Chapter Three

Two more days of no school ... including today. Wow. College. I hadn't actually thought about it that much before. I remember being in second grade, thinking people in middle school were grown adults, but now I'm in college and I kind of feel like one. Well, I mean, technically I am considering I'm 18, but still... I act like a child all the time. Maybe because of my-

"Addison!" Zoey screeches.

"Huh?" I look toward her. "What?"

"Look, look, look!" She says, pointing out the window to the park, filled with dogs. "They're so cute!" She exclaims as we drive past them.

"Yeah, okay," I say. She's always been a huge dog lover, while I'm more of a cat person. "I wonder how Kathrine's doing...." I say mostly to myself.

"Eh, she's probably fine." Zoey waves. Kathrine is my gray tabby, back home. She's staying with my sister, Amy, while I'm here.

"So, where are we going?" Mark asks. "You all said you'd figure it out on the way."

"Pizza!" Zoey yells, referring to when she told us she saw a Chuck E Cheese place on the way.

"No one wants to go to fucking, Chuck E Cheese, Zoey." Cody laughs a bit. "You're gonna give poor Addie a heart attack." He jokes.

"Hey, it's serious!" I say, slapping him on the shoulder, playfully. We all start laughing, except for Mark, who seems confused.

"What is?" Mark asks, curious.

"Well," Zoey starts. "One day, Cody's mom took us all to Chuck E Cheese and we were taking a picture with the guy in the suit," She pauses to laugh. "And Addie started crying when she had to stand next to him!" Mark seems to hold back a laugh, smiling.

"Hey, I was, like, five! And he freaked me out...." I shudder. "Still does."

"Well, still, you have to admit it was funny." Cody says, still laughing. "But really, where are we going?"

"McDonald's!" Zoey points out the window to one coming up ahead.

"That's fine, I guess." I say and Cody nods. Mark pulls into a parking space and we all go inside. After we eat, we still have time to kill, so Zoey pulls me over to the children's play place. Now all of the kids are looking at us, confused, as we laugh and chase each other crawling up and down the slide ... even though we know we're probably not supposed to.

"Um, excuse me?" A little girl comes up to us using a snotty tone of voice while we're sitting in front of the slide. "How old are you two?"

"Well, depends," I say. "How old are you?"

"Seven and a half." She says.

"Okay, then I'm six." I say, smiling. Zoey says that she's seven, catching on to my little game.

"No, you're both, like, twenty!" She yells.

I let out a loud gasp. "Offended!" I say playfully. The girl grabs my leg and starts trying to pull me out of the way, which causes Zoey and me to burst out laughing.

"Get out!!" The girl screeches. "Mom!!"

I look at Zoey, smiling. She knows what I'm thinking, considering this kind of thing has happened before, so she smiles back and nods. Just as the kid's mom is approaching, we both stand up and move out of the way of the slide. "What is it?" The woman says.

"These people won't-" The girl looks at us and sees that we've moved. "They were just in the way!"

"Excuse me?" I raise an eyebrow, trying out my acting - which Zoey and Cody say is really good.

"Lizzy, stop being dramatic. Sorry girls." The girl's mom says to us in a tired voice, walking away. Zoey and I giggle as the girl storms away, glaring at us, mostly me.

"We're mean sometimes." Zoey says and I agree.

"Hey," We hear Mark's voice call and look down to see him, waving at us. "Are you guys gonna play in here like children or are we going?" He says just loud enough for us to hear and glancing around him, clearly not wanting to attract too much attention. We both give him a thumbs up and slide down, meeting him and Cody at the car.

"Damn, how old are you two again?" Cody jokes.

"Eighteen apparently." I say, and Zoey says she's seven, giggling a bit.

"You two are kids." Cody smiles and Mark starts driving.

"So how come you two haven't gotten a driver's license yet?" Mark asks Cody and me. He responds with a shrug, as do I. "You should."

