Naomi yawned and waved at Selina. "Bye! See you tomorrow!" 

"You too!" Selina rolled down the car windows and screamed.

 It was already 10:52 p.m., and Naomi was just getting dropped off after hanging out with Selina all afternoon.

 Naomi smiled and took out her keys. As soon as she got in, Hayley ran up to her. 

"Naomi! NAOMI'S BACK!" Hayley shouted.

 "What's wrong?" Naomi tensed up. 

"You better go to Mr. Vivianne's room," Hayley scolded, "Don't you know how nervous we were?" 

Confused, Naomi let herself get pulled into Dad's office. 

"Naomi Willow Vivianne," Dad said sternly, "Where on Earth were you?" 

"Umm, at Selina's place?" Naomi said, confused.

 "You should have told me or your mom!" Dad scowled, "Your mom waited nearly a hour for you, and we couldn't reach you!" 

Naomi pulled out her phone. Missed messages: 18, missed calls: 7. It was true that she had put her phone at silent. 

"But didn't I text Mom?" Naomi murmured, "Here, I'll show you." 

Why is my heart pounding?  Naomi thought as she kept a straight face. 

Scrolling up, Naomi found the message. Feeling relieved, she turned the phone around.

 "There." Naomi confidently said, "I must have turned the phone on silent accidently. Sorry for worrying you." 

But the look at Dad's face wasn't something she expected. 

"What are you showing me?" 

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, Naomi's heart pounded heavily, and she couldn't breathe.

 Her head felt dizzy, and her guts told her she wouldn't want to see what was on the screen. Still, she turned it around, and the message, the message she just saw mere moments ago. It was gone. 

 I-I just saw it! Naomi wanted to scream, I swear!

However, one of Naomi's many talents was knowing what others wanted to hear. Another was to improvise and keep calm (even if it's just on the outside) at all times. And right now, she knew that insisting was not what he wanted to hear. 

"I'm so sorry Dad," Naomi pitifully mumbled, "I probably just forgot to press send."

 Always having a soft spot for his daughter, Dad sighed and said, "It's fine, just be careful, ok?"

 Nodding, Naomi pulled out some face masks. Originally, she wanted to try them out, but she figured it would be better to soothe Dad right now.

 "Dad, you're really busy these days," Naomi looked away, "I got these for you. There're supposed to help you sleep and not be stressed." 

After quickly glancing at the touched Dad, Naomi ran up the stairs, and collapsed on her bed.

What was that? Naomi felt light headed, A malfunction? Or am I going delusional?

Naomi felt conflicted. 

Deep breathes, everything is fine, Naomi tugged herself upright, and changed into her pajamas. 

Dragging her feet to the washroom, Naomi splashed her face. Ugh, why is my body so sore. With that thought in mind, Naomi went back to bed and drifted off the sleep.  

Naomi jerked awake. 

Fifth day in a row.

After taking a shower, and dressing into her school clothes, Naomi limped down the stairs. 

The door. It's coming closer.

Not only that, it also appeared faster and for a longer time in her nightmare. Naomi suddenly stopped. 

It would make sense if "I" was running away from the fire.....but why does it seem as though "I" was running away from the door?

Chills went down her back, despite her above average fear tolerance. 

Calm down.

"Hayley, what do I have for breakfast today?" Naomi asked. 

"I made French toast!" Hayley smiled, "It's still hot though, be careful." 

Hayley placed it on the table and looked away. 

She's nervous about something, Naomi observed, And she usually makes it before I wake up so that it's warm but not hot when I get to it. It can't be....She forgot?!

Hayley had been Naomi's maid for 5 years, and she never forgot.

 Still, Naomi pretended not to notice, "Thanks Hayley." 

Hayley looked relieved, and bowed, "Of course!" 

"Dad's sending me to school, right?" Naomi asked, flipping through her textbook.

 "Well," Hayley said hesitantly, "I'm not sure. I'll go ask for you though." 

"Sure."

 Naomi pushed her plate aside and threw the textbook back into her bag, "Actually, it's fine. I'll go check myself."

 Standing up, Naomi flipped her backpack over her shoulder and walked to the car. Weirdly enough, there was nobody inside. 

I guess everyone was too busy?

Naomi got a bad feeling. Most of the time, by the time Naomi finished breakfast, there would already be someone waiting in the car. 

"Sorry Naomi," Greta appeared, "Your father suddenly got too busy." 

"It's fine," Naomi sighed, "It's probably me who got too spoiled."

 "No, no!" Greta exclaimed. 

Zoning out, Naomi thought of this morning. 

First Hayley, then Dad...It can't be something bad happened, right? 

This was Naomi's first instinct. 

I mean it only happened twice, but it's still weird. 

Shaking her head, Naomi arrived at school. 

"Bye Greta," Naomi said, not letting her complicated emotions show outwardly.

