Taylor Hanson logged into a chat room, not as MMMBop, but as RedJellybean.
Yeah, that's cute, he thought sarcastically. I'm surprised people even talk to me.
As he entered the "room", he scanned the names of the people chatting. After a moment, his eyes landed on the one he was looking for. Spitfire. Her real name was Ally Field and he had met her in this very chat room about a month before. She had sent him a picture of her around the same time. She was very pretty: Blond hair and strange-neat green eyes that mesmerized him. He had spent many an hour staring at that picture, memorizing every curve and line of her face. Sure, it was a little obsessive on his part, but what the heck?
She had once asked for a picture of him. He had told her that he didn't have one on hand, nor did he have a scanner. White lie number one.
Quickly, he typed a greeting to Ally and waited for her response.
It seemed like forever before she replied. Hey, TJ. What's up?
TJ. White lie number two. He hadn't told Ally his real name, for fear of the repercussions. If she hated his band, there was a chance she'd never talk to him again. On the flip side, if she liked the band, there was a chance she was obsessed and, well, he didn't want to have to deal with that.
He typed, Nothing much, Ally. Just waiting around to talk to you.
Awe, how sweet, Ally said in her response.
You understand the plan, right?
Tracy Dennis grinned at her computer screen. Yup. I sure do, she typed.
Another message popped up on her AOL Instant Messenger and Tracy read it. You're still coming, right? her sister had written.
Of course, Tracy typed. I leave tomorrow.
