Beyond the Ordinary

Chapter 15

KATE 

I got assigned my first shift for Friday, but I'd debated telling my friends that because part of me wanted to keep my school friends separate from my work friends, not that I had any of those yet.

My phone buzzed with an Instagram notification reading, AxelBlake04 has requested to follow you.

I opened the app and hit "accept", before scrolling through his photos, which there weren't that many of. I scrolled to the top once again and noticed that his Snapchat was written in his bio, and that, shocker, it was the same as his Instagram username.

I quickly left the app and decided to add him on Snapchat, my finger hovering over the "Add+" button. I debated doing it, thinking, What if he doesn't want to be my friend? What if I don't want to be his? What if adding me on Instagram was just a simple slip of his thumb?

I forced these thoughts out of my mind and hit the button. AxelBlake04 has been added as a friend.

I left the app and read three unread messages, all from Kyle.

KYLE - Yo, did we have pre-calc hw?

KYLE - Nvm, I found it.

KYLE - Thx for ur help, Blondie.

I suddenly got a Snapchat notification saying, AxelBlake04 added you back!

I opened Snapchat once again, seeing that Axel had already sent me a photo. I settled down comfortably on my bed and opened it.

He'd sent me a picture of the side of his face, the hint of a smirk on his mouth and there was a text box over his head that said, 'U stalking me, Kate?'

I smiled before snapping a picture of the side of my own face and typed, 'I should be asking u the same question, how'd u find my Instagram?'

I hit send and waited for him to open it, which wasn't too long after I'd sent it.

He sent a picture of one of his eyes and part of his nose and mouth, still slightly raised in a smirk. The text box above his head read, 'I have my ways ;)'

I didn't know why, but I found a smile wandering onto my face. I snapped a picture of my whole face, my eyes raised to the ceiling and my lips perked in a small smile. I looked, dare I say, pretty. I smiled, knowing it was perfect and typed, 'That sounds like something a stalker would say...'

He opened it a minute later and a symbol showed up telling me that he'd screenshotted the photo. I blushed. Great, now I'm in his camera roll, I thought inside my head.

He sent me a picture showing his whole face, for the first time since we'd started talking. His eyes were looking up and he had a small smile on his face, mocking my pose. I laughed out loud. The text box above his head said, 'Well now ur in my camera roll so I'm officially ur stalker ;)'

I smiled. Is he flirting? I'd never been good at talking to boys. Talking to them over text was definitely easier than in person, but now I was just as confused as ever.

I screenshotted his picture and put it into my camera roll so that he was in mine and I was in his. I took a picture of the side of my face, showing only my nose and a sliver of my mouth. I typed, 'And now you're in mine, careful, you might have a stalker too ;)'

He opened it seconds later and responded with a picture of the side of his nose and part of his mouth. The text box says, 'You wouldn't be the first.'

I smiled then sent a picture of my ceiling and typed, 'Oh, really?'

He sent a picture of his own ceiling with a text that said, 'Nope, I have many stalkers ;)'

I flipped my camera around and snapped a picture of my dresser and wrote, 'I see I have some competition... ;)'

He responded with a picture of him pouting and a text box that said, 'Where'd your face go? Come baaack.'

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. Yup, he's definitely flirting. It should've scared me, but it didn't, instead, it only made me want to do it back.

I took a picture of my whole face, my eyes looking right at my phone, my head resting on one of my hands, showing off my pearl bracelet. My lips showed a small smile, a sliver of my teeth showing. I typed, 'Oh yea? U won't have to miss it much longer tho cuz I'll be with u on Friday ;)'

He opened it and quickly screenshotted it. I smiled. Now he had two pictures of me in his camera roll. The thought alone made my heart flutter.

He responded with a picture of him smiling. Like really smiling. It looked so natural on him I almost did a double-take. I quickly screenshotted it before it disappeared forever.

I sent a picture of me smiling back, and it wasn't forced, it was a smile that only existed because his was so contagious.

He opened it and screenshotted it. Great, now he had three pictures of me in his phone. He responded with a picture of the side of his face once again, but I could tell that the smile was still there, just beneath the surface. The text box over his head read, 'Ur pretty when u smile.'

I blushed. No one had ever called me pretty before besides my parents. Boys had called me pretty before, but I'd never paid much attention to it until he'd said it. It was like I'd never really noticed it until someone as seemingly perfect as Axel had said it.

I snapped a picture of my whole face, my cheeks still flushed with embarrassment, my eyes wide. I made a kissy face, copying what I'd seen a lot of girls at my old school do, and thought it actually looked pretty good. I typed, 'Thanks, you are too. But handsome, not pretty ;)'

He opened it and responded with the side of his face, his lips wide in a smirk. 'Oh, so I'm not pretty? Haha, just kidding. Thanks, cutie.'

I drifted off into sleep thinking that "cutie" has a better ring to it than "blondie".