  "Hi Selina!" Naomi waved at her best friend.

 "Hi Naomi," Selina beamed, "Is that the earrings you brought yesterday?" 

Yesterday, Selina had basically forced Naomi to buy a pair of ruby earrings, and Naomi had to admit that they did look good on her. 

"You noticed?"

 Naomi did a quick scan of Selina, "Is that the diamond bracelet I see?" 

In return, Naomi had made Selina buy a beautiful diamond bracelet. 

"Yep!" Selina tugged on Naomi's arm, "Why didn't you reply to my messages?" 

"I left the phone on silent the whole night."

 It was technically true, and Naomi wasn't sure if she wanted to tell anybody about the weird things that were happening. Thankfully, Selina didn't press on, and started talking about art class. Brring brring.

"I guess you'll have to tell me about that later. We have Mr. Mcnoggan first block today."

 Selina groaned. Mr. Mcnoggan was infamous for not tolerating any tardiness, no matter the excuse. Selina was noticeably grumpier as she walked. Naomi couldn't blame her; Mr. Mcnoggan, while not nice, was at least okay to her as a straight A student. On the other hand, he was the worst nightmare for someone like Selina, who mostly got B's and C's in everything except art. 

Selina and Naomi walked in just before Mr. Mcnoggan started attendance, and they both sighed in relief. Safely in her seat, Selina gave her a quick thumbs up, and Naomi sneakily returned one. 

"Martina." 

"Here." Knowing that she was next, Naomi put her attention back to the front of the room. 

"Jordan." 

"Present."

 Naomi flinched inwardly. 

What the heck? He just completely skipped me.

Slumping down, Naomi waited patiently for Mr. Mcnoggan to finish. She used this time to take a look at everyone else reactions. 

How come nobody else noticed? Naomi felt strangely hurt. Not even Selina noticed. Ok, though that's probably because I'm the only one that remembers the exact order. Still though... 

"So everyone is present. Awesome, now-" Mr. Mcnoggan started. 

"Mr. Mcnoggan? I think you skipped my name." 

Although Naomi was an introvert, it didn't mean that she couldn't stand up for herself.

 "Naomi Vivianne, correct?" Mr. Mcnoggan stared down at her. 

Naomi nodded, and Mr. Mcnoggan frowned. 

"Your name is not here. Must be an error."

 After writing down a small note, Mr. Mcnoggan got right back into the lecture.

Five. 

That was the total number of weird things that happened today. The first two was Hayley's and Dad's mistakes. Then was the attendance sheet missing her name. After, it was Ms. Dueng was forgot to hand her a sheet of paper. And then Mrs. Taylor ignored her hand at fourth period, calling on everyone else at least twice. Lastly, even Selina forgot about her, starting to eat without her. Naomi bit her lip. Maybe she was just overthinking all of it. But, as she pulled out her phone, she couldn’t shake the unease.

 Where is Mom? 

It was already 4:43, with class ending at 4:30. Selina already left 10 minutes ago. Before she left, Selina offered to send her home, but Naomi was sure Mom wouldn't be pleased to wait for her again. Texting a quick Mom, I'm going to be late, bruh. message, Naomi wished she just taken the offer. 

Screw it, Naomi decided, Taekwondo is at 5:15, I'll just call an Uber.

After going into the Uber app, Naomi made sure to text, mom, don't freak out, I'm gonna call a uber. I'll head straight to the studio. Making sure it was properly sent, Naomi even made a screen-shot of the message just in case. Just on time, an Uber pulled up. 

"You are Naomi, correct?" the driver asked. 

"Nay-oh-me," Naomi mumbled, "not Nye-oh-me." 

"Sorry, I couldn't catch that," the elderly man said.

 "It's nothing..." 

The rest of the ride was in awkward silence. 

It was 5:08 when they arrived, and Naomi thanked the driver as she got out. 

Mom still hasn't arrived...Naomi frowned while refreshing her page, I guess this made it the sixth. 

In reality, Naomi knew it was probably just because she was too high-strung after yesterday. After all, most of the weird things that happened, could probably happen to everyone. 

 Thankfully, taekwondo class ended with no problems. By then, Mom finally replied to her message, and sent her a call right after she finished. 

"I'm so sorry darling!" Mom exclaimed, "I was in the middle of an important call with a client and forgot to check the time..."

 "It's fine Mom." Naomi reassured, "Are you picking me up or should I call another Uber?"

 "I'm on my way already," Mom said before hanging up. 

Naomi stood up and stretched. 

Ugh, is it the sun? Naomi complained, How come I feel so hot and sore? 

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Mom pulled up. 

Most likely because of taekwondo and the weather combined. 

Though Taekwondo usually didn't make her this sweaty, and she was in an A.C. room for the entire time. Pushing those thoughts to the side, Naomi quietly listened to Mom ranting about how annoying her client was and how sorry she was.