Lovebirds

THIS IS FREDDIE CARMICHAEL

Spencer checks her phone as she walks down the hall to the front doors. End of the day, she searches her notifications for a message back from Freddie. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. She snaps open her Instagram app and reports the whole damn page.

Ever since that slip of paper, fourth period, to Ambrose, she feels a little radioactive. A 'touch and she'll burst' kind of day, all emotions heightened to fever pitch—no. Not all emotions. She's been angry. She's been surprised and frustrated and annoyed. Baseline: she's been confused.

And it's because of this muddle of emotions that she grips Freddie by the arm, pulling him into an unused corner of the cafeteria when she sees him waving at her in the hall. Shocked by the seeming nonchalance with which he'd greeted her, grinning with all the force of the sun, she spares no force.

"What the hell are you doing," she spits.

Freddie's eyes grow wide, nearly popping out of their sockets. "Gollie Spence, I was only waving at you."

"No, not that!" Waving away his dismissal, "the Insta. The vinceandspence account. Why didn't you answer my DM?"

"Oh," and his face becomes quite pale. "Um," he continues, inconclusively.

"Freddie," she warns.

"Maybe I should've told you this sooner," knitting his fingers, not meeting her eyes for more than a couple seconds at a time, "but the account got hacked last month. A couple days before school started."

It... a couple days... what?

Spencer backs away from him. Breathing heavily, she look around the room. Everything spins off its axis. The tables are on the ceiling, doors are in the floor. Topsy turvy, it's a solid hand on her shoulder that's steadying.

"Spencer." Deep voice, laced in worry—she knows it. "Spencer, can you stand? Are you alright?"

She manages to nod her head; stares at her feet a while longer before meeting Vincent's gaze. She can see Freddie in her peripheral, nervously running a hand through his hair.

"Why didn't you say anything," redirecting her attention.

"I..." He starts, "I thought I could fix it before you found out. I put something on my account saying not to click the links like everyone always does when their accounts get hacked, but... Well, Instagram never fixed it—even after I sent them an email. They said they couldn't find any trace of a hack." Smiling, Freddie's features fill with embarrassment, still fiddling with his fingers.

Spencer leans into Vincent's arm, still positioned on her back.

"Vince," she whispers as Freddie quickly slips away, "Vince I think we have a very serious problem."