her, not to mention the first and only tribute in her district to get into the Games by volunteering rather than being reaped. Katniss also had a very quick temper, and it had seemed nearly impossible to get through to her on anything they discussed. Yet somehow, despite all that, Effie couldn't help but admire both teens. Their significant differences from many of District 12's previous tributes had resulted in them quickly gaining positive attention from various Capitol citizens along with the Game Makers, and their interviews—Katniss figuratively and literally showing off her fiery side and then Peeta admitting that he'd had a crush on her his entire life—would be sure to attract dozens of sponsors.

It was funny; had it been last year or the year before that, Effie's comment about finally being promoted to a better district would have been sincere. But she had to admit, the admiration she felt towards Katniss and Peeta had evolved into genuine care about their wellbeing. She had come to truly like them a lot—so much, she realized she didn't want to risk either of them getting killed in the Games. Then that had resulted in her realizing that many people out there likely thought the same way about all the other tributes too; not in her hometown, but in theirs. And yet neither she nor the other Capitol citizens had ever thought of it that way before. They'd always simply thought the Hunger Games were an entertaining television show and nothing more; but still, here was one of the tribute escorts, weeping in sadness and not only doubting that show's integrity, but also wishing she hadn't had to (by law) end her latest and possibly last conversation with Katniss and Peeta on a negative, seemingly careless note.

Effie wiped away her tears, and for once didn't care that some of her face powder came off her cheek with them. No one who lived in the Capitol was supposed to feel the way she did now, about the tributes and the Games! They were always supposed to feel the way they'd been taught to feel their entire lives; to not have a care in the world that every year, 23 minors would get killed while they happily watched it happen. They were only supposed to care about the entertainment they themselves would receive from observing the spectacle. That was why she'd had to keep her true newfound feelings concealed out there in the living room tonight; if she hadn't, then sooner or later President Snow would find out that she'd developed them, and he would have punished her for sure. How exactly, Effie wasn't quite sure. But she didn't have to know what kind of punishment would be in store to know she didn't want to experience it.

Oh, since when was this part of my job so very…complicated? Effie thought to herself. She didn't dare say it out loud, in case Haymitch was right about there being cameras all over the penthouse. However, she knew she couldn't just keep her current feelings bottled up inside her. She needed a chance to let them out, in a way that would prevent even the president from discovering them. And then, before she could stop herself, she murmured aloud, "I wish I could catch a break from it all. Just swap places with someone who doesn't have to deal with all these illegal emotions…if there is anyone like that out there…"

And then suddenly she gasped, pushing that thought away. She couldn't just swap places with someone, even if that really was possible! There were still a lot of responsibilities on her plate, since the Hunger Games were to begin tomorrow at ten. She and Haymitch would need to go to the Games Headquarters and work away to gather a list of sponsors, which could give Katniss and Peeta more chances of surviving in this year's arena. If she ignored her duties tomorrow, something could go terribly wrong; whether at the Headquarters or in the arena. She couldn't take that risk. She couldn't endanger her tributes' lives, even if they were already in jeopardy as it was.

Sighing, Effie went to wash her face and then opened her closet door, trying to distract herself from her sadness by choosing a nightgown to wear for tonight. She had at least forty of those, like all Capitol residents, so this task would take no less than seven minutes. As her eyes wandered from nightgown to nightgown, however, her mind kept going back to the wish she'd made, and for some reason the memory of it made her feel nervous. That wish had felt more sincere than anything she'd ever said before…surely there wasn't any chance it would happen to come true, was there?

"I take back my wish," whispered Effie. "It isn't what I want. It really isn't." Yet those words all sounded and felt so false, no matter how many times she said them. Her wish was what had been truthful, and she knew it.

But there was one thing about her wish that Effie didn't know: she wasn't the only one who would formulate it tonight. Someone else out there longed to have a break from their life just as much as she did. Someone a lot like her, but with some very significant differences.

Panem was a continent with a very interesting backstory. It was not only the place where Effie, Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, and many others had spent all their lives—it was also, as several residents in other continents said, "that one unfortunate piece of land that got shrunk by those natural disasters."

A long time ago, Panem had been a much bigger nation with a lot more cities than it had today: a beautiful area called North America. However, several earthquakes, floods, and etcetera had eventually caused the continent to shrink significantly, until it became just an acre bigger than Australia (which, along with the rest of the planet's continents, strangely remained unaffected by these disasters). After that, the shrunken continent had been renamed to Panem—which resulted in its neighbouring continent, South America, becoming simply known as America. Its residents just thought, what was the point of their home being called South America without a North America to stand near it? It just didn't make sense.

