Stalked

The Blocked Number

"Here hold my bag for a sec." Sandra mumbled. I grunted.
"There's a countertop right there." I replied, rolling my eyes.
" but it's wet and I don't want the bag to get wet."
The mall bathroom was not where I wanted to hang out for the next thirty minutes. I took her Hollister bag and watched as she re-applied makeup. What a waste of time. The only thing I would ever wear was mascara, lipgloss, and maybe even a bit of eyeliner. She wore it all and she took forever to put it all on.
"I'll just hurry up and fix my mascara so we can go." She said, staring into the mirror. I walked to the next mirror over and glimpsed at myself for a second to see how I looked. I was wearing my white tank and ripped blue jean shorts that she had picked out for me the other day at Hollister. It was one of our favorite stores.
"Okay let's go." She said, and I handed her bag to her and we walked out of the doors.
"Let's go to the food court." I suggested. I was actually pretty hungry and I was down for some Chinese food.
"So, what's going on with you and Connor?" She began. I smiled and looked away.
"You like him... Don't you?" She teased.
"Well how about you and Brent? You two look like you have something going on." I replied. She rolled her eyes.
"Honey, that lasted less than a week. Stop trying to change the subject." She laughed.
Connor was a guy in seven of my classes that I really liked. He was super nice, played guitar, sang, and played baseball. Nobody had a reason to hate him, either. I was always just too shy to talk to him.
"I could get you two together." She said with a smirk. I laughed sarcastically.
"Eh, no thanks. I can set myself up." I mumbled.
"You're not really doing a good job at it." She pointed out. I glared at her jokingly.
"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that whenever you try to talk to the guy, you freeze up." She explained.
"Well, thanks for stating the obvious. I'm not shy around anyone but him. I just don't wanna say something stupid." I stated. We were entering the food court and my favorite Chinese place was a matter of a few feet away.
"Im just saying he obviously likes you so there's nothing to worry about." She said.
"The only thing I'm worried about right now is food." I said, walking towards the register.
"Chinese food? No thanks. Im going to subway." She said.

When we were done ordering we sat down at a table.
"I can't believe you don't like Chinese. You're not even human." I told her. She ignored me and ate her sandwich.
I felt a buzz in my pocket.
"Hey somebody texted me. I actually have friends." I joked. I pulled out my phone and unlocked it. It was a blocked number.
"Who is it?" Sandra asked, grabbing a napkin.
It said: hey beautiful😘
"I.. Um.. Don't know." I replied.
"Here. Gimmee." She mumbled, reaching across the table. I handed her the phone.
"Ohh pullin." She said, smirking.
"Ugh shut up." I replied, smiling.
" I wonder if they're cute." She went on, handing it back.
"Who is this?" I texted back.
"Maybe it's Connor." She said with a wink.
"Tooootally." I said, sarcastically. My phone buzzed again.
Another text popped up that said: "Who's Connor?"
I looked up at Sandra, my heart caught in my throat.
"Mich, what's wrong?" She asked, concerned.
I looked around us, desperately, but nobody had their phones out. It was probably just someone from school. Everyone knew I liked Connor, so maybe someone was just trying to prank me or something.
"Nothing." I replied, stuffing my mouth with sweet and sour chicken. I put my phone back in my back pocket.
Her phone started ringing and her One Direction ringtone rang through the air.
"It's my mom.. She said she'd call me when I need to head back home." She mumbled. I groaned and closed my foam take-out container. I was her ride home since she didn't get a car yet and her parents didn't trust her enough to drive theirs.
"Let's go then." I suggested, standing up.
We headed out of the parking lot and towards my red Corolla. It wasn't the hottest car out there, but it was good enough to get me where I wanted to go and it didn't look too bad either.
My phone buzzed a couple more times in my back pocket as I was walking.
We stuck our bags in the backseat and stood by the car.
"Can I drive this time? Pleassseeee!!" She begged. I looked hesitantly at my new car and back at her. I had saved up for that car and payed for it with my own money, without help from my parents. All of the summer work of babysitting bratty kids, and cutting grass with my parents old fashioned push mower was put into that car.
"I promise I won't screw up again! I've practiced!" She continued. Last time I let her drive it, she ran over the curb, into the sidewalk and almost hit an old guy who was walking his dog.
"I uh...." I began.
"Oh come on!" She begged. I rolled my eyes and tossed her the keys.
"This is why I love you!!" She squealed. I got into the passenger seat and buckled my seatbelt.
"I'm gonna regret this." I whispered under my breath. She leapt into the car and buckled her seatbelt.
"Please don't get us both killed." I said, glancing nervously at her.
"Shhh I'm trying to concentrate." She snapped.
"Oh great." I mumbled. She put the keys in the ignition a veered wildly out of the parking spot.
"WHOA WHOA!" I called out, gripping the sides of the seat.
"Sorry!! I'm sorry!" She winced, gripping the steering wheel. She slowly pulled out of the parking lot.
"Thank god you don't live that far away." I said, pulling out my phone. Two more texts popped up from the number.
They said:
"Text me back. I do not like being ignored."
"ANSWER ME!"

I shifted uncomfortably and texted back.
"I'm not telling you anything until you tell me who you are."

I turned on the radio and one of our favorite songs came on.
We sang at the top of our lungs.
She pulled into the driveway of her nice two-story house. She turned the volume off and smiled at me.
"See? We made it to my house alive." She said. I laughed.
"That's a relief." I replied.
She rolled her eyes.
"You wanna stay a while? We're gonna watch a movie rental." She offered. I shook my head.
"Nah.. I have to head home and help Sophie with her project anyways." I said. She got out and I switched to the driver's seat
"I'll text you!" I called out the window as I pulled out of the driveway. I only lived a couple of neighborhoods away from her, so we could hang out any other time. It was only around eight thirty, school was the next day.
I got home and Sophie was sitting on the couch, watching t.v, my dog Buster laying next to her. She was eleven years old, and could be a pain in the butt sometimes but she was alright.
"Hey didn't you have a project to do?" I called out, locking the door behind me.
"Uh, yeah." She replied shrugging.
"Did you get it done?" I asked. She smiled and kicked her feet up.
"Nope." She replied smugly.
"You're a punk." I told her, tossing my keys onto the counter.
"Dude go away! I have to see if she chooses Jake or Jesse!" She snapped at me. I laughed.
"Those episodes are soooo old." I mumbled, walking into the kitchen.
Scraps of construction paper and cut outs were scattered on top of a poster board. All she had to do was glue the stuff onto the board. She was like me, a big fat procrastinator. I couldn't judge her because I was the same way. Mom was at work.
I bet you're wondering where my dad was...long story. Well, not really. My parents were divorced and my dad was in jail. When my mom found out he was a big time drug dealer with a lot of people after him.. She wanted nothing to do with him. She didn't tell the cops. He was stupid enough to get caught by doing a deal with an undercover cop. I wanted nothing to do with the guy. He was never there for Sophie and I, and he was extremely cruel for the short amount of time he DID spend with us.
I shuffled up the stairs and went into my room. I pulled out my phone one last time to see another text from the number.
It said:
" you will know soon enough, dear."

I tossed my phone onto my bed. I really wanted to think it was somebody I knew, but I had a feeling deep down that it wasn't. The thought kind of scared the crap out of me.
I changed into sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt and got into bed.
"The only thing I should be worried about is getting some sleep." I thought to myself, cuddling under the thick blankets.