I looked at the extended hand in front of me and I didn't know what to do with it.

I looked to Tessa for help but she was too busy doing all she she could to ignore me.

The second boy piped up
"I'm Jerry but everybody calls me jer"

He had curly brown hair, with black eyes and an odd sound to his voice.

He held out his hand too and when I didn't respond, he reached for mine and held it in his.

"This is called a handshake"
He said, amused.

Hand shake?.
I liked it, it was nothing special but his hand was warm and I liked the feeling.

"Why do you talk like that? "
I asked.

He laughed.
"It's called a British accent love"

"Oh? I like it, I don't understand it but I like it"
I said.

He laughed.
"Tessa I like your cousin."
He said to Tessa, making her smile a bit.
Her previous look gone.
He finally released my hand then I looked to the Nickolas but he wasn't paying attention to me anymore, he was looking at the brown haired girl from the shop earlier as she was buying a drink.

Maybe he also wanted underwear?.

"I'm Kira and this is Diana"
One of the girls, with  purple and black hair said, referring to the other girl, with perfectly straight blonde hair.

"I like your hair"
I said to the purple hai- Kira, I said to Kira.

"Oh thanks, this is my colour for the month.
I was thinking of going stark white next time."

I nodded and conversation was carried easily from there, everybody started talking to each other and I was soon forgotten until I looked up and met Nickolas' brown eyes.

He stared at me coldly and his smiling face was gone.

I looked at him, confused.

I touched the back of my head and ran my hand across my neck, mimicking his former movements.

He just turned his face, pretending not to have seen me.
I shrugged it off, these people were weird anyways, back at the institution, Mr Grey was weird but he was like my best friend /crazy uncle.

"Oh shit..... Mom's gonna kill me, I was meant to bring you home early"
Tessa said, alerting everybody of the time.
They all started remembering the one thing or the other they were supposed to do and soon we were all leaving.

"I'll see you around, yeah? "
Jerry said, extending his hand for what I now know to be a hand shake.

I gave him my hand, feeling confident that I knew what a handshake was.
He placed a chaste kiss on it
I gasped at the fuzzy feeling I got from it.

He smiled, showing a dimple.
"I have a feeling things are going to be fun, with you around."
He said.

The purple and black haired girl pulled him away from me, by his ear.

"Forgive my brother, he just can't help but be a play boy." -she paused for a moment -
"I almost think it's in his genes"

"Oh and it was nice meeting you "
She added while grinning and dragging away her struggling brother.

"Bye Tessa's cousin"
The blonde haired girl said as she walked away.

"Let's go? "
Tessa asked.

I nodded and we logged all my clothes out of the mall.

I saw a figure in a dirty dark blue hoodie walk towards us.
Tessa looked around, coolly for a minute before telling me she had something to take care of and she'd be back in a bit.

I nodded and stood outside the mall, waiting for her.

"What's your name"
A voice that caused me small shivers said, causing me to look up from where I was sitting with my chin in my hand.

My eyes connected with Nickolas.

He was smiling again.

I frowned, I was confused.
How did he change moods so fast.

"My name? "
I asked, dumbly.

He released a purposefully loud sigh.
"You know that thing that our parents give us when we're born and people end up calling us by it or shorter versions."

I frowned.
"I know what a name is."

"Oh really? Thank God, that saves me the trouble of explaining it over again so what's your name?"

I felt like he was mocking me and so he didn't deserve to know my name.

"No"

He looked surprised
"Excuse me? "

"I said no "

"Who says no to a request for a name"

"I don't know"
I said, not really understanding the situation anymore.

He huffed.
"You're really weird Samantha"

Samantha?

"Hey my name's not Samantha I'm Mitchie"
I said, for some reason offended that he called me by some other girl's name.

He doubled over with laughter.
"Y-you actually fell for that."
He said, in between laughs.

I frowned deeper.
"What's funny?"

He laughed some more before sobering up.

"That's like the oldest trick in the book, you know when a guy calls you by another name, so you get angry and say your real name."
He said, wiping away tears.

I glanced at him sheepishly
"Sorry I don't really understand normal people yet, all this is kinda new to me but don't worry, next time someone asks me my name, I'll tell them so I don't get tricked again. "

He started laughing again.
"Where are you from Mitch?"
He asked, when he was done with his laughter.

"Oh um, I'm from Saint Paul ass-....."
I don't get to finish my sentence however, as Tessa and comes rushing out and interrupts me.

"C-canada, she's from Canada"

Me and Nickolas both turned quickly to her.

Why was she lying? Or were we really from Canada?
I didn't really know my mom that much so maybe we really were from Canada.

"I'll see you later Nick"
Tessa said, just before dragging me away.

When we were out of Nickolas' confused gaze, she pushed me against a wall.

Her eyes were reddish and her breath smelled weird.
"You do not tell anybody where you're really from.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND!"

I was confused
"But why? "

"Oh just shut up and cut it with the innocent act.
I have a real life, real friends and I won't loose them because I have to babysit my asylum cousin"
She said.
Her breath was coming out in ragged puffs and her eyes looked a bit unfocused.

I didn't really want to say I felt anything from her blatant insult but I did feel a slight pinch and I blamed myself.

I allowed myself to get too comfortable and too free with these people.

After all the lessons max gave me making me learn well about people, I still let my guard down.

"Understood"
I said, before pushing past her and walking towards the car.

I understood perfectly well, I just needed to stay in my shell.
I was safe there.

The ride back home was in total silence, she was speeding crazily on the road but nobody seemed to mind so I didn't say anything.

I kept to my word to retreat into my shell, I kept the kids locked out, I only came down when it was breakfast, dinner or lunch.

We all sat at the table one night, when aunt Layla decided to make an announcement.

"I've decided Mitchie will go to school with you all, from now"

Every head at the table snapped towards her.

"Kill me "
Tessa said before getting up and leaving.

"You want to Introduce a freak show into highschool, she'll never survive"
Samuel scoffed before he stood up as well.

"Samuel!"
Aunt Layla reprimanded.

"The boy's right Layla, this thing you're trying to prove it won't work out so stop it."
Mr O'Brien said, before standing up to leave as well.

Aunt Layla sighed and put her head in her hands before carrying a sleepy Maya to her room.

I looked across the table, to where only Jason remained.

"You're not leaving?."
I asked.

He just shrugged.
"Why should I have to desert my perfectly full plate because I'm trying to make a point"

"Good point"
I admitted before standing up as well.

"And besides.........I'm hungry"

"You're smart, enjoy your dinner Jace"
I said before leaving, no longer having an appetite.

"Wait............Jason?"

"Hmm?"

"What's a highschool? "

He looked up from his plate, with his fork in one hand.
He paused for a while, I almost thought he wasn't going to answer before he said.

"A version of hell."

A/n:
Hey peoples if you don't want Nickolas to trick you into telling him your name then vote if you loved the chapter.
Thanks for reading 😘