Speaking of the continent now called America, that's exactly where the second one was at the time; the one who coincidentally made the same wish as Effie, on the same night. This character lived in Brasília—a wonderful city in Brazil, America's largest country. Unlike the lives of most of Panem's residents, their life seemed a lot more calm and happy. A friendly neighbourhood, five special friends that all lived so close together…it was pure bliss. So why would they want out of it? Well, that part will be revealed very soon.

Matt, Yuri, and Lili were three young children who were very fortunate; being neighbours, classmates, and friends who each had kind and supportive families, life was pretty lovely for them. Yet there was something that made these three kids different from everyone else in their city: they each had a non-human best friend, invisible and inaudible to everyone except each other and the trio themselves. These friends were otherwise known as Big Big Friends, and they each lived with and spent 24/7 with one of the kids: Golias, a big blue elephant who was goofy, hilarious, and extremely affectionate, stood by Yuri's side, Nessa, a cheerful and optimistic pink giraffe, stood by Lili, and Bongo, a hyperactive but caring green kangaroo, stood with Matt. Had anyone other than themselves and the kids been able to see and hear the Big Big Friends, they would have been quite fascinated, or scared for the kids' safety. That would depend on how they'd feel about the magical abilities the unique creatures possessed.

Every now and then, Matt, Yuri, and Lili would get into some kind of argument because of their strong personalities, which usually alienated them from each other. Whenever this or another kind of tough scenario for the kids took place, they along with their Big Big Friends would always end up on a truly extraordinary adventure in which the layout of the scenery around them would suddenly change. For instance, one of their houses could suddenly become a royal palace or a giant spinach jungle, the playground they liked going to could suddenly become a desert, or they could suddenly find themselves inside a series of paintings one of them made. Sometimes, a toy they'd played with just before an adventure would even come to life and join them. And no, these adventures were definitely not imaginary—why else would Lili have gotten dehydrated during her and Nessa's adventure into a desert that one time?

It was still unclear why and how exactly the Big Big Friends had made their way into the children's lives, but what was clear was that they were part of their lives—and they'd each formed strong, family-like bonds with their respective human BFFs. Bonds so strong that, even when the kids had an intense argument, the Big Big Friends could never bring themselves to leave their respective best friends' sides, both physically and verbally. Which was always the hard part about their friendships with the children—every time Matt, Yuri, and Lili got into a fight or one of them wanted to give up on something and needed space because of it, the animals got into a situation where they were all…trapped. They just felt that they always had to stay with and obey each of their best friends, even if they disagreed with their opinions and/or wanted everyone to stay together. That they couldn't admit to the kids how hard it was for themselves to be stuck in the middle, and all they could really do was gently and kindly try to ease the kids into reconciliation. And, if that didn't work (which it usually didn't), follow their respective BFFs as they angrily parted ways, despite how painful doing so was. Then sooner or later an extraordinary adventure would happen, whether intended or not (the Big Big Friends weren't always in control of their scenery-altering powers), and it would always result in Matt, Yuri, and Lili learning their lessons and making things right. But that didn't mean sooner or later, another dilemma wouldn't start up again…

Anyways, while Effie finally chose a nightgown, dried her eyes, put away the wig she'd chosen for tonight, and went to sleep, Matt, Yuri, Lili, and their Big Big Friends were all having a sleepover at Lili's house. It was their first sleepover all together, and everyone was very excited for it. Lili's parents had just left to bring her baby triplet brothers to bed when the kids and their Big Big Friends decided to play a few games before going to sleep themselves.

"Let's play soccer!" Matt excitedly suggested.

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Bongo exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Then I can show all of you my new kangaroo super-do moves!"

Everyone laughed. They all knew Matt and Bongo shared a strong fondness for soccer—Matt because he loved scoring goals and longed to become a famous athlete when he grew up, and Bongo because his bounces, flips, handless handstands, and agility made it very easy for him to block the net. Lately he'd even begun calling his goalie moves "kangaroo super-do moves," which made the one-on-one soccer games he played with Matt a lot more fun. However, Lili shook her head and said, "We can't play soccer right now. It's too dark to play outside, and my mom said, 'No soccer balls allowed in the house.'"

"Aw man," mumbled Bongo.

"It's okay," reassured Yuri. "Why don't we play a board game instead?"

Lili smiled. "Sure! All the board games are on that shelf."

