The Children

Penny Davidson was just a normal girl. A normal girl in a messed-up world.

Everyone was different, but when it came to certain things . . . well, they were all the same. They all took pride in petty things. They all found fun in mocking. And they all hated Penny. 

Well, maybe they didn’t hate her. But they definitely didn’t like her. She was the weird girl, the one they always relied on to tease.

Not her father, of course. He was the only one who loved her. But that wasn’t enough for Penny. Did he really love her? The real Penny? Or did he just love his daughter, who baked him cupcakes for his birthday when she was eleven years old, who made straight As the whole third grade, who shared his genes?

And even if he didn’t love her, or even really like her, he came the closest. Yes, Penny had a mother. But her mother conformed to the unknown I-hate-Penny club that the rest of the world was involved in. 

Penny wasn’t one of those people who made you hate them. She was fairly interesting, nice, and didn’t wasn’t a nerd. She wasn’t a goody-two-shoes, she wasn’t a goth. She was a . . . person. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t try to make friends, either–she participated in classes at the library and after-school clubs. But she was, as always, either ignored, teased, or ridiculed.

Yes, wherever Penny Davidson went, trouble followed. Trouble and terrible luck. 

And no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t figure out the secret to friendship. Or to fitting in. Or to life. 

Which is why, like usual, she was trying out for the soccer team. 

And that small task was what changed her life forever.