Bittersweet

Chapter 5 - Opal

[Chapter 5 - Opal]

Opal's mind was racing. In the span of a few days, everything was coming together; for the first time she actually got to speak to Cayden. She had never been this thankful for Bree and her advice to send him a follow request. Now, all she had to do was get him to like her back.

Almost by habit, she plopped onto her bed and ruffled through the stuff in her bag before pulling out her macbook. Her mouse clicked open the google doc, which popped into the search bar after she typed the letter 'c'. Google Docs was getting smarter. There were already a few pages of information that Opal had collected from various sources. A list of all his athletic achievements, school history, even his current weight and height. Today, Opal decided that she would be focusing on his social media accounts.

Opal already knew that he had an Instagram (considering she followed his account), but decided to check anyways. After quickly jotting down the number of followers and people he follows onto the same document and adding a note to investigate each individual later, she moved onto other platforms. One by one, she inserted his name, username, school name, or even the accounts of some of his friends to track his accounts down. Opal managed to find a twitter, tiktok, snapchat, linkedin, reddit, tumblr and a very inactive facebook. To be fair, no one under 30 actually cared about Facebook anymore, so she really couldn't blame him. Even Bree, who spent most of her free time on social media hadn't bothered to start one.

Now, all she had to do was to somehow find a way to follow all of his accounts without seeming like a stalker, which she wasn't. It would be very clear if she started up an account on each platform and requested him right away, since she wouldn't have any followers, but gaining followers could take several weeks. Potentially she could borrow Bree's account, but that would obviously invoke suspicion which couldn't be risked.
With a sigh, she slammed her computer shut. That had been enough stalking for now. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. She still had plenty of homework to do and at least two more midterms to study for. Flopping from her bed, she opened her bag and pulled out her English binder from her backpack setting it onto her desk. The binder opened with a sad groan, which was very understandable, but what was not understandable was the cutesy, pink, sticky note that fluttered out. Quickly bending down and sliding it off the floor, she unfolded the little sticky note and read the message written in curly script.

Dear Cayden,                                                                                                                                                                Either I'm bad at dropping hints or you're bad at picking them up. Just give me a call. 639-884-2846. <3

One of the girls must have mistaken her bag for his and dropped this off while they were at the lacrosse practice. Or maybe it was a guy, but she doubted that any of the obnoxious football players wrote in glitter pink pen. That would be a very lovely surprise though. Eagerly, Opal shut her English homework, excited that she had something more interesting to do. Snatching her laptop back from her bed, she called Bree.

The call went straight to voicemail, "Sorry Bree can't come to the phone right now, she's too busy being better than you. Leave a message after the beep."

Of course she couldn't answer. There was band today and Bree was too preoccupied with loudly squeaking on her trombone to hear her phone ring. Bree was not very good, which is something that Opal learned the hard way. Never invite someone to your house for a rehearsal before knowing their skill level.

" Bree, it's Opal. Listen, can you do me a favour? Can you check if you know this number?" Bree read the number outloud, "Get back to me after band. See ya."

She hung up the phone and scrolled through her contacts just in case. Nothing. The contact list on her phone had maybe 15 names at most, so it wasn't the research resource, She probably could find something online. Though none of her usual resources found anything, Bree had finally responded. Maggie. Gr. 10. Why? Opal ignored her question, simply sending back a few heart emojis, and instead gleefully, started a new section on her Cayden document. Potential Threats.