"Fire, Hastings. You want to play with fire." The words buzzed in her mind even though she was watching a movie. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was sprawled on the couch in sweatpants and a shirt.
Why couldn't she get it out of her mind!? "Argh!" She kicked her feet in the air.
This was the scene Louisa walked in on after coming back from the gym. "I swear, every time I see you, you are on the verge of becoming homeless," She took off her Airpods that played, "Unholy", by Hey Violet. Strands of her hair fell to her face as she stood behind the couch.
"I am not becoming homeless!" Kayla groaned.
"Well with your current situation, you are bound to become something, and why the heck are you watching 'The Proposal', on a Wednesday morning?"
"What else is there to do?"
"I don't know, maybe exercise your body?"
"Hogwash! I am physically incapable of doing such" Louisa grabbed a pillow and hit Kay in the gut.
"Tell me, what's bothering you?" Louisa moved forward and raised Kayla's leg before sitting down and placing them on her lap.
"Nothing."
"Kayla?" Kayla sighed. "So you remember that scooter guy that bumped into me and set off a chain of catastrophic events?" Louisa nodded, "Yeah."
"Well, I poured boba tea all over his scooter." Her eyes wandered elsewhere as she admitted.
"You did what!?" Louisa slapped her friend's thighs, in disbelief. Kay had done dumb things but vandalizing in broad daylight was stretching it.
"Ow!" She rubbed the spot. "Calm down, it was liquid proof!"
"And if it wasn't?"
"Guess we would never find out, would we?"
"You are petty and super insane. What if he pressed charges?"
"I highly doubt that," she scoffs.
"Wait a moment!" Louisa gasped. "What are you not telling me?"
"Fine, fine, fine." Kayla sat up. "So he caught me in the act and says as payment for his 'crimes', he's going to get me boba tea every morning."
"Now that is what I call an intentional man," Louisa beamed.
"Intentional or stalkal."
"Oh my God! Kayla Hastings, did you just make a word and rhyme with it!? Besides I think he likes you, because which guy would waste a beautiful morning to get a crazy girl boba tea over something he did accidentally?"
"Wow! This must be so nice for you. I'm sure your brain is churning the next poem." Kayla pursed her lips.
"What's his name?" She wiggled her brows.
"Wyatt." Kayla played with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, a blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Well have you, you know?" Louisa leaned in, mischievously.
"Have I what?"
"His contact and socials! Have you gotten it!? Gosh, you are stressing me out! Do I have to tell you everything, for crying out loud, Kayla!?"
"Hey! That's not very demure of you!"
"Oh please, so we have his name so we can get right to it."
"We only have his first name, Loui."
"You are a hacker which makes it very easy for us to get all the information we need."
"Louisa," Kayla's face turned serious. "What you are suggesting is very unethical and unprofessional."
"So we're doing it?" Kayla paused before giggling. "Louisa Dorne, are you suggesting we commit a crime?"
"Maybe." Kayla was speechless. Louisa was the good girl and the grounded girl of the duo which was strange because she read romance books like there was no tomorrow, so this was refreshing to see. She came off as a shy girl but with her friends, she opened up given what happened before.
"What are you waiting for!? Go get my laptop!" Louis laughed and did as she was told. Minutes later she came back with an azure colored laptop.
Setting the computer on the round coffee table, they got to work.
"First, we check his socials." Her hands moved across the keyboard with lightning speed. Louisa's leg was bouncing and she was chewing her nails in anticipation. "Have you seen him?"
"One second…. One second..." She scrolled down the list of names and her Hazel eyes lit up when she saw his picture. "That's him! Wyatt Parker Hudson!"
"Kay! He's the captain of the school's soccer team!" Louisa slapped her mouth in shock.
"And he has blue eyes! Blue! Your favorite color! And how did you meet? That's a total meet cute!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Loui." Kayla rubbed her forehead.
