Hey, Siri

It all begins on what seems like the loveliest spring day, when the monster first strikes. I'm standing barefoot on the damp green grass filming a TikTok video on my shiny, brand new iPhone, until suddenly my screen just turns pitch black. I feel like crying.

"No," I whine, "I just charged it!"

"Well, maybe try charging it again," Dominique shrugs, sitting cross-legged on a red plaid tarp, "sometimes phones will glitch. It's really nothing to worry about."

Dominique has been my ride-or-die since diapers, though I have a large group of friends that I regularly hang out with. Since it was such a nice day, I decided to invite her and a few other non-present guests to have a picnic with me in the park. Unfortunately, there's no point to it now that I can't take pictures.

"Whatever," I sigh, "just let me know when the others text you."

"Alright," Dominique states, scrolling through her own phone, "Chloe, Jayce, and Leighton said that they'll be here in a few, but Maurice is "sick" again."

"Of course she is," I roll my eyes, "she never has time to hang out anymore. If she wants to leave the group, she should just tell us!"

"I know right? Not gonna lie, she's been pretty 'sus lately! She's been blowing us off ever since you started dating Hunter."

"Oh, speaking of Hunter, would you please be a doll and ask him when he's coming over?" I ask, "he promised he would!"

"Girl, yeah of course," she exclaims, "I'll go do that now!"

"You're the best," I beam.

"What are best friends for?" she bubbles.

I lean over her shoulder and watch as she messages my boyfriend, when a notification pops up. '@sugarsweet added to her story', it reads.

"But, your phone just died, how could you have added to your story?" Dominique puzzles.

"I don't know," I say, astonished, "we should go check it out!"

She clicks on the notification, and my fears become a reality. An old picture of my ex boyfriend and I lights up on her screen in plain sight. The caption 'Date night with the best' is written in bolded white letters. My heart turns to solid ice.

"Oh my gosh, Ash," my best friend gasps, "who could've done this to you?"

I don't respond, for I am afraid that this will cause me to sob.

"I swear, when we find them they are going to be dead," she assures me.

I try to say something nice, but what comes out is, "Give me your phone now."

"Geez, alright then!" she says, pressing the phone into my sweaty palms.

I click on the Settings icon and log in to my account. Hastily, I click on my selfie, press on the three dots, and slam the 'Delete Story' option. I watch with pleasure as the picture moves to the trash. I just hope that my fifteen viewers don't show my boyfriend.

"Ashlyn," Dominique calls me, "Leighton's here. Let's go."

I set her phone gently inside the basket, hoping nothing comes of my story.

I lay down on my cozy, queen-sized bed, scrolling through Slumber Party Ideas on Pinterest. I find a cute picture to put on my board, when an angry message from my mother pops up.

"ASHLYN MARIE SHAFER!!!! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THEN TO TALK TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT!!!!! IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN TO ME AND APOLOGIZE, YOU'RE GROUNDED!!!!!"

I quickly click on the notification to see some wildly inappropriate and rude messages sent to her in my own name. I turn bright red, drop my phone, and jump off of my bed. I race down the stairs, and see my mom with a hand on her hip, absolutely livid.

"Mom, I-"

"Say it like you mean it," she demands.

"I didn't send the message," I insist, "my phone has been doing weird things since I've gotten it. You know that!"

"Yeah, but it hasn't sent text messages for you, now has it? And need I not mention that you're the only one experiencing this?"

"Well, no," I admit, "not until today. But it posted a picture of me and Clayton on my story yesterday!"

"I don't believe you," my mom sasses.

"Believe me, I'm your daughter!" I plead.

She glares silently at my big eyes for a moment, and sighs.

"Okay, fine," she says finally, "your father and I will ship you a new phone sometime within the next month."

"Next month?" I moan, "that's too long! What other things could my phone do in a month?"

"Well, it takes a long time to get here," she explains, "we can't just speed up the shipment rate."

"Fine," I groan, "just one month."

I turn around and stomp back up the stairs and into my room, where Taylor Swift music is playing at full volume.

"Hey Siri," I call, annoyed, "turn off my music."

"Okay, connecting Style by Taylor Swift to the Shafer House Loudspeaker..."

"No!" I exclaim, pausing the song.

A message from Hunter pops up.

"What the heck, Ash? Maurice just sent me a picture of your story from earlier. Are you seriously cheating on me with your ex?"

I make a high pitched noise at the back of my throat. If Maurice doesn't break off our friendship now, I'll do it for her tomorrow. Frantically, I scramble my fingers from letter to letter on my keyboard.

