Addilyn never liked the thought of going to school with thousands of other learners, she just felt claustrophobic. But she really wanted to get away from the house for a few hours everyday. It felt as if her sleep paralysis was getting worse each day. She thought maybe her mind was playing harsh games on her. Sometimes she was even afraid to go to the bathroom alone but she wouldn't confess that to her mother. She packed all of her stationery and the work she was given to do in her bag and ran downstairs. She saw her mom packing some lunch in a brown bag and handing it to her. "Mom, I'm practically 16. I don't need you packing lunch in a brown bag for me," Addilyn whined. Nora raised an eyebrow. "So you'll be fine scavenging for money to buy yourself lunch?" Addilyn remained silent. "So are you encouraging me to steal?" she beamed. Nora chuckled and gave her daughter the brown bag. "Fine. I'll take the bag but just for today," Addilyn said, taking the bag and stuffing it in her bag. "So, I'm guessing that I'll be taking the bus, won't I?" Addilyn sighed as her mom nodded. "I'm really tired and I don't think I'll be able to drive you to school even though I'd love to take you there on your first day," Nora said. Addilyn kissed Nora's forehead. "I'ts fine mom. I can take the bus. You just rest," she turned and made her way to the door. "Make new friends," Nora called out. "Hopefully not," Addilyn closed the door behind her and walked to the bus stop. On her way, she saw Jacob standing there with a girl, who was giggling at something Jacob said. "Oh brother," Addilyn muttered. She stood by the bus stop but made sure she kept her distance. "Hey Addilyn," Jacob waved at her. Addilyn looked over to him then looked at the ground. "Why is she such an arse?" the girl that was standing next to Jacob whispered. But she whispered loud enough for Addilyn to hear. Addilyn held her bag straps tightly. 'Why is she being such a dunce?' Addilyn thought. She wondered when the bus would arrive. The girl and Jacob happily chatted and laughed to each other's jokes. Addilyn on the other hand, was annoyed. She'd been standing for thirty minutes and the bus still hasn't arrived. She looked over to Jacob and they were looking at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was starting to go insane. Addilyn cleared her throat. "Keep it together, Addilyn," she told herself. The bus finally arrived and they all got on. Addilyn observed the bus. Everyone was partnered up, laughing together and being all jolly. Addilyn saw Jacob sitting next to the girl. She had her hand on his knee. Addilyn couldn't see how she looked like at first. She had long blonde hair and brown eyes, her lips with plump and red from the lipstick she had. Addilyn sighed and went to sit at the back, alone. "Well, you gotta love school," she sarcastically said to herself.

