Ben.
“Thanks, Ben. I’ll be careful.”
“Check you out at school tomorrow.”
“Later.” Julio hung up the phone, feeling both warmed and chilled.
12.
Chat Room 2
Welcome to TEEN TALK, the best partying chat room on-line! TEEN TALK is open every day, 24 hours a day!
logon//spanishlover
sweetthing: whassup, spanishlover?
spanishlover: sky
cookieman: folks who are high
becool: stars
niobe: nothin’s up ’cause I feel down
oogaooga: why you down, baby?
spiceboy: she needs some love
bigmac: let me make your dreams come true
niobe: you ain’t my kind of dream. you are a nightmare!
bigmac: you just wish you could have me.
cookieman: no, she needs sweet dreams
afroqueen: anybody ever have bad dreams?
cookieman: all the time!
becool: I like nightmares. Turns me on!
spiceboy: why?
becool: I’m deep, and I’m weird. I’m going to write them down one day and make a million dollars.
afroqueen: that’s how the story of Frankenstein happened. this lady was on her honeymoon and wrote Frankenstein in her spare time!
niobe: either her new husband was a freak
becool: or he wasn’t giving her what she needed!
sweetthing: I have dreams sometimes that I’m dying.
bigmac: now that’s freaky!
vanityfair: that’s not freaky. everybody has dreams like that sometime.
sweetthing: I heard if you dream you’re falling, and you reach the ground, then you really do die.
niobe: nobody has ever proved that
sweetthing: I guess not
niobe: I dreamed once this big black shadow came to get me. I was suffocating. then I woke up with my mom’s fur coat on my face.
cookieman: people who wear fur ought to be shot
vanityfair: why? the mink is already dead!
bigmac: I dreamed I got shot once
cookieman: did you die?
bigmac: not yet
afroqueen: I have really scary dreams sometimes
spanishlover: me too
afroqueen: I feel like I’m drowning in the ocean
spanishlover: that must be really scary for someone who can’t swim
afroqueen: you making fun of me?
spanishlover: no, I’m trying to sympathize with you
vanityfair: she don’t want sympathy
niobe: she needs somebody to read her cards
afroqueen: I got a friend who does that
becool: dreaming about drowning—that’s deep
afroqueen: I hear this voice at the end of it. a voice I never heard before.
vanityfair: is it a voice from Heaven?
afroqueen: I don’t think so. it’s a lover’s voice, I think.
vanityfair: a lover? my dreams are never that cool.
spanishlover: I dream about being alone and having no one to talk to
cookieman: I dream about food.
bigmac: go eat something then.
spanishlover: I dream about afroqueen.
sweetthing: oooooooo!
vanityfair: oooooooo!
niobe: oooooooo!
afroqueen: why you dreaming about me?
spanishlover: I don’t know. I keep thinking about you.
sweetthing: be careful, afroqueen.
niobe: beware of perverts and weirdos.
afroqueen: make it clear, spanishlover
spanishlover: I’m no pervert. I enjoyed our private chat. that’s all.
vanityfair: watch out!
niobe: check him out, afroqueen. we got your back!
bigmac: yeah, give him ten minutes in a chat room. let him talk.
afroqueen: spanishlover, you want to go to a chat room?
becool: be cool, you two
spanishlover: please
afroqueen: OK. See you there.
Dear Afroqueen:
Thanks for coming in here to talk to me. It sounds like we really went to a room or something. We’re floating someplace in cyberspace. The only difference is that the rest of them can’t see what we’re writing.
Spanishlover:
I had lots of people warn me about on-line predators. You hear on the news about stupid girls who run away with some old man after he talks to them in the chat rooms. Now I certainly don’t consider myself to be stupid, but I have sense enough to be careful.
Let me see if I can ease your fears. I don’t know enough to be a pervert. I’m sixteen years old, and in the eleventh grade, and I just moved to Ohio from Texas. I checked in a few weeks ago to Thomas Jefferson High
“Thanks, Ben. I’ll be careful.”
