2From a young age, Valerie knew her little sister Elizabeth was a little weird.
Being only two and a half years older than her sister meant that Valerie didn't remember her sister being born, but she knew her sister was a strange child by the way her parents spoke about Lizzie.
She was young, not stupid.
The first time they had dropped both Lizzie and her off at Rosemary's daycare when Valerie was three, the caretakers in the baby room pulled her mommy and daddy aside to talk. Said something about how quiet she was, despite it being her first lengthy separation from her parents, but Val had tuned them out soon enough.
That wasn't the only thing. Sometimes, in the next room over, she could hear her baby sister repeat certain sounds and words over again until she got them right. She never did it near her parents or Valerie when they were in the same room. One day when Valerie was close to five years old, her sister started talking in near-perfect sentences. Her parents were happy about their prodigal child, but also concerned– after all, it wasn't normal for such things to happen. When their neighbors at the time found out (Valerie couldn't remember who they were anymore) they started saying things about ghosts and possession and other stupid things. The Grays actually had to move to a different apartment because of it.
Lizzie also walked funny. There was nothing wrong with her legs, and it was mostly only noticeable when she ran, but it existed. It didn't hinder her or anything, it was just weird. She could also read with little teaching, and loved to do so. Once she finished with one book, she was already looking for another.
When Lizzie was five, their parents had her tested. They had already figured she was advanced for her age, but they had wanted for her to have a semi- normal childhood.
Valerie was in second grade at that point. Lizzie had tested out to fourth. But because of her young age, the school system and her parents both agreed she should be in the same grade as her sister.
This was fully supported by Lizzie, who hadn't interacted with a lot of children her own age.
Valerie wasn't the most enthusiastic about the idea. She had already made friends in class, and none of them liked the smaller kids. Valerie didn't want to bring her little sister around if it meant losing her friends.
Elizabeth Gray knew she wasn't normal.
Born to a different time, place, and possibly universe originally, she had the full knowledge of an average teenager. As much as she wished for such a scenario, being reborn after her untimely death came as a surprise. Let alone the fact she could remember things.
It was had to control her little body at first. Her muscle memory was shot, and every one of her limbs was weak. But she worked through it with minimal frustrated crying, which was a win for her. It took some time for her to hear clearly, but when she could she breathed a sigh of relief– the people around her spoke english. She even got to learn where she lived.
Amity Park, Illinois.
The family she was born to is very loving, but the parents (her parents, now) are complete pushovers. It was evident at an early age that her sister was spoiled. As a near-adult with a guilt complex, Elizabeth decided to make her toddlerhood easy for her parents. She would only cry when she absolutely had to, or when she couldn't help it– but to be fair, she was kind of a crybaby. She tried to start talking at a time that wasn't too unusual, but she didn't know the average and couldn't use her sister as a template so she found out very quickly how early she was when her neighbor accused her of being possessed.
It was not a comfortable situation for anyone involved. It actually caused her new family to move to a different apartment, which she didn't feel to hot about. She still remembered the incident at Rosemary's, and had tried to act more normal. Keyword tried, but she missed her books and stories and maybe, just maybe, came off as a really fast learner. Her mother, who was a teacher, decided to wait on testing so that Elizabeth could have a 'relatively normal childhood.' For obvious reasons, this was pointless, but appreciated.
Eventually, though, all good things must come to an end, and Elizabeth had to bite the bullet and take the placement test. Even when she dumbed herself down for it, she still scored high enough to get into fourth grade. Her parents were proud, but decided to hold her back a little bit so she could be in her sister's class. Elizabeth was fine with this, as it would ease the transition into dealing with more than one small child.
Her sister Valerie was not fine with it. And Elizabeth didn't know why.
I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom to get ready for my first school day. I was kind of nervous– despite being twice the age of my new classmates I was scared no one would like me. It was something that had happened in my first life, and I was left friendless for years and socially clueless forever. The friend thing could be fixed, but I had already declared my social skills a lost cause.
"But mom!"
"Val, please just calm down." I could hear my mom and Valerie in the living room. "You're going to have to go to school eventually, and pretending to be sick isn't going to work. Now sit there and let me help your sister."
"Hmmp." Valerie calmed down and I could hear mom come down the hallway. Theresa Gray was a great mother and wife, and I was glad she was my mom. However, I was already finished.
"Done!" I popped out of the bathroom while mom looked me over with a suspicious eye.
"Face and teeth clean?"
"Yep."
She raised an eyebrow, "What about your hair?"
My hair was a poofy mess. I didn't spend time trying to straighten it like Valerie, and it hurt to comb compared to the hair I used to have. "But mom, it won't matter when I get to school. No one's going to care what my hair looks like!" My mom continued to stare at me. "Fine." I went back in and pulled it into a ponytail.
She nodded. "Acceptable. Now go hug your father goodbye."
I ran out to the door where Damon Gray was about to leave. "Bye Dad. have a good day at work!" I chirped.
"Bye Daddy!" my sister called out from the kitchen.
"Goodbye girls! Have a good day at school!" and with that, he left. He had recently been appointed a senior security officer at Axion, where he had the chance to start messing with security systems. He had a further drive than us to get to work.
After making our lunches, mom piled us into the car and we left for the school. East Amity Elementary was about 16 miles from our house, so for me, it was a short drive. For Valerie, however, it was long enough to take a nap.
We we got to the school and I shook my sister to wake her up.
"I'm awake!"
We got to the classroom and the teacher turned towards me. She was a heavyset lady- she kind of reminded me of a stereotypical grandmother. "Are you lost sweetie?" she pointed closer to the front entrance. "Pre-K-ers are that way."
