Character Pronunciation Key:

Acsedorra: (Ah-say-door-uh)

Avaa: (A-vah-ah)

Apeli( Ah-pel-ee)

Lia(Lee-uh)

Vihiaz(Vee-he- ahs)

Aiayido( A-eye-ee-do)

Prologue

I glared at the glass-topped coffee table. The scratching sound my phone was making as it vibrated was becoming annoying. I had woken up to a strand of messages from the school warning all students that we would be welcoming this year's exchange students the next day.

I was a ready as I would ever be for them to arrive. For nearly half a century my school had played host to a group of students from a distant galaxy known as Sapphire each and every year. Despite this I still didn't know much about them. I was always too intimidated by the way they seemed to travel in a wide-eyed, curious pack to approach them. It didn't help much that I knew little to nothing about their culture and that they had their own unique language, Sapphieran, I was incapable of speaking. Our school offered it as an elective but I had never taken it.

I couldn't take the incessant vibrating of my phone anymore; so, I shoved it into the front pocket of my backpack in the hopes that it would muffle the sound at least somewhat.

It was silent for a few minutes and then it vibrated again. And again. And again. And then it began ringing.

I sighed and picked it up. It was just a friend, Allison.

"Ryan James Cole Carter! When are you picking us up?" I blinked. I had forgotten I was supposed to ride to school with my friends today since my dad had a meeting of some sort.

"Allison, I am so sorry. I'll be there in a few minutes."

I hung up and noticed I had fifty new text messages. And three of them had been from Allison trying to find out when I was picking her up from her house.

I grabbed my keys off the counter and ran to the car to start it. I sighed. It was going to be a long day and I knew she would never let me hear the end of practically forgetting her for a few minutes.

I pulled up in front of Allison's house and honked the horn. I had no reason to get out of the car and she was already half way out the door anyway. She had one shoe on and the other in her hand as she balanced herself against the wall. A strand of her hair had blown into her mouth and I could tell she was trying to spit it out to no avail.

She and Jason, another great friend of mine, hopped into the car and signaled for me to drive us to our destination: High School Locale.

It took just a few minutes for us to arrive at the school. I walked in and went straight for my locker. I struggled with the lock for a minute as I talked to my friends.

"Ryan you really should have taken the Sapphieran language class!" Allison practically shouted. That was just how she was. You would never not know what she was thinking.

I slammed the locker door shut and headed to my first class. I had English whilst Jason Allison had Sapphieran.

"Ryan actually try this year," Jason begged as I turned to walk away. I guess he was annoyed that the past three years of attending High School Locale I had not once made friends with any of the Sapphieran students.

I readjusted the straps of my backpack and headed to class. I sat down at the desk on the side of the classroom next to the teacher's desk in the front row. It was my usual seat in that class.

I pulled out my notebook and hoped the teacher would skip the boring speech about treating the Sapphieran students with the same-or better- respect we would treat each other. Mr. Smife came in and shatter that dream.

I rolled my eyes. This was the twenty second time I had heard this speech. All the teachers seemed to have a similar way of delivering this speech each year.

I only heard a few words of his talk. I was snapped back to reality by the loudspeaker emphasizing Mr. Smife's words.

I went to all of my classes where we received the exact same lecture. You would think we would all have gotten the message over the past few years; however, I doubted that every single student in the school would be anywhere close to respectful towards the exchange students. Every year there was at least one incident, yet this place kept sending students. You would think they would learn that might not be the best of ideas. Apparently, logic was extinct on their planet.