Viral

That night I sat at my computer, toggling between chemistry homework and surfing, with Holmes underneath my desk to keep my feet warm. Shige sent me links to pointless videos. I click on them, watch them, and then do a few chemistry problems. Then I check my email, answer another problem, and check for updates on a few websites. Repeat. Then I move on to algebra once chem is done. Desiree from my French class starts up a conversation:

StarGirl96: hey wat's up?
LarukuFan: nm just homework
StarGirl96: oh. sucks.
LarukuFan: yeah
StarGirl96: wanna see something hilarious?
LarukuFan: sure

I click the link she sent, which opened up a blog in my window. The latest post has three pictures of Rei: one before lunch where she's sitting in class with her head extremely low, one during lunch where Jamie's dumping water on her head, and one after lunch with her hair curling up like a poodle's. My stomach flips.

LarukuFan: Is that Rei?
StarGirl96: yeah! isn't it funny?
LarukuFan: ...who took those pictures?
StarGirl96: idk one of jamie's friends i guess

Returning to my browser, I scroll down the page to see more humiliating pictures of Rei. It's sick some of the shots these people took. In one, Rei fell down the stairs while wearing a skirt. In another, her hair, which was then light brown, had been destroyed with spray paint, and bottles of soda had been dumped on her head. I was about to go back to talking to Desiree about it when Shige interrupts me with another message:

GO Shige GO: did u see this?
LarukuFan: Dessie showed me. It's brutal.
GO Shige GO: sick even
GO Shige GO: it explains a lot

Sho then butts in in another conversation window.
Sho-Down: shige showed me that link
Sho-Down: what should we do? show a teacher maybe?
LarukuFan: Dunno. We could try, but I doubt they'd do much
Sho-Down: isn't there a policy against this stuff?
LarukuFan: Yeah but it basically solves nothing
LarukuFan: It happened before with a kid in my bio class last year
LarukuFan: she ended up moving away

I pause for a minute, mulling over this development, then I switch back to the window with Dessie.

LarukuFan: Why does everyone bully Rei like this?
StarGirl96: cuz no one likes her
LarukuFan: ....WHY does no one like her?
StarGirl96: dunno. it's mostly just jamie
StarGirl96: i used to be friends with both of them and they got into a fight
StarGirl96: they hate each other now
LarukuFan: What'd they fight over?
StarGirl96: jamie says rei lied to her about going out with some guy she liked behind her back
LarukuFan: what did Rei say?
StarGirl96: idk
LarukuFan: Were you sitting with Jamie at lunch today?
StarGirl96: yeah, i saw the whole thing
LarukuFan: was any of the stuff she said about her true?
StarGirl96: idk
StarGirl96: probly not a lot of it
LarukuFan: And you're on Jamie's side?
StarGirl96: yeah

Something about what Desiree's saying bothers me.

LarukuFan: Shige
GO Shige GO: tatsubon
LarukuFan: Screw you
GO Shige GO: sorry, man
GO Shige GO: i don't swing that way
LarukuFan: Whatever.
LarukuFan: Dessie's not making a whole lot of sense
GO Shige GO: she's an airhead. what do you expect?
LarukuFan: No, I mean about Rei.
GO Shige GO: what difference does it make?
LarukuFan: A big one. She used to be friends with Rei.
GO Shige GO: so? why are you so interested?
LarukuFan: it's bothering me
LarukuFan: You saw what they did to her?
GO Shige GO: yeah
GO Shige GO: and i don't wanna make it my business
GO Shige GO: besides, women are scary

A knock on my door interrupts my frantic IM session. Mom opens the door and slips her head inside. I quickly open a Word window to make it look like I was working.

"Doing homework, Tacchan?"

"Yeah."

"Dinner's ready. I'll bring a plate up to you."

"Thanks, Okaasan."

She leaves and returns a few minutes later with a bowl of rice and a plate of chicken. As soon as she closes my door, I bring up the conversation window with Sho.

LarukuFan: Shige thinks I'm wasting my time worrying about it
Sho-Down: why?
LarukuFan: 'cause it's not really our business, I guess
LarukuFan: I don't know. I don't wanna leave it at that
Sho-Down: me either
Sho-Down: you think we should show the principal this blog?

I get up to retrieve my dinner and sit back down at my desk when another message pops up in Dessie's window.

StarGirl96: hit refresh on that page

Clicking back to my web browser and hitting refresh, I see another post has been made to the blog. There's another, more grotesque photo – this time of Rei's arms. She's on a bathroom floor with her hands pinned down by someone else's foot, and dozens of cuts like zebra stripes are revealed on her forearms. Some of them have white scar tissue while others are fresh and bleeding. There's a bloody razor next to her. Suddenly I can't eat.

LarukuFan: That's fucking awful! Who took that?
StarGirl96: idk but jamie's the one standing on her hands

A big part of me wants to ask her if she's still on Jamie's side. If she still finds this funny. But I don't. Instead, I ignore her and try to finish algebra homework.

That night my old man called me. Recently Mom has talked him into being more involved with my life and taking a greater interest in me – and not where soccer is concerned. He asks me about school and friends and how things are going at home. Things he obviously doesn't want to hear about. He just feels obligated to hear me, probably because if he doesn't Mom will heckle him into high hell. He said I should visit on Sunday because there was someone he needed me to meet. Someone special. I don't like where he's taking this, but I don't get much say in it. It's not like I'm living with him (thankfully).

"I'd like you to meet my fiancée," he said. I nearly dropped the phone.

"Your what?"

"My fiancé. Her name is Ayako."

"How old is she?"

"Why does it matter, Tatsuya?"

"Because it'd be weird if you're engaged to someone half your age. Someone who could be my sister or something."

"Well..." He's hesitating. That's not good. "She's child birthing age." Fuck. It's not surprising, though. I can't be the son he wants, so he's shooting for another. Fine. "Does that bother you, Tatsuya?"

"Will it make you change your mind if I said yes?"

"Of course not," he scoffs.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter, anyway. You never care about what I think."

"Tatsuya, don't start this."

"I'm not starting anything. I'm just saying you've never really cared about my opinion. It was always what you thought and what you wanted!" I'm actually a little surprised at how much my voice raised. "Nothing I ever said made a difference to you."

"...You had a bad day, didn't you?"

"It's that easy to tell?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. Care to talk about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're only asking at Mom's request." I hear a sigh on the other end of the line. "I'll be fine, old man."

"Alright, then. I'll see you Sunday."

"I never agreed to meeting with you."

"Does it make a difference whether or not you agreed?"

We both force a laugh and say goodbye. I collapse on my bed, thinking to myself that I'll finish my French homework before class starts in the morning and eventually slide into unconsciousness.

Why are you so interested in me?

Chapter three! Hooray! I had a lot of fun coming up with screen names for Tatsuya, Sho, and Shige. -grins happily- Many thanks go out to Phoenixofdarkness6263 for reviewing. I appreciate it greatly.