• ‘NOO WAY THAT’S TOO KEWL’ I whizzed the text back to Brea so fast that it seemed like her reply took forever.
    ‘I KNOW RIGHT HE JUST WALKED RIGHT UP TO ME AND ASKED ME’ she wrote
    ‘GIRL YOU ARE SOO LUCKY I STILL NEED A DATE I WISH TROY WOULD ASK ME’ I said, making a face as I hit the send button..
    ‘WHY NOT JUST ASK HIM?
    ‘ARE YOU KIDDING ME I CANT……….NOOOOOO WAYYYYY’
    “Jillilillia, are you getting your room cleaned?” My mother shouted up the stairs.
    “Yea, yea I’m getting to it!” I yelled
    “Don’t you use that tone with me, young lady!”
    “Sorry.”
    “Now get your room cleaned!”
    “whatever.” I grumbled
    My phone started to buzz and it flashed the words ‘THREE NEW MESSAGES’ across the screen. I picked it up and snapped it open. The first one was from Brea.
    ‘GIRL YOU BETTER ASK HIM BEFORE TIFFANY GRABBS HIM UP’ Brea had written
    ‘AS IF LAST YEAR HE SPILLED PUNCH ALL OVER HER DRESS I DOUBT HE’D ASK HER OUT AGAIN AFTER ALL THE THINGS SHE CALLED HIM BESIDES EVEN IF I ASK HIM OUT I DON’T THINK HE’D SAY YES.’ I replied. Brea and I had tried the whole, ‘MASH ALL THE WORDS TOGETHER SO YOU SAVE SPACE AND CAN TEXT MORE’ thing, but we always got confused, and we just wasted texts when we had to explain what something said. So we space our words out. I checked the next text, it was from Dakota.
    ‘Lilly, I need help with my homework, you’re the smart one, give me answers!!!!…………….… please?’ Ack, were all the periods REALLY necessary?
    ‘NOOOOOO,’ I typed, ‘IF YOU WANT HELP WITH HOMEWORK, EITHER COME OVER HERE OR ASK YOUR PARENTS. I DON’T GIVE ANSWERS, YOU KNOW THAT’ I pushed the send button.
    I scrolled down my list to the next text. Instead of a name, it was numbers, which meant it was no one I knew, probably just sent to the wrong person. But … Why not read it? I lifted my thumb to push the button, but before I could, my phone buzzed again.
    ‘TWO NEW MESSAGES’ I flipped it open.
    ‘YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT? IF MY PARENTS KNEW THAT I WAS FAILING, THEY WOULD KILL ME!!! I’M COMING OVER.’ Dakota said
    ‘KK’ I punched send and went back to the messages list. That was when my door was thrown open.
    “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM!” My mom shouted.
    “I got some important texts that I needed to tend to.” I said, trying to make it sound as true as possible.
    “Give it here!” She held out her hand
    “But ….
    “NO buts, you can have it back next week!” I sourly slapped the phone in her hand.
    “Two weeks”
    “Ugh, NOOOOOO”
    “Three”
    “MOM!”
    “Four”
    “OH MY GOD FINE”
    “Five, now start cleaning this room.”
    She stormed out, slamming the door behind her.
    “I picked up my dirty clothes, and stuffed them in my hamper, then shoved the hamper in my closet. I grabbed the coats off the floor and hung them on my coat rack. THERE. I hoped she was flipping happy now. My room was clean. I plopped down on my bed and grabbed my Seventeen magazines and I pod off my bed side table, cranking the little machine up as high as it would go. I was reading a section about a movie I really wanted to see when someone tapped my shoulder. Expecting my mom, I pulled my pillow over my head. They tried to pry it off, but I held fast. Suddenly, something was shoved under the pillow and right into my face. It was my phone! I made a grab for it, but it moved out of my grasp.
    I rolled over onto my back and stared into the green eyes of my best friend, Dakota.
    “Want this? Your mom uhh ‘gave’ it to me.” He grinned, handing me the phone.
