Snapped

Chapter One

Ari gasped, the whole high school cafeteria faded from her vision and the noises dimmed as she gazed at her phone. Shyla and Thea looked up from theirs.

“What?” demanded Thea leaning on her elbows across the lunch table. No matter what Thea said, it always sounded like a command. 

Ari brushed off the feeling; she wouldn’t let Thea ruin her news, this might be the most exciting thing that had happened to her in her fourteen years. Rowdy students shrieked and bantered around them as they ate, the smell of pizza at war with that of tacos.

Ari leaned toward her friends, careful not to let her hair fall into her burrito and whispered, “Cade Waters added me on snapchat.” Speaking this truth out loud sent a hot flush to Ari’s face.

“No way,” said Shyla pulling out her earbuds and checking her phone her eyes were sparkling with glee at the announcement.

Thea looked up from her phone, frowning. “I didn’t get a notification from him,” she stuck out her lower lip. “Why would he add you? I’ll probably get mine… I mean we’ll probably get ours next.” She glanced at Shyla as she amended her statement.

Thea’s comment hurt, but Ari tried not to take it personally because she knew what Thea meant. Of the three girls at this part of the McQueen High lunch table, Thea was the prettiest. She had long chestnut hair and huge green eyes. She was built like a pixie, the kind of girl that guys loved to pick up and toss around, while she fake-screamed at them to stop.

Shyla was cute in an edgy, artsy way. She loved to mess with her hair which was currently shaved off one side and spiky on top with blue tips. Guys found her – interesting—at least. She had a fantastic sense of style, rocking legging and colorful shirts that she found at thrift stores.

Ari was, well, not memorable. She had average looks, boring brown hair, and was of medium height, and, she still had braces. The only thing that wasn’t average about Ari, was her chest. It had been the bane of her existence since she was eleven. It was the one things boys noticed about her and she hated it. It started in middle school with too many, “accidental bumps,” the awkward slow dances, and she hated the way boy’s eyes drifted to her chest when they were talking to her. She tugged at her oversized sweatshirt at the memories.

“Are you going to add him back?” Shyla asked, her blue eyes catching the glint of the blue streaks in her short hair.

“Already did,” said Ari, a thrill at the thought sending tingles down her spine. Cade Waters was only the most popular senior in their high school, she’d have to be crazy to ignore his add.

“Eeeeeeek” squealed Shyla as if the event was happening to her. She and Ari had been besties since third grade and Ari knew Shyla was genuinely excited for her. “But how did he get your user name?”

“I don’t know,” said Ari, mystified.

“Does he have your number?” guessed Thea, flipping her hair off her shoulder, which Ari knew was something Thea did when she was irritated, although why she would be irritated by Ari’s good news was a mystery to Ari.

“Not that I know of,” said Ari.

“Is it on your twitter?” asked Thea.

To Ari, this was starting to feel like an inquisition. She didn’t know why the senior hottie had added her, she just wanted to celebrate the fact that he did! “Um, it could be.”

“That’s got to be it then,” said Thea. “I’ll have to add mine to my twitter.

Things were complicated with Thea. Thea was a junior and had moved to Reno mid-semester. Wakely Jones, the junior class president had dragged Thea up to Ari and Shyla, who were only freshman, and introduced her. He said, “This is Thea, she’s new. You two are sweeties, could you show her around?” Ari had been pleased that someone as popular as Wakely Jones thought she and Shyla were sweet. How did he even know that?

“Of course,” they’d both said and the three had been inseparable for the last four months. 

Frankly, Ari was surprised that Thea had stayed with them. She must have gotten to know some juniors by now, and could easily find a more popular group, but she seemed content to hang-out with them. Maybe, because she can be the queen bee with us, thought Ari, neither of us will fight for that title.

The phone buzzed in Ari’s hand and she held it out to the girls as she tapped the snap. It was the gorgeous face of Cade Waters. He had sent her a direct snap with the words, “Hi cutie,” scrawled across it. The three held their breath as the seconds ticked around the little clock in the upper right hand corner and the picture vanished.

“Did you screenshot it?” asked Shyla.

“No. Shoot! I should have screenshotted it,” said Ari.

“No. That would have been weird and stalkery,” said Thea.

Ari’s heart was beating fast and her face was hot. “Hi cutie?” Did he really just send her that? Oh she wished she’d thought to save it for proof, but Thea was right. If you screenshot a snap, it let the sender know you had done it, and that would have felt too desperate. But, no one had ever called her cutie before. Well, her dad did, but no one like Chad Waters.

“What does it mean? What should I do?” she felt like she might hyperventilate.

“It means…” drew out Shyla, “Cade Waters thinks you’re cuuute!”

