Online Meet

Made by: Ann Toni Andrey

Grade: 10

 

Settled on a chair with the nearest window to gaze off, Eve would unlikely listen to her teacher’s lectures and would often drift away from reality considering how easily bored she gets in class. Judging from her daydreaming session, we can see that she’s an outcoming person who looks for fun to keep herself entertained. On the other hand, we have Milla who is furthermore intense. She’s known as the troublemaker, although she isn’t a delinquent. Even if they argue frequently, their friendship is unbreakable.

When school break began, Milla excitedly ran towards Eve with the gossip she had heard when she was in the restroom. Milla started squealing about an app where you could text different people from all over the nation and get to know one another. Eve felt a little uncomfortable since Milla told her to try the app along with her. After a lot of convincing, Eve finally agreed to download the app even though she was still skeptic.

After school ended, Milla reminded Eve to download the app even though Eve didn’t know what it was called hoping Milla would forget to mention it. They separated to opposite roads to head back home; and at last, Milla yelled “It’s called ‘Online Meet’ by the way!! Don’t use your real name too!!” Eve looked at her with an irritated face since she just told her after being separated. (They were 10 meters away).

When Eve arrived at home, she exhaustedly went straight to bed after dealing will her psychotic friend, Milla. While resting her head, she remembered about the app. She was thinking if it was safe to talk to random people online. At least she still has some sense in mind. She then recalled Milla yelling to use a different name rather than her real one and got convinced for that reason. After downloading Online Meet she thought of “star_gazing7” as her username and added her interests on her profile. She didn’t really explore the app so she ended up taking a shower and went on to her routine.

The next day, Milla startled Eve as a greeting. While Eve was bashing her (since Milla startled her), Milla then remembered about “Online Meet” and asked her how she felt about it. After knowing Eve didn’t talk to anyone yet, Milla on the other hand, met plenty of people and wanted to introduce them to Eve. It was just one day and now she’s miss popular.

Eve said, “Aren’t you a bit obsessed with this app? You don’t even know them at all.”

Milla then said, “So…? It’s not like they know me in real life. Besides, I’m here to have fun!”

Eve was poker-faced and didn’t seem to care for her safety anymore.

Their homeroom teacher arrived and ended their conversation. Then Milla suddenly whispered, “You never know if you would get a boyfriend~”

Eve immediately smacked her and got punished when she was caught by the teacher. Although she didn’t mind at all since it was worth it.

When it was PE class, they had some time off so the teacher didn’t mind when they were using their phones. Milla, of course, started babbling about how nice the random people she met in “Online Meet”. Yet again, Eve did not seem to care. After Milla stopped babbling about it, she made a deal where Eve should meet at least one person in order for her to get treated a free meal. Eve has a deep affection for food, so there’s no way she’s saying no to that.

While Eve was rushing to look for someone to talk to, Milla glared at her realizing she only wants the free meal and didn’t want to meet new people. When PE class ended, Eve found a guy who had the same interests as she did but couldn’t strike the conversation since they weren’t allowed to use their phones anymore.

During their History class, Eve received a message from the app. It was the same guy she found when PE class ended.

“moonlit99” was his username and he said “star_gazing eh? I guess we both keep our head up in the sky.”

 Eve was dumbfounded by his message since it was an odd greeting. When Eve was about to reply back, the history teacher confiscated her phone and wasn’t able to reply back. Milla looked at her and asked, “Was it a boy??” with a smug face. Eve was close to bashing her again but the teacher stopped her with a look. After getting her phone back when class ended, she had forgotten about the guy who texted her and went on to her day.

When she got back home, she checked her phone to see if there were any messages from Milla and suddenly remembered about the odd guy. She checked the app, and found another message from him.

“Now tell me why this is your username?”

She felt as if he was a creep or a stalker but ignored that thought and answered him back.

She texted, “Stars are fascinating to look at.”

After a few seconds, he quickly replied and said,

“Well, the moon is fascinating to look at too. Call me Moon and I’ll call you Star.”

Starting from that day, Eve had forgotten the thought of him as a creep and got to know one another.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Eve was eating lunch with Milla, she bragged at Milla saying that she found a person to talk to and tried to get the free meal that she had promised. Milla then asked who she talked to. After Eve discussed about Moon, Milla squealed like a chipmunk and got excited for Eve.

“So, where is my free meal?” Eve asked.

 “You’ll get it when I have enough lunch money~” Milla smiled innocently.

Once again, Eve started bashing her until she heard a notification from her phone. It was Moon.

“Star, did you know schoolwork is tiring on my side? I wonder if your class ended yet.” Moon texted.

Milla began to look like the Grinch to tease Eve.

“Aren’t you going to answer him back?” Milla asked with a flirtatious tone.

Eve pushed her away and answered Moon back.

“I’m eating lunch at school right now. Have you eaten yet?” Eve texted.

“I guess our time zones are different. I just finished classes. And yes, I finished eating!” Moon texted back.

Eve felt a strange feeling after seeing that message from Moon but she shrugged it off.

The bell rang and they had to get back to classes.

“Classes are starting. Talk to you later.” said Eve.

“Make sure you don’t daydream!” said Moon. Eve chuckled and went on with her class.

When school ended Eve rushed home excitedly just to talk to Moon.

They both loved to talk to each other and never realized they grew to have feelings for one another. Their friendship grew stronger, so as their trust and love. Months flew by and their friendship is as strong as ever.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Arrived home! Still doing schoolwork as usual?” Eve asked

“I was waiting for you.” Moon said. He seemed a little off even though it was through a text message.

“Why so? Anything wrong?” Eve asked worriedly

“Nothing wrong at all. I just realized I never mentioned why this is my username.” Moon said. Eve still worried about him but didn’t intend to ask him since she thought she was overthinking it.

“Go ahead and talk about whatever you have in mind. But why now?” Eve asked.

“I was just recalling how we first met. ‘moonlit99’ has a meaning” Eve started getting confused on why he was talking about this.

“It’s incomplete. The number 99 should be 100 and there’s one thing missing. But now I realized it’s no longer 99. I can say its complete now.” Moon said.

Eve got more confused since he doesn’t usually sound this serious.

“Noah.” Moon said.

“Noah…? Who’s that? Are you okay?” Eve asked.

Moon didn’t reply back.

“Hey!! Don’t leave a cliffhanger!” Eve texted again.

Days flew by and he never replied back.

“Moon? Hope you’re doing well! Text me back when you see this!” Eve texted.

Months flew by and still no response.

“Moon, where’d you go?” Eve texted once more.

A year has passed. He was gone.

“I miss you… Noah.”

That was her last message to Moon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Until this day, she wishes she told him her real name before he disappeared.

She wishes she could tell him that she loved him.

She strongly hoped for him to come back.

 

Her 100 is now 99 without him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The End

 

Thank you for reading!