A timid, young girl whispered to the stuffed animal in her hands. She was known, though not by many, as Lemon. If anyone ever looked at her, their minds would conjure her name regardless if they knew it or not. This was because she had pigtails tying her bright yellow hair into two nubs on the sides of her head and a green lock of hair sticking out on top that would just never stay combed down, despite her efforts. (However strange this may seem to one not accustomed to this town, it really wasn't that out of the ordinary.)
The stuffed animal was one she had sewn herself and she brought it with her everywhere she went. It was a cat named Tulip, mostly brown with tan spots and stuffed with beads. Tulip was her first successful attempt at making her own stuffed animal. It had a symmetrical face and body and even stuffing unlike the failed attempts lining the floor of her closet. Those were cute in a sort of monstrous way, and Lemon loved them all the same, but this one was special. She had spent many nights talking to Tulip like a plush diary when other kids her age were texting each other or staying up late playing in the park at the elementary school.
Ninth grade had started only a couple weeks ago, and Lemon already felt left behind by everyone else forming into groups and cliques, as if they had all known each other for years. Well... they probably did. If Lemon had friends in middle school, she would have gravitated toward them now too. There was one girl she'd had her eyes on for a while though. If anyone would be patient enough to break away her shy, stuttering outer shell, it'd be Lily. She was, in fact, the very girl Lemon was building up her courage to talk to as she sat in the corner of the nearly empty classroom, muttering to her stuffed cat.