Vidia walked along her favorite route to school. She was a tall girl, with long, raven black hair that swayed as she walked and dark purple eyes. She was often teased by her classmates. 

     "Especially Aaron," She thought angrily, for her eye color. It wasn't her fault that she had violet eyes. She just happened to have them! It was in her genes. But, then again, Aaron teased her for her jeans, too... but he teased her for the ones she wore on her legs.

     Her path was narrow, winding through the forest, filled with a dappled green light provided by the canopy of the trees. A bridge wound it's way over a bubbling river, which made a pleasant noise. Vidia stopped for a moment and took in her surroundings. On the ground was a smattering of small pebbles, which she kicked aside, making a muffled crick sound. She imagined that they were people in a game, running from each other.

     "Oh, no, you got me!" She said under her breath as she kicked a pebble towards another one. Sometimes she was almost positive she was mental.

     Vidia walked over a bridge, which amazingly still held under her feet even though it was made of rotting wood. She didn't mind; she could traverse this forest safely with her eyes closed.

  As she walked into the school, she picked up the pebbles that she'd been kicking along. She counted how many there were, and she counted twelve. She had kicked twelve pebbles from the forest all the way to the school with one foot!

     "Twelve stones?" She said, turning a small white pebble in her fingers. She was definitely getting on the soccer team. The stones were all different colors: One was pure white, one was light blue, one was the color of rust... she slipped them in her pocket, walking into the classroom.

     "Miss Vidia, why don't you tell us why you slipped those things into your pocket?" Her teacher, Ms. Grace, said. Vidia snapped back to reality in time to form an answer. Ms. Grace was Vidia's 6th grade teacher who had blonde hair, glasses on a chain, and a no-nonsense attitude. For a teacher, that's basically the whole package.

     "Well, Ms. Grace, I found these pebbles on the path I was walking on, and decided to pick them up because I liked them." She said simply. Ms. Grace smiled and moved onto her next question.

     "Why do you like those pebbles?" She asked.

     "Boy, she sure is nosy," she wanted to say. Instead, she pursed her lips and said:

     "Well, I liked them because they're all different colors , and they reminded me of... um..." She paused, searching for the word as she arranged the pebbles in a circle.

     "Hmm... perhaps the Zodiac?" Her teacher said, studying the circle of pebbles.

One of Vidia's fellow students, Percival, raised his hand. "What's a Zodiac?" He asked. Percival was one of Vidia's close friends. He had brown hair and stormy gray eyes that always seemed to be wandering.

     "Percival!" Said Aaron, standing up. "Everyone knows what the Zodiac is! You're so stupid!" He finished. Aaron was a "tough" boy... or at least, that's what he'd want you to think. He had dark brown eyes and choppy, black hair. He was taller then most of the kids in Ms. Grace's 6th grade class. "You  really don't know what the Zodiac is? How pathetic!"

     "Aaron, stop. It doesn't matter that Percy doesn't know what the Zodiac is." Said Lili, another student, and Vidia's other close friend. Lili had shiny, short, blonde hair that was cropped in the center and which she always wore in pigtails. Everything about her was always bouncy and chirpy. Even her voice seemed bouncy and chirpy.

     "Hey! Don't call me Percy!" Said Percival, pointing his pencil at Lili.

    Students were fixed on this conversation, and some began standing up and voicing their opinion. Other students began telling everyone to sit down and be quiet. Most of the room was just telling. 

     Vidia sighed. The class was in complete and utter chaos.

     "Settle down!" said Ms. Grace. "I won't have anymore arguments in this class today!"

     Aaron sat down, crossing his arms and looking disappointed, like a little boy who wasn't happy with his current predicament.

      Ms. Grace continued her sentence."To answer Percival's question, class, I will tell you what the zodiac is." Ms. Grace said, her eyes sweeping the classroom. Everyone looked at her expectantly, except for Aaron, who was doodling on his desk.

     "The Zodiac is a collection of constellations which usually contribute to the aspects of one's personality. Each Zodiac symbol has a period of time, and the people born in that period of time will be born under that sign. For example, Aaron," Aaron flinched and stopped doodling on his desk. 

 "Yes, Ms. Grace?" He said through clenched teeth.

     "When's your birthday?" Ms. Grace asked. She looked down on him sternly. Most students would quiver under the gaze of Ms. Grace, but not Aaron.

     "April 5th," Aaron replied, scowling, and continuing to doodle on his desk.

     "You're an Aries." said Ms. Grace, glancing at Aaron's doodles. "And your sign is the ram." She finished.

    "Never liked those Aries people." Said a voice. Vidia's eyes glanced around the classroom, but no one seemed to have spoken. Ms. Grace had finished interrogating Aaron and was drawing a chart of the Zodiac symbols on the chalkboard.

     Vidia looked down at her stones. The small white stone seemed to be emitting a faint light. Vidia  quietly lifted the stone up to eye level. The stone quivered in her hand. She put her finger on the stone, searching for a battery or a screw. When she couldn't find any, she had a mental panic attack.

     "No, no, no, this isn't happening." She said to herself, her mind racing. She opened her eyes and the glowing was gone. She took in a deep breath and reassured herself that she was not insane.

     Ms. Grace had finished showing the class the Zodiac symbols. The bell had rung, but instead of going outside, the class rushed to the board to compare their birth month to their sign.

     "Guess what, guess what, Vidia?" Lili said, grabbing onto Vidia's desk and hopping up and down.

     "I'm a Libra, Vidia! A Libra!"

     "That's great, Lili! I'm a Virgo." Said Vidia, still in shock about her collection of stones glowing. She put a smile over her shocking discovery and acted like she wasn't having a panic attack.

     "Oh, a Libra kid. Never liked them, either." Said a voice, and Vidia could've sworn that the stone had said it.