Chapter 1: A Whirlwind of Change

The past few months had been a whirlwind of anticipation and anxiety. I, Sophia Hanson—once thirteen and now fourteen—felt as if my world was on the brink of transformation. As eighth grade drew to a close, the looming reality of starting at West Boulder High School left me in a state of both excitement and dread. The hallways, the teachers, and the faces I’d never seen before—everything felt like an entirely new universe waiting for me. Yet, I wasn’t ready to leave behind the familiar comfort of middle school. I was about to trade the safety of known faces for the anonymity of a sea of strangers.

West Boulder High, with its Timberwolves mascot, would soon become the setting for an entirely new chapter of my life. But the thing that would make my freshman year truly unforgettable wasn’t just the new experiences awaiting me—it was the absence of someone who had always been my anchor: my older sister, Madeline—or Maddie, as she liked to be called.

For as long as I could remember, Maddie had been the nucleus of everything. At sixteen, she seemed light-years ahead of me. Confident, brilliant, and endlessly curious, she had a knack for owning any room she walked into, effortlessly and without a second thought. I had always been content to trail behind her like a shadow, letting her lead the way. But that was about to change. Maddie wouldn’t be around for my freshman year—she would be halfway around the world in a place I had never even heard of—Kalvovia.

The news had come a few weeks before spring break, right at the dinner table, I was dreaming about Maddie helping me navigate the maze of high school. The air was thick with the usual family chatter—Mom reminding us to pick up after ourselves, Dad discussing some new project at work—when Mom cleared her throat and announced that Maddie had some important news. Maddie’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and I knew she was about to drop a bombshell. My sister had always had a flair for surprises and the bigger the surprise, the better.

“I’ve got news,” she began, her voice filled with that familiar dramatic pause. “I’ve been selected for the exchange program.”

The table fell into an immediate silence about the exchange program. I thought this was something other kids did—the adventurous ones with a knack for languages. Not Maddie. She was all about books, debates, and acing her chemistry exams. She had never once mentioned even considering being an exchange student, let alone traveling to a different country.

“Where,” I finally asked, my voice coming out as a half-laugh as I was expecting her to reveal it was all a joke.

“Kalvovia,” she replied, her face lighting up with the same electric excitement.

Kalvovia I had never heard of. The name sounded like something out of one of my fantasy novels—a land of dragons and enchanted forests. I blurted out my thoughts, feeling detached as Maddie began to explain. It was as if I was watching the scene unfold from outside myself.

“Kalvovia is a tiny country on the Black Sea that thrives on the naturalistic aspects of life without the trappings of societal restraints,” she said, slipping into that serious, intellectual tone she used for history lessons. “It’s nestled between Romania and Bulgaria. They gained independence after the fall of the Soviet Union and took immense pride in their culture and traditions, with all citizens living in harmony in their natural state of nothingness.”