Sarah's Journal: Crazy Net

(Excerpt taken from Sarah Austin's Journal. Austin is a fictional character in Schussler's book, Between the Raindrops.)

Sarah:  April 15, 2013

I finally finished my paper on the media’s manipulation of pop culture. That gossip site more than fulfilled my quota of crazies. There are some really messed up people in the world and the anonymity of the Internet just frees them to speak their minds—it’s scary. I wish I had known this subculture when I had my abnormal psychology class last semester. It would have provided hours of discussion fodder. The only bright spot in the whole experience was the guy I met, Cracked23. Crazy name—I know, but he was the only sane person on the entire site. He was hilarious and a bit of a flirt. I don’t know what got into me, but I ended up telling him I was a supermodel. If he had seen my face he would have known I was lying, but he just accepted it, like being a supermodel wasn't anything unusual.

Why did I do that? I’m normally such a good girl. I’m not that girl that flirts with strangers on the Internet. Maybe I wish I was that girl with no fear—like my friend, Megan. She gobbles men whole and spits out their bone. “No fear. No regret,” she always says. Not me. I’m not that girl. Not yet.