The bell rings releasing students for lunch. Emma stands to leave the class and picks her books up off her desk to carry to her locker.
Someone passes her quickly as she exits the classroom, bumping into her roughly and knocking her books out of her arms.
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.” A boy, the one who’d bumped into her, says while bending down to pick her books up.
She takes a moment to scrutinize his looks. He’s tall, has black hair and brown eyes and has tan skin. He’s also very well built - overall an attractive guy.
“No, don’t worry about it. I’m pretty clumsy.” Emma says with a small laugh, attempting to distract from the fact she’d been checking him out.
He smiles at her softly, politely and stands to give her the books. “I’m Emma, thanks for doing that.” She sticks a hand out to greet him formally.
He stares at her hand, contemplating whether to shake her hand or not and tell her his name.
He sighs, “Don’t worry about it. I know your name, mine’s Matthew.” And with that he walks away, not shaking her hand and keeping his mysterious reputation.
***
After school Matthew walks home alone. “What a bitter word,” Matthew thinks aloud. “Home. What’s a home anymore?” He scoffs at the sound of his own voice
“Stupid, so stupid.” He tugs at his pitch black hair harshly and painfully draws tears to his dark and dead brown eyes. He closes his eyes just to see flashbacks of his mother and father being shot before him - he quickly opens them. “Leave me alone!” He screams out in agony to no one in particular.
He reaches the door to the home he’s come to know and opens it slowly, knowing that once he goes in he will only be sucked into a vortex of misery.
He goes to his room, everywhere he looks there is the color black - he owns only one white t-shirt and blue jeans but has vowed to only wear the outfit on a special occasion.
Thankful for no homework, he settles down and thinks of the person he’s longed for since his freshman year. Emma Jones.
“She could be the sun in my sky of gray. But she didn’t know who I was until today. She’ll hear the stupid rumors and never talk to my sorry self again.” He recalls the rumors dreadfully, knowing all of them are lies. “He’s special,” “He’s living on the streets,” “He’s a druggie.” He scoffs at the stupidity of humanity. “No, you dumbwads, I lost my parents, I’m depressed and I’m lonely for God’s sake.” He groans lowly and then with increasing volume until it fills the room, then he stops, letting the silence consume him.
He pulls his phone out of his back pocket and clicks a link one of his friends sent him as a message.
A downloadable app comes up and without giving it much thought, he downloads it. He opens the app to see it’s an anonymous chatting app under the name of Shh!
He rolls his eyes at the foolishness of the name and closes the app while thinking of his encounter with Emma.
***
“I’m serious, Kay. Nothing seemed wrong with him, he just seemed a bit, well, sad.” Emma says, recalling the events to her best friend Kayla.
Kayla is naturally a beautiful girl with pale skin, black hair and green eyes.
Kayla’s interest peaks, “Sad as in ‘emo sad’ or as in ‘you with your dad’ sad?” Emma laughs at her friend despite the pang of sadness that hits her heart with her friend’s words.
“The second one, not all people can be emo like you and Kev.” Kayla smiles, “Yeah.” Her voice is light at the mention of Emma’s other best friend and Kayla’s boyfriend.
“Speaking of boyfriends, you need one,” Emma groans. “I’m tired of seeing you so sad and being a third wheel,” Kayla says, leaving no room for arguments.
“Get this app, it’s called Shh! It’s basically an anonymous chat line that only people in our school can get. You can meet a nice guy from our school on this app!”
Emma eyes her skeptically. “But I want more than just a relationship. I want excitement, I’m bored in this miserable life of mine. You, of all people, know that.” Kayla bounces on Emma’s bed where they currently sit.
“You can find your adventure - you can find love and happiness. Just, please, Em. Consider it?” Emma nods apprehensively, getting back to the little homework she received.
***
Later that night Emma lays in bed with her phone in her hand. On the screen is the app Kayla was talking about, Shh!
Emma clicks the icon to download it and then opens the app itself.
Instructions on how to use the app pop up and she skims through each, understanding the basics.
The top of the screen has a search bar, a hidden message saying search for a person at Cooper High to talk to. She searches her best friends to see they both have the app. She messages Kevin anonymously using the keep me hidden function.
Emma: Hey.
Kevin: Hi? Who is this?
Emma: Guess.
Kevin: Em?
Emma smiles and makes her name visible to him, he sends a smiley face emoji.
Kevin: Pretty neat, eh?
Emma: Yeah, admittedly.
Kevin: We knew you’d like it.
Emma: Yeah, gotta go, see ya! And goodnight.
Kevin: ‘Bye Em. Goodnight.
She smiles and puts her phone on the dresser beside her bed and turns over to sleep.
****************************
Chapter 2 is complete!
I know it's kind of boring, please bear with me!
It'll get better, the first few chapters are really just me building the story. Next chapter will have more interaction between Emma and Matthew, are you excited for that?
And special shout out to ShaylaOliver for Matthew's name! I literally changed it three times before asking her and sticking with the name she gave, Matthew.
Sorry for the long author's note, I'm done now.
Please remember to vote, comment and share.
Thank you,
Rosa Vazquez.
Word Count: 1037
(PS. This will probably be the shortest chapter in the book...)
YOU ARE READING
Internet Boy
RomanceEmma has about as average of a life as a girl can have with a twin brother, best selling author for a mother and deceased father. She loves her life, but the constant need to fill the hole she's built with her father's absence consumes her. How can...
