Finding Me, Finding You (Finding #1)

by Shealy James

  One of the guys happened to go to the same school as the douchebag and offered to help us. Social outcasts were uniting online it seemed. Once we finally found out Colton’s last name and fraternity, Max sent everything to his hacker friend at Tech. Within the hour, the guy had sent information to Max that helped him get into Colton’s account. Once Max pulled up Colton’s account, he found that it was already set-up, but not frequently used, which Max said was good for us. We decided that the message that would be sent out to all of his friends should say, “I tested positive for genital warts and Chlamydia. If I’ve had sex with you, you should get yourself tested asap. Symptoms do not always show up right away.” His status message that would show on everyone’s news feed would say something similar.

  Once Max was sure that nothing could be traced back to us, he hacked into Colton’s account and changed the contact email to a dummy email that his hacker friend had already set up and changed the account password to ‘douchebag,’ which we all thought was a nice touch. Revenge was sweet. He wouldn’t be touching another girl any time soon.

  The only thing left to do was call Maggie’s dad. Yeah…we left that up to Max.

  Maggie

  Eliza brought us a late lunch in the family room of tomato soup and grilled cheese, my favorite. She checked on me three or four times before going about her business. I had finally calmed down enough to eat. After eating, I was resting on the couch. My mother had left to get her nails done, and Daddy was sitting in the chair next to me watching football. We didn’t talk much, but I felt better than I had this morning. Just being home with Daddy and Eliza was comforting. I should have been hurt by my mother’s lack of interest, but honestly it didn’t surprise me. I hardly gave it a second thought when my mind was wrapped up in what happened, and what was worse, what could have happened the night before.

  We went to dinner that night at a little local seafood place. I wore one of the outfits that my mother had picked out, and I had left home because “it wasn’t my style.” It wasn’t worth arguing with her over it when I didn’t really care what I looked like anyway. She appraised me when I came downstairs, but thankfully she didn’t say anything for a change. I guess it couldn’t have hurt her to tell me I looked nice, but I was sure she was looking more at my weight than my outfit. I had lost weight at school between running and soccer, so she couldn’t harp about that either. Point for Maggie!

  Thankfully, dinner was pleasant, and I slept like a rock in my own bed that night. On Sunday morning Mother had a brunch planned at the club, so after a quick pancake breakfast with Daddy and Eliza, I headed back to Atlanta. I had studying to do, so I needed to get back. Plus I really didn’t want to go to the club and hang out with my mother’s snotty friends. When I arrived back in Atlanta and walked in the door, the house was quiet. Everyone’s cars were outside, but no one was in the main room or the kitchen. I took my bag that I had packed from home up to my room, and just as I walked past Parker’s door, he came out into the hall. His hair was wet, and he was pulling his blue polo shirt over his flat, perfect six-pack. He was…perfect.

  “Hey. I thought I heard you come in.” He whispered. “You ok?”

  “Yeah. Is everyone else asleep?” I pointed to the other closed doors.

  “Yeah. We had a late night.”

  “Oh.” I said as I went into my room. He followed me and closed the door. I looked up at him confused as to what he was doing. His worried face gave me a clue. Sarah must have told them why I left.

  “What happened, Maggie? Why did you leave?”

  I kept my eyes on my books that I was packing to take to the library. “I needed to go home. Everything’s ok.”

  “What happened with Colton? I know he did something. Your dad called Max.”

  I looked up at him. “Nothing happened. Surprisingly, I’m not a doormat like you all thought. I can say no.”

  “We worry about you. You know that,” he said quietly. “You...you sure you’re ok?”

  I was getting tired of this conversation. I didn’t want to talk about it with Max or Parker. If I had, I wouldn’t have gone home. “Yes, Parker, I’m sure.”

  “You want to go study at the library?”

  I zipped up my bag and threw it over my shoulder. “Yeah. We have that International Poli Sci test on Wednesday.”

