Chapter 16

Your Misery and Hate Will Kill Us All

It was after school shortly after winter break. Samina and I were in the library. I was working on my science project. Samina was next to me, playing yet another brainless Internet game. We were almost done with the video; we were just waiting for it to upload to YouTube. For whatever reason, that was taking forever.

That was when Mia and Candace walked by. Candace sat down next to me, while Mia took a seat at the computer across from her.

"Candace, why did we decide to sit here?" Mia asked, just loud enough for Samina and I to hear.

"I don't even know," Candace replied.

"Yeah Candace, I mean, these girls are so dorky! I mean, Isabelle could probably be cool if she wanted to, but Samina's hopeless. She's probably a terrorist or something."

Candace nodded. "Why don't we just move..."

"Samina's probably on the Internet hacking our bank accounts," Mia interrupted. She smirked. "We should probably move. I, for one, don't want to be associated with a terrorist."

"Me neither," Candace said. She glared at me right before Mia and Candace made a huge deal of getting up and going to the computers on the other side of the library.

Samina started loudly drumming her fingers. "Mia and Candace are so mean."

I shrugged. "Don't let them bother you. They're just out there to hurt other people."

"Yeah, but that was just cruel."

"My grandpa once said that God is a mean-spirited, pugnacious bully bent on revenge against His children for failing to live up to his impossible standards."

"I thought Walt Whitman said that," Samina said.

"Well, maybe he was quoting Walt Whitman," I mused.

"Your grandpa seems like a cool guy," Samina said.

I fumbled with the Magic 8 Ball in my pocket. "Papa passed away eight years ago." After shoving the ball back into my pocket, I said, "There's no need to dwell on that. Mia and Candace are mean and there isn't much we can do about that. Let's post this video. I think it's almost done."

Samina pulled up the window where the video was uploading. It was 94% finished with another three minutes and twenty seven seconds to go. Then two minutes...then one. After all of that wait, our video popped up on my YouTube channel. "Should we watch it?" I asked the Magic 8 Ball.

My sources say no.

I didn't click on the video. Instead, I closed the window. I went back to my science project and Samina went back to her games. Right before I was about to leave, my phone beeped.

troy_loves_minecraft commented on your video: "Nice video, love the creepers that bounce in time to the music."

I couldn't believe it. Our first viewer was Troy, the most famous YouTuber ever. Troy's channel was by far the most popular Minecraft channel on YouTube and his animations always looked really professional. For all I knew, he probably WAS a professional. Just the fact that he wasted enough time to watch our video was impressive. My phone beeped again.

troy_loves_minecraft tagged you in a status: "Found this amazing FOB parody by everlasting_dreamer. I recommend it to all of my followers :)"

Samina looked over my shoulder. "Someone tagged us in a status?"

"Not just anyone. Troy Loves Minecraft is a really popular YouTuber. We could get a lot of views just from that one shout-out."

"Cool," Samina said. "Well, we should probably leave. The library's closing in five minutes."

"Maybe we could meet at Barnswell on Wednesday?" I suggested.

"Sounds good. I hope Mia and Candace aren't there."

"I don't think they even know Barnswell exists," I said.

Samina laughed. "You're right. See you tomorrow, Isabelle!"

"Bye Samina," I said.

Mia and Candace were wrong. They didn't know Samina, or me for that matter. But Mia's words echoed in my head. "Isabelle could be cool if she wanted to."

"Do I want to be cool?" I asked the Magic 8 Ball, even though that was a pathetic thing to ask.

Don't count on it.