Chapter 23: Escalation?

Christie frowned as she sat with the others from the honeymoon week on St. Croix. “Damn, I’m getting hate mail.”

“Hate mail?” Mark asked.

The others turned to listen into their conversation.

Alice said, “What for?”

“Oh, a few days ago some campus jerk-off put two-and-two together. He knew me on campus as Christina Lee, but he also discovered my numerous porn movies on the Internet under the name Christie Lee. He ratted me out on social media, and now I’m getting hate mail from the loving and caring Christian fundamentalists ... who, it turns out, are hateful and spiteful unless you happen to go to their church. Surprise! It turns out they think what I’ve done is a colossal and unforgivable sin from which I shall never recover except by accepting my eternal damnation in hell and repenting.”

Owen said with a chuckle, “That’s crazy. Julie looked up some stuff for me a year or so ago. It turns out the greatest rate of unwed teen pregnancies, abortions, porn usage, and sex-related crimes all take place in states with the highest prevalence of Christian fundamentalists in them. The evangelicals seem to be a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ kind of folks.”

Christie held her phone out to Mark, “But hate mail? This one says ‘I plan to kill you, slut. Better watch your back on campus.’ I guess they want me to worry all the time.”

Alice said, “Those people are just domestic terrorists. They want you to be scared.”

“And according to another email they want me to drop out of school and disappear from the face of the earth,” Christie said as she read more messages on her iPhone.

Mark shook his head, “I don’t like it. I’m going to ask my security guy, Lucas, to put a 24/7 bodyguard on you back in the States, at least till things die down.”

Just then Christie’s phone rang and she jumped since she was holding the device. She answered and gave a few one-word answers, and then suggested that the person call back in three days when she’d be back in the United States.

“Who was that?”

Christie rolled her eyes, “That was the Tampa Times. They’ve picked up the story and want to do a feature article on the college student that needed to do porn and work in a strip club so she could pay for her college education. I pushed them off.”

Dave said, “Call Erin. Maybe she can put a lid on things for you and keep it out of the mainstream press.”

“Oh, great. Now, I have a bunch of email messages asking if I want to fuck, complete with dick pictures. One of the fraternity houses on campus wants me to put on a show for the brothers. I can guess how THAT would end.”

Christie kept getting nasty messages from her fellow students at the university and then from a widening group of intolerant people. Eventually, she was able to reach Erin and had a short conversation with her.

Christie turned to the group, “Erin can’t really help. The word is out nationally. She said if it had been limited to the Sarasota Herald, she could have stopped it, but once the Times picked it up, my goose was cooked. She did recommend I get my thinking in order and then do the interview. She said I’d be hounded otherwise. She does think she can get me a sympathetic reporter to do the interview, plus she’d coach me ahead of time. She’s making some calls on my behalf right now. She also suggested a dry-run with me to rehearse.”

Mark said, “I’m so sorry you have to go home to that kind of shit.”

“I just need to remain focused on my academic career and not let this divert me from getting my degree.”

Julie asked, “What courses are you taking now?”

Christie smiled, “Six of them, and two of them are four credits instead of three towards my degree: Physics, English, Philosophy – that’s with Ross, the second semester of Software Development, second semester of Application Design Criteria, and second semester of Computer Hardware Basics.”

Dave teased, “All easy A’s, huh?”

Christie tossed a balled-up napkin at him. “In your dreams. I’m working my little tail off.”

“When you’re not waving it around at men at the Club Ecstasy.” He laughed and the others did, too. Christie had one of the nicest and best shaped asses anywhere in the world. What she did for short shorts, would be banned in most countries.

“I like to do that, but I haven’t done anything like that for four weeks. Since we decided to do our ceremonies on Valentine’s weekend and I wanted to work ahead so I could take this week off. All the profs were so nice about letting me skip class this past week.”

Dave snorted, “That’s because when you asked them you were wearing a scoop neck top without a bra and you bent over to talk to them.”

Christie laughed, “Ah, you know my secret to getting cooperation. Whatever works.” She grinned.

The ‘Honeymoon’ Group flew back to Sarasota two days later. Cindy Worthington was the pilot in command of the Boeing 737 and Elsa worked as second officer. This time Alice and Pam rode in two jump seats looking over the pilot’s shoulders and talking to their new friends about aviation and flying the complex jet all the way from takeoff in St. Croix to landing in Sarasota at SRQ.

