The Other One

“Addie you got about 5 minutes!”

I’m goin’ I’m goin’.

I mumbled to myself as I swept one more brush of mascara across my eyelashes. I only had minimal makeup on today, just some eyeliner and a little concealer, but a little mascara felt appropriate. I decided to take one more look in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. I had curled my hair, as usual, and put a tiny bow in front to keep my bangs from falling in my face. it’s the way I had done my hair every day for school since it started 8 months ago. My outfit wasn’t anything fancy (also as usual). It never was. I saw no need to get all fancy for people I had seen five days out of every week for the last three years.

I sauntered down the stairs and made my way into the kitchen.

“Mornin’ dad.“ I said cheerfully.

“Good morning sweetheart. Cutting it kinda close don’t ya think?“ He said nodding his head towards the stove clock.

“Nah, it’s all good. I got time.“

I opened the pantry door which made a loud creeking noise. The pantry was never full. There was always such random things laying in there because my dad never had time to grocery shopping, and frankly I didn’t really have the time either. hmmm…what to have for breakfast today… well Raisin Bran it is! I grabbed the box and shook it just to make sure there was even anything in there. There wasn’t. empty, of course. I moved on to the fridge because I obviously couldn’t have cereal and I wasn’t about to break open a can of olives or boil one potato and have that! I scanned the, also pretty bare, shelves. hey cold pizza! That’ll do. I pulled a piece out of the Ziplock baggie and just as I was about to shove the end of the pizza in my mouth I noticed the clock, which I should have done much earlier. It’s eight?! Crap!

I Grabbed the end of the slice with my teeth and let it hang there while I gathered my books and my bag. “See ya later dad!” I yelled as I flew out the door, pizza still dangling from my mouth.

I left with not a minute to spare. School started by 8:15 and it took me at least 10 minutes to get there. I took the very first parking spot I could find and burst out of the car! Well I tried…but its much harder to get out of a car when your seatbelt is still on. I ran through the hallway shoving kids out of my way, barely making it to class on time ( 8:13. Oh yeah.).

I took my seat next to Sofia, who always sat smack in the middle of the classroom. Always had to be the center of attention. But then that’s how it had been since we were 7 years old.

Her family moved in right across the street, and there weren’t a ton of kids my age in our neighborhood so my mother suggested I go and introduce myself. Well I went over there and she answered the door. It took me a minute to say anything ‘cause of what she was wearing. She had a purple, feather, boa thing draped around her neck, plastic silver high heels on, and then she had pink sunglasses on. The whole ensemble looked like it probably came in one of those, “be like a princess” ,boxes from Walmart. I wiped the look of total confusion off my face and decided to say something. “…Uh… hi. I’m Adaleigh. You can call me Addie though.” But she just stared at me. No expression on her face. I continued, “well I was just wondering if you wanted to come play Frisbee with me and my brothers.” She stared at me some more. this girl is weird, I thought to myself. Then what surprised me the most is what she finally said. “ no. I don’t play outside.” I just stood there looking at her until she finally just shut the door. I was completely amazed. What kid ‘doesn’t play outside’?! that’s all me and my brothers would ever do! I walked off her porch and decided she was just too weird for me. But, alas, I went back the next day. But this time I was going to take a different approach. She came to the door, and looked at me with the same blank stare, and just blinked at me. “ Hi. It’s me, Addie…again…I was just gonna see if you wanted to come to my house, inside, and play with my barbies.” I waited for her answer, which, what seemed like 5 minutes, was probably only a few seconds. “… yeah…sure. Let me go ask my mom real quick.”