Abi In Wonderland

Side Character Syndrome

Abi sat on her bed, sinking into the soft mattress before turning to look up at the four new companions. She blinked, unsure, and only dared to flash small smiles.

Abi had always been shy and introverted. Her life in school had barely revolved around more than three friends, and she was always pushed around at home, so she never actually grew close to her parents. Her relatives, nevertheless, actually cared about a kid like her. She felt like the side character in her own story all the time.

"Where would you like us to start, Miss Abigail?" Pyonghwa said with ease, pulling her attention.

"Uh… errr… what's happening in town? Er, I mean in the world? What's everybody doing? What's, uhm—what's going on?" she said, stutters here and there.

"Oh, a lot is happening right now, Miss Abi!" said Karen, the visibly tallest of them, a slender, light-skinned redhead with freckles perfect like the stars in the Milky Way.

"Hmmm, let's start with the food, I guess. Everybody's drinking matcha now—you'll love it!" Karen said with enthusiasm.

"Oh please, let's be honest, it tastes like grass and independence," Matilda cut in, drawing Abi's face to hers with the quick sentence.

"Just stick to ice cream. Trust me," she added, rolling her bright blue eyes smoothly.

"Oh," Abi said plainly, nodding her head lightly.

"And for wardrobe—the world be wilding, I can't even start! Some of it's literally absolute trash. A few of them eat, though," Matilda continued.

"Eat?" Abi asked, brows creasing.

"Yeah, they eat, you know—oh, oh, you don't know," she said slowly, realization dawning.

"You see, girl, it's like when somebody does something cute or cool, people say the person ate—like, ate and left no crumbs," Melba added, her dark skin catching the light.

"I—I don't get it," Abi said slowly, still confused.

Pyonghwa burst into laughter before speaking up.

"You know the 'let him cook' thing, right?"

"Yes, yes, I know that one," Abi answered, joy blooming as she finally understood.

"Right, well, it's like cooking, then serving, then eating—it all basically means the same thing. Don't get confused."

"Now try using it in a sentence," Matilda said. "Talk about something and how it eats."

"Oh, okay… uhm, I like your red hair, Karen. The color eats?" she said, working hard to make it make sense.

"Period!" Karen yelled.

"See, that was good—I could say so myself," Karen said joyfully, sneaking a playful glance at the others.

"Ohh, please, I've seen way better redheads than that," Melba drawled, making everyone burst into laughter.

Abi felt happy—very happy—and she couldn't contain it. She burst into smiles, and the girls were glad they could make her feel less gloomy.

"Another one going around is the '67' thing. I hate that one," Melba continued.

"I hate that one too, eew, it doesn't even make sense!" Karen yelled.

"What does it mean?" Abi asked.

"It's crazy, really. They hold up their hands like this," Melba said, palms up like she was weighing two items at once, "and just move them up and down bizarrely, screaming, 'Six seveeeeeeeen!' Pointless. They just say it randomly whenever they hear 'six' or 'seven.'"