It's Our Secret.

Chapter One.

I dropped the paintbrush and stepped back to examine my piece. I felt a slight headache come along as my eyes scanned each and every stroke I had made, ever critical of my work.
"Not good enough!" I said to the empty room. It was a Friday evening which meant date night for my parents, which meant I got to be alone for at least three to four hours. Some needed solitude from loving, but overbearing parents.

I moved to grab my bottle of water when I heard the familiar ping from my phone. A snap from my friend Shannon. I checked the time and rolled my eyes, right on schedule. She always made sure to only indulge in social media after six in the evening, saying that too much time on social media numbs her brain and stumps her "creative flow".

I opened her snap and smiled at her pouty face staring up at me. The picture was captioned "why did God have to create maths?!" I laughed and looked over at my schoolbag. I had a heap of maths homework I had been trying to forget about all evening, but thanks to Shannon I heard Pythagoras laughing at me from beyond the grave.

I frowned into the camera and snapped a reply, "Thanks. I spent all evening trying to forget about the homework. You're the best!" A few seconds later my phone went off with a response, this time a picture of a cheekily smiling Shannon holding a mug of what looked like hot chocolate captioned "Good luck babe! It's anime time for me. Ttyl ❤" I stuck my tongue out at my phone and tossed it on my bed.

I looked back at my painting one more time and sagged my shoulders in defeat. It'll have to wait for another time. I grabbed my books and sat down on my desk, determined to finish all my homework before the night was over. I wasn't quite sure how much time had passed before I heard the familiar Snapchat alert from my phone.
"Really Shannon?" I got up to retrieve my phone, but was shocked to see an unfamiliar number across my screen. Only those who had my number was part of my chat list. I was even more disturbed to read the text across the black picture,
"Hey! You go to Woodbridge High School?"

"What in the hell?" I stared at the text and then back at the number, I didn't recognise it at all. I quickly responded with a simple "who is this?" My heart dropped at the response. Another black screen with the words "If I told you I'd have to kill ya 👻" I fell down on my bed, my knees giving out under me. I looked out my bedroom window and was terrified to see my parents still weren't home.
"Calm down, Kayla. This must be a joke." I whispered, desperately attempting to calm myself.

Before I could respond another alert went off, from the same number. This time though it wasn't a black screen, but rather a picture of someone's eyes. Bright blue eyes stared up at me through long lashes. The bottom half of the sender's face was covered with what looked like a blanket and dark curly hair fell loosely across the sender's forehead.
Why do those eyes look so familiar?
The caption read "Relax I'm just playing! I'm not good at this social media stuff. It's Hayden Arends. This is Kayla Bell right?"

"Hayden?!" I yelled at the screen, my squeaky voice echoing throughout the house. I looked up at my dresser and stared directly in the mirror, my expression was that of pure shock. Hayden. HAYDEN ARENDS?! How the hell does he have my number?! I gathered myself as much as I could and texted back with shaking fingers "How do you have my number, Hayden?" It was read almost immediately. Damn. Not even Shannon responds that quickly. Another picture came through, this time of his full face. He had an apologetic smile on his face and the caption read "Idk. Your profile was recommended. Like I said, I don't do social media."

I shook my head, trying to unscramble my brain and make sense of what was happening. Hayden. The Hayden Arends was snapping me. On a Friday evening. While I'm supposed to be doing my maths homework.
"What fresh hell is this?" I said to my reflection. She looked more confused than I was. Hayden was known for not having any social media accounts, which just put him higher on the school's female population's wanted list. So why was he on Snapchat? On a Friday evening? And why was he texting ME?!

I went back to our chat and typed out "I thought you didn't have any social media accounts? What gives?" This time he took a while to respond. He and I weren't friends, but we weren't strangers either. We shared a few classes and have a few acquaintances in common, but still! He has tons of friends, best friends! So why was he texting me, a girl he hardly spoke to when he could be talking to them?

I jumped at the sudden sound from my phone and saw two snaps, one from Shannon and one from Hayden. I opened Shannon's first. She was talking about something that happened in the episode she just watched. I scanned through the message and then opened the snap from Hayden. It was a picture of him with his chin resting in his palm, his face turned towards what looked like his bedroom window. The caption read "I wanted to check out this one filter that turned you into the opposite sex, but here we are."

I laughed at that, that filter was a huge trend right now especially among the guys in our grade. I guess he wanted to be part of the fun. I got another snap from Shannon asking why I was ignoring her. Before I could reply I received a snap from Hayden. Instead of his face the screen was black again with the caption "Also, please don't give out my details. Let's keep this our secret, m'kay???"

OUR SECRET?!!