I sat on the edge of my bed, phone in hand, still staring at the flood of friend requests on Facebook. There were so many, I almost felt overwhelmed. Almost. But, honestly? It was kind of exciting. I mean, all these people wanting to connect with me? It felt…new, different, and exactly the kind of distraction I needed after today's weird mix of boredom and disappointment.
"Alright," I muttered to myself, my finger hovering over the 'Accept' button. One by one, I started clicking on each request. Accept. Accept. Accept. It was like popping virtual bubbles. With each one, my list grew longer, and I found myself smiling a little. This was way better than just lying around doing nothing.
Then, the messages started coming in.
"Hi," said one.
"Hello, I'm Sam, and u?" popped up almost immediately after.
I chuckled, quickly tapping out a response. "Hey, I'm Angela."
The next one asked, "Where do u live?"
I paused for a second, my thumb frozen above the keyboard. Should I answer that? Probably not. But hey, it's not like I was giving them my exact address. I typed back, "Just in town, nothing special."
The messages kept pouring in, and I replied to every single one of them. Some people were weird, asking way too many questions about where I lived or what I was doing, but others were kind of fun. It was mostly the usual stuff—"Hey, what's up?" and "How's it going?"—but a few of the guys tried to be flirty, sending heart emojis and comments about my profile picture.
I laughed out loud at some of them. The way they were trying so hard to be smooth was just…hilarious. Like, one guy sent, "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen," and I could almost hear the desperation through the screen. I couldn't help myself and replied, "Thanks, but don't you say that to all the girls?"
I started enjoying myself, replying back and forth, switching between different conversations like a pro. It was fun seeing how different people reacted to the same responses. Some would double down and try to be flirty again, others would switch to just casual conversation. One guy sent me a whole paragraph introducing himself, like we were about to go on a date or something. I rolled my eyes but answered him anyway.
Before I knew it, I had completely forgotten about my disappointment from earlier. It was like all those feelings had been replaced with this weird sense of connection—well, virtual connection, but it was still better than nothing. The longer I spent talking to these random people, the more I realized how easy it was to get lost in this. Every message made me laugh or at least smile a little. I mean, who knew strangers on the internet could be this entertaining?
Time was flying by. At one point, I checked the clock, and it was already 7:00. My eyes widened in shock. *Seriously?* I had been on Facebook for over two hours, and it didn't even feel like it. My mom and siblings had returned at some point, and I didn't even notice.
I shook my head, laughing softly to myself. "Wow, I really got sucked into that, huh?"
I plugged my phone into the charger—my battery was basically dead at this point—and decided to go see what my family was up to. I hadn't even heard them come in. When I walked out of my room, the house was buzzing with noise again. It felt alive, full of the usual chatter and chaos that I was used to.
"Finally!" I called out as I entered the living room, spotting my mom and siblings unpacking bags. "Where were you guys? You didn't tell me you'd be out for this long."
Mom looked up from the bags, smiling tiredly. "Oh, it took longer than expected. I had to leave your sister, Ellie, at the salon, and I dropped your brothers, Brian and Zack, off at the barbershop before heading to the market. And of course, you know how the market is—always crowded."
I could picture it clearly—the hustle and bustle of the market, the noise, the haggling. It was always an event whenever Mom went there.
I glanced over at Ellie, who was standing in the corner with her arms crossed, trying to act all cool like she wasn't waiting for me to notice her hair. "Come here, let me see your hair," I called out to her.
She beamed and practically skipped over to me, spinning around so I could get a good look. Her hair was braided into neat cornrows, and they looked fresh, all shiny and perfect. I was actually kind of impressed. "Wow," I said, giving her a nod of approval. "You look good, Ellie. Real cute."
She grinned, clearly pleased with herself, and ran her fingers over the braids like she was some kind of model.
Not wanting to be left out, Zack—the youngest of the bunch—came over, tugging at my sleeve. "Check mine too!" he demanded.
I turned to him, ruffling his freshly cut hair. It was a basic cut, short on the sides with a little bit of length on top, but it suited him. "Looking sharp, little man," I said, giving him a playful punch on the shoulder. He giggled, running off to show Brian.
After the hair inspections were done, I grabbed the bags of groceries Mom had brought back and started carrying them into the kitchen. The bags were heavy, packed full of the usual stuff—rice, vegetables, a few cans of beans. I placed them on the counter and began unpacking everything, putting things away in their usual spots. It was one of those tasks that didn't require much thought, which was kind of nice after spending so much time on my phone. My mind wandered back to the messages as I sorted through the groceries.
It was weird how quickly time had flown by. One minute I was bored out of my mind, and the next I was deep in conversation with a bunch of strangers, laughing and having a good time. I guess that's the thing about the internet—you never really know where it'll take you.
As I finished putting the last of the groceries away, I smiled to myself. The day had started off slow and dull, but it had taken a turn for the better, and I was kind of excited to see where this whole Facebook thing would lead.