Robin started doing her homework as soon as she got home from school. She had made a promise to her parents that she would finish all of her homework before she went online.
Robin was usually a good student, but on her most recent report card, her science grade had dropped from an ‘A’ to a ‘B’, and her math grade had dropped from a ‘B’ to a ‘C’. The second grading period had just ended and Robin’s parents told her that they would give her a chance to redeem herself.
She had six weeks to bring her grades back up. If she did not, her computer privileges would be suspended indefinitely. This would mean no teen chat rooms, no Facebook, no e-mail.
Robin concentrated on her homework and mentally blocked out all distractions, stopping only for dinner and bathroom breaks.
By the time she completed her homework, it was eight-thirty. She had thirty minutes of computer time before bedtime. Robin started surfing the chat rooms, trying to find her cyber friend.
When she entered the fourth teen chat room, she found him. Their conversation went something like this:
Plain_Jane: Hey Froggy, I had a hard time finding you tonight.
Frog_Boy: Hi, PJ! Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you.
Plain_Jane: New rules from the parental units. My grades slipped and if I don’t bring
them back up, I can kiss my puter goodbye 4ever. Now, homework is my
first priority. Sorry!!!
Frog_Boy: Do not sweat it, PJ. Just keep up with the homework. I don’t know what I
would do if I could not chat with you.
Robin had been chatting online with Frog_Boy for over a year. She first came across him in a chat room at the beginning of her freshman year of high school. She had heard about the teen chat rooms from her friends.
Robin was a completely different person when she first started chatting on the internet. Even her cyber name was different.
At the beginning of her freshman year, Robin was a cheerleader and hung out with the popular crowd at school, that is; other cheerleaders and the jocks. Robin was very attractive, but unfortunately, she let it go to her head and she was very conceited. She thought only of herself. Her first cyber name was Princess_243.
The first time that Robin came across Frog_Boy, was in a chat room where teens were discussing the poverty in third world nations and what could be done to improve their living conditions. As ‘Princess_243’, Robin made a comment that the poor people should get better paying jobs.
Robin had meant it as a joke, but her comment infuriated Frog_Boy. He told her that it was people like her that made it impossible for the conditions to improve in the poor nations of the world. Frog_Boy told Princess_243 that he could guess what kind of person she was.
He told her that she was probably an airhead snob, who thought she was better than everybody else was and that she was probably a rich spoiled brat who never had to work a day in her life. He went even further and said that she was probably a cheerleader who only dated jocks.
What Frog_Boy said, struck a nerve with Robin. Most of what he said in his tirade was true. The only part that was not true was about her being wealthy. Although both of her parents had good jobs, they were just a middle class family.
Robin tried to apologize to Frog_Boy, but he was too upset to listen to her any longer and he left the chat room.
Over the next several days, Robin tried to apologize to Frog_Boy, but every time she entered a chat room where he was chatting, Frog_Boy would quickly leave.