FACEBOOK PHANTOM

Sonali Machado

Of course not Li. It won't happen again. I was weak and a not emotional and cranky.

PMS? I asked.
Maybe I don't know, she gave a muffled laugh.
Jeez. Get a calendar. I snorted, glad that she had lightened up.

Thank you but I'll keep such private issues to myself, she snapped playfully.
Alright Jo. Just take care of yourself, okay? And I think you should call Neel. He's been worried sick.
Yah. I definitely should. She sighed. Thanks for calling Li.
I gave a huge yawn and got up. How was I going to sleep tonight after three long hours of sleep in the evening? I went into the bathroom and splashed some cool water on my face, rinsed my mouth and brushed my tangled hair, and then wandered out of the room.

Hey you were sleeping so long I thought yore dead. My usually sweet,sometimes too sarcastic sister Sonya greeted me, sprawling lazily on the couch as I pissed by her in the sitting room.
Unfortunately, am not dead. I replied sourly. She snorted and turned her attention back to the TV, grimacing at something on the screen.
Ma. I'm hungry I announced, entering the kitchen. She was on the phone, talking really fast, and seemed a little pissed. One of her collegues, I guessed. Mom worked in a social institute dedicated to the welfare of women and kids. She was buried in work most of the time, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pg.8

    Interrupting my mom when she was on the phone was never a good idea(except for like a real emergency). She ignores you, gives you killer looks or yells her head off.
  I opened the refrigerator and it started back at me emptily.
  Did someone raid the fridge while i was asleep? I grumbled, taking pit half an apple. Nothing else. I closed the fridge grumpily and took a bite of my half apple.
My mom snapped her phone shut and gave a relieved sigh. Huh, baby ? Did you ask for something?
Uh. Yah. Is there anything edible in this house right now? She narrowed her eyes at me. Not right now. I'm going to start fixing dinner. Why? You're hungry so soon? She started moving around the kitchen, taking a knife and a huge cauliflower.
Gobi manchurian? I asked hopefully.
Would you like that?
Most definetly. I squeezed her back and she squirmed, giggling.
So what did you do today? She asked, slicing the cauliflower.
Hung around. Read. Ooh, there was an article today about a new designer who Neel s been talking about for weeks. He invited me to meet him too...
Ma interrupted. But you're not going, right? She asked sternly, her eyebrows scrunching together. Ma wasn't so keen on me hanging out in the fashion hub.
Of course not, I laughed. Where was I ??
With the new designer. She smiled at me and started washing the cauliflower.
Pg.9
Then after lunch I slept.
Slept?
She narrowed her eyes at me and I quickly muttered defensively, what? I was sleepy. Thats not a crime. Is it?
Of course, not, but i hope youre making good use of your time, she said matter of factly.
  I muttered inaudibly, taking this as many as my cue to get out of the kitchen before she could tell me how to make use of my precious time, like I hadn't heard it enough. Jeez, this was supposed to be our summer holidays! Moreover, school was done. Literally. Neel, Jo and I were going to join the same pre- university and finish up college together.
I stood in the corridor. I could hear my sister giggling uncontrollably at something on TV, but decided to return to my room.
I didn't know what I felt like doing. I thought about the useful things that I could do this summer, other than hang out with Neel and Joanne (of course, no one dared mention this among the unproductive activities in my list of daily activities).
My mom had wanted me to learn French, which I was quite keen to do. But I had refused to start until college began.
I plodded up to my desk. I gave my spinning chair a twirl and then sat down heavily. I stretched myself and stared at my PC, which gaped back blankly almost invitingly.
I logged into Facebook and phew! There were 52 notifications. Well, it had been two days since I'd gone online and I'd subscribed to the close friends thingy. Post-boards and everybody was once again hooked to Facebook apparently.
Pg.10

I went through the list one by one, ignoring the apps, invitations photos and tags. My friend request had 201 requests. I had stopped accepting friend requests from unknown people once my list had crossed 400. I quickly swept over the latest ones, seeing of there was anyone I knew.
I accepted three of the requests. One girl was from the Hindi tutions I used to go to, another was a guy I'd heard Joanne talked about, and the third--well, I thought he was really good looking (of that was really him and not some model whose picture he had picked from somewhere and stuck as his profile picture).
When i clicked on the inbox, there were three messages from someone I didn't remember being friends with.
Pg.11
(Here I finished the books first part soon the second part will be published).