Ticktock Love

[10] The Adams Family

Everyone had found out by Monday.

And I do mean everyone – even the janitor had seen the video, and his favorite catchphrase of the day seemed to be 'what a load of bull'. He hollered my quote at every student who dared to thread the mopped floor and leave muddy footprints in their wake. As I walked down the hallway, attempting to avoid the wet patches, all the soles sloshed and squelched like they were part of an inexperienced marching band. It had poured nearly the entire weekend, and the unusual tropical storm trapped almost every Phoenix resident indoor, leaving them to their own devices and restless thumbs.

Naturally, I blamed the weather for my eighty thousand followers and one million likes.

Most students were overjoyed for various reasons. Some of them bought cheap plastic Halloween masks and paraded as bulls in the second half of August, almost scaring the jittery Ms. Morris into a heart attack. Aiden was crowned the king of TikTok for 'discovering' the hidden gem, and the only glimpse I caught of him was when the football team carried him through the third-floor hallway, chanting his name like a mantra.

I couldn't exactly get mad at him for taking credit for our work. And in all honesty, I was grateful the attention had shifted away from us – unlike our peers, the teachers appeared to be much less appreciative of Amber's and my genius. Ms. Hale interrogated the students for the bigger chunk of the homeroom period, inviting us to come forward and admit to our crime; Ms. Green pretended she didn't understand all the references and desperately tried to steer the subject back to the foundation of the New England colonies. Much to her chagrin, her attempts fell on deaf ears.

The secret weighed down on me, heavy and crumbly like the dried mud on my ankle boots. The worst part was that I didn't have anyone to share the burden with. It wasn't until after the second period that I finally caught sight of Amber's familiar coils, the rest of her head hidden behind the open locker door. Her usually cheerful demeanor was visibly diminished, and I felt my cheeks slowly losing color as I approached her.

"Don't say a word," she warned me as my face surfaced on her horizon. "Someone might hear."

I nodded in response. We had discussed most of it over the phone, anyway – we were certain there was no way the video could be linked to me. I had used a spam email for the account since I originally intended to keep it anonymous, and even the name was vague enough. My handle was @bluepanda1702, a cute compound of random elements: my favorite color, Maddie's beloved plush toy, and the date Footloose was released in 1984. The younger Liz wanted to make dance POV videos and thought using the European Date Format was too clever.

Amber and I also shortly contemplated taking the whole thing down, but we decided against the idea. Deleting the account sent the wrong, cowardly message, and since the video had been shared and reacted to so many times already, it would have been pretty much impossible to stop the avalanche.

So we let it plow down the hill. A part of us hoped TikTok might suddenly get banned in the United States, but that seemed like such a ridiculous notion that we didn't even entertain it.

"Should we tell Grace and Julia? About that new series on Netflix?" The dilemma had been tormenting me ever since we left Baby on the top of the stairs. Amber gave me a swift, warning glance before once again focusing on the disorganized contents of her locker. I peeked above her shoulder, certain I had glimpsed a variety pack of coffee pods, but she noticed and moved to obscure my view.

"I don't know. Julia will probably like it, but Grace... God, she'll hate it."

'Hate' was probably the right word. Our inbox had been filled with panicked messages from Grace, who thought that the Empire was going to see the video and strike back like we were starring in a Star Wars remake. The conspiracy theory sounded incredulous merely twenty-four hours earlier, but after experiencing the sanguine atmosphere which our principal despised with all his might, we were starting to fear the same scenario ourselves. Julia on the other hand worshipped the account creators, but there was also a reasonable chance she'd be offended we had never invited her to join.