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Zooey: Bedroom

"Hello?" I hold the phone up to my ear and listen to the quick breaths of my caller.

"Uh, hi. This is Kade, from the Leadership team. At school? I was asked to tell you that you have been chosen to represent Whitecap High at the regional debate meet! Congratulations. The details will be sent to your--"

"You have the wrong number," I say, annoyed.

Casey gives me a suspicious look and I turn so that my back is facing her.

"Are you sure? This is Mandy, right?"

"No, I'm not Mandy, I don't go to Whitecap High, and I'm not on debate team. Goodbye." I hang up quickly and run up to my room.

Once I'm safe in my own sanctuary of chipping blue walls and a few bookshelves, I turn to my desk and grab a pen.

I begin to draw, but then remember I'm a terrible artist, crumple up the paper, toss it into the trash can, and grunt.

What to do with myself...

I reach into my desk drawer and pull out my laptop that I haven't used since I've gotten my new iPhone.

I open it up and blow the small layer of dust off the keyboard.

After waiting ten minutes for it to completely boot up, I log onto my Facebook account. Nothing really interesting today, only a new selfie added to Natalie Frey's album titled 'ME :)', a status from a kid in my math class about the score of his recent hockey game, and about 100 pictures from my old aunt Becky's trip to Dubai.

I continue to scroll, despite the lack of entertainment, until I see something that catches my eye.

It shows Olan's account, his profile picture changed from the one of us at our favourite ice cream parlor, to a random picture of him in a desert. His face looks a lot younger and more carefree, so I'm guessing the picture is from at least a year ago.

The actual post says 'Olan Rivers went from being In a Relationship, to Single.'

A sob catches in my throat. That's the first thing he does after we break up? Ugh, that insensitive-

There are 3 comments on the post. I click them and wait for them to load.

The first comment is from his 13-year-old sister, Julia. All she put was a little frowny face. Poor Julia, she really likes me, especially because she has four brothers to deal with. Who is going to paint her nails and help her with the cruel drama of grade 8?

The next comment is from Olan's friend, Mack. He said, 'dude what happened'. No grammar or punctuation whatsoever. Never liked him much.

The third comment is from Olan himself. All he says, in response to Mack's lame excuse for a question, is 'I don't even know, man.'

Oh, please!

I sigh and shut my laptop.