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"...meron? Camer— Cameron!" Cooper's voice laughed as he held onto my right arm. "You almost fell! How come you're so sleepy and slouchy today? You always sit with your back as straight as an arrow."
"I'm tired," I whined as I forced myself to wake up. Giorgi and Cooper awed and pat my back as I sat up straight on my chair. I couldn't get any sleep last night. Too excited. Confused. I couldn't get over the fact that Cooper kissed me. Twice. Then Cooper and Giorgi's conversation kept coming back to me.
Giorgi said that Cooper wasn't even thinking about breaking up with Erin...but he keeps saying that he's not happy with her. The whole situation confused me for hours. I came up with a plan.
The night before, at three fifty-two AM, I looked through some old journals from middle school. I had all sorts of ideas in it. Ideas that could help me make or break friendships. I had five full journals and two unfinished. All of them were color coordinated:
Black- Conversation starters and ice breakers. I had two of those; one completed journal, one unfinished.
Blue- How to stick up to my harassers. One; unfinished.
Yellow- Gift ideas. Two of those; completed.
Red- How to isolate others from someone that I am interested in/by. Two of those, both completed.
Last night I chose to use some ideas from my red journals. Erin was someone that I wanted isolated from Cooper. Sixty-fourth page from the front cover, thirty-sixth page from the back; The Catfish Idea.
I fool Erin and message her through a fake account. A fake account that is ran by me. My catfish idea was going to take time though. I needed to find out what kind of man or woman she would find irresistible enough to leave Cooper.
To find out what kind of person she would leave Cooper for, I needed to do a little bit of spy work. The tools I needed to perform said spy work and get away with it cost around a thousand dollars, give or take. I needed at least 30 tiny cameras which would cost me five, maybe six hundred dollars if I get some low grade ones, and I needed at least ten tiny microphones which would cost somewhere around six hundred, probably six-hundred-fifty dollars.
I could easily pay for the items I needed, thanks to my mom and her ex, Jackson, sending me so much all the time to keep me from trying to kill myself again. It's kind of pointless. I tried to kill myself again about a month ago. Failed to overdose on ibuprofen and Tylenol. It really took a toll on me when I woke up on the bathroom floor with a back and neck cramp.
Anyways, I needed to set up my equipment unbeknownst to Cooper. He's a terrible liar. If Erin found one he'd stutter and tremble as much as if he were me trying to talk my way out of a beating from the biggest football player I know. However, I had to do it with him around.
If I'd just sneaked in and gotten walked in on by him or Erin, Cooper might think I'm weird and not want to be my friend anymore. I would need to do it whenever he invited me over, but I couldn't just bring a bag one day and then stop.
From now on, whenever he or Giorgi invites me over, I'll bring a bag big enough to contain all of my supplies. It won't hold my gear each and every time, no. All I need is to set my bag down once and have someone go through it for my phone, stumble over my cameras, and then boom! Back to being lonely and bullied for being a creepy weirdo.
No, instead, I'll pack my backpack full of inhalers, a couple spare turtlenecks, three Carmex chapsticks, a water bottle, and some other pieces of plastic to clack around every time I moved my bag. That way whenever I bring my spy cameras and microphones, the clacking of the items won't be such a foreign sound to Cooper or anyone else around. I'll need to carry a decoy bag for about a week or so before and after I set up my spy equipment. That way no-one will suspect anything.
For hours I've been stuck on how I'm going to buy my supplies. Ordering through Amazon would prevent me from having to go to a public store, but then my order history is there. Buying everything with cash at a store leaves me utterly untraceable, however, I would have to talk to another human being that is not Cooper or Giorgi, and I might have a panic attack.
Decision making. Not my forte.
"Giorgi," I started. "Say you're incredibly isolated, paranoid, and awkward, and you were trying to buy something that you didn't want to be traced back to you. Do you order online or in a store?"
Both Giorgi and Cooper looked at me with utter confusion in their eyes and expressions. "What are you trying to buy?" They questioned warily. "Something that I want to be kept a secret," I replied, rubbing my tired eyes.
Cooper leaned towards my ear and whispered: "Are you trying to buy a toy or something?"
What could I say? Either I lie and say I'm getting a toy or I say no and let both of my friends think too far and hard about the question I'd asked, and suspect me of buying something creepy. However, if I actually said yes, neither of them would believe me and they'd think oddly about me.... It was one hell of a game of Taboo I was playing here, but in the end I just kept my mouth shut and gave both of my friends short, embarrassed glances, allowing them to believe that I was getting a toy.
"Ohhh, nice~!" Cooper beamed. "Wait, you're not getting it for Graham, are you?" Giorgi hit Cooper's shoulder and glared at him, growling: "So what if he is? You don't have a say on whatever goes on between them. You have a girlfriend, and Graham doesn't. If his boyfriend wants him to get a toy, then tuff titties, Cooper. Go home and cry into Erin's."
