Oxymoronic

Typical Oddness

Matthew Jackson Daniels sighed as she realized what was going on. Again. Each time she thought better of it, yet it happened every time. Seventh grade, eighth grade, and now ninth too. Different grade, different person, same friend. Matthew falls for it each time, and she hated herself for it each time. Just a little more each time. As if she needed any more self-hatred in her self-conscious. Not that her friends would know.

Or care.

Matthew blinked quickly as her eyes started burning.

The sound of her fingers tapping the screen and the vibrations of the keyboard filling her empty room.

How could you! Backspace.

Why do you always do this to me? Backspace.

I'm so happy for you! She typed instead, swallowing down the words she wanted to type.

She pressed the send button.

Matthew pressed the home button on her old, worn Samsung phone she got for her twelveth birthday. The picture of her dream car, the Koenigsegg Agera One:1, could be seen behind the array of apps- a large amount of which being unneeded. She quickly swiped her finger across the cracked screen, watching through blurry eyes as the apps all slid to the right, showing the section she grouped all of her installed messaging apps.

She hovered over the icon for Instagram, considering texting one of her friends from school, but choosing instead to click the blue icon for Discord. She scrolled down the different channels she was in and pressed the one that had some of her most trusted and understanding friends. Sure, they've never met physically, but a year of texting, calling, and ranting brought them close. No barriers were required here. Matthew didn't need to erase her message at least three times- even she is ashamed of her record of 36 times- before sending it.

She smiled when she saw that her friend, Thomas (MasR) and Elizabeth (Cloxwork) were online.

Way  It happened again.
MasR What?
MasR  You overstressed a test?
Cloxwork You embarrassed yourself by saying what you were thinking?
Way No.
Way The thing with Kyra.
MasR Your friend?
MasR The one who you tell you like someone to and they're going out with them a week later?
Cloxwork Ouch.
Cloxwork That sucks.
Cloxwork Who was it this time?
Way A guy named Sean.
Cloxwork Damn.
Cloxwork  You gonna be alright?
Way Sure.

The three friends continued to text through the messenger for an hour, give or take a few minutes. The support of her friends made Matthew feel ten times better about the situation, and Elizabeth and Thomas did a good job helping her forget her troubles.

It was around 7:30 when Matthew's mother came home from work. Matt knew this when she heard the cheerful yabbering of her young, seven-year-old sister. Nicole Daniels spoke to her mother with excitement lacing her voice, explaining all of the things she did with her friends after school. The proud first grader couldn't get over the fact that her friends were able to dance through the entire Cha-Cha Slide without missing a beat or going behind rhythm. At least, in their young minds, they didn't.

The girls' mother, Jasmyn Daniels, smiled at her youngest child. Her eyes were slightly hooded with the tiredness of working for eight hours. Jasmyn felt a twinge of sadness as she listened to Nicole's performance. She wasn't able to make it in time to see the performance but the afterschool teacher, Mr Shiflet, was more than happy with videotaping the performance for her.