    “Dakota, you rock!” I said happily, hugging him. He hugged me back for a second
    “So I’ve been told.”
    “Okay, anyway, what was the paper you needed help with?” I asked
    “AH, yes, my world history, I can’t find this answer in my book anywhere.” He said, tapping question fifty two with his pen.
    “Oh yea, that’s a hard one it took me FOREVER to find.”
    “Umm help me with it?”
    “Ack, I don’t remember where I found it.”
    “You’re kidding” Dakota groaned
    “I’ll just read the chapter over again, I’m a quick reader, won’t take more than a minute or two.” I suggested.
    “Aw, you don’t have to, I can read it.” He tried to take the book away from me.
    “No, you got my phone back for me, it’s the least I can do.”
    “Well … if you want to.”
    “Yea, but I want a more comfortable position than this.” I laughed, pointing at my waist that was twisted in a sick looking way.
    “Yeah,” he agreed. I stood up and lay back down on my bed, this time, not twisted. Dakota lay down beside me. “Okay, work your smarty magic.” He teased. I stuck my tongue out at him.
    “Someday, you’re going to have to work your own magic.”
    “Until then, I’ll just have to use yours.”
    I leaned over and shoved him with my shoulder, pushing him closer to the edge of the bed, and then pulled quickly away. Dakota did the same, only he stayed against my shoulder. He was so close, his head rested on my shoulder. Just then a vibration erupted from my pocket. Dakota sighed and pulled back.
    ‘ONE NEW MESSAGE’
    “Oh I forgot about that message.” I said, scrolling down my list
    “What message?” Dakota asked
    “Oh, there was a message on my phone and I never got to read it. But I think they had text the wrong number.” I pushed the OK button and opened the text. I held my breath as I read the text.
    “OH MY GOSH IT”S HIM! OHM GOSH OHM GOSH” I squealed,
    “What? What is it? Who is it?”
    “Troy asked me to be his date to the dance!”
    “But ….
    “I have to tell Brea!” I text Troy a quick yes and left Brea a short text explaining about my date,
    “Ack, I’m sorry Dakota, you were trying to say something?” I looked over at him.
    “But…….I wanted….to…ask you…” Dakota said quietly
    “You…..You did?”
    “Well… I DID want to ask you…..But you have a date now I guess” He stood, grabbed his books and paper and walked towards the door.
    “Dakota…..
    “I should go”
    “What about your homework?”
    “I can try to do it myself.”
    I sprung up off the bed and walked over to him.
    “Dakota, I didn’t know ……. You should’ve told me sooner……you know I would’ve said yes.”
    “Doesn’t matter now anyway, “he said sourly, glaring down at me
    “I can always text him and tell him I have changed my mind” I went over to my bed and picked up my phone. I was typing the message when Dakota laid his hand over mine.
    “Don’t. You want to go with him, I know. So don’t mess this up for yourself for my sake. Just go with him.” His eyes were sad, but he attempted a smile.
    “Thank you Dakota.” I whispered. I sat my phone down on the bed, turned and gave him a hug, burying my face in his shirt. He dropped his books to the floor and hugged me back.
    “What was that?” my mom yelled.
    “Nothing mom, one of Dakota’s books fell off the bed.”
    “Oh, ok, dinner’s in ten minutes.” She paused. “Dakota, will you be staying Hon?”
    “What is she trying to cook this time” he whispered to me. I laughed and pulled out of the hug.
    “Oh come on now, she’s gotten a little better, you have to admit.”
    “Fine… a LITTLE better.”
    “Its tuna sandwich, green beans, popcorn, M&M, and twizzler night.”
    “Popcorn, M&Ms, and twizzlers?” ha asked
    “For the movie we’re watching after dinner.”
    “Hmm, what movie would that be?”
    “The Day I Died.”
    “I heard that’s really scary.”
    “I hope.”
    “Well, I’ll stay.” He said, “Is Wolf inside tonight?”
    “Yea.”
    “Good, I hope your dog likes tuna sandwiches.”
    I didn’t know it but tonight would be when I discovered my power.