“Please!” A strange man yelped as he went from student to student. “You must believe me!”

“Believe what?” Principal Newman asked.

“What are you doing on school grounds?” The school sheriff demanded. “Do you have a pass from the main office?”

“A what? No!” The man exclaimed. “Listen! There is an army of Bandaa on their way here. They will try to conquer your planet. Their technology is much more advanced than yours ever was, or ever will be, if you do not listen to me!”

“What are you talking about?” The Principle was thoroughly confused.

“Aliens!” Corazon Heart popped out of the crowd of eighth graders and stepped up to the stranger. “Hostile aliens are on their way to Earth to try to conquer it! You know,” She turned to Principal Newman. “Make all of the Earthlings their slaves.”

“That’s ridiculous!” The Principal argued.

“No!” The stranger yelled. “It’s true! Every word!”

“Get this man out of here.” Principal Newman ordered the sheriff. “He’s a lunatic!”

“But what if it is true?” Corazon blurted. They all set their gaze upon the one girl. “What if those aliens, the Bandaa, really are coming? What if their technology really is that advanced?” When no one responded, Corazon glanced at the dirty and fearful face of the stranger. “What if this guy’s right? What if there’s really going to be a hostile takeover, and we don’t do anything? We know about this. We can stop it before it’s too late.”

“Are you suggesting that this lunatic is,” The Principal sent a cold, unyielding glare in the stranger’s direction. “Right?”

“Do you want to risk the chance that he is?” Corazon questioned. She waited for a response, and continued when none came. “What if you don’t believe him, and you send him to jail. What if, soon after, the Bandaa come in their space ships with their army? Are you willing to risk the future of humanity just because this dirty, old man sounds like he’s crazy?”

The Principal shook his head, and grinned. “You do have a way with words, Miss Heart. You might be fairly convincing to someone who actually believed in aliens.”

“Just because you haven’t seen any, doesn’t mean they don’t exist!” Corazon yelled. “The only reason we don’t know is because we haven’t traveled the universe. We haven’t gone where they might be. We haven’t discovered them. Apparently, they’ve discovered us.”

“If they’re really aliens, then why is he human?” The Principal pointed an accusing finger at the stranger.

“I am Twilight Wisher.” He said. “I was dragged into this whole mess a long, long time ago. I am human. I came from Earth. I can’t tell you how I got to be where I am because I have been sworn to secrecy. What I can tell you is that the Bandaa are coming. They’ll be here any minute.”

“You could have said that sooner!” Corazon rushed. “We have no time to prepare!”

“Look,” Twilight desperately said. “Take me to the President. I’ll talk to him. If you all can just hide before they get here-“

“I am not taking you to the president.” Mr. Newman firmly stated. “We are not going to hide, and hostile aliens are not going to arrive at any time and try to take over the world. Sheriff Barge, please arrest him for trespassing.”

“But, I-it’s true!” Twilight yelped. He turned to Corazon.

“I tried.” She whispered.

“Do you really believe me?” He asked.

She looked at him a moment, then said. “I’d like to say ‘no’, because I don’t really believe in aliens, but on the other hand…you make it sound so real. I don’t want to risk the chance that it might be true.”

“Take this.” He shoved a small, black box into her hand. “When the Bandaa do come, when they do conquer the Earth, use this to transport to my ship. It will bring all other humans that are within a one-meter diameter around you.” Then Sheriff Barge jerked Twilight away and Corazon stuffed the little black box into her pocket.

“What did he give you?” Mr. Newman demanded of Corazon.

“He just shook my hand.” Corazon said. “He thanked me for believing him.”

“You don’t really think that there are aliens out there, do you?” Mr. Newman sarcastically asked.

“I think that, since we’ve never been out there, it’s too soon to tell.” Corazon replied.

“Then you do believe.” He assumed.

“I believe in all possibilities and that we should prepare for each of them. For all we know, there could be Bandaa out there. But, they could be friendly, and not hostile.” Corazon replied.

“You think a lot, don’t you?” Mr. Newman asked.

“I have a lot of free time.” Corazon replied with a smile.

“Apparently.” Mr. Newman muttered as he walked away, thinking about the innocence of childhood and wondering how much longer it would linger within Corazon Heart.

“Hey, Corazon!” Tia shouted as she ran up to her, leading several of their friends. “What was up with that?”

“Yeah, it was like you actually believed in that.” Dienna said with a laugh.

“Maybe I did.” Corazon snipped. Then she stopped a moment and stared into the eyes of her puzzled friends.

Tia was the born leader. Whenever there was a problem, she always had the answer and she always knew what to do. Dienna was fairly cynical. She was negative in most parts of her personality and rarely shut her mouth. Felicia was incredibly smart and got the best grades out of everyone. She had the answer to every question you could ask. Giselle, who was pretty quiet, was a rather positive thinker. Normally, she went for the good side of things. Corazon knew that her friends would only think she were crazy if she told them everything that really went on inside her head.

“Never mind.” Corazon finally told them. “Let’s go shoot hoops.”