TweetyGram

23 - #NatalieWinterss

Every muscle in me tensed as I stared at NatalieWinterss's TweetyGram page. It was filled with photos of the Malibu set, fake selfies of Nat, and several pictures of Cocobear. Everything led me to believe the user who had just followed my alter ego was none other than the Malibu Wolf.

The speech bubble popping out of the heart icon on the toolbar told me Louise had a new message. I had a feeling it was from the Wolf, so I clicked on the icon and checked Louise's inbox.

There was, indeed, one new message from NatalieWinterss.

Hi, Louise! It's Natalie Winters contacting you using my secret account.

I just want to say thank you for the kind comment. It means the whole world for me to be able to inspire teenage girls such as you. I noticed we have a lot in common, from our love of books to smoothies to beaches. I'd love to be friends with you, but please keep this account a secret. I have a lot of haters who've harassed me on my official account, and the last thing I want is for them to harass me on this account too.

Love, Natalie.

"Here you go." Jake placed a box of freshly made fruit pancake tacos in front of me and took a seat across the table from me. Normally, the aroma of hot, off-the-griddle pancakes would be more than enough to draw my attention. But not this time. "What's wrong?"

"The Malibu Wolf just DMed Louise."

Jake's eyes widened with surprise, and his face turned serious. "What are you waiting for then? Message them back."

"Yeah." I licked my dry lips, entered my fake-fangirling mode, and started typing.

OMG!!! I can't believe THE NATALIE WINTERS just messaged me!

*squeal* *squeal* *squeal*

"Squeal, squeal, squeal?" Jake arched an eyebrow.

I cringed and let out an awkward laugh. "That's how teenagers text these days, right?"

He shrugged. "Go on."

I shifted my gaze back to my phone screen. A green circle appeared next to the Wolf's username, which meant the Wolf was online. A few seconds later, my messages were marked read. They didn't respond right away, perhaps a little suspicious by my choice of words, so I figured I should continue acting like a starstruck teenager to distract them.

I'd LOOOOOVE to be friends with you!

And don't worry about the haters

My lips are sealed 🤐🤐🤐

"Too much?" I asked.

"Nah," Jake replied with a shake of his head. "Kristen likes to use emojis too."

A few moments later, the Malibu Wolf replied.

Awesome! 😊️

Hey, I have to ask. What are your top 3 Malibu, 90265 moments?

"Shoot." Panic surged through me.

I'd spent the past few weeks reading the books the Wolf had discussed with their victims in case they'd ask me about them. I thought I'd covered all my bases, but I made the stupidest mistake of not watching all seven seasons of Malibu, 90265.

Darn it. How could you be so stupid, Lindsey?

"You've never watched the show, have you?" A twinkling tease danced in Jake's eyes. I could tell he was about to make some witty remarks about my lack of research.