Behind the scene
298 Words
That night, Ava couldn’t sleep.
She lay on her bed, laptop glowing in the dark, rain tapping softly against her window. Her reflection flickered faintly on the screen — hood up, shadows hiding what she didn’t want to see.
She opened her favorite chat app, CloverChat, where she’d been talking to the same anonymous user for weeks. His username was Starboy_17. He never asked for pictures, never cared about her silence. He just listened.
Starboy_17: Rough day?
FacelessGirl: Something like that.
Starboy_17: Want to talk about it?
FacelessGirl: New guy at school. Everyone loves him already.
Starboy_17: You jealous?
FacelessGirl: Hardly. I don’t even know him.
A pause. Then a new message popped up.
Starboy_17: You might like him if you gave him a chance.
FacelessGirl: Doubt it.
She smiled a little. He always knew what to say to make her drop her guard — even if just for a moment.
What Ava didn’t know was that Starboy_17 was sitting on his own bed across town, typing with the same nervous energy.
His real name? Eli Carter.
At school, the next day, Ava kept catching Eli’s eyes in class. He’d grin like they shared some secret, though she couldn’t imagine what.
During lunch, she sat alone under her favorite oak tree. It was her safe spot — far from the cafeteria noise. Then came that same voice again.
“Hey,” Eli said, holding a sandwich in one hand. “Mind if I sit?”
She looked up from her book. “You never take no for an answer, do you?”
“Guess not.” He grinned and sat down anyway.
For the first time, Ava didn’t tell him to leave.
And maybe — just maybe — that was the start of something she didn’t see coming.
- Writer