  “Alright. I’ll grab my stuff and meet you downstairs.” He said as he walked out my door with me following. Before he walked in his room, he turned. “I’m glad you’re ok.”

  Chapter 13

  Parker

  I was glad Maggie was back, and she seemed to be ok, not really talking much, but she was focused on what we were studying. I, on the other hand, was too busy thinking about what had come of our little message on the asshole’s social networking pages. Finally when I couldn’t take the library’s quiet anymore, I told her that I wanted to run while it was still light out. I had already gone on a run this morning, but I preferred to run with Maggie.

  Maggie and I ran for over an hour. I was going to hurt tomorrow at practice, but it was worth it. While Maggie was showering before dinner, I cornered Max in the kitchen to find out what had happened. Max said that emails had already started coming in on the dummy email address. Max was showing them to me on his phone when Sarah came in and joined us. I was laughing at all of the people freaking out. It couldn’t hurt for some of these girls to get tested. If they were willing to sleep with that asshole, they probably slept with a lot of other people. I told Max and Sarah we were doing the world a service right when Maggie walked in the kitchen.

  “What are you guys talking about? What service have you provided?”

  Sarah jumped in, “Max is planning something special for Becca, and we are talking him out of some of his farcical ideas.”

  “Oh really? Is it an anniversary?” She asked as she went over to the fridge for a drink.

  Max stumbled, “Oh…uh…yeah. Sort of. I wanted to do something nice for her.”

  “What are you planning to do?”

  Max looked at us panicked. Sarah just smiled. “He’s taking her on a sunrise breakfast picnic on the top of Stone Mountain. They might camp out, so they don’t miss it.”

  “You’re going to camp out? You hate the outdoors.” Maggie looked incredulous. She knew Max too well. Good one Sarah!

  Max didn’t miss a beat this time. “Yeah, but Becca might like it. She’s never done it, so I want her to try new things.”

  “Well, have fun. Camping sounds cold. I would just do the picnic.”

  “I’m starting to think that is the way to go.” Max said.

  My roommates might be great liars or Maggie might be really gullible. I couldn’t really tell. It didn’t matter; Maggie didn’t know what was going on, and that was all that mattered right now.

  We went about our Sunday night with no more discussion of the plan. It seemed to have worked, and we were happy with that. It was Tuesday when the social networking account was cancelled and taken offline. The emails stopped on Wednesday, and Max closed the account. We all had a good laugh about it that night when Maggie was at the library writing a paper. I can’t imagine what kind of hell that guy was going through this week, but he deserved it.

  Maggie

  Early Thursday afternoon I was home alone when Becca walked in the door and called out Max’s name.

  “Hey Becca. He’s not here. Where have you been? I haven’t seen you all week.”

  “I…I had a project. Is Max here?”

  She looked terrible, like she hadn’t slept in days. “No. He’s at the lab, I think. You okay Becca?”

  She looked at me, paused, and then she burst into tears. I ran over and hugged her while she cried on my shoulder. “Becca, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”

  “I’m late.”

  “Ok. For what? I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”

  “No Maggie. I’m late. My period is late.”

  “Oh. OH! Oh my God! How late?”

  “Five
days. I’m freaking out. I’m never late.”

  “Maybe it’s stress. Max said you had a lot going on.”

  “Yeah, but I have never been this late,” she sobbed.

  “Come sit down. Do you want something to drink?”

  “No.”

  I grabbed bottled water for her anyway. “Have you taken a test?”

  “I took four, a whole box. All negative. I read that you’re more likely to have a false negative than a false positive though, and my period still hasn’t shown up.”

  “Ok. Ok. We can figure this out. Maybe you should go to the health center and get a blood test. My sister Catherine had to do that once. My mother made her when her period was late. It only takes a day for the results.”

  “Yuck. I don’t want to go to the health center.”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t either, but at least you would know for sure, and then you can tell Max when you know exactly what is going on. I’ll call and make you an appointment. We can pay cash and use a pseudonym if you want.”

