Lilac Valley

How Did We Get Here?

"How did we get here? Do you want the long answer or the short answer?"

"The short answer, please!" a student in the back row begs.

"This story can start in a variety of places," Marty continues. "The long version takes us back to the Salem Witch Trials. The short version starts my senior year of high school eleven years ago in 1995."

Some students might be asleep.

"Like I said it was 1995."

"Lilac Valley Population: about 7,000.

Home to witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, fairies, mermaids, mermen, and combinations thereof."

"Were there humans?" a student asks.

"I'm getting there," Marty says. "Lilac Valley High School decided to do a foreign exchange program. They wanted more humans in the town. They desperately wanted peace. Anti-Magic Groups were attacking magical towns. This idea came from the top. The Secretary of Magic. A simple solution. See what you have in common. People protested on both sides. In the end, ten humans came to Lilac Valley for the year."

"One of those humans was Amber Jones. She stayed at the home of my wife. Autumn Rosen. Back then she was Autumn Greenberg."

"Is this a story about your friends?" a student asks.

"Ssh!" he hushes him. "You'll like it. I promise." The class is taken aback. "This is something new I'm doing. For those of you who know my wife Mrs. Rosen, you know she's smart and politically active and loves Shakespeare. Her father is a warlock and her mother is a fairy. They held real power in the town. Her father was a journalist and her mother taught art at the high school. If a prominent family could house a human, we could all get along, right?"

"Picture this: 1995. A few days before school. Five friends hanging out at the Amethyst Café."

"I don't like it," Con says. He has light brown hair cut short like a soldier and green eyes. He wears a Pink Floyd T-shirt and jeans. "A bunch of humans moving to town?"

"They're not moving to town," Autumn explains. Her long red hair is in a ponytail. Her green eyes are hidden behind cat eye glasses. She wears a plaid skirt and a short-sleeve white button-down blouse. No, she does not go to private school. "Ten seventeen-year-olds are staying for the school year. They're not dangerous. The Secretary of Magic would not send Anti-Magic kids to town."

"I hope not," Carter agrees. He is Asian. He has short dark hair and brown eyes. He wears a short-sleeve Oxford button-down light blue shirt and green shorts. He looks like he walked off the pages of a Brooks Brothers magazine.

"Guys," Autumn says. They look over to Eddie and me. Short dark hair, blue eyes. My hair is messier than his. He wears a green and blue striped shirt with khaki shorts. I wear a Bob Ross shirt with khaki shorts.

"It's fine," he says.

"I'm sorry," Con apologizes. "I didn't mean anything. It's just...your dad left when we were..."

"I don't want to talk about it," Eddie says.

"I think this will be fun!" Marty exclaims.

"You think everything is fun, Marty," Con points out.

"Well, she's moving in tomorrow," Autumn tells us. "Her name is Amber Jones. She lives about twenty minutes away."

"Is she hot at least?" Con asks.

"Con!" Eddie says.

"It's a valid question," he says. "So is she?"

"All I know is that she's blonde," Autumn says. "And a cheerleader."

"So yes," Con confirms.

"Mr. Rosen, I don't think this is appropriate," a student interrupts.

"I'm glad this Amber person came to town," a girl in the front says. "Mrs. Rosen was the only girl in the group?" Marty shrugs.

The bell rings.

"Until next time."