Addilyn's day started out great. No one noticed her in the halls and during classes until the last period of the day, physical education. Addilyn wasn't one to go crazy for sports and gymnastics but she tolerated it just to get it over and done with it. The girls were separated from the boys. The girls were going to play dodge ball. Everyone grunted when Ms Jones, their gym teacher, told them. "Quit your whining and go get changed," she said as she lead then to the changing rooms. They all wore navy blue shorts and white polo shirts. "Alright. Two teams. You know the drill," Ms Jones said. She started going through the list, making two teams. After that was done, the battle field had been set. The balls were in there place. The teams were against the walls, waiting for the teacher to now the whistle. "I just have to end off my first school day with dodge ball?" Addilyn said. The girl next to her giggled. Ms Jones blew the whistle. All the girls ran to the middle to get a ball to throw at their opponent. Sadly, Addilyn's team wasn't so good at the sport as she was. It didn't take too long for them to get eliminated. It was just Addilyn left from her team and three girls left on the other. Addilyn looked at the girls who were waiting for the game to end. Then she noticed the boys watching as well. She felt uncomfortable in her own skin. She didn't like people watching her. She liked blending in with the shadows. One girl threw a ball at Addilyn but she quickly dodged it. The other threw a ball at her but Addilyn caught it. "Jackson, you're out!" Ms Jones called out. The girl grunted as she went to go sit with the others. While the two girls weren't noticing, Addilyn quickly got a ball and threw it at one of the girls. This kept going for a while. She kept on pushing herself to do the same thing over and over, pick up the ball and throw it at some and dodge. At this point, Addilyn wanted to drop down dead. She was gasping for air, her throat quenched for water. "Just one more girl left," she told herself. Then she noticed the left was the girl that was talking to Jacob in the morning. "Just great," Addilyn forced a smile. "Well," she said. "Go Bethany," one of the boys cheered. Bethany smirked and threw a ball at Addilyn. She missed her by an inch. She frowned and threw another one. Missed again. This continued until Bethany ran out of balls on her side. Addilyn smirked. She picked up a ball and threw it but unfortunately, she didn't have any strength left in her so she missed. The ball didn't even reach Bethany. "That's the best you could do?" Bethany said. Which made everyone in the gym crack up. Addilyn grunted. She threw another ball at her. Bethany tried to dodge it but tripped and fell to the direction of the ball and got hit. "You're out! Wow, never thought I'd see the day you'd get beaten at your own game," Ms Jones laughed while Addilyn's team rejoiced. "Alright, hit the showers. All of you," Ms Jones ordered. Everyone went to the showers and got cleaned up. Addilyn went last. After she was done, she went get her clothes. But they weren't there. Addilyn looked everywhere but she couldn't find then. "I swear I left them in my locker," she said. "Well I chat go out naked," she said as she looked at her sweaty gym clothes. Addilyn had no choice. She swallowed her pride and wore her gym clothes.

"What's the smell? Smells like rotten eggs if you'd ask me," Bethany said in the bus, making fun of Addilyn. She felt like crawling in a hole and die. "No no. It smells like... like smelly fish," another girl said and they all laughed. Addilyn didn't find anything funny in that comment. "I'm almost there," Addilyn reassured herself. She couldn't wait to get out of the bus. But she didn't want to go back to that house. "Oh wait, it smells like a sweaty new girl," Bethany said and everyone in the bus looked at her at the back. "Okay, that enough," Jacob said. "What? We're just having a little fun, Jake," Bethany said. The bus finally stopped at her bus stop and Addilyn jumped out the bus. "Addilyn!" Jacob called but Addilyn ignored him and ran into the house."I gotta go and change." she told herself, she really wanted to get out of those sweaty clothes. She ran to her room and found a pair of jeans and a hoodie. She quickly jumped into the shower to get rid of the smell ad the stickiness of the sweat. After getting dressed she ran down the stairs that creaked eveytime she stepped on them. She wanted to get her bag and go to the library but she did all her homework in school and she wasn't in the mood to do anything related to school after what happened at the bus. She opened the door and walked out and closed closed it before making her way down the street. There sure were a few houses in the the neighbourhood which was a good thing. She didn't like busy and clustered areas. She decided to look around the place as she was going to be staying here from now on. There wasn't much to it anyway but she heard there was a park nearby and she decided to go there.

Once Addilyn arrived at the park, she knew she made the right choice. The park was a good place to relax in. She saw a few joggers and people walking their dogs. She looked around and saw a playground not so far. She made her way to the swingset and sat on one of the swings. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was still 16:12. Another hour left and a couple of minutes before she has to make her way back home again. She started to move the swing forward and backwards, which she found soothing. A couple of minutes later, her phone buzzed. She took out her phone again and saw a message from her mom.

I'll be back a bit later than usual. I got a bit busy at work. I'll get takeaways to make it up to ya!
16:16

