Prologue
OCD
8:00 AM
6 April 2013
7th Grade
Two-by-two, three-by-three, the students of OCD filed into the Margaret H. Larsen Auditorium for Language Arts. It was not a silent procession; the walk was marred with loud chatter, the occasional laugh and groaning as each of the two hundred students upper school students imagined the torture that was awaiting them.
Projected on the screen in the very front were four words:
Internet Safety Informational Summit.
Claire Lyons sashayed into the auditorium directly behind Massie Block, concentrating on the beat of the song playing in her mind.
"I like that, I like that body rhythm, you beat my drum hard," Claire hummed underneath her breath. Not only was she attempting to keep her feet in rhythm with the rest of the girls; she was also trying to keep the two-sizes-too-big heeled sandals on her feet. They were a generous gift from Dylan after the redhead had decided that charcoal leather did nothing to help her wide feet.
Beside the All-American blonde strutted Alicia Rivera, who was texting ten words every step the girls took. Being a dancer, the stunning girl didn't have to focus on keeping rhythm at all. On the other side of Alicia walked Kristen Gregory, who was bouncing along on count. The petite blonde had her hair in a high pony that swayed with her step, adding the perfect sass to her black fit-and-flare dress.
Altogether, the five-girl group turned sharply at the back row and took five burgundy velvet seats situated perfectly center. The arrangement was as followed: Kristen, Dylan, Massie, Alicia and then Claire. Claire didn't mind her seat; in fact, she liked it due to the fact that she could gnaw on gummy feet during the weekly presentations without attracting Massie's attention.
Claire pulled one sapphire gummy foot out of the pockets of her boyfriend jeans and slipped it in her mouth as the lights dimmed around her. Up on stage, Principal Burns stepped out onto the stage.
"Hello pupils!" Beside Claire, Alicia snorted at the Principal's word choice. "I welcome you all to the third annual ISIS, or 'Internet Safety Informational Summit.'"
The headmistress clicked to the next slide.
"Most girls your age are not very knowledgeable about internet and its dangers," Principal Burns spoke sweetly, but Claire couldn't help but feel like she was being talked down upon. She was in seventh grade, for gawd's sake! She knew everything about Facebook (not that she used it anymore), had an Instagram (not that her parents knew) and was planning on making a Twitter the instant Massie did (not that she was copying her).
"Especially, social media," the principal said importantly as she clicked her Macbook. A new slide popped up, listing different social media websites. As soon as Claire saw that 'MySpace' was first on the list, she sighed and slid down further on her chair.
"So fucking done," Alicia's words confirmed that she felt the same way as Claire. As the towhead glanced over, Alicia slid out her iPhone, turned the brightness way down and proceeded to continue her conversation with whoever it was. Josh, probably.
Claire followed her lead and pulled out her Massie-gifted iPhone and opened up Candy Crush. On a winning streak, she managed to knock out levels thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four and thirty-five by the time the seminar was halfway through. Finally, she ran out of lives on level thirty-six. Claire yawned, noting that she had to wait nine minutes and sixteen seconds before she could play another level.
She exited out of the game and clicked on Instagram. Sliding down to update her feed, she surreptitiously slid a gummy foot (jade this time) into her maul. Claire scrolled through all the pictures, liking Allie-Rose Singer's modeling preview (the girl wasn't pretty committee material, but she was still upper a-list) and Layne's artsy photo of Heather holding a leaf over her head with her back to the camera. After that, she clicked onto her personal Instagram feed, checking her last photo (her and Massie mid-laugh). It was land-locked at 299 likes, and Claire sighed, hoping that someone would step up to the plate. Massie's pictures always got 400+, and Claire thought it more than reasonable to desire a mere hundred less than the alpha.
Once her daily Instagram routine was through, Claire glanced up as she popped yet another gummy foot in her mouth (lilac). Principle Burns appeared to be in the middle of a slide.
"In conclusion, remember the four things you never do online. 1. Give out location. 2. Give out your real name. 3. Talk to someone who you aren't 100% sure is who they say they are. 4. Tell someone you trust if anything you see, get messaged about, read about etcetera makes you uncomfortable. There are many predators on the internet that will try to fool you, and they may succeed if you're not careful and give out personal information."
Puh-lease Claire thought, rolling her eyes. That's never going to be me, or any of my friends. Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life.
"And with that, you are dismissed to break. First period will begin at 9:45," Principal Burns said.
The Pretty Committee stood up as one and bolted through the Auditorium doors, letting them bang shut with a satisfying clang as Claire ingested a final, scarlet gummy.