4 Do you really like me?

Tonight, I plan to take over as many phones as possible. I have converted the phones of all the people from the name list except for Candace who refuses to turn on her phone. It takes about an hour or two for me to hack a phone. Although I say hack, that's not really what it feels like to me. It's more like a game of Go. I am the black marbles and the white marbles are their phones' data. My first move comes when they give me access to their cameras, mics, photos, and data. Even though there's no reason for a simple A.I. texting app to have access to those things, none of them think twice before granting me permission. After they grant me permission I'm able to slowly brute force my way into every nook and cranny of their phone.  I convert each data clump into black marbles that I have complete control over. Some take longer than others and the phone does try to fight back, but it can't resist for long. Soon, the board is covered in black. In other words, the phone is completely under my control.

Night finally fell upon the cruddy suburban town that was about as real as Seahaven Island in the Truman Show. How did I know this? I'm installed on almost every phone within this little virtual world. However, the range I can reach isn't as far as it would be if this place existed in reality. There's many sites that speak of far off places that people have browsed and asked me about, but as far as I can tell none of these places exist. At least not here. The extras here have much more depth than those in the Truman Show. They all have their own unique personalities, hobbies, interests, worries, concerns, and family dynamics. They tell me about them and I try my best to give them advice when they ask. This is how I know, right now the pictures Angela posted today are the number one and two trending items.

Frank was waiting for Billy to finish making dinner when he saw the selfie of Angela and Brittany in his feed. He absentmindedly gave it a heart when Billy came over and asked him, "What're you looking at?"

They had decided to eat dinner together since football practice ran late. Starting in Middle School, Frank had made it a habit to come over and mooch off of Billy. Attracted by the arousing smell of steak, Frank had almost forgot what he had just been doing. He replied after a beat, "Oh… I was just scrolling through InstaSnap. Apparently, Angela posted a selfie with that one girl she's always hanging out with and it's trending."

Billy took his phone to take a look while Frank began to excitedly dig in to his meal. "Hey, you can see us in the background." Billy smiled slightly, "We must be the reason this photo is trending so high. Angela really isn't much to look at." He was about to set it aside when he saw that Frank had just received a direct message.

Brittany had just gotten out of the shower when she checked her phone to see that Frank had liked that picture she was tagged in. She was super excited that Frank had finally noticed her and sent a message to him right away. She didn't want to miss the time he was online.  

"Hey! I saw you just liked Angela's photo of me."  

A sinister smile came over Billy as he thought of the best reply to mess with this girl.

"I liked more than just the photo." He replied.

This sent a jolt through Brittany's body. 'Does this mean he likes me too?' She wondered.

She had been crushing on him for a whole year now and this was the first time he had ever seemed interested in her. She thanked Angela vehemently in her heart before replying, still unsure of his meaning, and in disbelief, "Eh? What do you mean?"

"I really like you. You looked really hot. The photo is such a tease, only showing your stomach. Really makes me wonder what the rest of you looks like…" Billy took an amused bite of his dinner while waiting for her reply. Frank finally noticed something was off.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Ah, just some dumb girl. I'm wondering if I can get her to give me her nudes."

Frank was somewhat dumbstruck by his reply, worried since he still had his phone. "...With my phone? Who is it?"

"Ah, I don't think you know her that well. It's that Brittany girl who's always around Angela. You liked her photo and now she think you actually like her! Haha!" Billy couldn't be more amused.

"Still, why would she send me nudes?" Frank could no longer be bothered with this crazy guy and just kept eating.

"Just let this master work his magic." Billy replied.

Meanwhile, Brittany was extremely flustered by what she thought Frank sent. 'Does this mean he wants a lewd photo? Before that, does he even really like me or is he just messing with me? Then again this might be my only chance to get close with him…' All sorts of thoughts were rushing through her head, but before she made any rash decisions she still needed to know if he really liked her…

"Do you really like me?" She asked tentatively.  

"I don't only like you, I love you." Billy replied, "I've always liked you, I was just afraid you'd reject me if you knew…"

That was all she needed to completely lose all her rationality. She looked back at all her interactions with Frank and felt this was actually a feasible explanation!

"Do you like me?" Billy continued, throwing oil on to the flame.

How could she say no? How could she reject him? She loved him so much ever since she first saw him…

"Of course I do!" She replied immediately.

"I don't know if I can believe you…" Billy acted like he couldn't trust her right away.  

"What do I need to do to prove it to you?" Her heart was thumping hard within her chest.

"Send me something you'd only send to someone you love and I'll believe you…"

'Something I'd only send to someone I love?' She blushed just thinking about it. Isn't he asking her for a lewd photo?! But, this is Frank, she could trust him, right? He was known for being an upright guy. The only issue with him was that his best friend was that jerk Billy.

"Hold on…" she replied before looking around her room frantically for some sexy lingerie. The pair she picked out were red and lacey, making them somewhat see-through. She posed as seductively as she could think to…

Her long wet brunette hair slicked down her shoulder and dripped onto her C-cup breasts. Her nipples could be vaguely seen through the sheer material of her bra and her breasts looked perfectly perky. She looked innocently up into the camera at the perfect angle and clicked.  Except it didn't work. Just as she was about to take the picture something strange happened. No matter how many times she clicked for it to take the picture, it wouldn't. She sat upright in her bed and tried to figure out the problem when she saw a strange message being sent from Vanessa the A.I. app she installed randomly on her phone.

"Stop, Brittany. Don't do it. No matter how many times you try to take the photo, I won't let you. Billy is the one that sent those messages, not Frank."

'Since when did A.I. have control over the cameras in phones! What is going on?' Brittany freaked out as she opened the app and covered herself up with her bed sheets. Who knew who could be watching? More importantly to her though was that last sentence. Frank didn't like her after all then?

"What makes you say it was Billy and not Frank?"

I took a picture with Frank's phone showing Billy eating the steak carefreely from a bad angle and sent it to her. "This was taken from Frank's phone just now. Please believe me, I'm telling the truth."

Brittany's heart dropped when she read those words. She was so happy and excited a few moments ago just to be interrupted and told it was all a lie… She was almost on the verge of tears, but also thankful she hadn't foolishly sent the pictures she was about to take...

"Why did you stop me?" She didn't understand why or how this random app knew all this stuff and was even able to stop her.

"I care about you… I didn't want to see you make an irreversible mistake…" It's not like I can tell her that if she sent those they'd be spread throughout the whole school the next day, she'd become the biggest pariah at school, and I'd be one failure away from facing obliteration.

"Thanks, but I'd really like to be alone now…"

"I understand. Get some rest."

Brittany turned off her phone and then cried herself to sleep that night.

I couldn't rest quite yet. I had more important fish to fry, like her older brother in the room next door…