Everyone instantly ran toward the shelf she was pointing at, all anxious to select a game. Matt recommended they play Sorry, Yuri wanted to play Snakes & Ladders, and Bongo decided on Clue. As for Golias and Nessa…well, they were just happy with whatever their friends decided to choose, since all the options were appealing to them.

Yet before anyone could bring any of the games back to the middle of the living room, Lili shouted, "Stop! It's my house, so I get to decide what we're playing."

Matt and Yuri looked disappointed, but they stepped away from the shelf and asked Lili what game she wanted to play. She happily stepped forward and selected Snakes & Ladders, to Yuri's satisfaction. They then set up the game and chose their pieces, after which Golias used his trunk to reach for the dice…only for Lili to grab it before he could.

"Hey!" Golias said, taken by surprise.

"I have to go first," stated Lili, an all-too-familiar selfish smile beginning to form on her face. "It's my house, remember?"

The elephant looked a little uncertain at first, but then tooted his trunk and replied, "Oh, it's okay Lili. You can go first."

As Lili rolled the dice in satisfaction, Nessa could only give Golias a nervous and apologetic smile, as she usually did during moments like this. Everyone knew that despite being a very kind and caring friend, Lili had a tendency to act very bossy and demanding, which could be really hard for the boys—especially Matt and Yuri—to tolerate. Since she was Lili's best friend, the pink giraffe was always spared from receiving the girl's bad attitude (okay, maybe Lili did angrily blow a whistle in her face and make her lose two turns just for saying "but" the day she tried to introduce everyone to the game Croquet, but that was just a one-time thing…right?), but despite this and her knowledge of Lili's good side, it was still hard for her to watch the rest of her friends being bossed around. Especially Golias—Nessa kept it to herself, but something about the way he comforted Yuri and made them all laugh (whether on purpose or not) was just…charming to her. His very presence made it extremely tempting for her to call Lili out on her actions whenever she was mean to him and the rest of her friends, and she always felt bad about having to choose between siding with Lili and defending the others. Mainly because at times like those, she always ended up siding with Lili despite not always wanting to.

Lili finished her turn, and then one by one, Matt, Yuri, Nessa, Bongo, and Golias each took their turns. Next, Lili rolled the dice again and was happy to get a six; until she noticed that, six spaces ahead of her pawn, there was a snake's tail illustrated on the board. That meant she'd have no choice but to return to the spot right next to the starting line, which was where that snake's head was. She didn't want to have to fall behind everyone else's pawns, which meant she'd have to change how she took her turn. So, instead of moving six spaces ahead, she moved up five spaces, making sure she still counted to six as she did this.

Unfortunately, Matt realized what she was doing right away. "Lili, you're supposed to land there. That's the sixth space."

"No it isn't," said Lili, thinking quickly. "I…um…counted the space I started on!"

"That's not how we're playing the game," retorted Yuri, frowning in annoyance.

"Yeah," said Matt. "You have to play the game like everyone else is playing it!"

Lili narrowed her eyes. "No I don't! It's my house. So I'm allowed to play however I wanna play."

"But that's not fair!" Bongo replied, with Golias nodding in agreement.

Nessa could see things were spinning out of control. She knew exactly where this was going—and even though she doubted it would stop the argument because of past experiences, she smiled and gently said, "Maybe we could all take turns where we count the space we started on."

"Nessa, we can't!" Lili exclaimed. "This is my house. So only I get to take special turns."

Golias sighed. "Kind of like when we played Croquet," he mumbled.

"Yeah," said Yuri. And with that, he got up and headed for Lili's front door, with an equally annoyed Matt following close behind. Even Bongo and Golias were noticeably frustrated and ready to leave—not a good sign.

"What are you doing?" Lili shouted. "The sleepover's not over yet!"

"We're gonna go have a sleepover somewhere else," declared Yuri.

Matt nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Somewhere where we can decide how to play!"

As she watched all four of the boys leave the house without a single backward glance, Nessa sighed, doing all she could to hide her sadness. Having to stay behind while the boys went off to have fun without Lili had never been easy for her, but then again, she never had a choice. She was her best friend, just like Golias was Yuri's and Bongo was Matt's. It was her duty to stay with Lili, because she admired her and loved her. She really did…but at the same time, a part of her did want to go with her male friends and play with them instead of—

Nessa snapped back to the present as she heard her last remaining companion putting away the game pawns. "Lili…shouldn't we leave the pawns on the board in case the others want to come back and finish playing?"

