My Strange Addiction

Episode 2

"Can we open the back door?" the ginger asks when they can't go any farther back and the phantom slowly steps up the aisle toward them.

The brown-haired boy tries and fails to open it. "It's blocked!"

The bespectacled boy, who has started crying by this point, stutters, "W-what do we do??"

The boy with messy blond hair stupidly asks, "Die?"

"Aiden!" the rest of the group reprimand him just before the phantom lunges, but just before it can do any damage, the bespectacled boy's watch beeps and they shift back to the real world.

The ginger and the bespectacled girl, who now doesn't have her glasses on since she's just waking up, shoot out of their beds at the same time and look at each other.

"That was close," the practically blind girl says.

"Way too close," the ginger agrees.

Both of their phones buzz.

Logan

Everyone okay?

Ashlyn

👍

Halia

Meh

Aiden

Lol that was close

Taylor

Physically yes

Tyler

Mentally no.

Ben

Did anyone finish the homework?

The girls look at each other before looking at the stack of unfinished homework between them and each send one more text before flopping back into their beds.

Ashlyn

Screw it.

Halia

I second the motion

Tyler

^

Taylor

^

The next morning, the ginger and bespectacled girls get on the bus and take their usual seat in front of Aiden and a half-dead looking Ben. "Hey Ash, hey Lia," Aiden greets the two. Halia, the girl with glasses, gives Aiden a tired smile at the nickname she's finally getting used to. Aiden's ever-present smile widens even more. "Last night was rough, huh?" he asks.

Halia pushes her glasses higher up her nose as she looks back at Aiden when she hears a rustling noise.

Aiden pops back over the seat and flaps a filled-out sheet between the two girls, saying, "I finished the homework. Wanna copy?"

Ashlyn and Halia share a glance, wondering how on earth Aiden still has so much energy, before Ashlyn takes the sheet and mutters, "Thanks..."

Halia sees Aiden rest his arms on the seat with a content smile before she pulls out her homework and copies his answers, somewhat reluctantly since he isn't known for his academic intelligence.

When they finally get off the bus and go to their first class of the day, their teacher greets them, "Good morn–" he notices the condition the four were in and pauses, "–ing?"

Mr. Thomas remembers how his students would all greet him before and worries if they stay up all night, since they look like death every morning now. As the four take their seats, Mr. Thomas requests that everyone take out their homework.

After turning in the homework she only just finished on the bus, Halia takes off her glasses, crosses her arms on her desk, and lets her head fall on her arms, almost immediately falling asleep. She stays like that until the ringing of the bell at the end of class wakes her up. Halia straightens in her seat and looks around, noticing that everyone else in the group looks like they also slept through class, but Aiden, who is in the seat directly to her right, is holding a Rubik's cube that he just solved. She still doesn't understand how he can do that so well.

"We doing lunch?" Halia asks Aiden as they gather their things.

"Yep," he replies, standing up from his desk. "Ashlyn! We're all eating lunch together. Y'know, to talk about 'stuff'."

"Alright," Ashlyn replies as Halia follows her and walks with her through the hallway.

"I have a feeling that conversation isn't going to go well," Halia mutters when they're separated from the rest of the group.

Ashlyn nods as they enter their next class.