couldn’t make out any words, or be completely sure who was speaking, thanks to my stupid hearing loss. But I could at least say there were one male and one female in there.
When the door finally swung open, I was faced with Tom’s unusually smooth forehead. Whatever he had been doing in there, it wasn’t a private training session.
“Oh, Jen, hi,” he said, forcing a smile. “Claire and I were just finishing up our training schedule for the next two months. I hope you’ll be joining us for so m e of the sessions.”
I didn’t miss the subtle way he drew a line in the sand with the word “ some ,” for the record .
He opened the door wider and Claire stepped around him into the corridor with me. She looked a little flushed, but otherwise normal. It was hard to say for sure what I’d really interrupted, but I had my own opinions on the matter.
“Thanks again, Tom,” she said stiffly, her eyes daring from me to him and back. If Claire hadn’t been intimately entangled with that man just a few minutes’ previous, I was the Queen of England. “See you on Tuesday for the…”
“Race.”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “You better watch out for me. I’ ll be waiting for you at the finish line. See you then!”
For the entire car ride home, I badgered my sister for information. She stoically resisted every attempt I made, her lips pressed tightly together.
“What’s really on Tuesday?” I asked, poking her in the arm.
“It’s a 5K, Jen. We’re running it for charity and we’ve got a little wager between us. Just some friendly competition.” She kept her eyes on the road.
“What’s the wager for? Huh? Sensual body massages?”
Without looking at me, Claire swatted my leg. “Stop it! It’s not like that.”
“Ouch! I don’t know why you won’t just tell me, Claire. What’s the big deal?”
When we finally pulled into my parents’ driveway, she turned to me calmly and said, “Tom’s just a friend. There’s nothing to tell.”
I’m sorry, but I had to call shenanigans on that.
****
After class that afternoon , I met with Dr. Chase to outline the parameters of my social networking experiment. I ’d submitted a one-page proposal a few days earlier , detailing the real profile versus the fake profile experiment, as well as some of my early findings. The meeting was just a formality, or so I hoped, to get final approval to go ahead with my research study and start writing my final paper.
“You’re taking this in an interesting direction,” Dr. Chase said, unfolding my proposal paper and scanning it quickly. “Especially with the blind friend requests. What do you expect to achieve with that?”
“I’m hoping that will show the power of anonymity on the internet. My theory is , as long as you look good in your photo, people will blindly trust you and accept your friend requests. Basically, you can be anyone you want on the internet and, thus, control how people respond to you.”
“Did you come up with this?”
“It was a collaborative effort. My sister’s been dying to help me come up with something really daring,” I rolled my eyes, but smiled at the memory of my ‘photo shoot’ with Claire. “She did the editing on my photo too.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Dr. C hase continued, smoothing the hair into her loose bun . “ But I took the liberty of looking up the profile for Olivia Saunders when you submitted your write-up . Interesting stuff there, Jen.”
I shifted nervously in my chair.
“Now, as far as the project is concerned, are you positive there won’t be any legal ramifications of friending at random and posing as someone else?”
“Well, the worst that can happen, from what I’ve gathered, is that the account would be suspended for adding too many strangers as friends. But that rarely happens, judging from some of the people I’ve
When the door finally swung open, I was faced with Tom’s unusually smooth forehead. Whatever he had been doing in there, it wasn’t a private training session.
“Oh, Jen, hi,” he said, forcing a smile. “Claire and I were just finishing up our training schedule for the next two months. I hope you’ll be joining us for so m e of the sessions.”
I didn’t miss the subtle way he drew a line in the sand with the word “ some ,” for the record .
He opened the door wider and Claire stepped around him into the corridor with me. She looked a little flushed, but otherwise normal. It was hard to say for sure what I’d really interrupted, but I had my own opinions on the matter.
“Thanks again, Tom,” she said stiffly, her eyes daring from me to him and back. If Claire hadn’t been intimately entangled with that man just a few minutes’ previous, I was the Queen of England. “See you on Tuesday for the…”
“Race.”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “You better watch out for me. I’ ll be waiting for you at the finish line. See you then!”
For the entire car ride home, I badgered my sister for information. She stoically resisted every attempt I made, her lips pressed tightly together.
“What’s really on Tuesday?” I asked, poking her in the arm.
“It’s a 5K, Jen. We’re running it for charity and we’ve got a little wager between us. Just some friendly competition.” She kept her eyes on the road.
“What’s the wager for? Huh? Sensual body massages?”
Without looking at me, Claire swatted my leg. “Stop it! It’s not like that.”
“Ouch! I don’t know why you won’t just tell me, Claire. What’s the big deal?”
When we finally pulled into my parents’ driveway, she turned to me calmly and said, “Tom’s just a friend. There’s nothing to tell.”
I’m sorry, but I had to call shenanigans on that.
****
After class that afternoon , I met with Dr. Chase to outline the parameters of my social networking experiment. I ’d submitted a one-page proposal a few days earlier , detailing the real profile versus the fake profile experiment, as well as some of my early findings. The meeting was just a formality, or so I hoped, to get final approval to go ahead with my research study and start writing my final paper.
“You’re taking this in an interesting direction,” Dr. Chase said, unfolding my proposal paper and scanning it quickly. “Especially with the blind friend requests. What do you expect to achieve with that?”
“I’m hoping that will show the power of anonymity on the internet. My theory is , as long as you look good in your photo, people will blindly trust you and accept your friend requests. Basically, you can be anyone you want on the internet and, thus, control how people respond to you.”
“Did you come up with this?”
“It was a collaborative effort. My sister’s been dying to help me come up with something really daring,” I rolled my eyes, but smiled at the memory of my ‘photo shoot’ with Claire. “She did the editing on my photo too.”
“I hope you don’t mind,” Dr. C hase continued, smoothing the hair into her loose bun . “ But I took the liberty of looking up the profile for Olivia Saunders when you submitted your write-up . Interesting stuff there, Jen.”
I shifted nervously in my chair.
“Now, as far as the project is concerned, are you positive there won’t be any legal ramifications of friending at random and posing as someone else?”
“Well, the worst that can happen, from what I’ve gathered, is that the account would be suspended for adding too many strangers as friends. But that rarely happens, judging from some of the people I’ve
Similar Books
