one little monkey hanging from a tree! {simon}

[ADDISON ROWE]

Sometimes Addison just needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Yes, she loved the skyscrapers and the newspaper stands and the noise, but she had those moments. There were just some days where she needed silence. She certainly didn’t expect Central Park to be quiet, but it was much better than anywhere else she could think of. Besides, if one did enough searching, they could find an empty enough part of the park. Addison was good at searching.

The area she’d found was hardly busy. There was one family having a picnic, and a man playing fetch with his dog. That was it, though. She could handle that. Taking a moment to play eeny-meeny-miny-mo on picking a tree, she settled on one particularly beautiful one. Then again, all of the trees looked absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Everything was green and lively and so, so wonderful after such a cold winter. Addison may have loved the snow, but she’d never cared for the cold or for all of the plants dying.

Spring was perfect. It was perfect reading weather, perfect exploring weather, perfect everything weather. Today she’d brought two books with her, one that was a classic, that she could never tire of, and the other being her absolute favorite. Never mind that she’d read it at least a hundred times, and that her paperback cover was a wreck. Addison would always and forever love Peter Pan. However, she’d settled on reading Pride and Prejudice for the day, the classic that she could never tire of.

Had she been paying any attention to her surroundings, Addison most likely would have notice the stirring of leaves in the tree she was sitting at, despite there not being a breath of wind. Once Addison starts a book, though, she seldom lets anything distract her. It was why she’d always told herself no reading in class, even when things got slow or the teacher gave them time after. It would be so like Addison to miss the bell and be late for her next class, even with all the students around her getting up to go. She’d never been very good at listening to the world around her when properly invested in a story.

[SIMON ATWOOD]

The bad thing about good weather was that it caused Simon to be even more all over the place than he already was. Winter was finally over and it was the first day in a long time that he could go hoodie-less and not be freezing. It kind of a bummer, because there were few things he loved more than his sweatshirts. There was no logical explanation for it, but then again, when it came to Simon, there hardly ever was one to begin with. Simon probably should have been spending the day doing homework, like the essay he had to write for English or some weird experiment he should've been trying to write for Chemistry. But that was impossible on a day as beautiful as such.

At first, Simon started his day by riding the subway with his eyes closed before getting off at a completely random stop, spinning around five times, and started running in the direction he stopped himself in. Once he realized, about a block away from the subway station, that he couldn't possibly be in a worse neighborhood, he didn't really have a choice except to go back. Well… he could've stayed. But he enjoyed his facial structure how it was, and not broken or bloody from the guy he accidentally ran into during his random escapade. On the ride back into his neck of the woods, he brainstormed what he could do from there, but came up short.

After much internal deliberation, he decided to take a not-so-leisurely stroll through Central Park. That never ceased to entertain him because, when passing through, he'd do anything except walk. One time, he managed to walk on his hands for a good fifteen minutes before he let himself topple over onto the grass. Another time when he was about ten, he decided to learn how to cartwheel (the hard way). That was also the time he broke his arm for the fourth time. Injuries came as natural to him as breathing. A lot of people underestimated him; in fact, everyone underestimated him. But the truth was, his pain tolerance was high. That was why he'd always get so many lollipops and stickers at the doctor's after getting shots when he was a boy.

It took him about an hour to get to his beloved park. It was just his, obviously, but he did feel territorial over it at times. Simon would always make a point to say something when he'd see someone littering or sometimes even something as trivial as kicking rocks or dirt out of place. He knew the park inside out, completely by heart. It was his favorite place. After rolling through the grass (yes, literally rolling) for about a half hour, Simon came across his favorite tree in the entire park. When climbed high enough, it gave a beautiful view of the entire city. He couldn't resist taking a minute to climb it right now. He got as far as two branches up before sprawled out as best he could on the branch and rested his head back. With the light breeze blowing through the trees, this was the most relaxing thing he'd done in a while.

Before he knew it, he had dozed off. He must've swayed too much one way, because he was jolted away as he almost fell from the tree. He couldn't regain his balance back completely in time, but fortunately for him, shifted enough to be able to dangle upside down from his knees. He abruptly became face to face with a girl he knew was a grade below him. He couldn't pinpoint her name, but then again, he rarely ever could. Blinking, he gave his best grin and rocked back and forth from the branch. "Hi there!" he chuckled, before realizing she had a book in her hand. Out of politeness, he added on a quick "Whatcha reeeading?" after his greeting.

[ADDISON ROWE]

All she needed was a hot cup of tea, and she would be set. Allowing herself for just a moment to wonder why she hadn’t thought to bring a thermos, Addison lowered the book to give herself a view of the park before her. She could see the family from her, packing up their picnic. A thermos of tea and a muffin, maybe. Something subtly sweet. Perhaps that was what she’d have to do once she was finished reading in the park: find the nearest café and satisfy her want for tea and baked goods.

