Imaginary Friend

Chapter 3 - The School People

I woke up, in my bed, as usual. It was going to be any normal, boring day at school. I walked over to the other side of my room to my chair, to wake up the sleeping Jack. He always slept on that chair, so it became sort of like his bed. "Jaaack.." I whispered. No response, he just continued to sleep peacefully. "Jack?" I cried, a little louder. No response, again. "JACK!" I screamed. This time, a response. Jack let out a shriek, standing up, flailing his arms, and immediately falling down on his face on my carpeted floor. I started laughing uncontrollably because of this dramatic reaction. "Oh my god, that was the best thing ever!" I cried in between laughter. Jack looked up at me, his hair messed up, but thankfully, he wasn't bleeding or hurt anywhere. "Celia!" He whined. "Why would you do that? You're so mean!" He cried, hopefully jokingly.

I laughed, sticking my hand out to help him up from the floor. "Stop your whining and get up, pretty boy." I joked. Jack smirked, taking my hand and getting up. He looked me in the eyes, fixing his hair a little. "You think I'm pretty?" He smiled. I groaned. "Shut up, Jack, you know I was joking." Jack laughed, pretending to be hurt. "Aww, I'm so hurt." He put his hand over his heart. I laughed at him and started pushing through him towards the bathroom. "Alright, enough already. Let me go get ready. And when I'm done, it'll be your turn." I told him, pointing my finger at him. I walked out of my bedroom, to the bathroom to go and get ready. Jack sighed, standing in my doorway. "You better hurry up, I get lonely fast!" He cried. I stuck my tongue out at him before shutting the door.

After I finished getting ready, I started to head downstairs. "Morning, mom, I have to run!" I cried, running down the stairs to get the lunch I had made the night before. Didn't want to be late for school! My teachers would chew me out. "Of course, honey, but please eat something." My mom begged. She looked at me. "You've been skipping out on your meals lately, is everything okay?" I sighed. "Mom, you don't have to worry about me, I'm fine. Sometimes I merely forget to eat. I've just been busy lately with my books and schoolwork." I thought for a moment and felt my stomach. "But I am kind of hungry.." I grabbed an apple from the kitchen table. My mom sighed. "Alright, fine, but you better eat that apple on the way." Her eyes narrowed as she pointed the wooden spoon she had been stirring oatmeal with at me. I chuckled and nodded. "Okay." I turned around, put my lunch in my bag, and got ready to head out the door.

"Come on, Jack." I whispered, wanting Jack to hurry up and also not wanting my mom to hear. If I had to explain Jack to her, she'd think I'm crazy or something and I just don't want to deal with anything like that. "Who are you talking to?" I heard mom say from the kitchen. Shoot, she heard anyways. Man, she must have ears like a moth, which by the way is the animal with the best hearing in the world. I looked back at her, my eyes a bit wide. "No one, sorry! Bye!" I yelled, running out the door. Jack smiled at me as I closed the door. "No one, huh?" He smirked. I looked back up at him and punched his arm. "You're no one to her, and I've got to keep it that way. It'd be weird if she found out her high school daughter still had an imaginary friend." Jack shrugged. "I don't know, I think she'd like me." I laughed. "You're awfully full of yourself."

Until we reached the school, I walked with Jack and we just talked about things. We talked about the things going on in our lives, we talked about schoolwork, about the world conditions, and we also talked about why he had to be born imaginary and not real. I had no idea how the imaginary world worked and neither did Jack it seems. Sometimes we just like to wonder "why" about things. After our insightful conversation about the imaginary people ended, we realized we were at my school - the place I hated the most. Not because of the homework, but because of the people. Man, I wish I could be home-schooled like some lucky people. I looked back at Jack, realizing now we would have to break apart and say goodbye. This was the hardest part of my day. That and the incessant bullying and mocking at school. "Well, this is my stop." I sighed, looking up at him. I met with his gorgeous, cobalt eyes. They were absolutely beautiful, no wonder that's the first thing I noticed about him when we first met.