Meadow walked the halls with her books tucked under her arm and her brown bag lunch in hand. Her first set of classes went better than she could have ever imagined. All her professors were so vibrant and passionate, she could tell how much they loved and believed in what they did. They welcomed her into the class with open arms and even asked for her opinion on the topics they discussed. It was so unlike the soulless drones at her old school who expected obedient silence and only smiled when they got to punish someone. She finally felt like she belonged. 

But then it was lunchtime and those old insecurities started creeping in again. Finding somewhere to sit in a room full of her peers intimidated her. Even though everyone had been friendly and nice, she was still the new girl. She didn't have a set group of friends like everyone else. She was completely alone. 

She watched her classmates filter in to the cafeteria, already in their own little groups. She felt like the only kid in the world who didn't have anyone to sit with. She wanted to be confident enough to walk right up to someone and ask them to let her sit with them, but she wasn't. Instead she freaked herself out and ran back to Markos's office.

Markos was sitting in his office writing up a lesson plan for a class he had right after lunch. His class was in less than an hour and he hadn't prepared a single thing. He had let the procrastination get the better of him. Again. He really needed to stop doing that. 

"Can I eat lunch in here?" 

Markos looked up from his desk to see his little sister standing shyly in the doorway. Her shoulders were slumped and tucked in. She let her hair hang over her face, using it as a shield. His face fell into a frown. He was disappointed and hurt. And he thought it was going so well. He couldn't help but wonder what happened.

"Don't you want to eat with your friends?" 

"I don't have any, remember?"

Meadow meant to sound sharp and snarky, but it came out small and sad. There was no hiding the hurt in her voice. 

Markos bit his lip as he tried to think of what to do. He was torn. He didn't want to push her away, but he also didn't want to be her safety blanket. He wanted her to get out there, have fun, make friends, get in trouble, you know, be a kid. That was never going to happen for her if he let her hide away in his office. But at the same time, he didn't want her to feel like he was throwing her into the lion's den. 

He debated whether to shield her from the world or encourage her to push herself outside of her comfort zone, and then it hit him.

"Have you met Kimi Boggan?" 

He had Kimi last semester and boy was it an experience. She was like an unstoppable ball of positive chaotic energy. She'd interrupt him about every five seconds and had side conversations constantly. He couldn't even count the number of times he held her after class to talk to her about her behavior, just for her to do the exact thing the next day. She was a handful, but she was beyond friendly, adventurous and unafraid to be herself. She was exactly the type of friend Meadow needed. 

"No," Meadow said weakly. "I don't know who that is." 

Markos sprung from his chair and ushered Meadow out of his office. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and began walking her down the hall with a big smile on his face. He could already see Meadow and Kimi eating cookie dough while they dyed each others hair and swapped journaling tips. They were perfect for each other.

He scoured the halls looking for Kimi, but she was a tough one to find. She was constantly bouncing in and out of classrooms or running through the halls. He remembered what she was like in class. He could barely get her to sit still for more than five minutes. 

 They passed by a group of boys who looked like they were on their way to the cafeteria. Markos recognized one of them from last semester. Parker St. James. Him and Kimi had a love/hate relationship. They fought like crazy all semester and pretended to hate each other, but deep down, he knew they were friends. He'd know where she was. 

"Parker," Markos called out. 

Meadow blushed when the boys looked over at them, but Markos didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. 

"Have you seen Boggan?"

"She's in the lab," he answered over his shoulder.

He gave Meadow a quick once over before turning back to his friends and walking on. Meadow was grateful Markos was too wrapped up in his mission to find Kimi to notice the look he gave her. The last thing she needed on her first day of school was for Markos to get all protective older brother on one of his students and embarrass them both. 

Meadow's eyes stayed on the group of boys right up until Markos sharply pulled her in the other direction. Maybe he wasn't as oblivious as she thought. 

"This way." 

