Suicide Games

Chapter 2

August

The summer before 8th grade

            In my seven years at St. Claire’s Catholic School, I had managed to gain a couple of close friends whom I had many things in common with. Our group, made up of the six of us, where extremely studious. We were the type of kids who worried about college plans at thirteen years old, staying up late on weekends to do SAT prep work and figuring out the best courses to take in High School. We were also the type to devout ourselves in our faith, shunning away boys in an effort to become nuns someday. Yeah, we were really weird.

            So when our family was reassigned to Virginia because of my dad’s job in the army, I was thrilled. This was my chance to break free of my perfect little image. To shred away the layers and layers that made me Kaylee. I would no longer be the quiet, shy, too polite to speak up to someone kind of girl. I’d still try my hardest at school but I wouldn’t go preaching about Christ and the importance of abstinence anymore.

            I said goodbye to my old friends, promising to write, email, text, and call them whenever I got the chance. But I never did. I wanted them to forget about me. To never again recall the Kaylee that loved reading and awfully outdated neon scrunchies. After a couple of months of silence from me, they finally gave up and I was glad. Never again would I be associated with them.  

            After an exhausting and mind numbing drive from Florida to Virginia, my only savior being my iPod touch, we turned down into a happy neighborhood, identical brick houses lining every inch of grass. Kids were running through everyone’s’ yards, giggling as they threw water balloons at each other. A faint smell of barbecue wafted in the air, followed by a loud burst of laughter a few houses down. My dad turned the car left again, pausing as he let a boy go by in his blue bicycle, and pulled up in front of a tall brick house, surrounded by a white picket fence and tall maple trees. Flowers adorned the walkway and a small tree fort peeked out from behind a gate in the backyard.

            I was lugging my purple suit case out of our minivan when a cheery voice called out from the beginning of the driveway. “Hello! You must be the new neighbors we’ve been expecting! It’s so wonderful to meet you!” I turned around to notice a tall, skinny lady walking toward us, holding a platter of food. Following her was probably her teenage daughter, similar in height to her mother. She was crossing her arms over her chest, a frown distorting her pretty features.  

            “Hi!” My mother greeted back, extending her hand. “We’re the James family. And you are?”

            The lady clasped it, pumping it wildly back and forth. “I’m Ellen Thomas,” She turned around, reaching for her daughter to grasp her by the shoulders, “And this is Addison.” Time seemed to stop for a second and I locked eyes with her for the first time. Addison. This was the moment where everything began. If I had never met her, my life would have been drastically different.

            Just as quickly as it began, the flash was over. Time unfroze and she smiled softly then looked down. My sister and I stood next to my dad who smiled and replied, “This here’s Kaylee, and that’s Emma.” He pointed to my sister who waved shyly, ducking her head into my mom’s stomach.

            “It’s great to meet you all!” She beamed at all of us and then extended her bony arms with food. “I made these chocolate chip cookies for you.”

            “Thank you,” My mom smiled back. They continued to talk for a while, forgetting about the two of us.

            After a minute, Addison turned toward me, and called out to her mom. “Hey mom is it okay if I take Kaylee to our house?”

            Her mom waved her hand, entranced in the adult’s discussion. Addison shrugged and led me over to a house a few doors down, ignoring my little sister’s calls of, “Wait I wanna come!”

            “Does she always follow you around?” Addison asked me as we stepped through her house, the cool air conditioning breathing down my back.

            “Sometimes. I just try to ignore her.” She nodded, leading me up a winding staircase to a door mounted with her name on it. The door creaked open, inviting us to a lime painted room, pictures of bands that I had never heard before all across its walls.

            We sat down on her Queen bed, fingering her plush white comforter. “So,” she began, picking at her chipped black nail polish, “Where’d you move from?”

            “Florida.”

Her face lit up, giving off an angelic glow. “Really? Oh my god you’re so lucky!” Her face scrunched up, confusion clearly evidenced in her face. “Why would you come here?”

            “My dad’s in the military.”

            “Oh.” A silence fell over the conversation until she sat up straighter, eagerly turning toward me. “Are you going to go to Springfield?”

            I scrunched up my eyes. “Springfield?”

            “Yeah, that’s the school I go to.” She grabbed my hands, pulling them up and down, glee rippling off her voice. “You have to! It would be so much fun!”

            Naturally I, with the introvert personality I possessed, backed away, pulling my hands from hers. “Oh, sorry.” She apologized, nervously running a hand through her long, silky hair. “I just, well I don’t really have a lot of friends. I mean, besides a few others.” Addison added quickly, noticing my delayed response.

            “But how? I mean, you’re so pretty.” I gushed, looking straight into her hazel eyes.

            She gasped, her soft pink lips opening up, exposing her straight white teeth. “Are you kidding? You’re gorgeous!”

            I widened my eyes in disbelief, shaking my head. “Seriously.” She continued, reaching out her pale arm to lightly trace her finger over my cheekbone. “With a little makeup, you’d look just like Chloe Moretz. I swear.” When I didn’t say anything, she hopped off her bed and grabbed my arm, pulling me off. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

            “I don’t know-” I started to say but she cut me off with a wave of her hand, leading me over to a chair in front of her white dresser.

            She took out a makeup bag from inside one of her drawers, pulling out piles and piles of products. Addison chose black eyeliner from the mound, placing her hand on my head to steady her grip as she outlined my eyes, putting it on heavily. She smudged the makeup with her pinkie finger. Then she took some Maybelline’s Falsies mascara, applying it to my top and bottom lashes repeatedly. She finished with some pale chap stick and then stepped back to admire the finished product, grinning broadly.

            “God you look great. Come look in the mirror.” I followed her into the bathroom, the lights flickering on as I took in the person in the mirror. The girl staring back at me could have been Chloe’s twin. I was beautiful.

            “Thanks so much!” I cried out, an abnormal response for me to show such emotion. I turned around to envelope her in a huge hug.

            She smiled, her eyes giving of a shine in the florescent light of the bathroom. “Sure. Just make sure you go to my school. Okay?”

            I nodded. “Definitely.” We squealed, running back into her room to plop on her bed.

            Phase one and two of my transformation (make new friends and become someone new) were complete. Now on to phase three.

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Thanks so much everybody for reading! I should have said this before, but I am new to wattpad so obviously this is my first story. Also, every chapter will alternate from present to past, so this chapter was before everything happened.

Next update: Tuesday

What's coming up: another former friend emerges and an old remnant proves to be to difficult for Kaylee to handle.