Lizzie clicked on the ad for 'Teen Chat' and waited patiently for everything to load. As the little progress bar moved on the screen Lizzie tried to recall if Miranda had mentioned anything about going somewhere that afternoon. Anything that would possibly explain why she wasn't home. And why was Gordo's phone busy but he wasn't online? Who else could he possibly be speaking to?

Shaking her head she noticed that the webpage was loaded and patiently waiting for her to enter. 'Nickname... Nickname... Nickname...' After a few minutes of random names running through her head, Lizzie chose the one she wanted and clicked on 'Enter' hoping that no one else had the same name.

--Ella-- has entered the room

mviguy: no way, man!

zigj12: im totalli serious. ne way, ive got to go.

--Ella--: hi everyone!

popstar: k. bi zig

popstar: hi ella

mviguy: c ya, zig

--Ella--: what's up?

!me: nthn much, el. u?

--Ella--: bored

!me: wnt me to entertin u?

popstar: uhhh...

mviguy: hey ella. how are you?

--Ella--: i don't think so...

--Ella--: hi mvi. good. you?

mviguy: we're you coming from?

Lizzie stared at the screen. She had popped into a room with only seven other people in it and half of them were inactive. She was trying to figure out what was what. 'popstar' seemed to be a girl. '!me!' screamed 'perv'. 'mviguy' seemed to be pretty okay. But... good enough to give up her location? How could it hurt?

!me: cum on el. lets go hve fun in a PW.

--Ella--: eeek! no!

popstar: got 2 go. crzy rents

mviguy: c y around, star.

--Ella--: bye popstar

!me: c ya babi

mviguy is requesting to open a private conversation with you. Do you accept?

Lizzie considered her options. Open a private window and chat with the decent guy or stay in the general window talking to the perv? Immediatly she clicked on 'accept'.

mviguy: hey

--Ella--: hey again

mviguy: what's up?

--Ella--: bored. tired. fighting w/ my homework.

mviguy: i see. what class?

--Ella--: math. :(

mviguy: but that's easy.

--Ella--: as if. what are you doing?

mviguy: chatting w/ you.

--Ella--: how old are you?

mviguy: 77, obviously.

--Ella--: that young? i'm 145

mviguy: prime of your life.

--Ella--: you got it!

mviguy: well, i'm 77 – 61

--Ella--: ugh. i told you i was fighting with math

mviguy: if you can't do that you need help.

--Ella--: fine. i'm 16 too.

mviguy: got e-mail?

--Ella--: oh. i have to go! bye!

--Ella-- has logged out at 17:23:19

Lizzie looked at her screen with horror. He had seemed like a nice guy but she hadn't counted on having to give her e-mail out. What if she gave it to a perv that was just waiting to pounce? No. Better let go of the whole chat thing. It was to dangerous. She hardly wanted to be kidnapped to never be seen again. Bad news. But then she remembered her short conversation and smiled. Well... maybe she would go back.