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Coco the calico bunny kissed her mother goodbye and hopped away to school. She stopped for a second to check that her brother, Bear, was close behind. She held her paw out to him. He didn’t take it. She shrugged and walked next to him. Coco always liked keeping a close eye on her brother.

Coco already knew at age 7 that she and her family were different from most families in Cabbageshire. No other bunnies were calico. Most bunnies were a solid color, like all grey or all white. Other bunnies had two colors of fur, like black and white or brown and white. But, the Nettleton family were tri-colored, or as most bunnies called it, calico. They were all a beautiful shade of carrot orange, carmel brown, with a dash of licorice black here and there.

It was not just the shade of their fur which made the Nettleton family different from most people who inhabited the small village of Cabbageshire. They had traveled extensively over the past seven years of Coco’s life. Quite often, her teacher would tell the class about some far away village in another country and Coco would raise her hand to tell a story of what she and her family did there. One day, Coco listened to her teacher tell the class about the Queen of Bunnitania. Coco eagerly shook her paw high above her head. She practically fell off of her lettuce stool. Once the teacher finally called on Coco, which seemed like an eternity to her, she announced to everyone that she spent last summer in Bunnitiania. She didn’t meet the Queen but saw two of the castles where she lives. Most other bunnies liked hearing about her adventures. Many asked questions, “How long was the tunnel you had to burrow to get there? Did the carrots taste different over there? Were there any wolves?”

There were, however, two twin bunnies who didn’t like hearing these accounts at all. These twin bunnies were a solid chocolate color and extremely fluffy. They were both pretty bunnies. They thought Coco’s stories were taking away the attention they usually had in the class. Every time Coco would talk, they snickered behind her back. They did whatever they could to make Coco uncomfortable for being in “their” spotlight. This always hurt Coco’s feelings. She was so enthusiastic to tell her adventures but as soon as the twins started in on her, “Oh, here she goes again. Where else has she been. She is just so important,” Coco felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. The twins spoke just loud enough for Coco to hear and the teacher not to hear.