In 2010, a researcher began an investigative book about an urban legend from his hometown. According to the legend, a twelve-year-old girl named Coda Darling created a human clone, known as C.J. His research consisted of interviews with people who knew Coda and C.J. directly, his interpretations of medical and school records relating to Coda, and several controversial hypnotic sessions with an individual close to Coda. As his research came to a close, he realized he didn't have enough material for a book.

And then he found me.

I agreed to write a first-person account of everything that had happened. Here's how it started.

My mother said she named me Coda because she wanted me to have a power name. Everyone was giving their daughters "strong" names the year I was born. Often, these were boys' names. I knew female Ryans, Jordans, and my best friend was a girl named Cameron, which seemed pretty crazy at the time. My name, Coda, was of the same variety as girls named Justice, Olympia and America. Despite my mother's constant reassurance that I was given the name so I would succeed in school and at life, I wondered if the name had another meaning. Was I some useless afterthought? A resounding finish to something? Her freedom? Her former life? If so, I knew she would never let me know.

I was twelve when I started attending George Washington High School. It wasn't my choice; my father had been pushing for this since he forced an exclusive preschool to accept me at two. So, it was goodbye to middle school after a year of being the youngest girl in my class, and into this program called Supernova, where I would still be the youngest.