I had never seen something so incredible in my life. The vine grew right before my eyes, wrapping itself delicately around my wrist, almost becoming a part of my body. Since discovering my abilities, I hadn’t actually made this much progress until now, and god did it feel great. My mother wasn’t taught the craft like the rest of her family, so she lived without it, and assumed I would simply do the same, but it came so naturally to me. Here I was, in the forest, manipulating nature itself and it was thrilling. 

“Wren!” A voice called, seemingly from deeper in the woods. 

The vine gently unwrapped itself from my arm as I walked towards the sound, a look of confusion crossing my fair face.  

“Wren Weidman!”

“Mom?” I thought to myself, continuing deeper into the trees. 

Before I could even entirely process what I was hearing, the forest that enveloped me began to fade, and I awoke, dazed and confused. I sat up quickly, rubbing my eyes to confirm what I was seeing as I looked around my small bedroom. The dull gray walls, the baby blue curtains, the photographs on the mirror in front of me, it was all real. I’d only been dreaming. 

Suddenly, there were footsteps outside my bedroom door coming up the stairs. I turned to my left, putting on my glasses and checking my phone. My lock screen lit up to reveal that it was already 7:36. Shit. I was gonna be late. Not the first impression I wanted to make. 

I threw off the covers, shivering as the cool air hit my bare legs, as my door flung open to reveal my younger sister, Erica, standing there, hands on her hips, backpack slung across her shoulders. 

“Mom’s been calling you for like 10 minutes. Get up. You’re gonna make us both late.” She said, flipping her long brunette locks over her shoulder. 

“Yeah I know I slept in. Give me 10 minutes.” 

“If you didn’t have to drive me I’d have left by now. Unlike you apparently, I actually care about school.”

“You don’t care about school. You just want to scope out which shallow girls you’re gonna try and weasel your way in with here. Now get out.” I said, shutting the door in her face.

Erica audibly sighed before her footsteps receded down the stairs once more. With that, I quickly slipped off my shorts and pajama top and changed into the outfit laid out on my vanity. The jeans were easy enough, but I struggled for a minute getting the top on. By the time I finally managed to figure out where to stick my head in the pink turtleneck, a few minutes had gone by. 

I barely had time to put my frizzy curls in a bun before I was flying out my door and down the stairs, backpack and phone in hand. Great. Sleeping in meant no breakfast and almost no time to find my first class. As I slipped my shoes on and attempted to drown out my mom’s nagging, last night’s dream filled my head. It felt so real. Almost more like a memory than a dream. The sounds of the forest all around me, the feeling of the mist as it hit my face…

“Did you get that?” Mom asked impatiently. 

“Hm?” I asked, coming back to reality. 

“I said I need you back home right after school to watch Erica, is that clear?”

“Oh. Yeah that’s fine. I gotta go, love you!” I said, slipping through the front door. 

“Love you too”, she replied with an exasperated sigh. 

I didn’t understand why I had to watch Erica. She was fourteen, old enough to be left on her own for a few hours, but whatever mom says goes, so I didn’t question it. Suddenly a horn honked, interrupting my train of thought for the second time that morning. I looked up to see Erica leaning over in the passenger seat of my little red car to hit the horn. 

“I swear to god.” I muttered, continuing for the driver’s side door. 

Throwing my backpack in Erica’s lap, I got in the car and buckled up. Of course she had something snooty to say, but I was barely listening. I was too busy thinking of the day ahead. 

New school, new me… or something.