The Case of the Phantom Texter

My iPhone had definitely developed a ghost. Or worse — my mom had finally cracked my password and was living her best life through my texts.

"Barnaby, who's been on my phone?" I asked my golden retriever, who thumped his tail against the bedframe, wholly unhelpful. Barnaby was fifty pounds of unconditional love and zero percent problem-solving skills.

The evidence: autocorrect suggesting words I'd never searched (was I suddenly into "skepticism"?), my camera roll full of blurry floor photos, and worst of all — three separate texts sent to Jason at 2 AM that definitely weren't from me. Each said: "Your dog stared at me again today."

I didn't even have a dog named Your.

"I'm being framed," I whispered, clutching my phone like it might bite me. "Or hacked. Or my mom has finally gone full surveillance mom."

Barnaby sneezed.

"Exactly. That's what I think too."

The next day at school, I caught Jason between classes. "So... about those texts."

His face turned approximately the same shade as the cafeteria's mystery meat. "Oh my god, you got them?"

"I SENT them?"

"No, I mean —" His eyes darted around like he was searching for an escape route. "I may have borrowed your phone when you fell asleep during history. And maybe I've been watching your stories. And maybe my dog keeps staring at me through your fence and I didn't know how else to tell you I wanted to hang out again."

The silence stretched between us, thick and electric.

"Wait," I said. "You've been what?"

"Spying?" Jason winced. "That sounds so much worse when you say it out loud."

I started laughing. I couldn't help it. All week I'd been picturing my mom reading my texts or some random hacker exposing my secrets, and the whole time it was just Jason, being Jason — awkward and earnest and completely incapable of normal communication.

"Next time," I said, "just say hey."

"Hey," he said immediately.

"Hey."

That night, Barnaby nosed my phone off the bed. I let him. Some mysteries were better left unsolved, and some moments didn't need to be captured at all.