Pleased that she’d made plans for the next few hours, Addison returned to her novel, happy to bury her nose back into the book (it still smelled brand new). She hadn’t even read two more pages when there was a very loud noise from the tree above her, loud enough now to properly distract her from her book. Addison glanced up, wondering what in the world was happening. Some squirrels arguing, maybe? A mother bird protecting her nest? May-- Addison let out a very loud shriek, disturbing the silence around her.

“Ohmygod!” She cried, closing her book with a snap and throwing it at the boy dangling from the tree. Addison scrambled away, trying her best to still keep an eye on him. What sort of crazy person hung upside from trees?! “Wh-what are you doing?!” She had a hand on her forehead, the other propping her up as she sat back, no longer leaning against the tree trunk. In a few minutes, she would realize that she’d just thrown one of her favorite books at somebody, and that she would be very upset over it, but until then, she’d wait for her heart to stop racing.

Addison recognized him from around school. A name wasn’t coming to mind, but she’d definitely seen him in the halls. Wasn’t that how it always worked out, though? And suddenly it hit her that she’d just thrown one of her favorite books at this crazy monkey boy. Addison made a bit of an anguished sound and got up quickly, grabbing her book from where it lay in the grass. There were smudges of dirt on the corners and she groaned, waving the novel in his face. “Look what you’ve done!” Without thinking, she hit him in the shoulder with her book -- and very soon after realized that she was, once again, abusing the poor thing. No, no, no!

She hoped by now that he’d seen the cover, so that she wouldn’t need to tell him what book she was reading. Perhaps he'd been able to read the title when it hit him in the face. Addison cradled the novel against her chest, as if it were her own child, and she did her best not to scowl at him. At least her copy of Peter Pan was alright. She couldn’t have lived with herself if something had happened to it, not to mention that this boy would be getting much more than a scowl right now if that were the case.

[SIMON ATWOOD]

For having been abruptly woken up from his snooze, Simon had to be given some credit for not falling out of the tree completely. That would've been a disaster. Fun, yes. But it could be assumed that she would not find it pleasant to be squished by a lanky teenager. So, considering what could have potentially been a disaster but wasn't thanks to Simon's swift moves, why was this girl so flustered right now? She had seemed relaxed point two seconds prior. Her screech (which was probably overdramatic to describe it as such, but Simon was still in a hazy post-sleep fog and that's all it sounded like to him) startled him right back. He flailed, already feeling lightheaded from the blood starting to rush to his head. Luckily, he managed to dodge the book she'd thrown. Too bad he couldn't catch the title of it. He genuinely had been curious about what it was that she was reading.

It took a second for her question to register with him, and he was simply looking at her like she was crazy. His life had practically just flashed before his eyes. "Hey, hey, woah. I have the right to remain silent." he said playfullly, scrunching up his face. "Besides... I asked you a question first, remember?" This girl was seriously over reacting. Seriously. So what if people don't just dangle from trees randomly every day? There was no need for her to be acting like she's having a heart attack, let alone be all violent. Simon's memory was pretty decent, but he couldn't for the life of him put a name to this girl's face. All he knew was that they went to school together.

As he pondered momentarily about it, Simon swung lightly back and forth. It was weird seeing the park he had come to know and memorize by heart at a new perspective like this. Why hadn't he tried this sooner? This was great! A grin spread across his face, but it didn't have time to last long because the next thing he knew the train of thought his mind had taken was being interrupted this girl's shouting again, and he felt the impact of her book hitting his shoulder.

The luck he had had maintaining his composure and balance upside quickly ran out, and his arms went flailing. What happened next was purely a chain reaction. He flailed, causing his shirt to ride up and cover his head, which only made him flail more and... as expected... he finally fell with a loud THUD! on the ground. It was a miracle he didn't snap his neck, but at least a little bit of his lucky still seemed to be with him. As he scrambled to sit back up, readjusting his shirt and dusting the dirt off himself, his eyebrows furrowed at the girl. "What was that for?" Simon never got cross with anyone. He had spoken to her sounding more whiny than angry, though he might've been justified to use a harsher tone if he'd wanted.

[ADDISON ROWE]

Addison thought her aim had been pretty accurate for her target being right in front of her, but the strange boy managed to dodge the throw and she was half thankful that her book had one less thing to hit, and half annoyed that she’d missed. Why was he sounding so calm, anyway? Didn’t he understand what a big deal this was? He had just ruined her perfectly calm evening and-- Had he asked her a question first? In her moment of fright, she’d forgotten that he’d inquired about her book.

Now, most people should know better than to ask Addison about what she was reading. People who’d made that mistake before knew that she’d go into a very long story about the book, about the author, and her favorite characters, and the best chapters. Still, she was a bit more winded to say anything but “it’s Pride and Prejudice…” which was probably for the best. With the way he was hanging upside down, it was likely he’d be distracted by too many things now (she would be, anyway, not that you would catch her hanging upside down anywhere).

He smiled for just a second before she’d hit him again, and she frowned at him, clutching her book to her chest. Okay, no more hurting her poor novel. Addison had hardly had time to even think about herself when he went crashing down. It was all very quick, and it sounded painful, and she stepped back hurriedly, so as not to go down with him. Covering her face with her book, Addison tried not to feel stupid for averting her eyes when his shirt went up over his head. Once it sounded like he’d settled, she lowered her book and took a deep breath.