"Are you Mrs Kale?" She nodded. "Then I'm in the right place." She raised an eyebrow but accepted it.
In the back there were some hooks, so I hung my stuff up and chose a seat off to the side. Nearly everything was boldly colored in the room- the walls were white, but there was a blue board clearly labeled for future projects and the chairs were all a candy red color.
The rest of the students trickled in. Some had parents come in and talk to Mrs Kale, but the majority just walked in by themselves. Everyone was bigger than me, even the scrawny kids. It was a little intimidating, but I was an adult. I could handle it.
…
Probably.
After the announcements and the Pledge of Allegiance were done, Mrs Kale turned and addressed the class.
"Alright. Now, class, I want you all to sit in a circle in the front of the room so we can all introduce ourselves, alright?" Shrugging, I moved toward the open area in the front of the class with the rest of the children. Mrs Kale moved a chair over so she could sit, and I sat next to her, as per my norm. On my other side sat a kid with a blue hat and colored shirt with blue and orange pants. His dark hair was shaved up to the orange visor hat he wore, and it spiked out the top. Valerie sat on the opposite side of the circle and was talking to four other kids; two girls, two boys, two blonds and two with darker hair. They seemed like her friends.
Speaking of friends, a girl with a ponytail sat next to the visor kid and started talking immediately. Her hair was a strawberry blonde color, and she was wearing a lilac dress with a black cat on it. I briefly wondered where she got it (because I wanted one) and I was about to ask before Mrs Kale started talking again.
"Alright class, let's go ahead and start. I want you to say your name and something about yourself. Introduce with your full name, and if you have a nickname, say it after." She paused. "I'll start. My name is Lydia Kale, but you can all call me Mrs Kale. I have a son currently in the air force." She turned toward me next.
"Uh, well... my name is Elizabeth Gray but I would like if people called me Liz. I like to read science fiction and fantasy books."
The kids next to Valerie started giggling. I heard one of them mock quietly "What a nerd!" Mrs Kale glared in their direction and they stopped. She turned to the kid next to me and jerked her head in a 'go on' motion.
"So, hey!" The kid smiled, "my name is Tucker Foley, and my favorite thing right now is my JoyBoy. I have Plummer Brothers and Stactris now, but I'm going to get more games for my birthday in a week!" I stared at him while those kids started giggling again. I had already kind of guessed I was in Danny Phantom, but this just added another layer of evidence. But where were Danny and Sam?
The girl next to him started without prompting, "My name is Samantha Mason. Only call me Sam." Oh. There she was. But her hair? I wondered. Why is it that color? "I like my grandma Ida more than I like my parents." I guess that was all I was getting right now.
The line continued smoothly as the other kids introduced themselves. Evidence stacked once we got to the four kids my sister was with.
"Dash Baxter. I like sports."
"Kwan Gim. I like sports, too."
"Valerie Gray. I like spending time with my friends."
"Star Papillion. I like my dress up dolls."
"Paulina Sanchez. I like doing makeup."
The only way I could cement this theory any more is if Danny Phantom himself walked in with Butch Hartman and slapped me in the face with it. I looked at the remaining kids. Wait a minute, where's Danny? There were no kids with any of his physical characteristics, and he wasn't anywhere near where I was sitting next to Tucker and Sam. Did he just… not exist? Did… I kill him somehow? Was this my fault? I started to panic a little– I killed of someone who was supposed to exist, just by being someone who shouldn't. Great job Lizzie, you broke a universe. Now everyone was going to die a horrible death because there's no hero in the first place to save them a–
The door banged open and a kid with black hair and wide blue eyes rushed in. "I'm sorry I'm late to school on the first day, my dad was driving and–"
"It's alright," Mrs Kale interrupted. "Just set your stuff down then come introduce yourself to the class."
As the kid went to put his stuff down, the last girl finished introducing herself. The late kid walked over to the circle and sat behind and between Sam and Tucker. I heard Tucker whisper "With the way your dad drives, shouldn't you be early instead of late?"
Black-hair shrugged.
"Your name, any nicknames, and something about you, Dear." Mrs Kale instructed.
"OK. So, my name is Daniel Fenton, but my friends call me Danny." Jackpot. "I like space and want to be an astronaut one day." So yeah, that was a load off. I did not like the idea of someone being non-existent because of me.
"Alright, go back to your seats. You all get to find out what you're all going to learn this year." We all shuffled towards a seat. The one day popular kids (if they weren't already) rushed for backmost seats whereas I just kind of sat to the side in the middle. Sam, Danny, and Tucker sat around me with Danny diagonal of me, Tucker in front, and Sam to my left.
Danny, who just realized I existed, leaned over to Tucker and asked quietly "So, uh… who's that behind us?"
I butt in before Tucker could answer. "Lizzie Gray. I'm Valerie's little sister." I raised my eyebrow at him. "Nice to meet you. Next time, don't ask stuff like that when I'm right behind you." He had the decency to look ashamed. "It's fine. I just don't like being ignored." I looked him over, thinking. I did want to part of his life, if only so I could have some sort of purpose and maybe help someone with what I knew. But would he want me too? I guess there was only one real way to find out. Subtlety was not my strong suit, and honestly, I did want friends, so… "Do you want to be friends? I don't really have any." My sister and parents hardly counted.
Danny looked at Sam and Tucker, who both shrugged. "Ok then, I guess. What do you like?"
And that was how I tentatively struck up a friendship with the most important people in the universe.