Maddie turned her head when she heard her name being yelled across the playground. Whenever she'd gotten a fan club comprised of younger members of the compound, she didn't know, but the attention was welcome. Even if she did sometimes confuse the names of these two girls in particular. E names. Especially hard to distinguish when they looked so close in age.
“Hey,” she greeted in return, glancing over the girls' heads when she noticed the third member of that particular party. Therapist attention. Risky. Also annoying. Reaching up to brush some green hair – the color was fading quickly and she'd have to figure out a new color soon – behind her ear, Maddie dragged her attention away from the man observing them and focused on the girls.
With a shrug, she answered, “Nothing, really. Just finished helping put away the laser tag guns and stuff.” Laser tag wars had been happening a lot more frequently lately, which was a good thing. The distraction kept Maddie's mind occupied. Better than dwelling on family things.
Interacting with these two was always sort of hilarious in that she never used their names. The word “hey” was often used to get their attention, or if the one she was talking to was already paying attention, all Maddie had to do was look at her. In the challenging event where she actually needed to use names, she generally picked one and hoped it was the girl she was expecting.
“You guys should've played. We could've made the game even bigger than it was.” The more people who joined in for laser tag, the more fun it was. “It was awesome.”