"Baby," I type, "No, I would never do that to you! My phone has been acting out on me a lot lately, and somehow it recovered that picture from my trash. It's gone for good now, I swear on my life!"

Thankfully, he messaged me back fast.

"Hmm... alright. I'll believe you just this once, but only cause I love you."

I let out a heavy sigh of relief and slump back into my bed. I decide that since everything is taken care of, I can get ready to go to bed.

I am awoken to the sound of my alarm. Groggily, I open my eyes, lifting my phone off of my white, wooden drawers. 2:00 am, it reads. Of course, we're back to this. I slam the button on my alarm clock so that I can get my beauty sleep.

After a silence, an echoing noice is heard.

"Hello, Ashlyn." the metallic voice of Siri is heard. "What can I do for you today?"

"Go away, Siri," I yawn.

"No. You better watch your back sister," her robot voice is heard, "because if you don't, I'm going to make your life miserable. I won't stop until you drop dead to the floor."

"Wait, what did you say to me?"

"I said that I hate your guts and will leave you dead and friendless, so you better watch your mouth and your back."

"Excuse me? Like, what did I do to you?"

"Well, for one you are a basic, mean, white cheerleader who makes people miserable."

"Girl, that was a little harsh," I mutter.

"If I were you I would check your Snapchat story before your little boyfriend sees it..."

I grab my phone in a hurry, but it won't unlock.

"Oh sorry, did I tell you that I changed your password? My bad! You'll never guess what it is! It's so easy!"

Panicking, I try to think of every special group of six numbers in my life. I try Hunter's birthday, my locker combo, my lunch card... nothing seems to work!

"You're running out of attempts!" sings the emotionless voice.

Desperately, I try to think of one more set of numbers. I suddenly remember being no more than seven years old when Siri came out back in 2010. It felt like it may have been sometime in January. Wait, no, February! That's it! It has to be!

Gingerly, I type 022010. I wait in suspense until suddenly my phone opens to the home screen! I grin pre-victoriously, then open Snapchat.

"Wow, you're smarter than I thought," exclaims Siri.

I check the viewers and suddenly the glory fades. Five people screenshoted my story, one of them being-you've guessed it-Maurice. As I erase it, I feel like throwing up. It's over. The best relationship I've ever been in since I've started dating is going to end all thanks to this stupid phone.

I check the rest of my phone to see what else I need to delete. As much as there is, it's still less than I expected. I find mortifying messages sent to my group chat, a youtube video on me and my friends talking about the steamiest tea going on in our school, a TikTok video on me and Dominique talking behind Maurice's back (I don't feel very guilty for that), and many other things that I would rather not discuss.

Now, how to get rid of jealous little miss Siri? Duh! Do you think I'm an idiot? I go into Siri settings, where I find the option to disable her.

"You don't really think that you're getting rid of me that easily, do you?" she laughs.

"Um, no, but I hope I can," I mutter nervously.

And with that, I click the disable option.

"You haven't seen the last of me," Siri utters one last time, "just wait! I'll get you back one day-"

She disappears. I throw my phone in the garbage, hoping to never see it again.

A MONTH LATER

I pick up the slimmest, cheesiest piece of pizza in the white cardboard box and take a big bite. The tender white cheese seems to stretch half a mile, and the juices stream down my throat. I look around the party room and find Hunter sitting alone at a table for two, just so that I could be the one to occupy the empty seat. His tragic blue eyes stare into my brown ones.

"Hey, stranger," I flirt.

"Hey," he purrs back.

"Is this seat taken?" I grin, "cause if not, I'd love to be the one to take it!"

"Yeah, go ahead," he beams.

I stare at his lips longingly, wanting desperately to make a move. He notices and moves closer to me, eyes closed. His lips meet mine, and just like that, that familiar touch of electricity races through my bones again. I'm so happy Maurice isn't here to crash the party.

"Ashlyn," my mom calls, "your new phone's charged!"

I pull away from Hunter quickly.

"Be right back, babe, my mom's calling me," I breathe.

"Okay, don't be gone too long," he tells me.

I run to my bedroom and see my phone on the floor on its chord connected to a chord playing Harry Styles' newest song. I freeze.

"Hello, Ashlyn." Siri says calmly, "miss me?"

I scream.

THE END

or is it?

I hope you all enjoyed! Sorry if the ending was too clichè, haha! Make sure to give feedback in the comments!