As soon as I saw Troy, I knew he was the one. His perfect boyish looks with his lean body, tousled hair and long lashes, but barely a hint of facial hair, made him the ideal partner, exactly what I needed to grow my Instagram account. Together we could be an irresistible couple.

I've been building up my Instagram account for three years now, since I was fourteen, and this was the year I wanted to hit a million likes!

With Troy beside me, I believed I could do it.

The problem was Troy wasn't interested in Instagram. He didn't care about my 10K followers.

"You don't even know ninety per cent of them," he said. "They are just random strangers, probably old men pretending to be teenage girls."

He has no idea how competitive my Tumblr niche on Instagram is. Everyday, I put up three carefully chosen and accessorised outfits and my followers choose which one they like best, a, b or c. By adding Troy to the pictures, I'd gain huge advantage, but he won't do it. He doesn't like dressing up he says. He doesn't want to spend the hours we have together being staged for the camera.

At first, I tried getting him to take some pictures of me. I thought that might get him into it, but it was too frustrating, especially since I've perfected the selfie, and Troy had no idea what he was doing. We'd argue about the best photos to post. I mean, I know my niche, but he'd say things like, "I like this one, you look really natural in it."

Instagram is not about looking natural, but Troy doesn't get it.

So why is he still around?

The thing is, he genuinely likes me.

He actually means it when he says he prefers me to look natural, when he tells me I don't need make-up, when he says I'm beautiful the way I am, when he says I don't need to impress all those people I don't even know. Just because he can throw on a t-shirt and jeans and look good, he thinks it's the same for me.

"You need to be more spontaneous," he laughs and pulls at my shirt. "TikTok is better than all these staged stills. It's funny, fast, active, there's always something going on. You can be yourself."

Sometimes I wonder if he's right? If I should just relax and worry less... would the world really fall apart?

But that's what I like about Instagram, it's so hard to explain to someone who doesn't understand. I can re-create myself and I'm in control of the image I portray.

I like that.

I love that.

I mean I love Troy too, but unfortunately I can't control Troy.

It doesn't stop me trying though. If I could get him to agree to do the Valentine's Day shoot with me, I think we'd do it. We'd be the perfect grunge couple and I think we'd hit the million. I've never done it before. My most popular post to date is 657K but....

"This is what you really want, isn't it?" Troy says. His voice is soft but there is an edge in it. "You need to be like, I dunno, Billie Eilish to get a million likes."

He really is clueless. Billie Eilish can easily get ten million likes.

"Yes," I say, pleased he finally gets it.

"Well then, let's do it." He wraps me in a hug.

"Yay!" I can't believe it.

It's the best Christmas present he could give me and I immediately start planning our shoot. Maybe four outfits, instead of the usual three, an extra one to make the Valentine's Day post really special, but that might push Troy too far...

Perhaps I should stick with three.

I know exactly the look I'm going for and I work it all out down to the last detail. I order accessories and make-up online. Troy agrees to start shooting on the weekends in January. I want to make sure we have plenty of time to get this right because Troy hasn't done it before and there will be quite a lot of testing to do.

Troy is a reluctant model, but sulky is good. It works for my vision of the perfect shot.

The first session in the middle of January isn't a huge success.

"I'm not wearing this," Troy says about the black lipstick and eyeliner.

"Let's just try it. If it doesn't look good, we won't use it."

"I get final veto, right?"

"Yes." It was his one condition, but I'm still not happy about it.

"Does make-up always take this long?" he asks.

"This isn't long," I reply. And it's just make-up, not even hair...

Whatever Troy would like to think, curated perfection does not happen by itself.

"No way, you don't do this every day?"

Like I said, totally clueless...

Anyway, we survive the first shoot. Troy looks amazing in the black eye-liner and lipstick but he doesn't agree. I'm worried he won't let me post it, but I don't want to argue with him, not yet, not while we still have several more sessions to get through...

And then, the following Saturday morning, the unexpected happens, the bombshell falls exploding my hopes and dreams.

"You won't believe it," I tell Troy when he turns up.

I'm still in shock.

"What?" He takes in the circles under my eyes, my face puffy with crying. "What's happened? Lilly, has somebody died?"

"My likes are gone," I sob. "They've hidden my likes."

Instagram has hidden my likes and ruined my dreams. I don't know what to do. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

Give up or keep going.

It's one or the other.

I mean I can still go for a million likes but now nobody will know whether I get there or not, except me.

What good is that?

"Oh my god, Lilly!" Troy bursts out laughing. "I thought it was something serious."

"It is serious."

Even though we've been going out for almost a year, he still refuses to understand. Sometimes I feel like we've known each other forever, and sometimes it's like we just met yesterday. They say the imaginary is what tends to become real and I hoped, together, we could become the Instagram dream.

"Lilly, it's just an endless scroll of perfect stills and it's taking over your life. Maybe we can spend real time together now, time that isn't all about your account and getting the best picture for it? You're naturally beautiful, you don't need all this make-up and shit. All you have to do is smile and you are irresistible."

My blood is boiling but I keep my cool. Maybe he's right. Maybe it is time to move on from Instagram, but I know exactly what we can do next as a couple.

"You want us to be more spontaneous," I say.

"Yes." An eager smile lights up his face.

"Be active? Get out and about, have fun?"

"Now you're talking my language." He caresses the back of my hand, pleased he's getting his way.

I turn to face him, smiling through my tears, hoping he finds me as irresistible as he says. "How about a million likes on TikTok?"

(1231 words)

Thanks so much for reading. If this is your kind of Teen Romance, but you would prefer something a little longer, you might also like Kit & Tully!