Markos led Meadow to a room just down the hall. When they stepped in the room, they were instantly hit with Ariana Grande blasting through the air. Dancing around in the middle of the room was a girl dressed in an oversized fluffy pastel rainbow jacket, white shorts, and lavender chunky heels. Her hair was pulled into two high buns that were topped with furry, pink pom poms and she held a unicorn frappuccino in her hand. If cotton candy was a person, she would be it. 

"Kimi," he shouted over the music, causing her to jump. 

Startled, she lounged at the radio and slammed the off button, cutting the music off abruptly. 

"Omg, Professor Tarby, you scared me."

She held her hand over her beating heart like she just had a heart attack. 

"Sorry," Markos laughed. "Are we interrupting something?" 

"No, no, no, not at all," she quickly assured them. "Actually, I'm glad you're here. I've been working on something I want to show you." 

Meadow and Markos gave each other a look, wondering what it could be. She gestured for them to come closer and led them to a rectangular object covered by a white sheet. She grabbed onto the sheet, but paused before pulling it off for dramatic effect.

"Are you ready?" 

Kimi smiled at them eagerly. With the look on her face, you'd think she was about to show them something that would change their world forever. In her defense, she really believed it would. 

"We're ready Kimi," Markos laughed at the theatrics of it all. 

Kimi ripped off the sheet like she was revealing a magic trick and tossed it to the side. 

"Ta-dah!" She said with a big, proud smile.

Meadow and Markos's eyes were immediately drawn to the giant fish tank before them. The fish tank by itself was strange enough, but what was even stranger was what was inside. Swimming around in the tank was the upper body of a fluffy white cat attached to a teal, scaly fish tail. 

"Okay, what am I looking at here?" Markos asked, clearly confused.

Kimi was supposed to be studying magical creatures, not making new ones. Leave it to Kimi Boggan to take such an abstract interpretation of her assignments. 

"It's a Mercat!" Kimi exclaimed. She was so proud of herself. "First of its kind. I made it myself." 

"I'm sorry, did you say Mercat?" Markos questioned. 

"Mmhmm," Kimi nodded as if it made perfect sense. "Half mermaid, half cat. Therefore...Mercat!" 

Kimi beamed like she had just split the atom. Meadow and Markos both looked at the creature, both confused and impressed. Weird as it was, it was actually kind of cute. 

"Wouldn't purrmaid make more sense?" Meadow said.

Kimi looked at Meadow and her jaw dropped. 

"Omg that's genius," Kimi said, completely awestruck. "Who is this girl? I love her already."

Markos chuckled and smiled. He knew they'd make a good pair. Kimi's outgoing, bubbly nature would bring Meadow out of her shell and Meadow would keep Kimi grounded. She'd be the ying to her yang. 

"This is my sister, Meadow," Markos said as he gently pushed Meadow forward. "She's new here."

Meadow took a step towards Kimi and gave her a wave. Kimi's eyes light up and her smile grew twice as big. 

 "Hi! I'm Kimi," she said like an excited puppy. 

"Hi," Meadow said. 

Markos was hoping Meadow would take the lead from there, but he could tell she was still a little nervous. He'd have to give her one last push. 

"Is it cool if she eats lunch with you?" 

"Of course! I love new friends." 

"Great. I'll leave you to it," Markos said and clapped his hands together. His work here was done. "I've gotta finish up my lesson plan."

Meadow gave him an appreciative smile as he slipped out the door. He nodded back to tell her she could do this.

"Bye Professor Tarby!" Kimi shouted after him. 

Kimi turned to Meadow as soon as he left the room. 

"You're so lucky to have him as a brother," Kimi gushed as she took a seat at a nearby table. 

Meadow's face broke into a wide smile. Finally, someone who would see things her way. In her heart, she knew how lucky she was to have Markos, but it felt so good to hear it from someone else. The affirmation was enough to build a trust in Kimi that gave her the confidence to believe that she could have a real friend for once.

Kimi smiled back and eagerly patted the seat next to her.

"Come on, come sit next to me." 

Meadow didn't think it was possible, but her smile grew even wider. She walked right over to the table and gladly took the seat next to Kimi. She had a feeling this could be the start of something beautiful.