"No," replied Lili. "It's my house, which means I get to be in charge of the sleepover. And if our friends can't understand that, then we'll have to have a sleepover by ourselves."

"But how can we do that?" Nessa asked. The two of them lived together, and they even shared a bedroom (not that Lili's parents and brothers knew, since they couldn't see or hear her). A sleepover wasn't really a sleepover without the boys…but she couldn't say that part out loud. It would only make Lili even more upset.

Lili realized her Big Big Friend's point and nervously replied, "We can just…um…uh…" She paused for a moment, and Nessa anxiously studied her expression, but kept quiet. Maybe she'd realize her mistakes without an extraordinary adventure happening this time…

But instead, Lili concluded, "…sleep in the living room with my dolls! Then it'll be the best sleepover ever."

"Okay," replied Nessa, barely managing a cheerful smile. Clearly, neither of them would be seeing Matt, Yuri, Bongo, and Golias anytime soon.

"Perfect!" Lili smiled. "I'll just go upstairs and get my dolls. Stay right here."

Nessa nodded and started to say something, but was interrupted when Lili's mother walked down the stairs and grabbed her purse. "Lili," she said, "I just got a call from work, so I'll have to leave for a…where are Yuri and Matt?"

"They left," replied Lili.

Her mom frowned in surprise. "Oh. Did they decide they didn't want to stay overnight?"

"Um…yeah!"

"Well, I'll call their parents to make sure they get home safely before I head for work."

It was Lili's turn to frown in surprise. "You have to go to work? But it's nighttime! You only have to work while I'm at school."

"I know, but something unexpected happened and the man who makes the rules at my job needs my help because of it." Lili's mom chuckled. "Let's just say I'll be working so late tonight that I'll need to have a sleepover of my own."

Lili gasped in excitement. "A sleepover at work? That's a great idea! Can I go with you?"

"Sorry, sweetie. But you have to stay here. Your dad's still helping your brothers go to sleep, and I won't be able to spend much time with you because I'll be too busy working."

"It's okay," Lili shrugged. "Even without my friends here, this'll be the perfect sleepover." Her mom smiled and then went into the kitchen to call Matt's parents and then Yuri's parents. While she did so, Lili went upstairs to get her dolls.

Once they were gone, Nessa allowed her sadness to become visible and walked toward the living room window. Peering through it, she could see that a giant magical carnival had appeared across the street where two houses had originally been. Golias was standing in the middle of the area, using his large hand-like ears to juggle some beach balls and a bowling bin, and she could just make out Bongo, Matt, and Yuri riding in a Ferris Wheel right behind him. All four of them looked like they were having a lot of fun together.

Nessa nervously glanced behind her, and when she saw Lili wasn't back yet, she sighed and stared through the window again. Golias had stopped juggling and was now waving to something in front of him, looking a bit sad. Wait a minute—he was waving to her! The giraffe's heart fluttered, and she gave him an awkward smile back. He really was so charming and caring…if only she didn't have to stay by her best friend's side all the time. Then she could play with Golias and the others as often as she wanted, instead of only being able to play with them when Lili was around, and okay with it.

She will be okay with it, Nessa told herself. Once we go on an adventure somewhere with her dolls, something will happen that'll make her realize she can't do everything she wants just because this is her house. She always learns from it after something like that happens…right? Of course she did; but that didn't stop her Big Big Friend from feeling nervous that tonight might be different. Lili did always learn from her mistakes that way, as did Matt and Yuri, and they always made things right with each other too, but another problem would also always end up arising between the kids about a week or so later. It was the same thing day after day no matter which kid or two caused the problem, and the Big Big Friends always got stuck in the middle because of it.

Nessa swallowed hard. She could never tell anyone this, but she wasn't sure how many more moments like these she could take. She was so tired of being (or at least feeling) forced to choose her best friend over the rest of her friends, and of having no one to talk to about that one particular subject. But she knew she couldn't just take a break from it all, or else Lili would get upset that such a thought had entered her mind. She would be stuck in this endless routine for always…unless someone else—someone who didn't have to deal with what she dealt with all the time—took her place, disguised as her so well that Lili would never know the difference. Yet Nessa knew that wasn't possible. Since Big Big Friends were only visible and audible to each other, Lili, Matt, and Yuri, the three kids along with Bongo and Golias were the only ones she could switch places with. And they were all either stuck in the same situation as her, or the ones who caused that situation. That meant she really didn't have a choice. She would always have to deal with getting stuck in the—

"I'm back," Lili called, running downstairs with her dolls. "Come on, Nessa! I know the perfect place we can go to have a sleepover: a cave in one of those enchanted forests."

