Over the weekend, the girls realized that they have been ignored by Debra as her eyes had been glued to her cellphone all week. Worried about Debra, Madeline decided to text message her about coming over to her house. Debra responded that she did not mind. Feeling like something big would happen, Madeline brought along Skye. They both walked together over to Debra's house.
"A texting addiction?" Skye repeated what Madeline said. "I don't believe that a texting addiction exists."
"If Debra cannot stop texting to save her own life," started Madeline, "then such a thing has to exist."
"Ever since she got that phone, she's been a bit of a spaz."
"And the Debra we know is not a spaz."
"A tiny bit of temper tantrums here and there but nonetheless, she is not a spaz."
"She needs to listen to herself and chill."
Once the girls were close enough to the front door, Madeline rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, an older African-American man opened the door.
"Hello, Mister Lincoln," greeted Madeline.
"Hi," Skye greeted as well.
"Hello, girls," said Debra's father. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to see Debra," replied Madeline.
"We hear she has a problem," Skye whispered.
Madeline nodded.
"Then you came here for the right reasons," said the father. He opened the door wider. "Come on in."
The girls entered with Debra's father closing and locking the door.
"She's been in her room all day. The last time I've seen her, she was texting. I tried to take the phone out of her hands but she tried to bite me so I'm not going to deal with her right now. It was a bad idea to give her a phone. I don't care about the environment but if she did, I should have supported that."
"What does phones have to do with the environment?" asked Skye.
"I don't know; you ask her. I'm going to make a sandwich. Her room is down the hall."
"Know that."
The father walked away as the girls walked from behind him as Debra's bedroom and the kitchen were in the same hallway. As they walked, they passed the living room which had Debra's younger brother, Leroy, sitting on the sofa, playing video games from the television.
"Hi, Leroy," Madeline and Skye greeted to him while walking slowly.
Leroy paid his attention to the girls. He nodded his head. "'Sup, ladies?"
The girls sped up their pace.
"Does he think we're hot?" asked Skye.
"Who said we were not?" replied Madeline.
The girls giggled.
"Actually, a few people," Skye said seriously.
"Yeah, you're right."
They stopped by a closed door, knowing it was the door to Debra's bedroom.
Madeline knocked on the door. "Debra. It's me; Maddie and Skye."
A few seconds later, Debra opened the door without looking up. "Hey, girls," she said, pressing the buttons on her phone rapidly. "How is it going?"
She walked away, letting Madeline and Skye enter the room. Skye closed the door before walking up next to Madeline who was getting closer to Debra, who sat down on her bed with a giant peace sign on the bedspread.
"We're doing well," said Madeline. "How about you?"
"I'm awesome," Debra answered, still not looking up.
"Are you?"
"Yeah."
"How are you doing in school so far?" asked Skye.
"Good. Except they don't allow texting during class hours. How ridiculous is that?"
"Not that ridiculous."
"We've heard that you tried to bite your dad," Madeline threw out.
"Oh, yeah, he's been acting weird," said Debra. "I don't know why."
"Maybe it's because you're the one acting weird."
Debra scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"Debra, who do you text to?" questioned Skye.
"Friends, like Darrell. He is so funny, I can't believe it. L.O.L."
"People don't say 'L.O.L.' in real life," Madeline stated.
"Well, there's a person and that person is me."
"Debra, look at us."
"Can't."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I--"
"Debra, look at us!" shouted Skye.
"I'm too busy texting."
"Debra, listen to me," Madeline took a step forward. "Texting is ruining your life. And if you don't stop, seriously bad things can happen to you."
"Like what?"
"What if you text while you drive?"
"Maddie, you know I don't drive. But my dad did say he was going to get me a car so I might have to get into that."
"Debra, you helped me when I had that problem."
"A shopping problem," Skye added.
"Now I'm going to help you with your problem."
"Problem?" Debra scrunched her forehead. "I ain't got no problem."
"Oh, if you don't have a problem then look at me."
"It's a free country; I can do whatever I want."
"Then since it is a free country, I can do this."
Madeline quickly grabbed onto Debra's cellphone, making her finally look up. Madeline tried to pull the phone away but Debra hung on to it tightly.
"No!" Debra screamed. "I'm not finished!"
Madeline struggled to take the phone away but did not stop grabbing onto it. "No, you're finished!"
The girls became involved in a tug of war over the phone while Skye watched, not knowing what to do. Debra later grappled Madeline, forcefully knocking her down on the floor and attempting to pull away the phone while climbing on top of her. The girls screamed and rolled around, both of them latching on to the cell phone.
"I got to record this or something," Skye said to herself, watching her friends fighting and shrieking.
After a good minute, Debra took one of her hands off of the phone and used it to slap Madeline in the cheek several times. Madeline finally took her hands off the phone to protect her face. Debra sloppily stood up over Madeline and looked down at her.
"I ain't got no problem!" she screamed.
Madeline tried to pick herself up a bit by lifting up with her elbows. "I got ninety-nine problems but Debra, you ain't gonna be one."
Debra ran to the door and opened it to run out. Skye ran after her with Madeline carefully getting up and sprinting out of the room.
"Debra, don't do this to yourself!" said Skye.
Debra turned her head, still running. "Why? It's in my blood. I can stop anytime I want." Once Debra turned her head back around, she ran flat into the front door. She fell on her back on the floor, not moving at all.
The girls knew the slam was hard by how loud the sound was. They stopped inches away from Debra.
"Oh, my God!" Madeline cried. "Is she dead?"
Debra moaned and switched her head's position.
"No, she moved," said Skye.
"Okay," Madeline sighed. "Where's the phone?"
The girls scanned the lobby floor. Skye eventually found Debra's cellphone in the corner of the floor. She rushed over and picked it up.
Debra tried to lift herself up but dropped down. "Phone," she muttered.
"We're doing this because we love you, Debs'," said Skye, hoping that Debra could hear. She marched inside the living room and looked for anyone that could spark an idea in her head. She immediately spotted a glass of soda on the coffee table. With no hesitation, she walked towards the glass and dropped the phone in, mainly breaking the function of it.
"Hey!" Leroy called. "I was drinking that!"
"Sorry," said Skye. "It was for Debra's own good."
"You're lucky you're hot."
"Okay." She walked out and stood next to Madeline who was helping Debra stand up.
"What did I do?" asked Debra, almost in a groan.
"You ran into a door," replied Madeline.
"You ran into it pretty hard," Skye added.
"Wow, I was really acting crazy, wasn't I?" Debra asked.
"Yeah," Madeline and Skye answered.
"Huh. I'm sorry if I've offended you two. I just really liked texting."
"Well, you needed to stop texting," said Madeline.
"It's all over so we can forget about this," Skye added.
Soon, Debra's father walked out of the kitchen into the lobby with the girls. He was eating a hero sandwich, which was dripping mustard in his collared shirt. "What happened?" he asked with a bite of sandwich in his mouth.
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