"This is the guy of your dreams, Kay. Blue eyes and all. Why do I feel like I'm the only one who's excited? Don't you like him?" Kayla's left eye twitched. Where did she show non-excitement? She was too observant for her own good.
"It's not that. I don't just wanna catch strong feelings and it would end up like last time?" She pointed out, grimly and Louisa sobered down.
"Why did you have to ruin the vibe by bringing up such negative things? That was years ago, Kay. I want you to be happy, Munchkin, that's all." She cupped her face and pecked her forehead.
"I know."
"Promise me you'll give him a chance if he treats you right?" Kayla smiled. "I promise!" They hugged each other and Kay pushed her away. "You wreak! Go take a shower!"
"Rude!" But Louisa still stood up. "When I come back we are watching anything else but this!" Her finger rounded on the Television.
"Whatever you say!"
Kayla's eyes refocused on the guy in the picture. Tall, very handsome, and had a cute smile that made his features soften, but she wasn't satisfied. A thought popped into her head and she typed, "Oliver Wilde"
She found the account but it was a private account.
A normal person would turn back now and leave before getting caught. Too bad she was far from normal. "You want to play with fire". Maybe he was right that she was impulsive because she hacked into the private account just to get a reaction out of him. Just to piss him off and ruin his day just like he did.
The clock ticking in her head was unbearable because there was no response. Maybe he didn't notice? Maybe he did but he was more mature than her. Or maybe he was busy. Busy doing what? She paced around the living room, her eye jerking. What was he doing? Maybe he wasn't as skilled as everyone thought. Which would mean him being the one of best hackers in the world was all a lie. If it were a lie it would mean he wasn't fit to be a professor and that meant he wasn't supposed to be here which in turn meant…
"Argh!" She pulled her hair out in frustration.
This was ridiculous, even for her. What was she doing? She exhaled and decided to do the responsible thing, but paused in her actions when she got a notification.
[OliverWoodWilde]: Are you stalking me, Hastings?
He replied! Kayla flumped back on the couch. "Yes!" Kayla paused, her fingers hovering over the keys as her mind raced with possible replies. But before she could hit send, something tugged at the back of her mind—what was he doing right now? Was he sitting in his office, arrogant and smug, waiting for her next move? Her curiosity gnawed at her.
Meanwhile, across the city, Oliver got back from a very serious meeting with the shareholders over the recent attacks on their software. Their company protected sensitive information for other companies like a new product they didn't want their competitors to find out about. Now they were responsible for safeguarding a new serum for his friends: Rory and Nate. So this was terrible news to him. He entered the office to bury himself in his work, shoulders slumped and bags under his hooded eyes. When he asked Nate for a new dosage it didn't go so well.
The increased medication was supposed to help, to give him peace, but lately, it hadn't been enough.
"Because of your constitution, your dosage is above normal," Nate's words replayed in his mind. "Any more and that's drug abuse."
"But it's not working anymore," Oliver had protested last time, rubbing his temples in the same exhausted, frustrated way.
"Have you been getting any rest? Have you been overworking yourself?" Nate had asked, his brow furrowed with concern.
Of course, he had. There was no rest, not with the breach in the security system. Not with the constant pressure. One mistake and years of his hard work- the reason he prevailed even with everything that happened - could be destroyed. Let alone millions of information that could be exposed because of him. He didn't want that- the weight of the world.
However, as he sunk into his seat, and opened his system, he found out that someone dared to hack into his account. His account. The person was courting death. He would have their accounts banned and any future attempt to open a new account he would make sure it wasn't possible, but when he saw the person who did it, his fingers hovered around the keyboard. His eyes softened. It was her 'KaylaLuvsHarry." Finally he could get under someone else's skin not the other way around for the first time in months.
He typed, "Are you stalking me, Hastings?"
[Kaylaluv]: Don't flatter yourself i was stalking someone else
[Ollie]: It doesn't take away from the fact that you are committing a crime.
However Oliver wondered who she was stalking if not him?
