Message In A Bottle

Aug 27 (Part 1)

It was officially the last weekend before school, and Fred Hayford was spending it by being sick at home.

Absolutely fantastic.

To rub salt into his wound, his best chum, his second favourite person on the planet (guess who the first was), Conner was on another ice cream date with his girlfriend. Those two seemed to really like their ice cream, and Conner had mentioned something about how it was a "bet" between their online selves. They were sooo lovey-dovey and sweet that it was almost nauseating. (Fred hoped he would eventually find his own romance story too.)

Fred was tangled up in his blankets with an annoying headache. To distract himself from his pain and the inevitable torture of returning to school, Fred pulled up the Forging Friendships website. After Conner's enthusiastic recommendations, this program had piqued Fred's curiosity. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to set up an account. Just as he was about to scroll past the terms and conditions, his phone rang. Fred took a look at his screen- Willow Hayford- and accepted the call.

"Hellooo Freddie, heard from Mom that you're sick. Getting enough rest?"

Fred sighed. Of course his older sister would call. "I'm fineee. In fact, you should be more worried about those rowdy flatmates of yours at college."

"Ohh, I have them under control! Who do you I think I am, huh? I was-"

"A wrestling champion during that tournament at middle school and you beat up all the boys who bullied your friends," Fred deadpanned, used to Willow's spiel. Willow, in her final year of college, was a feisty spirit. Their mother was somewhat relieved when she moved out, yet Fred missed her energy.

Willow laughed. "Ugh, you sound so bored with me. Whatever. What are you doing right now?"

Fred coughed. "Ahem, you conveniently interrupted me. But I was signing up for that online friend thing that Conner did last year."

"Ohh, the one that landed him a girlfriend."

"More like gave him the courage to finally talk to his crush of three years or something."

"Crush of three years of something... won't you be familiar with that, my dear baby bro."

Fred groaned and thumped his fist on his pillow. "Don't even mention it, Willow. I'm not- I don't want to think about it." His heart was twisted up at the slightest mention of his crush.

"Alright, alright. But I'll be here if you wanna spill the tea, okay?"

"Yeah yeah whatever. And since you took your precious time to call me, I'm gonna bother you by livestreaming- livechatting my sign up process."

"Aww, I'm honoured."

"Email, tick this box, tick this other box, terms and conditions, blah blah blah... ooh, username. Haven't thought of that."

"... Do you expect me to give you ideas?"

"Please don't ruin it. I'm thinking very hard for this important... thing."

"Mmhmm."

Fred's eyes scanned the room and landed on a framed photo of him and the Bailey twins. Conner complained that his expression looked weird, but that was why Fred liked it. It was uniquely Conner. And Alex was wearing her signature blue headband, bright eyes twinkling up at him. Fred's heart thumped and his fingers moved.

"..."

"Oi, did you think of your important fake name?"

Fred flushed (and it wasn't only because he was ill). "Uhh, yeah. I chose... BlueInk."