“Quick,” said Thea, swinging her legs off the bench and coming around to Ari’s side of the table. “Shyla, come here.” She waved the girl over impatiently. Shyla did as she was instructed. “Now, Ari, take a pic of the three of us and send it back.”

Ari wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. Cade had written her after all and putting her pretty friends in the picture might blow any chance she had. But, what was she thinking? It was Cade Waters. She had no chance. And, this will be good, it will look casual, right? No big deal. We’re just all friends, right?

She held up the phone and took three pics. When they agreed on the best one she prepared to send it. “What should I write? How about, “Hi, handsome?”

“Write, ‘chilling with my posse,’” said Shyla.

“Uh… no and no, honestly you two,” said Thea with an eye-roll. “Just write, ‘Hey!’ You’ve got to take this slow. You don’t want to come across as a geek or too needy. You don’t want to scare him away.”

Bowing to Thea’s expertise in the world of men, Ari scrawled “Hey!” with the virtual pencil across the top of the picture, and pushed send. The bell rang and Ari’s heart dropped. Her next class was gym and Coach Tomaso had a strict “no phone” policy. 

The girls looked at each other grimly. “Well,” said Thea, “We’ll catch up in theater. But if you get anything else, don’t save it!” Thea grabbed her book bag and headed to Algebra Two, while Ari and Shyla turned toward the gym.

“Oh, my god,” said Shyla. “I can’t even believe it. It’s like something out of a Zach Braff movie.” Shyla loved movies and had a reference for every occasion.

Ari had watched many Zach Braff movies with Shyla but wasn’t sure what she meant. It didn’t matter, Ari was just happy. “I know, right?” 

They left the enclosed cafeteria in a cattle drive of students and entered the covered walkways outside. The courtyard was bare because of the weather, which had been a sunny seventy degrees’ yesterday, was now a frigid thirty-five with snow flurries falling from a gray sky. Spring in Reno was so unpredictable, you could be boiling one minute and freezing the next, it was impossible to know how to dress. Ari barely noticed the cold, Cade Waters had called her “Cutie.”

Where was he when he’d sent that snap? Could he have been in the cafeteria watching them as they ate? She should have chosen a salad instead of a burrito. Did he have a secret crush on her? Did he know about her secret crush on him, that she’s spent nights dreaming about his eyes, his smile, his touch?

“Ari?” said Shyla loudly.

Ari jerked back from her friend’s hand which was waving in front of her face. They were standing in front their gym lockers in the girl’s locker room and Ari didn’t even remember getting there. Girls were laughing, talking, banging lockers as they changed into their gym clothes.

“You didn’t hear a thing I just said, did you?”

“Um, I’m sorry.”

“I said, what do we even really know about this guy?”

Ari glanced nervously around them. Shyla’s voice echoed off the cement walls. Ari wasn’t sure she wanted the whole school to hear about she and Cade. She lowered her voice, “What do we know about Cade Waters? Only that he’s super popular and hot!”

“Not enough,” said Shyla. “I’m going to put my investigative reporter hat on and find out who this guy is!”

Ari laughed, and opened her locker. Shyla loved nothing more than a good mystery, and thought they existed everywhere because she watched too many crime shows. “You do that. In the meantime, I’ll be floating off to paradise with,” she whispered, “Cade Waters…”

“That’s okay,” Shyla ruffled her short spikey hair, a gesture Ari knew meant she was hot on the trail of a story, “I would be too. But, I’m still gonna check him out. Let’s get together after school, okay? I don’t want to miss anything.”

“Of course!” agreed Ari. She’d need her friends now more than ever. This was the first time a high school guy had given her any attention and she didn’t want to blow it.

Chapter Two

Ari, Thea and Shyla sprawled on Ari’s queen-sized bed, talking and laughing. Cade Waters, like most people her age, snapped a lot, documenting his every move. She enjoyed seeing the snaps on his story, a series of pictures about a particular event or day, but he hadn’t sent no more direct snaps to Ari. Still the girls had fun giggling about the stories snaps he posted and speculating about he and his friends of, which he had a ton -- male and female. Thea and Shyla made comments about which of his friends they would like to date, but Ari only had eyes for Cade.

Finally, the girls had to go. Thea Shyla a ride home, but since Shyla only lived a few blocks away, she declined. The room was quiet after they left, Ari was glad to have some time to think. She sat up on her bed, with its red furry bedspread that she had picked out herself, and plucked at the inch-long strands of red synthetic hair.

Ari loved her room. Her folks had given her free rein over decorating it and Ari had painted the walls a dark sand color and used red rugs and the bedspread as accents. She’d even found this vintage hanging red tulip lamp that hung over her bed so she could see to read. Then, she’d painted some old frames red and filled them with posters of beaches. She loved beaches and she felt the color combination was very restful. Her room was her sanctuary.