Chapter Thirteen

"Come on in, Nicholas."

There's a nervousness you never lose when you come into a principal's office, even an assistant principal's office.

Especially the assistant principal's office.

"This really is not anything I wanted you to worry about, but it is about your daughter Susan."

So, Susie.

"She is one of four girls who ended up being mentioned on a social media site that was created by someone we believe is associated with our school, a student or a former student. A parent contacted me last night, and today I've been calling in the girls named to find out what they know. Only one of them was aware of the posting, the girl whose mother contacted me, and the others either didn't know about it or only heard about it this morning and hadn't seen it yet."

Nicholas groped to get clear in his mind about what they were talking about. "So, this is that sexting I keep hearing about?"

For the first time, the assistant principal smiled. "No, nothing like that. This was a different social media site, and there are some pictures posted there, but nothing inappropriate. At least, nothing sexual, nothing of private parts."

"That's good, then, but you . . ."

"Right. The problem is that the site is titled 'Sluts,' and that's what we would consider abusive language. There are other things said in that vein, along with fairly innocuous pictures of some girls here, including your daughter."

"My daughter is called..."

"Right. Or at least, she is included on this page that was set up by someone which calls those named there 'Sluts." It is so carefully on the side of what can't be called illegal, it almost makes me wonder if it is a student who did this; we're in the middle of asking for a charge to be filed so we can get a detective to investigate who can then, in turn, get a subpoena to request of the internet service the IP number of the computer user who set up the page."

"And my daughter already knows about all this?"

"Yes. She took it well, but we're contacting each parent just to keep them in the loop and encourage them to stay in touch with me as this develops, if it does. We don't think she is in any way to blame or involved, but she is an affected party. Just remind her that this is not her fault, not to let it get her down, and that the school is actively pursuing the people who put this out there."

"Wow. I just . . . we didn't have to worry about stuff like this in high school. Every time something happens with the kids, my first thought is to ask how I handled that in high school myself, and this . . ."

The assistant principal leaned back in his chair. "You want to know the truth? If we could just ban social media until they graduate, we'd do it in a heartbeat. But we'd be stupid to do that, because it just delays the day they go out and have to jump in the deep end. This is part of how the world works now, and we have to help them through the bumps and roadblocks and hijackers on this level, because the stakes for posting the wrong image of yourself or saying the wrong thing on a page or in a comment are going up in a hurry, and they don't believe us. It's still just a game, like Mario or Halo or Assassin's Creed. Don't even get me started with boys and porn."

Nicholas leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Do you think this is a boy who's getting even with girls who won't date them, or is it something else?"

"Honestly, I think it's another girl. They probably know who it is, but they might be surprised when they find out who, because it won't be who they think. That's just how these jealousy and revenge deals work."

They shook hands as both stood up.

"Is it time for me to get my daughter? I'm not sure where the class hours go on the day; what time is it?"

"Actually, she should have one more full class period ahead. If you want to wait in my office, I don't have any more appointments."

"No, I'll just go home as if I'd never been here, and see what I learn from Susie this evening."

"I like how you think, Nicholas. Thinking like a dad."

No, thinking like a mom, he reflected on the way back to the van. This never came easily to him, these parental situations, and he only felt like he was on the right track when he asked himself what Natasha would do. Waiting for her to take the next step felt right. How long he would wait to ask if she didn't mention it, he couldn't say.