After listing to my roommates yell at each other, the day darkened into the night, and I fell asleep in my already furnished bedroom.
The bedspread was a baby blue color, the curtains a plain beige. Laye lent me one of her empty white closets, and said she would get working on an outfit for me shortly.
I wake up in the real world. I take off the VR helmet, and walk to my front door. I had started playing this game after school, and hadn't stopped since.

The one thing about Jaylemm that no one understands, is once its night, if you go to sleep, it saves your game and automatically logs off. I guess its for safety reasons.
The Jaylemm me and the real life me are completely different. Jemma here wears a lot of black, doesn't have any friends, and a complete loser. In fact, I think I could just drop out of high school, and no one would notice.
My parents passed away when I was little, so I've been living off of my grandparent's child care. They pay for food, school, and me.
But they don't have the guts to confront me, since they say I look like my mother.
I brush through my ombre brown hair, and set the brush back on the bedside table. I stand up, walking to my closet. The smell of dust and leather fills my nose when I open the doors.
I pick out a black tee, black jeans, and a grey hoodie.
Once I slip on my sneakers, I head out the door. The school I moved to when my grandparents moved informs you to wear the uniform, but the principle really doesn't care at this point in his life. I mean, whenever he sits down at the student lunch tables, you can often hear him mumbling about retirement.
As I walk to school, I realize how many students have their driver's license. A convertible passes by, splashing muddy water at me. The girl driving, Allana, laughs her brains out, flipping her curly, golden blonde hair over her shoulder.
I finally gave up. I drop my school books on the sidewalk, and turned around, walking back to my run-down apartment, that may I say, is in desperate means for reinventions.
I flop on the couch, which was pretty much hard as rocks, and groan. I was a muddy, sopping mess, and to make it worse, my favorite shirt was ruined.
I change clothes, rinse my hair out, and dry it. I look over at the game counsel, The headset for Jaylemm still plugged in. I lay in my bed, and put the headset on.
I wake up, and the smell of chocolate pancakes fills the room. I smile, and stand up. Here, I don't get splashed with muddy water at the curb.
I walk into the kitchen area, and Laye whistles, flipping pancakes.
"Hi!" I say.
She screams in fear. "Don't sneak up on me!"
"I didn't though. I thought you were logged off." I say.
"That was a bad accuse." she says, putting another on a plate. It was weird, whenever I seemed to talk about offline and online, she seemed to hesitate to answer.
"Sorry. I thought you would be at school. You said you were sixteen, right?" I ask.
"I should say the same to you." She says.
"Well, I sorta ditched. Kids are real jerks sometimes. Plus, I only have one year of school left, and I'm home free. I could really just skip senior year, since no one would really notice I'm gone." I say.
"Oh. Well, I guess I have to answer you then. I skip all of school. Heck, I barely leave. Yeah, whatever. I know what you're going to say. 'That's really unhealthy for you, blah, blah, blah.' But I don't care. It's easier here than anywhere else." she says, suddenly stuffing her face with pancake.
"Yeah, I know how you feel. Anyways, where's Elle?" I ask.
Laye swallows her food. "Uh, probably at college. She can only come on after her school day is over. And she doesn't have a job, either. Since her parents are filthy rich." she says, tucking her purple hair behind an ear. It was probably the first time I've seen both her eyes.
I look deep into them, and notice one was a dark sea blue, and the other was a deep brown.
"You're eyes?" I ask, not thinking.
"Um, yeah. They're like that. Let's not talk about it." she says, untucking the strand of hair that hides her blue eye.
It was silent awhile after that, an awkward silence that no one wants to go through. But eventually, Laye stands up from the kitchen island and says, "Hey, let's clean up in here. I want Elle to think she accidentally walked into the wrong apartment or something." she says.
"Okay." I reply, starting to pick up candy wrappers. Laye grabs a vacuum, and starts vacuuming up broken chips and garbage.
About thirty minutes later, the door handle turns, and Elle walks into the room.
"Hey, g- wow. I don't think the apartment's been this clean since I first moved in!" she says, letting her blonde hair out of a braid.
"I know! For the first time, I actually like having a roommate!" Laye says, smiling widely.
Elle scowls, and kicks her in the shin.
"Well, what I meant was Jemma's pretty, useful?" she says.
"Sure. At least I got my full education." she says.
"Then go to school, for crying out loud! If its so important, why aren't you there?!" she yells.
"Cause I was kicked out." Elle mumbles, facial expression changing drastically.
"What?" Laye asks.
"I was kicked out!" she yells.
Laye's face goes pale.
"Uh, um, sorry." she says, frowning.
"Whatever. You didn't do anything." she says.
"Well, what happened?" Laye asks.
"Its a long story."
"We're in no hurry."
"Fine. I was heading out of the dorms so I could go to the cafeteria to eat. I walked past my neighbors' dorm, and the police stopped me. I could hear inside the room, and there was a party going on in there. So the police to me to do some questioning. They finally let me out, since I told them I wasn't part of the party, but my parents didn't believe me. They said I needed to go home for punishment, but I didn't want to go. So now I'm staying with my uncle for a while, until everything gets sorted out." she says.
"Well, there's one thing I don't get," I start, "Colleges have dorm parties all of the time. So how was this one any different, that the police get involved?"
"It's just a policy of the school. My parents sent me to the fanciest one they could find, and they have very strict rules. One bad thing, and you're out." she says, rubbing her head. "It's really hard there, so if I miss one class, I don't understand anything the next day."
"Hm. Anyways, let's change the subject. I still don't have a group yet. My two month time limit is up to four days left. We should form one! Elle, you're time should be right around the corner, and Jemma, you just joined, so we can show you stuff!" she says, really enthusiastically.
"Uh, what?" I ask.
"In Jaylemm, once you uh- spawn, you have a manual to read through. It says you have to find a group of three or more in two months, or you'll lose the game. And since you can't re-spawn, you lose the game forever. It also says that once you spawn your time starts. And, if you find a group, you finally get powers." she says.
"But Elle has powers, doesn't she?" I ask, pointing at her abnormally large ears.
"Its called a costume. You download them and you can look cooler. So, whatdya say?" she says, putting her hand in the middle of the triangle we make.
Elle puts her hand in the center, "What's not to lose?"
It was up to me now. They look at me with wishful expressions, and I smile. I put my hand on top of Elle's.