OBB: Online Burn Book

Michelle Poulakis

For the rest of the day, both students and teachers talked only of the hate message. The janitors had erased the writing before Michelle could see it, but she knew what the message said.

"See, look!" A girl hissed at her friend behind Michelle. "My friend was able to take a picture of it."

"Everyone in this shitty school --"

"Don't read it out loud, you dumbass!"

Before Michelle could hear more of their conversation, the bus stopped, and Michelle had to step off. As she walked home, she wondered who had written the note. Who hated the school that much?

Obviously, her head first thought of Jason Evelou. He had been talked about relentlessly by the school, and she had seen the hate he had received first-hand. If anything, he was probably the only one who hated the school enough to do something like that.

And then there was the second question. Why would he do that? Many people still muttered his name every once in a while, although people seemed to provoke him less. Perhaps that was why he did it? People would, like Michelle, probably assume he was the only one with enough hate to do such a thing. Perhaps he thought people would respect him more after he did it?

Of course, Michelle thought as she unlocked the front door to her house, this was all assuming that Jason had actually been the one to do it. There was an extremely small chance that he hadn't been the one.

"Mom, I'm home," she called as she headed to her room. "I'll be studying."

"Oka-- oh, wait, honey." Her mother stood up from the sofa to face her. "A friend of yours dropped by before, saying he had to take back something you borrowed from him."

Michelle frowned. "What are you talking about?" As Michelle was someone with no friends, her mother was making no sense at all.

"He said it would only be two seconds," her mother continued, "and he was very sweet with his words. He told me you told him exactly where to find it, and he came back out before I could offer him anything."

Michelle began to worry slightly. "Did he tell you who he was?" Why would anybody have reason to take anything from her?

"He showed me his school ID, but I couldn't read his name quick enough." Her mother smiled. "You should've told me if you had a friend. I know I stress how important studying is, but it's not bad to socialize every once in a while."

"Mom, you're supposed to be against random boys in my room," Michelle said. "How do you know he wasn't here to steal something?"

"He said you told him exactly where it was, and he left the house with it in less than twenty seconds," her mother said. "Why wouldn't I trust him? He was wearing nothing but a simple shirt and sweats, so he couldn't have gone in or left without something new."

Michelle exhaled softly. "Fine, then, what did he take?"

Her mother's eyes softened. "It was notes for class, I believe. Maybe it was your social studies notebo--"

Michelle ran to her room. She searched under her mattress desperately, feeling nothing. She yanked her pillow and blankets off and lifted her mattress completely.

"Michelle!" Her mother ran into the room and pushed the mattress back down. "What do you think you're doing?"

She didn't reply, instead going to her computer and turning it on. "I have homework," she said roughly. "Please leave."

Her mother huffed as she smoothed the blanket out on the bed. "Fine," she said, "but we'll continue talking later, when your father comes home. About your grades, as well. They've been slipping a bit."

As soon as the door shut behind her, Michelle went onto the OBB website and logged in. She quickly pressed on the new message she had received from someone.

Members: 1

the.founder.real: Hello! You might be missing something, although I'm not too sure of what it is. I wonder what the school and your parents will think if they find out about what was in there.

But anyways, if you want your notebook to remain in safe hands, there's just a few things you need to do. First, reply to this message within the next 24 hours. Then, we'll see what will happen next.

Sincerely,

The Founder

Michelle leaned back in her seat, blinking at the screen. How had they found out? How did they know the notebook was under there? How did they even know about the notebook at all? She read the message again and highlighted the last part.

First, reply to this message within the next 24 hours. Then, we'll see what will happen next.

There wasn't anything Michelle could do, was there? If her parents found out about how she had spent her free time, if her classmates found out she had kept tabs on everyone. . . .

With a conflicted and tearful sigh, she began typing out a response.