Nicole leaned over her book, attempting to prop it on her legs to read it. For some reason, the position felt awkward, and the metal chair she was sitting was uncomfortable, so after several minutes attempting to adjust to it, she gave up. Nicole slammed the book closed, sliding one finger into the middle of her book to save her page. With her free hand she pulled her boulder of a backpack onto her lap and crossed her legs at the knees. She then propped her book on her backpack. It was serving wonderfully as a table now and Nicole was able to slide easily back into the entrancing world of her book.

Despite the roaring chaos of the teenager filled gym, it was all too easy for her to disappear into the book. Nicole's mind had always had a way of multitasking. The noise didn't matter to her and the book held her attention.

Nicole was in her schools after school care program. She had to wait here until her mother arrived to pick her up. Her mother got off work late so she was stuck with sixty annoying, overly energetic teenagers, about fifteen of which barley reached her chest, and most of the others still remained six inches shorter than her. Being in eight grade, and slightly tall to, she towered over the surprisingly small sixth graders and the seventh graders who hadn't yet hit their puberty induced growth spurt.

That wasn't to say she didn't have friends here. A large amount of her friends, including ones she'd known practically her whole life, attended after school care with her. But at the moment her surplus of friends were reading, listening to music, watching YouTube, and scrolling through social media. None of this she found particularly interesting so instead she focused on her book. She needed the test points she would get from it anyway.

Suddenly she felt a burning across her back, like someone had placed a hot iron to her skin.

Nicole's head snapped up with a fierce glare to locate the source of her pain. Two remotely terrified sixth graders were holding a plastic baseball bat. They had hit her with an orange rubber ball. Under most circumstances she would have simply been annoyed, but today she had a killer sunburn on her back and shoulders from a fair she went to. The ball had hit the most sore part of her back.

Nicole was about to yell at them but a teacher beat her to it. Ms. Morgan, a young twenty-four year old assistant of the main caretaker was yelling at them. It was basically the gist of how they were idiots and to put the bat up and never touch it again.

Annoying tears stated to prick at the corner of her eyes, possibly from pain or she could have been having a spontaneous meltdown. Nicole ignored it and went back to reading.

Nicole had the startling habit of completely disappearing into the books she read. The worlds became so real it was nigh impossible to pull herself back out. The scenes flashed before her eyes as if she was there. The breezes brushed her face and the emotions blazed brightly as her own. Their pain became her burden, their world became hers.

It was one of the most amazing experiences she could ever describe. She herself would never be a hero. She would never be fearless or anyone's knight in shining armor. She wrapped herself in safety and lived out others heroics. Her only adrenaline high was books. And she was a junkie for them.

But still, half her life was spent in harsh, ruthless, awakening reality. She watched horror stories with no happily ever after unfold before her on the news. She watched as people she cared about suffered from pain the couldn't be healed with medicine. A hopeless pain that only time could cure. She watched people age and great creations rise and fall. As was the curse of the mortal. As was the curse of reality.

But there were good things to. She got experience the little moments that made true friendships. She got to laugh with her friends and watch them grow and succeed. She got to watch love bloom and life begin. That was why reality wasn't unbearable. The beautiful moments that made life unimaginably good, that made life precious, even when it ends, those were what made reality so worth while.

Books never changed, the stories always repeated the same way. But life went on growing and changing and flowing. Sometimes Nicole wished she could be a hero. But other times, she wouldn't give the world for what she had here. In reality.

A/N
So hey guys! What do you think? Nicole is an oc of mine and a human character I'm fairly comfortable with writing and have a little more depth on personality wise. So yeah. Anyway, that's about all I have to say. So yeah. Bye people!

Allons-y!

-Crimson