"Why so?" I ask.

"Cuz I don't wanna have to drive you guys around everywhere." He says. Despite the statement, he smiles.

"Well, Zoey's still an option." Cody says. Zoey gives a quick hum and proudly places her hands on her hips. "So, where are we going next? It's one now." He looks at the clock on the radio.

"Where do you guys wanna go?" I ask them.

"Petting zoo!" Zoey says, although there's no petting zoo anywhere near here. I point that out to her and she pouts. "Aw. Damn."

"I dunno." Mark says. "Addison?" I was kind of surprised when he said my name. I know it's dumb, but I hadn't heard him say it before. Or at least I don't think so. I honestly thought he may have not even remembered it.

"Uhh..." I think for a second. "I don't know either."

"How about-" Cody starts, but gets cut off when my phone starts ringing. I say sorry and see who it is. It's my brother, Andrew.

"Hey, Andrew." I say when I hear him say hello.

"So, how're things going?" He asks. I tell him about what's happened so far. So basically I tell him nothing. To me, it's been pretty boring. "Oh, well, things'll get more stressful as time progresses, trust me." Andrew's two years older than I am and dropped out of college. He says he doesn't regret it a bit, though. When he dropped out he became a media and communication equipment worker. And he says he really likes it.

"I count on it." I say, sighing.

"Well, look on the bright side, you got Zoey and Cody with you for the rest of it." I can hear the smile from the other end of the phone. Andrew and I have been really close for the longest time. He says that he only became fond of me when I turned three, though. The first few years he said he didn't like having a sister and he hung out with our oldest brother, Adrian, a lot more than with me.

"Yeah." Is all I can think to say.

"And that other guy." He adds.

"Mhm."

"Oh, Amy's here. She wants to talk for a second." Andrew says and hands the phone to her.

"Addie, hi!" She says quickly. "I can't talk long, I just wanted to say that Katherine's doing fine and she and Bella are doing good together." Bella is Amy's white lab. "I gotta go, bye!" She says and hangs up before I can even say anything.

"Wow, she seems busy." Zoey says.

"Yeah, she usually is." I respond. She works at Chick-fil-A because she's only fourteen.

"Well, like I was saying," Cody states. "Why don't we just head back to the dorm?" He shrugs. "Doesn't seem like there's really anything else to do at the moment."

"Fine by me." Mark says. Zoey and I agree and we start heading back.

***

"Addie, your turn." Zoey says.

"Alright. Uh," I think of what to say. "I've climbed a mountain, I've gone water skiing, and I've, uh ... gone fishing and caught a shark."

"Ooh, okay." She thinks, trying to identify which one is the lie. "Well, I know you don't like fishing ... and I was there when you climbed the mountain if you don't remember ... and you like water sports. I'm gonna say that you've never caught a shark."

"Wrong!"

"What!"

"I have with my grandpa. I was fifteen." I say as a matter of factly. "I haven't ever gone water skiing."

"Aw, dammit." She says. 'Damn' is something that she says a lot, but the only actual swear she says is 'shit'. She's Christian, sooo. Yeah. Meanwhile, Cody and I are non-religious. I dunno about Mark.

I kinda wonder if he feels strange now. I mean, Zoey, Cody, and I have all known each other for a long time and he's only just meeting us two, really. I remember joining a certain friend group I don't like to talk about, and everyone else knew each other while I was kinda just getting to know them.

And also Cody. I know Zoey's seen him, but the last time I saw him was in fifth grade. It's kind of awkward to me, but I don't know why.

"Jesus, now I sound like I'm in second grade." I mumble.

"Hm?" Zoey hums.

"Nothing." I say. "Where are the guys anyway?"

"I don't know, I heard them say something about a Gatorade bottle." My eyes widen a bit and I chuckle.

"Oh." I laugh.

"What?" She questions. I give her that one look that says 'think about it'. "Oh.." She, too, starts laughing.