Salmonella

Chapter 15

🫧Fifteen🫧

Everything hurts.

I sit up groggily, light of daybreak burning my eyes, and squint at my phone to see an FC notification from the account I secretly followed Gen from. She's posted some new selfies. I blush madly at them and throw the phone back down. Shit. I clutch my temples. Memories of my dream come pouring back into my mind in fragmented flashes. Her body on mine—damn it, why'd I dream that?! Stupid brain, how could you betray me like this? I can't think of her like that, I—

Wait, but who was that other figure? The one in all black, from her flowing hair to her dress to her flowery tail...

Poppalinia?

Why did I dream about her? Must be that heartfelt conversation Gen and I had yesterday. Silly me thinking anything of it. It was just a conversation; there was nothing there. But why does the look in her eyes when I read the poem... the way she stared at me and threaded her fingers through mine... keep swimming through my mind?

Bzzzt! goes my phone and I almost go diving off the bed.

I check my screen, hoping Gen didn't just message me or something, but it's just an annoying ad from my applications telling me to download Tetras, that mobile game that's trending right now. Go away, stupid ad. I don't want your game.

As I'm changing for my morning class, I try turning on some music, but my phone is glitching and the music from the Tetras ad keeps playing instead. I shut off the good-for-nothing device.

By the time I get to class, everyone is shouting over each other, talking about Tetras. It just started trending and now everyone's obsessed with it and it's become a whole meme. They all keep asking each other what level they're on and what avatar they use and blah blah until I put on headphones so they'll stop asking me. When I can finally leave, I catch Bloom in the hall, on her phone.

"Hey. Whatcha doing? What game is that?"

"Oh," she gasps like she didn't realize I was there. "It's that new game, Tetras? You know, with the little falling tetras that you have to fit toge—"

I whip around and start to leave.

Bloom snatches my sleeve. "Noo, don't go! I'll stop playing, I promise!! Let's go to lunch—they have spicy wraps and tuna teriyaki!"

"Ooh, yay!" We link arms and swim to the cafeteria.

We sit at a table with Gene and I enjoy my spicy wrap, mixing it with three sauces and letting it all swish around in my mouth. Yummm.

"That's not very attractive, you know," says Gene, startling me out of my enjoyment. "How is anyone gonna date you like that?"

"Excuse me?" I growl. "Says the guy with the organ fetish? Don't you spend all your time cooped up in a basement dissecting bodies? What do you know about dating?"

Gene turns away with a little smirk-laugh, making a big show out of straightening his shirt collar in some odd attempt at being seductive. "I happen to be quite the ladies' man, Ella."

"Pfffft—" Bloom's food almost comes shooting out of her mouth.

"Riiight." I smile at him and purr, "It's okay, Gene. I'm sure girls love guys who play a lot of Tetras."

Bloom laughs, slapping the table.

Gene slams his phone down, staring at me in horror. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't lie."

"Don't even try to hide it," teases Bloom.

"You're so obvious."