My eyes instinctively widened at Giorgi's cold, bitter tone, and Cooper stared at him with an utterly shocked and angered expression. It was obvious that they'd argued about this more than just yesterday when they stepped out of class. I didn't want to interrupt my friends, but at the same time I didn't want them to keep arguing. Plus I needed an answer to my question.
"Guys, I-I need help. What should I do," I asked, grabbing a hand of both Cooper and Giorgi. "If-If you're super paranoid and awkward, but you don't want...the toy to be linked back to you, what do you do?"
"Go to the store. Pay with cash," Giorgi answered. "Did you forget he said you're super paranoid and awkward? You can't talk to people without freaking out," Cooper hissed. "Self checkout, idiot," Giorgi seethed. Cooper chuckled angrily at Giorgi's bitterness and started to stand up, but I immediately grabbed his right front pants pocket and begged him to sit back down. "Let go of me, Cameron," he fumed, glaring over to Giorgi who sat casually in his seat, gazing back at Cooper with an unfazed expression.
"Cooper, please? Please sit down," I implored. "Please, Coop? For me? Please?" Cooper turned his glare away from Giorgi, and softened it on me for a while before sitting back down in his seat. "Thank you," I said almost at a whisper. "Whatever," he muttered, hurting my feelings a bit. "Hey, don't you dare get mad at Cameron just because you can't get in his pants before Graham does," Giorgi commanded, making Cooper shoot up out of his chair and storm out of our classroom.
"Giorgi!" I growled as I rubbed my face. "Cooper! Wait," I called as I followed after my best friend into the halls. Once I caught up, I grabbed his arm and slid my grip down to his hand. "Coop—"
"Let go," he ordered, keeping his eyes off me. "Don't leave me," I requested, gazing into his eyes. "Please look at me Cooper... Tell me you won't leave me alone."
"Let go of my hand, you're not alone. Giorgi's—"
"Giorgi's not my best friend. You are. I can't go to class without you. You're my partner and that's our class together. You walked in with me so you have to walk out with me, right?"
Cooper finally met my eyes, although it was with a glare. "Come over to my apartment as soon as class ends. Don't let Giorgi know you're coming," he said sternly. "Wha— You're leaving me...? B-but my anxiety, a-an-and my— my horrible social skills, Cooper. I-I-I—"
"You're fine. I'll be back in five minutes. I'm just going to the restroom. I'll never leave you by yourself, dummy. I know how sucky you are at talking to people. You're like a laggy, glitchy, broken record," Cooper scoffed, squeezing my hand. "Now, stop your stuttering and get to class. I'll see you in a little bit."
"Promise?" I questioned. "Pinky promise," Cooper replied, linking pinkies with me. "Oh! And I like when you call me Coop, so....please stop. You're killing me." I giggled at Cooper's words and he ruffled my hair before sending me off to go back to class.
Upon arriving back at my seat beside Giorgi, a paper ball had been tossed at my shoulder. Giorgi picked it up and grabbed my hand, telling me that he was going to handle it.
I felt a little bit of my inner peace crumble at the fact that I was still getting harassed childishly in college, but I did my best to convince myself that I was the wrong person to be hit with the ball of paper. It was just an accident. Whoever did it meant to hit their friend beside me or something. I wasn't the target.
"Hey! Who threw this?!" Giorgi questioned loudly. I grabbed his arm and gave him a soft smile, but it was in vain seeing as Giorgi locked his attention on someone behind us. "Didn't know you were into dudes, Giorgi. Had I known, I would've tried to set you up with my brother," a guy around Giorgi's build said mockingly. "Apologize to him," Giorgi ordered.
"Tell your boyfriend to open the ball," the guy chuckled. I looked at the crumpled paper ball, but Giorgi didn't bother to hand it to me as he opened it himself. "Hey, I said let your boy-toy open it," the guy exclaimed, getting up from his seat. "'Here's my number, text or call me whenever you're free, Curls. Signed, Hunter Ball,'" Giorgi read loudly as Cooper entered our class. "Hunter's into guys," one of my classmates questioned. Almost immediately a chorus of questions about Hunter's romantic and sexual preferences flooded the room.
I turned around to face Hunter, and I was instantly given a cold glare by him. "Fix your eyes," Cooper commanded, standing in front of me. "And he's taken so—" Cooper grabbed the crumpled paper from Giorgi and walked over to Hunter, slapping it down in front of him— "There ya go, Ball."
The scene was confusing, and not just for me. Every classmate that heard and saw everything from beginning to end had confusion written all over their faces.
"Wait, who is that kid? How long has he gone here?" Students murmured, some pointing at me. A part of me was very happy that nobody really knew that I existed, but Hunter's acknowledgement of me made me wonder...
1. Why did he acknowledge my existence today and not any other?
2. Was he working with Erin to get in the way of my and Cooper's friendship?
3. Was I going to have to get rid of him too?
And 4. How will I get rid of him?
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I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Much love to youuuuu!