That time I got rejected three times on the same day!

Chapter 27

As soon as we got home I showered and changed. I found the piece of paper in the clothes I wore to school and headed for the computer. Our computer sat in the lounge and it was difficult to get a private moment on it. Mother and father never read what I was typing, but Vicky always came over wanting to see who I was talking to. Father had arrived home late and was watching the news on the TV. He was always tired after work. I switched on the computer and booted it up. It was an older model and quite slow. I begged my parents for a new one, but I knew they didn't have the money for it. I would have to work, if I wanted a new one. Unlike the other things I bought myself, a new computer was much more expensive. Finally the operating system had loaded up and I opened up the dial-up connection.

"I'm going to use the internet," I called through the house.

It was good etiquette to do so. Our internet and phone line shared the same connection and couldn't be used at the same time. If someone called while the internet was on, the internet connection would shut off and let the call through. If I tried to dial-up while someone was on the phone, I was able to hear their conversation through the computer's speakers. I heard the dial-up tone ring up and establish a connection. I loaded up the MSN messenger, one of the more popular chat programs, and looked at the address Rhea had given me. I rolled my eyes; it was 'xoxgoddessxox@hotmail.com'. She was online. I opened a new window and sent a simple message.

'Hi.'

I waited a moment and heard the message tone. She had replied.

'Who is this?'

'Henry.' I sent back.

The pause was longer this time.

'Hi Henry. How r u [smiley face]?"

'Not so good.'

'Y is that [sad face]?'

'I made Neris cry after school.'

A long pause, I was staring at the screen waiting for a reply.

'I know [sad face].'

I typed 'What? How?' into the reply window, but the next message from Rhea appeared before I could send.

'She told me everything. I'm talking to her now.'

I deleted my previous message and typed a new one.

'Can I talk to her?'

'Wait [smiley face] Let me ask'

Another pause.

'She doesn't want to talk to you now [sad face]'

'Is she mad?' I replied.

I drummed my fingers on the desk as I waited for a reply. I could smell mother's cooking from the kitchen.

'No. She said she just isn't ready to talk right now [sad face]'

'Can you tell her I won't be at school tomorrow?'

'Okies y is that [smiley face]'

I lied.

'Parents are making me stay home to rest.'

'Awww [sad face] I was looking forward to seeing you tomorrow'

I stopped drumming my fingers.

'Really?'

'Yeah [smiley face] rnt we friends now?'

'Yes' I replied.

'[smiley face]'

I didn't really get a chance to talk to Rhea at school. Thinking back to today I only said something briefly when we were introduced and we only talked about Neris when we were waiting for her. I met a lot of girls online. It was easy to talk to them behind the anonymity of the internet. Real life was much harder and more complex. I don't think I could have handled a real conversation with Rhea at school. The smiley face was still hanging in the chat window. Follow the conversation I could head it off from there.

'But, I don't know much about you.'

The reply was almost instantaneous.

'Okies [smiley face] wat do u want to know?' Talking to girls on the internet was simple. The protocol was straight forward. If it was a stranger, you would first try and find out if it was a real girl, or just a guy pretending to be one, or if they were internet police. Internet police, also called cyber police, would often pretend to be an underage girl to catch criminals. It wasn't really an issue for me, because I was a kid, but I didn't want to waste time talking to a fake person. I could skip these two steps because I had met Rhea in real life. The next step after that was either finding out about their hobbies or music tastes. Music was a safe bet, it always led somewhere, and you could always use google to look up stuff and pretend you knew what they were talking about. Hobbies were a little different; you needed in-depth knowledge to talk about hobbies. If you didn't share hobbies the conversation could fizzle out.

'What music do you like?'

A pause.

'Hmm, I like jazz and classical music.'

Good, something I can work with. At least Ms.Hockney's classes are good for something.

'Oh wow, me too. Do you know Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, and Chet Baker?'

This wasn't a lie. I did actually enjoy the music.

':D I love Gershwin, one of my favourite songs is but not for me.'

Bingo.

'Ms.Hockney was teaching us that today.'

'O really [smiley face] that's how I developed my taste for jazz.'

So it wasn't a coincidence after all. I heard mother was calling from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready."

"Coming mother," I replied.

I still wanted to apologise to Neris.

'Can you say sorry to Neris for me please?'

'Okies [smiley face] hold on'

Another pause.

'She said she is going to slap you :P'

'Can you send her another message?'

'Okies [smiley face] wat msg?'

'Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry'

'Hold on [smiley face]', 'She says you are in big trouble :D'

Mother was putting out the dinner plates.

'Okay g2g dinner'

'Okies [smiley face] Neris says she is still mad. Have a good night Henry '

'Tell her sorry for me. bye'

':O okies byebye'

I turned off the internet and shut down the machine. I had learned a little more about Rhea and it was going to be easier to talk to her now that we had something in common, but nothing was resolved with Neris. She was still mad and I still hadn't figured out what she had wanted in the library. Why would a girl say no to a date? I would have to think about it tonight.