• PROLOGUE



    It was late August of 2009 when he first showed up at Hanford West High School.He

    was tall and thin with bright, almost blazing red hair, pulled back into what looked lie an

    attenpt at a short mullet.. If you were to look into his eyes, you would be instantly

    mezmerized, almost hypnotized, forgetting that one was a clear blue and one dark brown. His

    pale skin glowed bright against the sunlight, but even brighter against the moonlight, as if

    the stars had something to do with his being. He was the epitome of ultimate goodness,

    unable to say a mean word, unable to harm anything. He even managed to stay off the grass

    most of the time, claiming that it was horrible to hurt anything, even plants.Alot of us

    learned from him during his time here on our little blue planet. No, he didn't die. Ziggy

    wasn't from earth. He was from "a galaxy far, far away," as they had said so many times in

    Star Wars.








    Ziggy sat under the oddly placed willow tree in front of the school, alone and

    seemingly reading aloud to himself. I didn't know he was talking to the tree itself. He

    looked so lonely, and everyone else avoided him, calling him weird and other mean names like

    that behind his back and sometimes to his face. Either way, he took it all with a smile.

    More power to him I guess. Anyways, I hate seeing people treated badly just because they're

    different, so I finally made the choice to sit next to him. That turned out to be the best

    choice I had ever, and will ever make. I held out a bag of cookies my Aunt Donna had made

    the night before to him. He turned to me, smiling.
    "No thank you." he said politley. I noticed his British accent right off the bat.
    "So, you're not from around here, huh?" I asked. I never said I was a good

    conversationalist.
    "Nope." he replied.
    "You're accent tells me you're from England." I said, trying to be witty and impressive.

    Epic fail.
    "My accent is a liar, then." he chuckled. "Good guess though."
    I guess he recognized my pathetic attempt to impress the new guy and decided to take it easy

    on me.
    "So then, where ARE you from?"
    "Somewhere very far from here. It probably wouldn't be any interest to you."
    I shrugged.
    "Probably not." I said stupidly. Oh how wrong I was. "By the way, I'm Haley. You are?"
    "Call me Ziggy. Ziggy Stardust."
    What an awesome name!
    "Cool name." I said.
    "Thank you."
    Small talk. Oh, how I loathe small talk. He laughed at me. I didn't know why. I think he did

    it because I was such a freak. Or maybe because he realized how odd he was to me, which he

    wasn't. He was the most awesome person I had ever met already. Maybe he was laughing because

    we were so equally weird and he was the only one at that point that realized it. I looked up

    at the willow tree branches.
    "Odd." I said.
    "What is?
    "The tree, this is the first time I've seen it with blooms."
    "Well, have you ever tried talking to it, helping it to become a little less shy to bloom?"
    I laughed.
    "What now?" he asked.
    "That talking to the tree stuff, I just thought it was really funny."
    All of the sudden all of the blooms fell off.
    "Well that wasn't very nice. You've hurt it's feelings."
    I stared, silently. This had to be some kind of coincedence. He turned to the tree and

    started stroking its thin trunk.
    "It's all right," he coaxed. "She didn't mean it."
    To my amazment the blooms returned suddenly.
    "Whoah." That was all I could say. Whoah.
    That was only the first of the odd events that would occur that week. The second being, as

    we stood to head back to class, the tree wrapped its branches around Ziggy and hugged him to

    it's trunk. My jaw dropped.
    "Your welcome." he said. The tree set him next to me and he put his arm around my shoulders.

    "So can I yet call you my friend?"
    I nodded, still wide eyed.
    He walked me to my class, laughing at my shock the entire way.
    "Haley!" Mindy called to me from across the hall. She walked up to me and stopped to study

    my odd-expressioned face.
    "What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost!"
    I looked to Ziggy. He simply winked at me. I looked back at Mindy, still silent.
    Mindy stared up at Ziggy.
    "What'd you do to her?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
    "I put a magic spell on her, and if you're not careful, I'll turn her into a frog."
    Mindy stared at him.
    "Yeah, well, if you do that I'll do-I'll-something! Gah! You're shiny jumpsuit made me lose

    my train of thought!"
    He laughed.
    "Hope it gets back on track soon." he said. He kissed my hand.
    "Meet me by the Willow Tree afterschool and I'll explain everything." he whispered just loud

    enough for Mindy to hear too. "You come too and I'll let you in on a secret." he told her.
    Mindy and I went into our sixth period English class and sat down next to each other.
    "So what do you suppose he's going to tell you?" Mindy asked.
    "Tell US. You're going with me." I said. "Probably something like he's got magic powers or

    something."
    "Will you believe him?"
    "After what happened today, how could I not?"








    We sat out under the willow tree, Mindy, Ziggy, and I, and watched the sun set.
    "I didn't think Hanford could look so beautiful." I said. "I mean, I've seen so much

    prettier sunsets, but I've never really taken time to enjoy Hanford's."
    "The stars are better." Ziggy said as the last bit of sunlight faded. All of the sudden all

    of the lights in Hanford and the towns surrounding went out. The stars shone brightly over

    the city. Ziggy inhaled deeply and let out a relaxed sigh. He put his arms around the both

    of us.
    "So, what was that secret you wanted to tell us?" Mindy asked.
    "Actually, I only wanted to tell Haley, but I did ask you to come along-"
    "Just cut to the chase." I said. "You're a magician from mideival times, right?"
    "Nope. I'm not even from earth."
    I shot up.
    "You're A-A-A-" I stuttered.
    "Say It. It's not that hard."
    "ALIEN!" I shrieked.
    "The correct term would be Starman, but that works too I guess."
    I turned to Mindy who was laughing at me.
    "M-Mindy-"
    "Haley, you're so gullible! You really believe-"
    He tapped her shoulder.
    "What?"
    "Watch the sky."
    Mindy and I looked up. The words "Yes Mindy, I am a Starman." Was written in the stars.

    Mindy shrieked.
    *AUTHORS NOTE*
    I blacked out for an hour and a half due to the great amount of shock.

    When I finally came to, Ziggy had me in his arms, his forehead pressed against mine.
    "She's mentally stable and all in good health. Really odd and active imagination though." He said.
    "I guess that's why you're here." I muttered.

    To be continued...