Online Love, Offline Hate

Chapter Seven: Amy

Amy bounced the red and white ball on the polished wooden floor of Pristine High School Female Volleyball Gym. The thwack the ball made as it hit the floor was oddly satisfying.

It was evening and the volleyball team was well into practice. Amy was once again working on her serves, trying to add more power to them. It was important because more power made it more difficult for the opposing side to pick up.

She picked the side of the court she wanted to serve to and was about to throw the ball for her serve when she spotted a group of freshmen walking nervously towards her. One was holding a phone in her hands.

Amy raised her eyebrows at this. Phones weren’t allowed at practice. She had told the freshmen this. Before she could comment, one of the girls spoke up. It was the one holding the phone.

“Umm…captain. I’m sorry. I broke your phone.” She held the phone up in her palms and bowed her head. “I was practicing and I hit your bag. The phone fell out.”

Amy took the phone, her heart aching when she saw the cracked screen. “It’s fine. I didn’t keep it safe so it’s my fault.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Amy turned to the rest of them. “Go back to practice. Keep working on those serves. Don’t forget, we have a practice match next week.”

The girls thanked her and returned, grateful that she wasn’t angry.

“What happened?”

Amy turned to see her best friend and vice-captain of the team, Thera, behind her. She showed her the phone. Thera saw it and whistled.

“That’s a lot of damage.”

“Right?” Amy sighed.

“You have to get it fixed.”

“And how long would that take? I’d rather just buy a new one.”

“Did you back up all your data?”

Amy nodded. “It backs up automatically.”

“No problem. Let’s go phone shopping tomorrow. It’s a good way to start the weekend.”

Amy laughed. Thera loved shopping. And Amy was almost certain that a phone will be the smallest of their purchases tomorrow. She was right.

When they returned to Thera’s place in the evening, they had with them numerous bags and packages with them. The new phone box was invisible in the mass.

Collapsing on the couch, Thera said, “That was fun.”

 Amy nodded. It was really a lot of fun. They went round the stores in the mall, buying clothes and shoes, eating as much as they could and taking numerous photos.

Amy agreed to the outing because she wasn’t sure when next they would have the time again. As the captain and vice-captain of the volleyball team, they had a lot of responsibilities. This combined with their normal school work load meant that once the term began in earnest, the time they had for fun would reduce drastically.

She turned to where Thera was sitting only to see her fiddling with the new phone.

“You’ve already opened it. Silly child.”

Thera giggled, mischief glinting in her eyes. Her fingers flew rapidly across the surface of the phone. She was obviously typing something.

“What are you doing?” Amy was suspicious. Thera loved to play pranks from time to time. And while they usually did no harm, Amy did not like being surprised.

Thera shook her head, her brown curls bouncing. “I’m helping you set up the phone. Can’t you be grateful for once?”

Amy didn’t say more and started to separate her stuff from Thera’s. She needed to head home soon. When she was done, she looked up to see Thera still on the phone.

“I’m done. Are you?”

“Yeah, I’m done. I even helped you download the backups.” Thera said, handing the phone over. “Why are you leaving now?”

“My dad’s taking me out for a business brunch tomorrow. It’s out of time so I need to prepare and rest.”

“No problem, then. I’ll see you on Monday, la bitch.”

“Byeeee.”

Amy took her bags and loaded them into her Range Rover. Climbing into the driver’s seat, she heard a notification sound from her new phone. Unlocking it, she saw it was a notification from an app she had never seen before. She tapped on it and saw it was a dating app.

She scrunched her brows. When did she install a dating app? Did it come preinstalled?

She tapped on the profile icon and saw that information had already been filled in. If it came preinstalled, why was a profile already on it?

Thera... So that’s what she was doing.

Too lazy to walk back into the house, she shot her a text.

“What did you do?”

“Nooooooothing,” came the reply.

Amy rolled her eyes and opened the app again. The app had notified her of an invite to chat with one kAmeron1510. The invite came with the instructions: Swipe up to reject and swipe down to accept.

She was about to swipe up when she received a text from Thera.

“Don’t uninstall it.”

Amy rolled her eyes again. She went to do exactly the opposite when she saw that she had accidentally accepted the invite to chat. She sighed and tossed the phone on the seat beside her. Starting her engine, she reversed out of the parking lot and drove home.

Her mother had raised her eyebrows at all the bags she brought home but made no comment. Amy wondered what she would have said if she saw Thera’s bags. They were three times more than Amy bought.

After a quick shower and a meal, Amy focused on the task of arranging all the things she had bought and picking an outfit for the business lunch tomorrow. She had narrowed down the options to two outfits when a sound came from her phone. Another notification.

She picked it up and saw it was from the dating app. This again? It was a message from the kAmeron1510.

“Hey. I’m Kameron.”

Kameron? The name brought a face to mind. The annoying, clumsy transfer student who sat beside her in her Physics class and lab. She frowned at the memory. Tapping on the profile, she scanned through the information and was shocked. This guy, he really…

The profile picture, the name and the school. It was all the same. This was the same Kameron from school.

While she was still processing the information, another message came through.

“Are you busy? We can talk later.”

Amy was still in shock. This guy, he really installed a dating app. What was wrong with him?

She looked down at her phone again. She suddenly felt curiosity well up in her. She quickly checked her profile to make sure that none of her real information was on the app. She frowned at the picture on her profile but didn’t change it.

Her fingers typed out a short message, the phone vibrating with each letter. “No. I’m not busy.” She waited. And stared.

What was she doing? She threw the phone on the bed, selected the final outfit and hung it up for tomorrow. A yawn told her that she needed to head to bed so Amy turned off the lights and plopped on her bed.

Picking up her phone again, she scrolled through some volleyball news, taking note of the transfer news and how teams were solidifying themselves for the new season.

Her phone vibrated again. Another message.

“It’s nice to meet you. Do you want to hang out some time soon?”

What? “No.”

“Why? I’m really handsome though.”

Handsome? Was he? She supposed so but… That was one of the things Amy had disliked about Kameron the first time she saw him. He had an attractive face but was academically inept and those were Amy’s worst kind of people.

“But it’s fine if you don’t want to meet up. We can just chat if you want.” Amy received this message and as if possessed, replied. “Yes, we can chat.”

“That’s good.” The reply came instantaneously, as if he had been waiting for her answer. “How’s work? I hope it’s not too stressful.”

Work? Amy blanked out for a second before remembering that her profile stated that she was a 25-year-old English teacher.

“No, it’s fine.”

“That’s good to hear. Where do you teach?”

Amy could not think of a lie fast enough. “That’s kind of personal so I’d rather not say.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. Well, I’m a high schooler. I study at Pristine High School. I just arrived a while back and I don’t know much about the area. Do you know any nice spots I can visit? I’m a little bored at school.”

Bored. The term barely started and he’s already bored. He needs to focus more.

“There are some nice museums in the area. The city has a long history so you may like it.”

A message came in but it wasn’t a text. It was a voice message. Amy stared at it like she was in the Garden of Eden and had just been offered the f*******n fruit. And like Eve, she couldn’t resist. She clicked on the message and his voice poured out.

“I had a feeling you’d say something like that. Have you been there before?” His voice was tinged with laughter, as if he had been laughing seconds prior.

Amy had only heard Kameron’s voice a few times before. It had never sounded like this. It was breezy, teasing her. She played the recording again, holding the phone close to her ear, listening closely. Then she realized what she was doing and threw the phone down on the bed, away from her.

Why was she chatting with that clumsy child? She was tired. That’s it. It’s been a long day and she was worn out.

After telling herself that, she turned on her side and closed her eyes. She needed her sleep.