Little Green Stars

Chapter 8-Sweet Dreams

"Who wants the last piece?" Maeve asks, looking annoyed at the half-eaten piece of pizza on my plate. "Vel, are you going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," I reply without breaking my daze out the window.

It's the truth. I'm not hungry. In fact, I'm low key freaking out. But, if I don't attend Maeve's mandatory family dinner, then she'll be all over me. I don't have time for her right now.

"Well damn, I'll eat it if you don't want it," Jaxson says, reaching over me to nab it.

"Is this about the house?" Maeve asks, annoyed.

"No," I murmur back, keeping my unfocused gaze out the window.

"Well, when you're done being dramatic, I have something for the two of you to do," Maeve replies, with growing excitement in her voice."I just might change your sour attitude," Maeve says, standing to collect her and Sila's plate.

Jaxson waves his hands over my glazed eyes.

"What?" I ask, shaking my head to wake myself up.

"What the hell is wrong?"

I roll my eyes and ignore Jaxson as Maeve comes back to the table with her I-pad.

"Here," she says, setting it down in front of Jaxson and me.

"What?" Jaxson asks.

"Turn it on."

"Okay?" Jaxson says, unlocking the I-pad. "Now what?"

"Now go to Craigslist and then..." Maeve pauses for dramatic effect. And she thinks I'm the dramatic one.

"And?" Jaxson asks, confused.

"Start searching for used cars."

"For us...?" Jaxson's eyes light up while mine glaze back over.

"Yes, you each get to pick your own—ten-thousand limit for each. Choose wisely. I want them to last you two through college."

"Ten-thousand limit?! Are you serious, mom?!" Jaxson jumps up in excitement as I remain unmoved.

Jaxson's joy soon turns radio silent as his eyes meet mine.

"I'm open Thursday after school to take you guys shopping," Maeve says, ignoring my quiet contempt.

"Vel, want to look with me?" Jaxson asks, poking at me cautiously with his foot.

Jaxson and I have been dying to get a car since we got our licenses. So, obviously, the fact that she's letting us get new cars is exciting. But the reality is that it's just blood money. She knows it. Jaxson knows it. And I know it. And honestly, I can't focus on the excitement of a new car OR my anger over my house being sold. Not when I'm losing my mind.

"I'm tired," I say, standing up.

"Come on, Vel," Jackson says as I start jogging upstairs.

"You're welcome!" Maeve calls after me.

I have to stop myself from slamming my door. I'll save that for another time. Right now, I need to figure out what the hell is going on. Step one: figure out how to stay awake. Until I talk to Jin and find out what he knows, I can't risk going to sleep. I sprawl across my bed and open up my phone. My Instagram has like twenty notifications. I don't even have to open it to know what it's about. Instead, I shake out my red hair and raise my phone for a long, side angled photo of me flipping off the camera and then post it to my story with the caption, Sweet dreams to all my haters. Red lady out. That'll give all those assholes something to talk about.

I exit my Instagram app to google "Sleep paralysis" and "ghosts," but my curiosity spikes. I find myself opening my Insta app back up and go to Rina's page to click on to her followers. I scroll down the list until I see him: Jin Caldwell. This has to be him, and his page isn't private. Wow. I literally stalked this guy, broke into his house, and now I'm creeping on his Insta. Is this what it means to be a stage five clinger?

Five-hundred and twenty-two followers, not a lot but also not a crazy amount. Following over seven hundred, mostly meme pages and girls—typical. No current story and no highlights. Weird but okay. No one tagged him in the video earlier today, and they probably have no idea what his name is. I scroll, looking through his posts, the last one being a house with a #outofwhere and #noplacelikehome. So he's a hastager but not an overhastager. I scroll through some random modern-looking street art photos. So, he's artsy-fartsy. He likes to cook. There's several photos of him making "Japanese food art," cute little penguins out of rice with a #gordonramseycansuckit. So, he's kind of funny and clever.

There's plenty of photos of him and his man-bun dad at baseball games decked out in Dodgers gear. Also, pictures of him playing baseball in a highschool jersey—so he's a little jockey. But not too jockey because there's no mirror selfies, no overly douchebagy photos, and no #doyoueverliftbro photos. He has no music tags or quotes on any post, so it's hard for me to gauge who exactly he is. Music is basically the teenage anthem. It's how we express to the world who we are and what we are feeling without being vulnerable enough to actually say it. But his Insta has nothing, so I'm left wanting to know more.

Who exactly is Jin Caldwell besides someone who likes to cook, loves baseball, and likes street art? The more I scroll, the more I notice he is really cute. Like cute in an I could swoon over him way but also cute because he looks like a genuinely nice, non-douchebag type guy. Is that weird to think a guy who literally runs away from you is kind of hot? I scroll back up through his posts. But apparently too vigorously because my thumb slides over the follow button.

I drop the phone and freeze as panic runs through me. Now he's going to know that not only did I break into his house, but I also stalk his Insta! I get up and pace. Do I unfollow? Yes, I should unfollow. I go to reach for my phone, but as I unlock it, a notification pops up: @baseballJin45 has requested to follow you. CRAP! Do I accept or decline? My hands become sweaty against the phone, and before I know it, my fingers decide for me: accept.

Within seconds of accepting, a DM drops. It's him. I hold my breath, and I open his reply to my story: Plz don't come for me 2nite.

*Hey guys, if you are still enjoying Little Green Stars, then be sure to vote. -Barbara :)