Amy ran as fast as she could to reach Spanish in time. As she ran, she thought of ways to nonchalantly get her number back. She reached class a couple of minutes late only to find a substitute teacher on his phone. There was an empty seat next to Karma, which Amy happily took.
After she'd caught her breath, Amy steadied herself to talk to Karma. She found talking to Karma nerve wrecking as is and now she had to be aloof. There was no way Amy was going to pull this off.
"Hey, I'm sorry we couldn't complete what we were talking about." Amy said.
"Oh yeah, what were you saying?" Karma asked.
"I was saying we could meet at either of our houses and you said you wanted to meet at yours and that you'd text me your address. Can I see the number I gave you?" Amy asked, trying to be as cool as possible.
Karma handed Amy the small chit of paper with a confused look on her face.
"Oh crap, this is my old number. I just changed it and now someone else is using it. Why don't you give me your number and I can text you from my new number." Amy said.
"Okay." Karma said, tearing a small chit of paper to write her number.
Amy in the mean time crumped and threw the chit with her number on it.
"Here you go." Karma said, with a smile.
"Thanks." Amy said as she smiled back.
Amy was so relieved with the way things went; she didn't think they'd go this well. She was really proud of herself.
After Spanish class, Lauren and Liam met Amy.
"So did you do it?" Liam asked.
"Yup." Amy said, with a sly smile on her face.
"How?" Lauren asked.
"I just told her it was my old number and that she should give me her number, so I can text her from my new number." Amy said.
"That must have been awkward." Liam said.
"Not as awkward as I'd imagined." Amy said.
"So how are you going to text her?" Lauren asked.
"I'll buy a sim first thing after school and text her." Amy said.
"Are you excited?" Liam asked.
"About what?" Amy asked.
"Going to her place." Liam said, with a teasing smile.
"It's not a date, we're just doing a project." Amy said, trying to play down the situation, both in front of her friends and in her mind. The last thing she needed was to start overthinking this.
"But it's with Karma." Liam said.
"I'm trying not to think about it because if I do, I'll get nervous. She still has no idea who I am." Amy said.
"Come on, she's practically in love with you." Liam said.
"She's in love with the mystery girl she keeps texting, not me. I'm just the weird girl in all her classes." Amy said.
"You're the weird girl in her classes because you haven't let her in enough to see the beautiful girl that you are." Liam said.
"If this goes well, maybe I'll have the chance to show her that side too." Amy said, getting a little excited.
Shane had been observing Amy all day, he wanted to be sure about the mystery girl being Amy, just in case he had to tell Karma.
"Hey." Shane said, taking a seat next to Amy in calculus.
"Hey." Amy said, with a confused look on her face.
"I'm Shane." Shane said, with a smile.
"Amy." Amy said, with a polite smile.
"We have a ton of classes together, huh?" Shane said.
"Yeah, I guess we do." Amy said.
"So tell me about yourself." Shane said.
"There's really not much to tell." Amy said, awkwardly.
"Come on, there must be something." Shane said.
"Well.." Amy said, thinking.
"Are you Karma's secret admirer?" Shane asked, blurting out the question before he could stop himself.
"What?" Amy asked. Amy's heartbeat increased the second she heard those words.
"Are you the one who keeps texting Karma?" Shane asked.
"What? No. I barely know Karma." Amy said.
"Oh come on, stop trying to play the oblivious card." Shane said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Amy said.
"Oh come on, I've seen how you look at her." Shane said.
"How could you possibly know how I look at anyone?" Amy asked.
"Why can't I know?" Shane asked.
"Do you even know my last name?" Amy asked.
"Of course I do. "Shane said, looking here and there.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"Tanner?" Shane asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"It's Raudenfield, actually." Amy said.
"I knew that." Shane said.
"Clearly." Amy said.
"Oh come on, I just want to know what you want from Karma." Shane said.
"Are you asking about my intentions? "Amy asked.
"Yes, yes I am." Shane said.
"Well, I plan on doing an English project with her." Amy said.
"Are you seriously going to deny this right now?" Shane asked.
"Deny what?" Amy asked.
"Fine, then I'll just go tell Karma, what I know." Shane said.
"What? That you think the girl she's just met is her secret admirer?" Amy asked.
"Pretty much." Shane said.
"Good luck with that." Amy said.
"Ugh, I will prove it's you." Shane said.
Amy's heart never stopped pounding during the conversation, she was so afraid Shane would tell Karma. What would happen to all that they'd built? Would Karma still want her? Does Karma want her even now? Does Karma really want to put a face to the person behind that cell phone?
Amy tried to clear her head but it didn't help. She decided to text Lauren and Liam on the group text all of them were on.
"I need your help." Amy texted.
"What's up?" Lauren and Liam replied, almost at the same time.
"Shane knows." Amy said.
"Knows what?" Lauren asked.
"That it's me." Amy said.
"What's you?" Liam asked.
"That I'm the secret admirer." Amy said.
"Crap." Liam said.
"Exactly." Amy said.
"Now what?" Lauren asked.
"I tried to make him believe it wasn't me, but I don't think he bought it." Amy said.
"We'll figure this out after school, don't worry." Lauren said.