The Orange That Saved Halloween

Lily held the iphone in her palm, nervous about her costume. The screen glowed as her mom took a picture. 'You'll be the scariest zombie ever!' her mom said.

But Lily didn't want to be scary. She wanted to be friendly.

At school, everyone was excited about the Halloween game. Mrs. Perez held up a bright orange ball. 'Who wants to play magical pumpkin baseball?' she asked.

Lily's hand shot up. She loved baseball! She'd practiced all summer with her grandpa.

When it was Lily's turn to bat, she closed her eyes for a moment and made a wish. Please let me make a good friend today, she thought.

WHAM! The orange ball soared through the air and landed right beside a boy dressed as a zombie. His makeup was perfect—green face, dark circles under his eyes—but his smile was the warmest thing Lily had ever seen.

'Nice hit!' he said, handing her the ball. 'I'm Marcus.'

'I'm Lily,' she said, suddenly realizing her zombie makeup didn't matter. What mattered was that someone wanted to be her friend.

They played together all recess. Marcus showed Lily how to make the scariest zombie sounds (that were actually quite silly), and Lily taught Marcus her special batting technique.

'I thought nobody would want to play with a zombie,' Marcus admitted.

Lily smiled. 'My grandpa says the best friends are the ones who surprise you.'

That Halloween, Lily and Marcus went trick-or-treating together. They collected so much candy, they had to use Lily's iphone flashlight to find their way home.

And the orange magical pumpkin baseball? Mrs. Perez let Lily keep it. Every time she looked at it, she remembered the day she learned that sometimes the scariest-looking things can turn out to be the most wonderful friends of all.

That night, Lily's phone pinged. A message from Marcus: 'Want to play baseball tomorrow?'

Lily grinned and typed back: 'YES!!!'

Some magic, she realized, doesn't come from wands or spells. It comes from being brave enough to say hello.