Hi, my name is June Mara Catalant. Where I live has, like, no water and is so hot, like, all the time. It's so annoying! The people here are so sensitive. I mean, like, they like to complain when lava spews and one hot ember, ONE! Falls onto their arm. Like, guys, it doesn't even hurt!

Ok listen, you either don't agree with me on this, or you think that I'm some mutant who can't feel heat. Who didn't get a weird, horrible gift from her ancestors that makes everyone in my entire school hate me because whenever I play basketball and the ball is passed to me and it gets obliterated by flames, and everyone starts side-eyeing me like I'm one of the weird kids who play chess in their free time? Like who would say that?! (right?)

Ok, so today I may or may not have ruined one of my classmates' $500 purse and got sent to detention. With PRINCIPAL ONATA. The meanest person in the school.

At recess, if I were to simply touch a ball, it would immediately obliterate into ash. My classmates would side-eye me as if I had giant oozy zits all over my face. One day I came home crying, saying, "Why are people so mean to me?!"

Papa is always bugging me when I ask that question. He's always like, "Can you walk into a fire and not get burned?"

Well, no dur, but of course I can't say that, so I said, "Yeah, I guess."

"Then why do you let people make fun of you for it?" he asked.

"Because people in our town don't like different," I replied.

Papa shouted back, "If everything stayed the same in our city, we wouldn't have anything we do now!"

Wanting to change the topic, I said, "Papa, why did I get this gift and not you or Mama?"

Papa left the room after saying, "That question is not ready to be answered."

After I heard this, I became very furious. My fingertips turned the color of fresh hot coal. My hair turned into flames! Just before those flames touched the roof and almost burnt our house down, my mama splashed a whole gallon bucket of molten milk on me to extinguish the flames.

"CALM DOWN, CHILD! You're not quite ready to hear the answer yet. Now go change, then come to the kitchen to help me prepare dinner," said Mama.

"Yes, Mama. Sorry, Mama," I said with a deep sigh.

I quickly got changed and went into the kitchen with my mama. As soon as I stepped into that kitchen, I caught a whiff of what she was preparing for dinner that night. My heart filled with excitement at what I smelled. It was my favorite: shredded fire hog and pepperbread soup. After 10 long minutes of shredding the hog, Mama and I called out for dinner, and Papa came rushing as soon as he heard. We ate our dinner in silence. Then I finally spoke.

"May I be excused from the table? My plate is clean, and I am full."

My parents excused me. I rinsed my plate and went to my room to go to bed.

The next day, my friends and their boyfriends went out to lunch with me at the best pizza place in town. While we were there, the group ordered the spiciest pizza they could find. Even though they knew their mouths couldn't handle it. All except for me.

When I was born, I was given a gift that would make me heat resistant to fire and all hot spice too. The gift was very useful, so it came with a price. I was very high-tempered, so my ancestors decided to make it so when I got angry, my fingertips would look like fresh coal from a fire and my hair would turn into flames. It was a gift but also a curse.

Annia was one of my friends who also just happened to be the most popular girl at school, and she was the one who dragged me into this mess in the first place. None of these people were actually my friends, but they were the closest I would get. Our pizza finally came out. With one big breath and full glasses of molten milk, the group grabbed a slice and took a big bite. In less than a minute, the group's tongues were burning to the point it felt like they were going to fall off. All except me. To me, that slice of pepperoni pizza had just a kick of spiciness. I looked around the table, and everyone was chugging their glasses down like a snake does with its prey.

When everyone was finished drinking, they all stared at me, then at my full glass of milk, then at me, then at my full glass of milk, then at me, then at my full glass of milk, then at me. They kept going back and forth until Annia said,

"Ugh! What are you, some mutant?! Or did you just chicken out and chop off a piece to make it look like you bit out of it?"

Those words stung in my heart. Annia would always say something like that to me if I were to show my "gift" in any way. I got fed up with all this talk of being different, so I said,

"You know what, Annia, I'm done with you talking to me like this! I'M DONE WITH YOU! COMPLETELY DONE!!!"

I left the pizza place with my hair a golden ginger and my fingertips pink. Annia's jaw was wide open. Her eyes were in shock at what I had just said because she had never had to deal with it before. Alan, Annia's boyfriend, said,

"So… What cha gonna do now?"

Annia in reply said, "I—I don't know."

When I got home, I had calmed down enough that it wasn't obvious that I was paranoid. Although I wasn't mad anymore, I stomped through the house like an elephant. I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face to calm myself down, but when my hands hit my face, my face was completely dry.

I looked at my hands, but I didn't see a drop of water on them. I thought that maybe I hadn't even gotten my hands wet in the first place. So I turned on the faucet and got my hands wet, but when I hit my face, it was completely dry again. I looked at my hands in curiosity. Then I looked around me as if the water had gone somewhere. Then I saw the most shocking thing I had ever seen before.

The water that had been on my hands and was supposed to go onto my face was in blobs floating around me! Then all of a sudden, the blobs around me spun really fast and turned into a girl's face. To me, this face looked somewhat familiar, like I had seen her at school somewhere. Then the girl started to speak.

"June, you are unique among your people."

"Um, I think I know that," I replied.

"Well, there goes my awesome speech that you just ruined! Anyways, June, I have come here to tell you that you have a purpose on this planet more special than anyone else."

I was still shocked by all this, so I said, "Sooo, I'm not supposed to be talking to strangers, so who are you again?"

"June," the girl said, "I am Lily. I'm also like you, but instead of fire, I have water. But I have found my refuge, and I am talking to you to help you find yours."

I really wanted a place where I could have some peace and quiet, but I also didn't want to miss out on family either.

"Listen up, Lily. If you want to help me in this whole refuge place thing, you have to tell me where we can meet first."

"We can meet at the school," Lily told me.

"So you do go to the school! I knew I'd seen you there!"

The next thing I knew, the water lily had disappeared, and instead there was a huge blob of water that splashed onto the floor. Left for me to clean up.