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The world hasn’t changed, but I have
Outside the bubble is life West
I like it out here I’, closes the lid of his laptop, and looks at me "Caroline," he says
Just in by identifying the accused
"I received a call last night fro on your Facebook page, and she wanted to know if I are of it"
His eyes are my eyes, dark brown and full of sympathy His manner is reasonable His diction is clear and es We come to him like criminals, and he passes sentence on us, calmly and rationally
"When I told her I didn’t knohat she was referring to, she sent me the link, and I checked it out for myself The link took me to a website where …"
He clears his throat--the first sign that any of this is disturbing to him
"… where I found several pictures of you unclothed Soh it wasn’t possible to positively identify each of the pictures as you, there were certain …"
He looks away from me for a second
This is not your fault, I tell myself You didn’t do this Nate did
Dad clears his throat again "There’s no question that at least one, if not raphs is of you I followed a second link to , and I can only assume that the additional links were also to these photos"
There’s a long pause, and I wonder if I’ But what can I say?
Yes, that’s ina,Nate’s cock My face with his seirl Your pride and joy
I sit silent I knew this would be hard, but it’s harder than I expected I’d thought about his judgrief
The grief is in his face, in his eyes
These pictures make him sad, sad because of me, sad for me, and it’s unbearable
"So" He folds his hands on his stoan that he wears on top of his Oxford shirts at home "Tell ine a string tied to the crown of ht and tall An exercise that our high school choir director gave us, but one that comes in handy anytime I need to be perfectly poised, perfectly careful
"Nate took the pictures When ere still going out And he--they showed up online right after we broke up"
The lines around hishis i that you broke up with Nate soon before returning to school in August?"
"Yes It was August when he first posted them"
"You know that he posted them"
"No I assume it was him, but I can’t prove it They were submitted anonymously to the sites He denied it"
"Caroline" My father looks right atin a bit "It’s March"
"Yes"
"Tell ust and March"
"I made a systematic effort to remove the photos from the Internet I set up automatic searches, sent out cease-and-desist email--"
My dad royering
"--and whatever else I could think of to get the, I hired a service to help me scrubfor you, get photos wiped, try to push the legit results up on the search pages …"
And I haven’t heard from them in weeks The reports they did send me were late, sketchy, and incomplete It’s possible they’re frauds or just crap at what they do
It’s possible I threay fifteen hundred dollars of West’s money on a pipe dream
How many hours of his effort, his sweat, did I waste so I could cower in rets, that loan is way up near the top
"But this latest attack was launched from an online bulletin board," I continue "Presumably by Nate A number of others participated in it with him I don’t know their identities What I do know is that the pictures have spread so far and wide, it’s probably a wasted effort trying to get they at this point on--"
"A wasted effort? Do you have any idea what’s going to happen to you if you don’t reood idea, yes"
"You’ll have trouble getting into law school Reco you can present a good application--admissions committees search the Internet Internship applications, scholarships, job applications There’s no chance at the Rhodes Scholarship, the Marshall Getting the pictures off-line will have to be your top priority You should have brought e has already been done"
So ed"
"That’s not what Iabout this--about otten dirty Like you sent me out to play in a white dress, and asn’t I more careful with it?"
He frowns
"I’m not a white dress, Dad And I didn’t take those pictures I didn’t share them I didn’t say all that stuff about me Nate did"
"You don’t know that for sure"