  “Ok, but you call.”

  I called, and they told us to come in. There was a wait, but the lab techs would call people out in order that they arrived. I drove her over to the student health center, and when we walked into the lab, there were a lot of girls there. Almost all of the seats in the waiting room were full. Becca signed in under the name Jane Cho, after the “slutty” girl in her high school.

  The desk attendant asked what she was there for, so she had to say, “A pregnancy test.” I could tell she was embarrassed and terrified, but I had no idea what to do to help her. After the desk attendant dryly asked if she had taken a home test as if Becca was boring her, Becca said, “Yes. I took four. All negative.”

  “Ok. Sit down. It will be a few minutes.”

  The girls next to us were discussing how disgusting they felt having to get tested. It made me wonder what kind of test they were talking about. Certainly all of these girls were not here for pregnancy tests. There were at least a dozen girls here, and I assume some of them were here for moral support, but that still seems like a lot of irresponsible sex going on.

  Twenty minutes passed, and five girls went in, and five girls came out. Then a lab technician called, “Jane?”

  No one got up.

  “Jane Cho?”

  Oh. That was Becca. I tapped her. “That’s you.”

  “Oh right.” She stood and went behind the door with the lab tech wearing blue scrubs that seemed to be two sizes too big. Maybe she had lost weight, I thought. Good for her. I was trying to keep myself from worrying about Becca’s potential pregnancy. Max’s dad would kill him. Any irresponsibility on Max’s part had never been tolerated. His dad never let Max make mistakes. When Max crashed his bike when we were nine, Max’s dad told him that was a sign that he didn’t deserve a bicycle. He used to ride my sister’s purple one when his dad wasn’t home.

  Becca was out a few minutes later, and she looked deflated. I took her through a Dairy Queen drive thru for a treat like Eliza used to do after she took me to the doctor when we were kids. It was our little secret from my mother, and I was hoping it would make Becca feel better like it did for me when I was a kid.

  I offered to bring her back to my house, but she wanted to go to bed. When I dropped her off, she leaned back in the window, “Hey, please don’t tell Max. I would rather be the one to tell him no matter what happens.”

  “Of course. It is not my place. Text or call if you need anything, and let me know what happens. You know I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

  “Ok. Thanks Maggie.” She climbed out of my car and solemnly walked into her apartment.

  I felt terrible for her. It must be so stressful and scary to be in her shoes, which actually made me really glad I hadn’t had sex yet. I couldn’t think like that right now. Everything was going to be ok. It had to be. Max wasn’t ready to be a dad, not to mention that his dad would kill him. He would have to drop out. Becca would too. This couldn’t happen. They were not ready to have a baby. I knew this happened to people, but they were such responsible people. Becca was late. It was stress. There’s nothing to worry about. If there was nothing to worry about, then why did I feel this horrible sinking feeling in my gut?

  These thoughts ran through my head the rest of the day and night. I hardly slept at all and was exhausted in class the next morning. That was where I was though when my phone buzzed with a new text message.

  Becca: Negative. They said come back in three days if still nothing.

  Me: It’s ok. It will come. Just relax. Bubble bath. Massage.

  Becca: Good idea.

  Negative. That was good news. I knew she wouldn’t feel better until her period came, but maybe it was skipping a month. That can happen, right?

  After soccer practice, I picked up my phone and had another text from Becca.

  Becca: Hallelujah. Flo came to town. BB helped. Thanx.

  Me: Whew! Thanks for letting me know. You coming over tonight?

  Becca: Yeah. I want to tell Max why I have been weird. He’s been worried.

  Me: Good idea. See you later.

  I was so relieved. This year had been such a roller coaster already, and it was only November. I really didn’t think anything else could go wrong. I wanted back into our happy bubble that we were all in this summer. I was not accustomed to drama, and between Sarah’s break up, Becca’s scare, and my own horrible encounter, I’d had enough of it this year.

  Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come. It was Wednesday, almost two weeks since the Colton incident, and we had a late practice. Afterwards, I was with some of the girls in the locker room icing our legs from a particularly grueling practice on the wet fields, when Tara, our best forward, started talking about a couple of her friends going to get STD tests because some guy had posted on Facebook that he had genital warts and Chlamydia.

  “Ew.” We all said and expressed our disgust with wrinkled faces and dropped jaws.

  “Yeah – and they had both slept with him. I guess he gets around,” she added.

  “Who was the guy? Does he go to our school?” Allison, our sweeper asked.

  “Colton something. No, I think he’s a frat guy from Tech.”

  I started choking on the water I had just swallowed. “What? Do you know his last name?”

  “No. I can ask my friends though. Why? Did you sleep with a Colton that goes to Tech?” Tara said joking with me. They knew I was pretty innocent. They talked about guys constantly, and my stupid red cheeks gave me away every time.

  “No, but I went on a couple of dates with one. I’m just wondering if it is the same one. He was a complete asshole when I didn’t want to have sex with him.”

  “No way! How many Colton’s are there that go to Tech? It’s probably him. I’ll ask my friends when I get back to the apartment.”

  I shrugged trying not to freak out. “Ok.”

  Fortunately the conversation steered away from that topic and onto bikini waxes and tanning, but my mind was whirling. We didn’t have a great sex ed program in school. My parents certainly didn’t tell me about any of this, so I had no idea what Chlamydia was or how one gets it, and I didn’t want to ask my teammates. They already thought I was innocent and naïve enough. I didn’t need to make it worse.

  My head started to ache with the stress that Colton had caused. What if had given me something when he kissed me? I mean swapping spit with a relative stranger isn’t exactly sanitary. Obviously he gets around. Who knows where else his mouth had been recently? Gross.

  Parker

  It was Wednesday, and Maggie was still at practice when Becca was telling us the story of going to the health clinic and seeing all of the girls there getting STD tests. She hadn’t thought of anything at the time because she was preoccupied, but afterwards, she wondered if it had anything to do with Colton. We were all sharing a good laugh about that when Maggie came home. We all ate dinner together since Max and Maggie were becoming quite the chefs. Maggie hardly spo
ke and barely touched her food tonight though; she seemed upset about something but kept assuring us she was fine. She kept rubbing her head like she had a headache and checking her phone.

  “Do you want to take something for your head?” I asked her as she rubbed her temples.

  “No.” She stood and took her plate to the sink. “Sarah, can I talk to you for a second?”

  They went upstairs, and I had a really uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I shrugged it off thinking I was feeling guilty for not telling her what we did even though I knew it was best that she didn’t know.

  The rest of us cleaned up from dinner and all found somewhere in the kitchen and living room to spread out to study. Finals were in a couple of weeks, so we all had final projects and papers that needed work. When Sarah came back into the room, I asked, “Is she ok?”

  “Umm. Let’s all talk in the kitchen. She is lying down right now. She had a headache, so I gave her some Advil and played with her hair until she closed her eyes.” She paused and scratched her head before looking back up. “She knows.”

  “What do you mean she knows?” Max asked.

  “She knows about Colton’s page. She doesn’t know that we did it, but she is freaking out thinking she could have gotten something from him. Apparently you guys did not have a very good sex ed program in high school.”

  “Umm…No. They preached abstinence only, so STDs were not something they talked about. Maggie’s sisters didn’t tell her anything? Man. My dad had the talk with me like six times before I left for school. He showed me three thousand pictures of STD tainted genitals. It is amazing that I can even have sex. It never occurred to me that she wouldn’t know anything with the way her sisters are.”

  “Well, I think we should tell her that it wasn’t real,” Sarah said.

  “What? No! Absolutely not. She’ll kill us…well, she’ll kill me. I know how she feels about stuff like this. People messed with her all the time at school, and she would never let me do anything about it. She’ll hate that we got involved.” Max argued.