Oh okay
16:17
Seen

Addilyn let out a huge sigh. Her mom has been working harder than usual to provide for her and herself. Everything has been a bit complicated for her mom. Its been one job after the other. Addilyn told herself no matter how much she'll work, she'll probably end up loosing that job anyway. She knew it was bad to think that way but that's what has been happening for a couple of times. Addilyn was so deep in thought she didn't notice someone sitting next to her. "Oh hi!" the voice said. She raised her head and looked at the source of the voice. It was a girl with ginger hair and a face with freckles splattered all over her face. She actually looked pretty. She squinted trying to remember where she's seen her from."Oh! You that girl from dodge ball. The one that laughed next to me," she said aloud, clicking her fingers. The girl giggled. "Yeah that was me," she scratched the back of her head. "So you're the new girl, right?" she asked. Addilyn looked ahead a nodded. "Well my name is Priscilla," she stuck out her hand to shake Addilyn's hand. Addilyn raised a brow and thought who still shakes hands nowadays but shook Priscilla's hand nonetheless. "Addilyn," she said as she let got of her hand. "Addilyn huh? Nice name," she complimented, earning a smile from Addilyn. "So what were you thinking about?" Priscilla asked. "Huh?" Addilyn sounded confused. "Well you looked so deep in thought I thought I might drop by," she said with a smile on her face. Addilyn just shrugged. "It's fine. No need to tell me," Priscilla shook her head. Addilyn stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking, "Well thanks. I suppose company isn't bad." She looked over to face Priscilla who was beaming at her. Addilyn awkwardly smiled back at her then started to swing again. "So have you made any friends yet?" Priscilla asked Addilyn, who responded with a shake of her head. "You know there's a way you can make friends," Priscilla said as she looked at her feet. Addilyn shrugged and asked,"How?" She really didn't care much about it but then again, she can gain two things out of the plan Priscilla was going to share with her. One, she can have people to visit in order to avoid staying in that horrid house. Two, her mom can be relieved if she sees Addilyn with friends, thinking that's she's finally fitting in. "Well tomorrow, I'll be having a sleepover. I will invite my friends and maybe you can come as well and mingle with others." Priscilla explained. Addilyn scrunched her nose at the idea. 'Maybe I'm not as desperate as I thought,' she thought. She was about to decline but she saw Priscilla look really anticipated as to what answer she'll get. Addilyn sighed then asked, "What activities that'll be done at this sleepover?" Priscilla shrugged and answered, "You know the usual. And we're planning on playing this game that sounds really fun." Addilyn raised her eyebrows. "Oh," was all she said. "So?" Priscilla asked. Addilyn was confused for a few seconds until she remembered that she didn't accept Priscilla's offer yet. "Oh yeah sure, I'll come, even though it'll be a school night," Addilyn added. Priscilla playfully pushed Addilyn's swing. "School night? Tomorrow's Friday, silly." Addilyn also realised it. Since today was her first day at school, she just presumed that it was Monday and not Thursday. She didn't quite find it weird why she started school when the week was about to end. Maybe things are done differently in Crestwood Heights High. "Oh sorry," Addilyn apologised for the silly mistake she made. Priscilla looked at her wristwatch. When she saw the time, she quickly jumped up from the swing as if she got electrocuted out of it. "Oh shoot! It's already 17:07. I gotta go! It was nice meeting you Addy!" she yelled as she running in the opposite direction Addilyn came.

'Addy,' she thought. 'Nicknames are only established once you're friends with the person,' It's been something Addilyn has been telling herself for almost her whole life. Yet no one in Chicago called her by a nickname, besides her family. Addilyn prefers to be close to her family rather than friends after all. No one knows you better than your own family. Blood is thicker than water, they say. But now in the present, she's not si sure if she thinks the same way as she did in the past. Now, things aren't going to be the same since her mom and her are isolated in New York, in this huge jungle she doesn't know anything of. Being forced to learn how to survive. It was hard being away from your relatives, the ones you loved the most. She reminisced about the times she used to visit her granddad and how he used to tell her all these weird stories at night. He would tell her stories about the bigfoot and other mythical creatures but he really loved the topic of scary games he played with his friends back at his time. The stories would keep her up at night to the point where Addilyn would go knocking in her parents room asking if she could sleep with them. Nora would always shout at granddad bug he and Addilyn would laugh about it. She smiled weakly as she remembered the good old days, recalling all the memories of her life in Chicago. When she looked around the playground, she saw that there were a fewer kids than before. She saw the sum had set and decided to head back home.