“Check you out at school tomorrow.”
“Later.” Julio hung up the phone, feeling both warmed and chilled.
12.
Chat Room 2
Welcome to TEEN TALK, the best partying chat room on-line! TEEN TALK is open every day, 24 hours a day!
logon//spanishlover
sweetthing: whassup, spanishlover?
spanishlover: sky
cookieman: folks who are high
becool: stars
niobe: nothin’s up ’cause I feel down
oogaooga: why you down, baby?
spiceboy: she needs some love
bigmac: let me make your dreams come true
niobe: you ain’t my kind of dream. you are a nightmare!
bigmac: you just wish you could have me.
cookieman: no, she needs sweet dreams
afroqueen: anybody ever have bad dreams?
cookieman: all the time!
becool: I like nightmares. Turns me on!
spiceboy: why?
becool: I’m deep, and I’m weird. I’m going to write them down one day and make a million dollars.
afroqueen: that’s how the story of Frankenstein happened. this lady was on her honeymoon and wrote Frankenstein in her spare time!
niobe: either her new husband was a freak
becool: or he wasn’t giving her what she needed!
sweetthing: I have dreams sometimes that I’m dying.
bigmac: now that’s freaky!
vanityfair: that’s not freaky. everybody has dreams like that sometime.
sweetthing: I heard if you dream you’re falling, and you reach the ground, then you really do die.
niobe: nobody has ever proved that
sweetthing: I guess not
niobe: I dreamed once this big black shadow came to get me. I was suffocating. then I woke up with my mom’s fur coat on my face.
cookieman: people who wear fur ought to be shot
vanityfair: why? the mink is already dead!
bigmac: I dreamed I got shot once
cookieman: did you die?
bigmac: not yet
afroqueen: I have really scary dreams sometimes
spanishlover: me too
afroqueen: I feel like I’m drowning in the ocean
spanishlover: that must be really scary for someone who can’t swim
afroqueen: you making fun of me?
spanishlover: no, I’m trying to sympathize with you
vanityfair: she don’t want sympathy
niobe: she needs somebody to read her cards
afroqueen: I got a friend who does that
becool: dreaming about drowning—that’s deep
afroqueen: I hear this voice at the end of it. a voice I never heard before.
vanityfair: is it a voice from Heaven?
afroqueen: I don’t think so. it’s a lover’s voice, I think.
vanityfair: a lover? my dreams are never that cool.
spanishlover: I dream about being alone and having no one to talk to
cookieman: I dream about food.
bigmac: go eat something then.
spanishlover: I dream about afroqueen.
sweetthing: oooooooo!
vanityfair: oooooooo!
niobe: oooooooo!
afroqueen: why you dreaming about me?
spanishlover: I don’t know. I keep thinking about you.
sweetthing: be careful, afroqueen.
niobe: beware of perverts and weirdos.
afroqueen: make it clear, spanishlover
spanishlover: I’m no pervert. I enjoyed our private chat. that’s all.
vanityfair: watch out!
niobe: check him out, afroqueen. we got your back!
bigmac: yeah, give him ten minutes in a chat room. let him talk.
afroqueen: spanishlover, you want to go to a chat room?
becool: be cool, you two
spanishlover: please
afroqueen: OK. See you there.
Dear Afroqueen:
Thanks for coming in here to talk to me. It sounds like we really went to a room or something. We’re floating someplace in cyberspace. The only difference is that the rest of them can’t see what we’re writing.
Spanishlover:
I had lots of people warn me about on-line predators. You hear on the news about stupid girls who run away with some old man after he talks to them in the chat rooms. Now I certainly don’t consider myself to be stupid, but I have sense enough to be careful.
Let me see if I can ease your fears. I don’t know enough to be a pervert. I’m sixteen years old, and in the eleventh grade, and I just moved to Ohio from Texas. I checked in a few weeks ago to Thomas Jefferson High
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