six. i may have a chance !
real life & imessages...

✦

IT WAS LUNCH PERIOD THE NEXT DAY and eden had just sat down at their table with chris. today they were serving breakfast for lunch, one of eden's personal favorites. even if the sausage or hash browns sometimes tasted funny, the packaged french toast always hit the spot.

"hey, eden?" she heard a voice that she wasn't quite familiar with yet. as she turned her attention to across the table, where the voice had come from, she saw vie looking at her. she was waiting for a response.

"yes?"

"so, i don't know if chris told you yet..." she paused, looking over at chris. to see if she was right? whatever it was, she was starting to scare eden. what was chris not telling her?

"i guess not." vie concluded while eden sat there uncomfortably, waiting for vie to tell her what it was already. eventually she spoke up again to say, "i'll just tell you then, we're all going out tonight. i think we decided bowling. is that correct?" she looked around to see a bunch of them nodding their heads. this must've been a long conversation that eden wasn't present for. "and you're more than welcome to join us if you want?"

eden thought about it, deciding that bowling actually sounded really fun right now, but before she could verbally answer, vie was talking again. "plus me and nick need someone else on our team."

"you guys are gonna lose no matter whose on your team," chris added. eden assumed that him, matt, and nate were going to be on a team. but little did chris know, eden was a very good bowler. she was in a league when she was younger for a handful of years, and she was a natural. she even had her own ball still.

"oh, we'll see about that." eden added on to chris comment, looking him in his eye. she was trying to intimidate him, and it looked like it was working. he seemed to be concerned with what she meant by that. she knew something he didn't. he just narrowed his eyes in response.

"why don't we actually add her to the group chat?" matt asked.

the comment made her realize how close she was starting to get with these people. it warmed her heart that they deemed her worthy enough to be their friend. they want her opinion on things now, and they want to intive her to group hang outs. for her, that was the most fulfilling part of moving here.

"yeah for sure!" nick said, pulling out his phone to add her. he started at it for a second like he was missing something. that's because he was. chris was currently the only one who had her number at this school. well, him and her pen pal.

eden pulled out her own phone, about to show nick her phone number, but chris apparently already sent it to him.

she got a message from the group and it was just nick welcoming eden. before she was able to respond, she got another text from an unsaved number. she figured that it was just someone else at this table, but when she clicked on it, it took her to a completely different set of texts.

xxx-xxx-xxxx
hello?

xxx-xxx-xxxx
hello?

xxx-xxx-xxxx
are you my pen pal?
or wtv...

xxx-xxx-xxxx
OMG
wait yeah!
hii

xxx-xxx-xxxx
i was just wondering if you still wanted
to go with me?

xxx-xxx-xxxx
yeah of course i do!
it sounds very fun :)

xxx-xxx-xxxx
do you have a ticket already?

xxx-xxx-xxxx
yeah
my friend bought one for me

xxx-xxx-xxxx
what's your name by the way???

xxx-xxx-xxxx
eden... wbu?

xxx-xxx-xxxx
no way! the new girl?

xxx-xxx-xxxx changed
xxx-xxx-xxxx to "eden (new girl) 😍"

eden (new girl) 😍
yup that's me

xxx-xxx-xxxx
i'm shawn :)

eden (new girl) 😍 changed
xxx-xxx-xxxx to "shawn 🤭"

eden (new girl) 😍
it's nice to meet you shawn :)

shawn 🤭
so i guess we aren't keeping our identities
a secret until the dance? 😭

eden (new girl) 😍
yeah i guess us knowing each others
names kinda ruins that aspect for us 🤷‍♀️

shawn 🤭
sorry about that...

eden (new girl) 😍
welll technically not for me
i don't know what you look like 🫤

shawn 🤭
that will be the surprise then!

eden (new girl) 😍
that's not fair tho 😢

shawn 🤭
there's got to be a little bit of fun here
don't you think?

eden (new girl) 😍
trrruueee...
i guess i can wait

✦

CHRIS WAS LOOKING OVER EDEN'S shoulder to see who suddenly took her from their conversation. "who's that?" he asked, making eden internally jump. she wasn't expecting anyone to notice that she stopped talking to them for a few moments, but apparently chris had.

"my pen pal." a smirk spread across her face as she knew this was a crucial step in finding out who hers was.

"oh really?" he teased, knowing that she couldn't possibly have his number. but then a thought came across his head of eden writing her own number down on the piece of paper. it was possible. "who is it?" he decided to ask instead.

"i can't disclose. so until i know who it really is, you're not getting any details." she knew that it was going too far with this whole bet thing, but who was she to set that bar? it was fun to make it a big deal out of it.

"you know, i've gotten very close myself. my list has gone down to about three people." chris said, in a poorly intimidating manner. though, his words made eden worry. if he already was down to three people out of this whole school, how much longer until it became one? maybe she needed to see shawn sooner rather than next week.

"i don't know... i think i may have a chance." eden shrugged, getting up to throw her and chris's lunches away.

as she was emptying the trays, she felt a pair of eyes on her, and instinctively, she looked over to where she just came from. only for her to find that chris had his back turned to her and he seemed to be making the whole table laugh at something. but if it was none of them, then who the fuck was it?

✦
nat's notes !

"my friend bought one for me" oh eden...

but seriously who do we think is
gonna win this bet? 🤔

and who's staring at her 😱
(its very obvious lmao)

<3