Letting out a very long sigh, Addison went to sit beside him on the ground, feeling better now that he wasn’t dangling from a tree branch. “What was--?” She narrowed her eyes at him, as if it were very obvious what it was for. “It was for scaring the living daylights out of me, that’s what!” Still keeping her book very close to her, she finally took a moment to look at him, and he definitely seemed a bit more familiar now that he was right side up. “I’m Addison. You go to Baum, don’t you?”

[SIMON ATWOOD]

The title of the book that the girl has just mentioned vaguely rang a bell in the back of Simon's mind, but he couldn't recall completely what it was supposed to be about. He was pretty sure he was supposed to read it as sophomore, but he ended up losing too many copies so he had to accept a failing grade (as if he actually had any kind of say in the matter). Perhaps Simon just had bad luck with anything to do with Pride and Prejudice. Later on, he'd look back on this exact afternoon and swear Addison's copy of the book was a reincarnation of one he lost that came back for revenge. She hadn't meant to hit him with it (twice). It simply possessed her ability to fight against its powers and its need to get him back for misplacing it so often.

After he regained his composure after the fall, he dusted himself off and waited for her to give him some kind of explanation. If the theory he would form weeks later were true, she'd have no recollection of ever even hitting him and her memory of the past five minutes would be entirely wiped clean. Suspicious, but that's always how the host/parasite/possession thing works. Simon was nearly an expert at details like that. The paranormal or superstitions fascinated him. If only he could find the same love for science or math, maybe he wouldn't be doing so poorly.

Unfortunately for his grand theory (though he chooses to "forget" this bit when proposing it to people, including Addison), she seemed to be fully cognisant of her actions. "I didn't mean to!" His voice sounded like a whiny child, trying to argue with his parents over getting an extra helping of dessert or something obnoxious like that. "You were the one to come up to my tree. You definitely weren't around when I went up there for my nap." He spoke as if that was the most natural thing in the world. Simon could have added "Pft, isn't that where all the cool people go to have comfortable, peaceful time to rest nowadays?" and it wouldn't have been out of place.

"Yeah, I do! Do you? What am I saying? Of course you you do. Otherwise you wouldn't know me, right? Right." And thus started his rambling. When put in any kind of hostile pr tense situation, no matter how remote (just like it'd been with Addison a moment ago when she was upset with him), he always looked for the first escape out and run with it as far and fast as he could. "I'm Simon, by the way. It's nice to meet you. Do you go by Addie? Sonny? Dissy, maybe? All of the above? None of it? See, my friends call me Tootles. Everyone does, actually. So you can too if you want! I don't mind! Really!" Finally, he stopped talking long enough to let the girl get a word or two in. It wasn't entirely by choice, but hey, he needed to take a breath sometime, right?

[ADDISON ROWE]

Addison took a moment to retrieve her bag from where it had stayed rested against the tree trunk. She checked to make sure everything was still there – her favorite book, her wallet, her phone – as if they could have just up and walked off during the last couple of minutes. This being New York, she wouldn’t be surprised if monkey boy falling from this tree had been some big elaborate plan to distract her long enough for some friends to steal her things. It might have been terribly rude of her to think someone she’d just met could do something like that, but she’d learned that you can never be too safe in a city like this. Addison brushed off the pages of her book one last time before tucking it cozily back into her bag.

For some reason, he reminded her of her oldest brother. Or… maybe it wasn’t that, but more of a déjà vu sort of have we met before? kind of feeling. It was almost surprising, how often she got that when meeting new people. His tone alone would have convinced her that he truly hadn’t meant to scare her. He sounded quite like a child… Her brows shot up and she couldn’t help but to laugh. “You were napping in a tree? How is that at all comfortable?” She thought briefly about apologizing to him, for coming up to ‘his’ tree and for probably screaming him out of his just-woke-up-sleepiness, but before she could think on it any further, he was going on at her about names.

All she could do was nod along to his first two questions, before sort of giving him a stunned look. He could really ramble, couldn’t he? Had it not been for Baum being a private school, it was highly unlikely that Addison would recognize most of the people she met outside of the academy. Her tendency for running into fellow school mates was almost kind of ridiculous. …Where in the world was he coming up with these nicknames? Admittedly, she didn’t have many nicknames and it would be interesting, to say the least, to go by Sonny, for instance, instead of Addie. As if she weren’t already curious enough about this boy, she was suddenly much more so about how you got Toodles out of a name like Simon.

Once he seemed finished, she smiled, looking both very amused and a bit exhausted. “I have friends that call me Addie, though feel free to call me whatever you like. New nicknames are exciting!” She wasn’t much of a nickname person herself, save for calling one of her best friends Pickle instead of Michelle. Sometimes, she used full names when a certain someone hated his full name, just to get a rise out of him. “How do you, if you don’t mind my asking, get Toodles from Simon?” She simply had to know, now.

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