The Quirks, Welcome to Normal Read Free Page A

just regular-mom tears. She got all weird about first days.
    “Yes, Mom,” Penelope and Molly answered together.
    “They’ll be fine,” Grandpa agreed. “The girls are in fourth grade now. And with all our moving, they should be regular pros at this whole first-day-of-school business.
Quit your blubbering, Bree.” Molly squeezed her eyes closed when she realized Grandpa Quill’s crazy-long white mustache had bits of yellow egg yolk dripping from the tips. “And if
it goes terribly, we’ll rodeo right on down to Texas. No big deal.”
    But it was a big deal. Each one of the Quirks knew it. When they’d left Ohio after that summer’s cat incident, they had all decided—as a family—that they were going to
try to live life like a regular family. That’s why they’d moved to a town called Normal. Because none of the Quirks wanted to move every few months. It was time to live a normal life.
It was time to find a home.
    Molly knew the family wanted to support her and Pen on their first day of school, but she wished they could all just butt out sometimes. There had been more than a handful of times that she was
pretty sure she was the only Quirk really trying to fit in.
    “I know you girls are going to do great,” Bree said, her voice wiggling and wobbling. “This is the place,” she whispered. “We’re going to make Normal our
home, and that’s all there is to it.” She smiled weakly. Molly could tell she was just barely holding herself together. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, like tangled bits of a
bird’s nest.
    “What if we don’t?” Penelope whispered, her eyes huge.
    “We have to,” their mother said. “It’s time for us to settle down. We need to figure out how to fit in somewhere, someday. Our new, normal life starts today!” Bree
said this as confidently as she could, pounding her fist into her palm to make her point, but no one looked convinced.
    The thing is, the Quirks only knew how to live the life they’d always had—a life of moving around. They’d always hit the road when something went wrong. They had never fit in
anywhere, and they’d never stayed anywhere long enough to truly try.
    “Go get ’em, girls!” Grandpa cried as the bus arrived. Both girls hesitated. The bus would take them closer and closer to school. Closer and closer to the chance for
failure.

    As Molly looked at the driver, her stomach rumbled with nerves. Could they do it? Was her sister capable of blending in? Molly also wondered, selfishly, the same thing she wondered at every new
school: Would
she
make friends this year? Would she finally find a way to fit in, to be part of her class?
    There was only one way to find out: the Quirks absolutely had to make it work in Normal. How hard could it be?

P e n e l o p e Quirk often wished she were more like her twin
sister, Molly. One reason was because Molly didn’t have an extra-long second toe (Penelope did). Also, Molly didn’t make a hissing sound when she laughed (Penelope’s laugh
sometimes sounded like an attacking snake). She was also jealous that Molly always spotted Finn before he drizzled syrup down her neck (Pen never saw him coming). But mostly, Penelope was envious
that Molly didn’t have to try so hard to be normal.
    Growing up Quirky, Penelope had always thought she was the normal twin—and Molly was the strange one. While every Quirk had a charm, Molly was the kid with no special talents. It
wasn’t really until kindergarten, when Penelope’s magic earned the girls a hall pass right out of school, that she finally realized
she
was the one who didn’t fit in
outside the house.
    Penelope tried. Really, she did. But she just couldn’t control her imagination.
    Molly was constantly chasing after her sister, trying to distract her enough that she wouldn’t spread magic everywhere she went. Sometimes, that worked. Other times, Penelope’s magic
wasn’t very obvious. But most of the time, it was just that people weren’t