Follow Me Back (complete first draft of the published book)

Chapter 10: Battles

Chapter 10: Battles

Tessa lay in her darkened bedroom, staring at the ceiling. It was nearly midnight, but she knew she wouldn't get any sleep tonight. Her sleep schedule was completely out-of-whack at this point - one of the lovely side-effects from staying cooped up inside 24 hours a day. She hadn't seen the sun in months.

It wasn't just a matter of messed up circadian rhythms though. She'd taken a double dose of her anxiety meds an hour ago, but she still felt the grip of barely suppressed panic weighing in on her. What had she been thinking? Her first foray into social interaction with a stranger, and she'd picked a total psycho. She should have known better. She'd totally misread the signs. Spirit animals. . . . It had started off like a typical fan girl conversation. She'd been totally blind-sided by the hateful words that came next. Tessa could still see them now every time she closed her eyes, like they were imprinted on the insides of her eyelids.

"You know what kind of animal Eric Thorn would see, if he ever noticed you existed?"

It wasn't true, of course. As if that Taylor person could see inside Eric Thorn's head, any more than Tessa could. Ridiculous.

Still, the DMs had hit her like a gut punch. They'd knocked the wind right out of her, and Taylor had managed to fire off a whole string of messages before Tessa could gather herself enough to reply.

. . . A nasty, blood-thirsty leech. With no purpose to your miserable, mindless, meaningless existence except to suck.

. . .  And when he saw you there, sucking, he would shudder with disgust

. . . And he would flick you off of himself with the back of his fingernail

. . .  And then you know what he'd do, Tessa? Then he'd forget you ever existed and go about his day.

Tessa rolled over in bed with a groan and reached for her  phone. She knew she shouldn't look at that DM thread again. But, honestly, what difference did it make? She couldn't stop thinking about it anyway.

She toggled to open the conversation and read through the rest of the exchange:

Tessa: Wow. Thanks for the insight. And this is from... who exactly? Oh that's right. An egg.

Taylor: Yeah I'm an egg. You know why I'm an egg? Cuz I actually have a life. In the real world. You might want to try it.

Tessa: You don't know anything about me!

Taylor: Why don't you find a real person to obsess over instead of some douchebag celebrity?

Tessa: For your information I have a boyfriend.

Taylor: Oh really? And what does your "boyfriend" think about your twitter account?

Taylor: And... silence. Isn't that interesting

Tessa: I'm done with this conversation. Bye.

Taylor: You know what I think?

Tessa: Don't know. Don't care

Taylor: I think this "boyfriend" probably doesn't exist. But if he does exist, I feel sorry for him because you're not a very good girlfriend.

Tessa: Wow

Taylor: Probably not a very good person

Tessa: I thought I told you to go away?

Taylor: Am I wrong?

Tessa: You have no idea who I am or what I'm dealing with

Taylor: Oh let me guess. Are the cool kids mean to you at school? Boohoo