[Kaylaluv]: Calm down its only a crime if u report me to d authorities
[Ollie]: Your actions have consequences, Hastings. It's not a joke.
[Kaylaluv]:and i am also not joking don't u think i know dat. i don't go around hacking people just cuz i can.
His reaction was annoying. Leave it to Oliver to ruin the fun. All her life she had been told what to do and how to do it but hacking was the only time she felt free. She made the rules and created the game. Nonetheless, it was because Oliver was hitting a sore spot of hers. Her stalking did get her into trouble, but she would die than admit that to him.
[Ollie]: Doesn't seem like it to me.
[Kaylaluv]: like i give two shits what you think. U know what professor? Maybe u shud learn to stop judging others wud do wonders for ur health
She was pissed. It was her fault that she got insulted by him. What did she expect from him? Flowers and praise?
Any other person and Oliver would just block but he knew he stepped on a line of hers but he was right, so why didn't it feel that way? Then he realized something. Talking with the raccoon made him worry-free and for the first time in his life, he decided to drop the conversation. Only for the meantime. He would scold her properly in class.
[Ollie]: Just like how not stalking people would do the same.
[Kaylaluv]: not an apology professor. People get on dere knees to apologize not divert d attention maybe you can't handle d heat after all
That's what he told her. Wicked girl. He should have stopped right there and then. But he couldn't. Somehow their conversations always ended up with a line being crossed.
[Ollie]: Too bad you will never have the pleasure of seeing me on them.
[Kaylaluv]: is dat a challenge professor
She pictured it: Oliver on his knees, sucking her…. "Stop it! Stop it!" She shook her head. What was she thinking? She blamed it on not being laid for six months.
[Ollie]: I am more interested in knowing who you were stalking.
[Kaylaluv]: guess
Was she playing with him? He smirked. Who could she be stalking? His fingers pattered on his desk, in deep thought, before replying again.
Kayla wondered if he was as smart as he made himself out to be.
[Ollie]: Let me guess, the blue-eyed witch?
[Kaylaluv]: Wizard professor
[Ollie]: Are you certain? He looked very feminine to me.
[Kaylaluv]: Emphasis on 'to u'
[Ollie]: I didn't know stalking was part of your array of skills.
[Kaylaluv]: Are you jealous I didn't use my skills on u
[Ollie]: Concerned really. Given that I am your teacher. What does that say about me and my classes?
[Kaylaluv]: worried about your reputation knowing your string as an asshole i don't think u shud be
[Ollie]: Not as worried as your lack of punctuation skills, Hastings. You should really learn it.
[Kaylaluv]: mind your business.
[Ollie]: Says the witch who is spying on me.
[Kaylaluv]: any more of ur obnoxious thinking and your head will become bigger than the ocean
[Kaylaluv]: .
Oliver laughed. A true laugh. The laugh bubbled up, surprising even him—it had been weeks since anything had felt even remotely amusing
He didn't really think before he typed back.
[Ollie]: Don't know about my head but I know something bigger.
He wanted to see what she would type. Something witty and out of pocket he expected.
"What the fuck!?"
[Kaylaluv]: it is usually guys like u dat flaunt all day long dat have the tiniest dicks.
[Ollie]: If you want to see it why don't you just say it? Besides no matter how small it is, it would still be bigger than the blue-eyed witch.
He waited for minutes but she never replied again. He loosened his tie and deleted the message out of frustration. He had been ghosted by that feisty raccoon.
"Who are you texting that's making you smile like a fool?" Kayla jolted and closed the laptop with a loud thud.
"You scared the shit out of me!"
"What were you doing?" Louisa eyed her in askance.
"Nothing."
"Then why are you acting all sus?"
"You are overthinking things," Her eyes darted anywhere but at her friend.
"Riiiiiight." Louisa didn't believe it but said nothing else which made her shift uncomfortably in her seat. Suddenly the chair felt like iron.
But why was she like this? She did nothing wrong. Nothing at all.