One day, at the end of December, when it was supposed to be snowing but was raining instead, Susanna was looking out of the classroom window with a dull expression on her face. Anyone who looked out of the window felt tired. The small forest was wet, the ground was muddy, and the evergreens looked like a soaked dark green cloth. Everything looked sad when it was supposed to look magical.

But that day something magical did happen, Susanna’s dream to see aliens came true! She was walking down the empty gray hallway on her way to Astronomy class, when she heard a gurgling noise coming from the custodian room. It wasn’t really a disgusting gurgling because it was high and shaky. Susanna looked around to make sure that no one saw her and slipped in. The custodian room was dark and cluttered. It was filled with mops, buckets, ladders, and paintbrushes; and it smelled like chlorine.

Right in the middle of the room she saw a girl about her age, except very short, only up to Susanna’s waist. The girl was very pale and her eyes were black. She had pointy ears, shoulder-length chestnut coloured hair, and wore a long creamy white dress with puffy sleeves. She looked adventurous but confused, and was making the gurgling noise that Susanna had heard. Immediately, Susanna knew that this was an alien, as the girl sounded like an extraterrestrial movie character.

Susanna quietly came up to her and said “Hello”. The alien murmured something that sounded like “hello”. Susanna pointed to herself and said, “Susanna”. The alien slowly stretched out her left hand, put it onto her tummy, and said, “E-e-ba-a”. Susanna noticed that the girl had only three fingers. Happy that E-e-ba-a understood English, Susanna told her that she was going to show her to somebody she trusted. The alien nodded her head.

There was only one person in the whole school who believed in aliens, Susanna’s Astronomy teacher Mr. Phobos. So she brought the alien down to the Astronomy class. However, when Mr. Phobos saw the extraterrestrial, he screamed and hid under his desk, while E-e-ba-a darted out of the classroom. Susanna rushed after her. In the hallway, the alien made a huge leap into the air and began to tiptoe in the mid-air very quickly. Susanna was too stunned to follow after her. In a moment the alien disappeared from sight.

Susanna wanted to find the alien to say sorry. She went to the custodian room to think of a new plan. She was sitting there on top of the big red bucket with a pencil in her mouth (for better ideas, of course). She was thinking of a way to prove to the Astronomy teacher that aliens are nice, when she saw a piece of paper in one of the black buckets. It turned out to be a grading sheet.

Suddenly, Susanna heard somebody walking down the hall, mumbling. It was Mr. Phobos. “I can’t believe it! How could it happen? Aliens came to Earth, probably to invade! And also the semester grading sheet lost! What will the superintendent do? He’ll fire me!!!” By the end of that mumble she already had a plan!

Susanna ran out of the school to find the alien. She rushed through the wet grass, jumping over puddles, trying to avoid plopping herself into sticky mud. When she reached the forest, she heard the gurgling sound again. This time it resembled a slow singing. E-e-ba-a was sitting on a stump; her hair was wet from the rain. She was fearfully staring at Susanna with her big black eyes. Susanna told the girl that she was going to prove to the Astronomy teacher that aliens are nice. So they snuck back into the school where Susanna gave her new friend the important grading sheet and told her to give it to the Astronomy teacher.

Mr.Phobos was sitting by the window, thinking how upsetting things were. “How could this happen! Two of the worst things happening in one day, this is probably the worst day in my whole life,” thought the astronomy teacher, beginning to cry. Then suddenly the alien was right there and she was handing him the important grading sheet! He now knew that this alien was not evil; she was good! He said, “Sorry”, and Susanna winked at him. She found a new friend, and showed Mr. Phobos that aliens are nice.