INSTALOVE

Chapter 8: Making a Splash

Chapter 8: Making a Splash

E L L I E

I stand transfixed as I watch the three of them make their grand entrance. Eleanor unlinks her elbow from Maddox and edges closer to Reese. The two girls wrap arms around each other's waists. They're obviously BFFs, judging from their body language, but they make an odd pair. Maybe not so much friends but frenemies?

It must be their outfits giving them that Katy Perry/Taylor Swift vibe. Reese looks edgy and dramatic, dressed all in black with a shock of bright blue hair. Eleanor, meanwhile, must have thought she was attending some swank red carpet movie premiere in that semi-formal cocktail dress. She smiles and waves to no one in particular as she makes her way to the middle of the stone patio.

It's weird how my eyes follow her, unable to tear my gaze away. After I spent all afternoon wondering about Maddox, Eleanor is the one who keeps me planted in place, following her graceful movements. I can sense I'm not the only one watching her as the whispers buzz around me.

InstaLove?... Here?... Now?... Did you bring your glasses?

My plans to leave the party evaporate, and my fingertips tingle with anticipation as I reach for the cord around my neck. For all my shyness, I won't pretend like I'm not dying to know what InstaLove looks like through these lenses.

The glasses themselves are easy enough to use. I fiddled around with them earlier in the privacy of my room. Reese set them up to auto-login to my InstaLove account, and I discovered a treasure trove of extra settings and configurations that didn't exist in the phone version of the app... like Advanced Avatar Customization, for example...

My lips quirk with a tiny smile. I might be stuck with my own ratty clothes in real life, but Ellie 2.0 can swap outfits with a few blinks of her eyes. I head for the menu option I need, using eye movements to make selections.

The app comes pre-loaded with a whole range of possibilities. I scroll through and settle on a sundress—navy blue with a bright yellow sunflower print. Not as elegant as Eleanor's shimmery cocktail dress, but way more appropriate than my jean shorts and T-shirt.

There. Much better.

With my InstaMakeover complete, I turn my back on the garden gate and square my shoulders. I cant leave now. I need to see this through. The time has come to introduce myself around.

I turn in a slow circle, scanning my lens-covered eyes around the party, and I feel a bit light-headed. Not exactly dizzy, but disconnected from the solid ground—floating above the grass instead of walking through it. My movements feel weightless and frictionless, full of graceful ease. I look down at my feet and do a twirl, my lungs filling with a gasp of pleasure at the way my virtual sundress swirls around my knees.

For the first time since I arrived at Winthrop, I'm glad to be here. I've never experienced anything quite this magical. The InstaLove phone app might be popular, but the VR version totally blows it away.

I lift my head, more steady on my feet now, and the hairs rise on the back of my neck. The level of detail is intense. Did high school students really create all this? Everywhere I look, I see a combination of real and "augmented"—not just the avatars but background scenery too. I recognize the flower beds and stone terraces lined with paper lanterns, but some invisible hand has painted in a screen of palm trees at the far edge of the lawn.

Those trees definitely weren't there before... but what did they replace? Weeping willows, maybe? I resist the urge to lift up my goggles and check, not wanting to break the spell that InstaLove has cast.