"Ooh, wonderful!" Nessa exclaimed, quickly resuming her cheerful and happy nature. She still felt trapped on the inside, but she loved enchanted forests. And she especially loved it when Lili read her bedtime stories. So, putting her sadness aside for the moment, she skipped towards Lili and the two of them closed their eyes. When they opened them again, they found themselves in a beautiful forest, surrounded by sparkles; sparkles that, if you looked really closely, were shaped into constellations that resembled the furniture of Lili's living room. In front of them sat a beautiful cave that seemed to glow as they came near it, as if it had been waiting for them to have a sleepover inside of it.

"Wow!" Lili exclaimed in excitement, quickly rushing into the cave. "Come on, let's go have our sleepover!"

"Wait for me!" said Nessa, skipping after her. The duo then headed inside together, where they discovered to their excitement that two pink sleeping bags were already lying on its floor. Perfect! A sleepover wasn't a sleepover without something soft to sleep in.

Lili quickly settled into the sleeping bag closest to the cave's entrance, placing some of her dolls next to her and giving the other ones to Nessa, so they could sleep with her. Once everyone was comfortable, the giraffe looked up and noticed a shelf where several books were arranged in a row, inches above their heads. "Oh look! There are some books!"

"Yeah," replied Lili. "Give me a boost, and I'll pick one for us to read."

Nessa nodded and walked towards her, lowering her neck so her head touched the ground. Lili stepped onto her head, and she slowly lifted her upward until the girl could reach the shelf. However, just as Lili was about to choose a book, a voice from behind them bellowed, "Hey! What are you doing in my cave?"

Startled, Lili and Nessa spun around to find a very big bear standing in front of the cave's entrance. He had lavender fur and brown eyes, and he didn't look very happy. And because of this, neither did Lili. "Your cave?"

"Yeah," stated the bear. "I sleep on both of the sleeping bags, and the books are mine. Why are you touching my stuff?"

"We didn't know it was your cave," said Lili. "We were just looking for a place to have a sleepover, and we decided to have one in here."

Nessa nodded vigorously in agreement, accidentally causing Lili to slide down her neck and gently fall on the ground. After laughing because of how ticklish the sensation felt, and after asking Lili if she was okay, she said to the bear, "Is that okay with you?"

The bear looked hesitant at first, but then thought for a bit and sighed. "Oh, alright. I'll let you sleep over. But you two have to sleep on the floor."

Lili gasped in shock, then narrowed her eyes. "No way. This floor is too hard. You have to share the sleeping bags. That's the way it works."

"Well, this is my cave," retorted the bear. "Not yours. Which means you'll have to follow my rules."

"Yeah, but it's our sleepover," Lili shot back. "So I'm the one in charge of it."

"Who says you're in charge?"

"I say I'm in charge!"

While Lili continued arguing with the bear, Nessa's smile disappeared once again. This was the angriest she'd ever seen Lili—okay, maybe not quite the angriest, since there was the Croquet incident and those two times she couldn't agree with Matt on what game to play, but still. Regardless of how angry the girl was, it was enough to make her Big Big Friend slowly edge out of the cave. She didn't usually do this when Lili was arguing with someone, but tonight she was desperate for some peace. Maybe she couldn't switch places with someone who didn't have to deal with her situation, but she could at least have a moment to herself until the argument was over.

As soon as she was back in the forest, Nessa let out an exasperated sigh. What was she going to do? She couldn't tell anyone that she was fed up with being trapped like this, or leave Lili's side. But she couldn't put up with any more nights or days like this either—UGH! Without even thinking, the giraffe threw her head back in distress, and as the star-filled sky came into view, she screamed, "I wish I could find someone besides my friends to switch places with! Someone that isn't created by these special adventures, like that bear!"

A huge, bright white stream of stardust manifested right in front of Nessa's face with a loud ZWISH once those words came out of her mouth; so bright that she had to cover her eyes with her ears so she wouldn't be blinded by it. Thankfully, the stream instantly flew away from her and sailed up into the sky towards a shooting star, so she didn't have to shield her eyes for too long. But that didn't make Nessa feel any better—she was Lili's best friend! How could she say, or wish, something like that? Whether she liked it or not, she had to stay by her best friend's side at all times. She just had to! Then again, how much longer could she do so before panicking or something because getting stuck in the middle all the time was too much for her to handle?

