You wake up in the royal queen sized bed with a yawn. Just in time, too. Jack knocks on the door and looks at you with a sweet smile.
"Time for school, (Nickname)." He smiles. You stretch before hopping out of bed. You walk over to Jack, about to greet him but he picks you up on his shoulders as you squeal and giggle.
"Jack!" You laugh.
"I know you wanna stay here, (Y/N)! But you gotta go to school and play with Sammy!" He grins.
"Sally. Play with Sally." You correct.
"Same difference." Jack chuckles.
Suddenly everything around turns white. You glance around, slightly confused. Jack doesn't seem worried so you decide not to be worried either. Then slowly, everything starts to morph into colors of your room.
"Now go get dressed and off to school."
You groan as Jack disappears with that statement and walk over to your grey closet. You take off your shirt and stare at the brusies on your arms in the mirror. You sigh out and put on a clean shirt with long sleeves before putting on wrinkled jeans.
You grab up your bag and swing it on your shoulder. You turn around and see Jack standing there.
"I don't want to go down there.." You whisper as you walk into his open arms.
"I know you don't but you have to get your education." Jack says as he rubs your back. You part the hug and sigh. You just have a bad feeling about today.
You walk down stairs slowly and cautiously, fearing your mom will be awake from her hangover. Or as you call it: grumpy day. You walk into the kitchen and pick up your paper bag of lunch.
No sign of mom. You look around, slightly relieved and worried at the same time.
"Mom....?" You call out. No answer. "I'm going to school..." You call out once again. Still no answer.
Right when you are about to leave, you hear shouting from upstairs.
"I don't care if it's on a short notice! I need h- no it gone by Friday!" She hollers. You glance at the stairs to see Jack standing there with a worried look on his face.
"Jack...?" You ask. He walks the rest of the way down stairs and over to you. He crouches down at your level, staring you in the eye. "Where am I going to go by Friday?" You ask.
"I don't know, sweetheart." He whispers. He sounds serious. Like really serious. "I'll talk to you about it tonight, okay?" He asks with a smile. You offer a smile back and hug him. You nuzzle up against his neck with a shakey sigh.
"I love you, Jackie." You grin.
"Love ya too, (Y/N).." He chuckles. You give him a sweet kiss on the cheek before running out the door to the bus stop.
"Hey (Nickname)! What took you so long?" Sally asks.
"Slept in late." You lie, subconsciously looking down.
"Yea... I know how you feel." She replys.
After only a half a minute the bus rolls up next to you, Sally, and some other kids.
_____________
At recess you and Sally run to the fence, giggling and laughing together. She said she had a surprise to show you.
Sally points to the wooded area not far from the playground. "See him, (Y/N)?" Sally asks as she waves.
"Who?" You reply, seeing absolutely no one.
"Mr. Tree!" She exclaims. "He probably won't let you see him though. He's kinda shy around new people." Sally giggles.
"Uh huh.." You mumble. 'He's obviously imaginary.' You think to your self. 'But didn't Jack say imagination is the weapon against reality or something like that?' You ponder.
You wave at the forest with a huge grin.
"And who exactly are you talking to, girls?" A voice asks behind you.
"Oh um, Mrs Brinkman.. No one really.." Sally answers quickly. Stranger danger is a big thing to this school ever since a boy got taken off of the playground one day.
"We were just waving to the trees because they don't get a lot of love." You giggle.
Mrs Brinkman narrows her eyes at the forest for a couple seconds, "Okay, just making sure you're not talking to anybody dangerous. Even if they look nice on the outside they could be evil on the inside." She says. You and Sally sigh out and nod, waiting for your teacher to go away.
Mrs Brinkman gets the hint and walks off to supervise the other children. Sally sighs and leans on the fence.
"Do you think that's true? About the outside and inside stuff?" She asks.
"It could be.." You mumble, thinking about your mom. Everyone always says that she's so nice and that they wish they had her instead of their own mother. Oh, how they were wrong.