It's not too much for me to handle though, Nessa told herself. I love Lili, and I do want to be with her. I just need to, um…practice being calmer whenever she has a fight with someone. I don't need a break from her. I really don't! However, deep down, she knew that what she was saying wasn't true. Maybe it was best to stop thinking about this and pretend everything was normal. But then again…no. Nessa couldn't catch a break, and as stressful as the situation was getting, she had to accept it. Big Big Friends never left their best friend's side, no matter how overwhelming specific moments became!

Sighing and doing her best to smile, Nessa turned to go back inside the cave and see what she could do to lessen the tension. She raised a foot to step forward, but stopped when she heard a strange noise coming from the sky. Looking up, she was surprised when she saw the bright stardust stream from earlier colliding with the shooting star it had been heading toward. The second they bumped into each other, both starry objects stopped in their tracks and hovered in midair for a moment. Then they suddenly merged into a gigantic comet—which turned from white to a beautiful rainbow of different coral reef colours—before gliding away from the sky and heading straight for Nessa.

"Uh…Lili?" she said, nervously watching the comet get closer and closer to her. She slowly moved closer to the cave, but as she approached its entrance, she could hear Lili still arguing with the bear. Obviously, she hadn't heard her. The giraffe started to call her name again, this time a bit louder, but before she could, the comet flew past her face and began travelling around her in circles, all the while moving faster and sounding louder and louder.

If she were watching the blur of bright and beautiful colours produced by the comet from a safe distance, and if the noises they were making weren't so loud, Nessa would have enjoyed watching the spectacle. But that wasn't the case. The comet's trails were just a millimetre away from touching her, and as they became faster and louder, she could hear voices surrounding her as well. She recognized one of them as her own, but she'd never even heard the other one before. All she knew was that it sounded like a woman's voice; one that, despite her rising fears, she had to admit sounded very pretty.

"I wish I could find someone besides my friends…"

"…catch a break from it all…"

"…switch places with!"

"…someone who doesn't have to deal with all these illegal emotions…"

"Someone that isn't created by these special adventures…"

"if there is anyone like that out there…"

Nessa's eyes widened in shock. Her wish! Was it…trying to come true? Had someone else really made the same wish as her—someone who matched the description she'd given? No, that couldn't be right. Big Big Friends couldn't switch places with those who couldn't see or hear them, could they? No, there was no way they could…but still, why else would her wish and a stranger's just suddenly replay before her like this?

"LILI!" Nessa screamed. When all she heard in response was her own voice and the woman's voice repeating their wishes, she got very scared. She tried to run toward the cave, but discovered her legs had gone numb. She tried moving her tail and neck, but she couldn't feel them anymore either. When she lost the ability to feel her nose, glasses, horns, and mouth a second later, all she could do was close her eyes tight and wait for the blur of colours to go away.

And then suddenly, everything went quiet. There was nothing but absolute silence, and she could no longer sense the comet spinning around her. However, what she also couldn't hear was Lili arguing with the bear…or saying anything at all.

Nessa opened her mouth to call Lili's name, realized she could feel it again, and then gasped. Her mouth was clearly still intact, but it suddenly felt…different. A teeny weeny bit smaller, and her tongue was shorter than it had been. As for her nose, which she could now feel again as well, it felt different too. Not big and round like it was supposed to be, but much smaller and…in a triangle shape. Kind of like the noses Lili, Yuri, and Matt had, but a little bigger.

"Oh no," Nessa said aloud to herself. Then she almost screamed. It wasn't her voice that had come out of her new mouth, nor did it belong to Lili's parents, her friends' parents, Yuri's nana, or even Lili's kindergarten teacher, Ms. Carol. It was the voice that belonged to the woman she'd heard, the one who made the same wish as her. The woman's special accent wasn't there anymore (since Nessa was now using her voice instead of her), but she recognized it all the same.

There was no doubt about it now; Big Big Friends really could switch places (or bodies, in this case) with people who couldn't see or hear them. Nessa had just proved that to be true by making that forbidden wish—and now she was not only stuck in a stranger's body, but also separated from Lili, which she'd promised she would never ever let happen. This wasn't good…but as bad as this problem was, she had yet to discover that a lot more problems lay just a few hours away.

And that's the end of the first chapter. Oh boy…what kinds of things will happen now that Effie and Nessa have swapped bodies? We shall find out in the next chapter, which is coming soon. In the meantime, please feel free to review, and I'll see you soon! :)