Christie kept getting emails and Facebook slams about her being a student and porn actress all week. By the time she was home in the Circle, she’d had over two hundred messages that were either threatening, derogatory, or just plain lewd. Some had some really ugly photos of male genitals. She shut down her Facebook email Thursday afternoon. The number of hits on her page and followers on Twitter were going up exponentially by the hour.

Christie found Mike in his home tinkering with some new camera equipment. Clarisse was there and joined them. Christie explained what had been happening on campus.

Mike checked the downloads from his Circle-X website and laughed. Despite the threatening and lewd emails, Christie’s videos were selling like hotcakes on his websites, in fact better than any of his other videos had ever sold. Downloads were through the roof, and the views on the short preview videos were well over a hundred times any of the other clips on his website.

“Some people out there love you,” Mike told her with a comforting grin. “They’re paying to download the full DVD versions of your movies. At least, take solace, you may be getting some fluky emails, but you’ll also be getting a royalty check from me next month. People tell you you’re a bad girl but they sure want to watch you in action to be sure.”

Christie rolled her eyes. “I want to change careers. Well, I want to do a little bit of porn and a lot of something more socially acceptable to the outside world, not the other way around.”

Mike shrugged and teased, “Your adoring public is making a statement.”

On campus the next day and her first day back at classes, Christie had a bodyguard that Mark had provided walk with her from her car to the various classes she had, and then to the student union for lunch. The woman was about thirty, armed to the teeth without showing, and admittedly dangerous in the martial arts to any threat.

Everywhere the two of them went, other students increasingly stared at her or whispered to their friends and pointed. Christie thought about how she’d liked being an exhibitionist, but this was eerie and strange in not a good way. Even a couple of her professors seemed surprised to see her in class, and paid her more than usual attention.

Christie’s student email account had a message from the Dean of Students, asking for a meeting with her as soon as it could be arranged. She called the Dean’s office and set up a meeting for Tuesday afternoon, after her morning classes and lunch.

Tuesday morning, a pretty brunette stopped Christie and Marcia, her bodyguard that day, on the steps of the sciences building as Christie came out from one of her computer classes.

“Hi, I’m Marcie North, do you have a minute?”

“Errr, if you’re going to bitch at me for how I made some money, the answer is ‘No’.”

“To the contrary. I’m the head of the ‘Professional Woman On Campus’, or PWOC, a group that tries to help women get the necessary credentials to succeed in the business workplace after graduation. We’re an ‘Up With Women’ kind of group. The board of the group talked at our meeting yesterday about you because of the adverse press. We kind of guessed what was going on, and we want to support you through all the shit we think you’re going through. We don’t care how you made some money to help with college, but we do care that people might use it against you in getting a decent job or in terms of staying in school. We want to be your friends.”

Christie loosened up and looked relieved. “I’m doing better now. I got a scholarship, so I don’t work as much doing the videos as I used to, or dance as much at the club. I figured I’d get noticed some day, but the hate mail surprised me.” She filled in Marcie on what had been happening and even showed her some of the emails on her phone. She also mentioned the meeting with the Dean.

Marcie said, “If the Dean gets on your case, tell him that PWOC is supporting you. Lord help the campus if they were to expel you. Every woman student, their moms, and many hundreds of others would take the whole campus to war and dis-assemble the administration limb by limb.”

“Really? Over me?”

“It’s not so much you as it is the principles about how women are treated versus men, the double standard, the unequal treatment for jobs and opportunities, and more. I can go on for hours. A guy does porn and he’s a stud; see the difference from what you’re going through.” She laughed. “Just know that you have a powerful group of women behind you, and I’m sure even the power of a national organization. We’d love to have you join us and even talk about your experiences if you’re ever up for it. You have a positive following and not just those crazy nuts that emailed you.”

“Wow!” Christie said. “That’s the first good news I’ve heard about all of this since some nerdy guy posted his ‘discovery’ on the Internet a week or so ago.”

Marcie got some contact information and the two women arranged for a further meeting the next day. Christie hurried off to her next class with her bodyguard Marcia at her side.

Christie found herself fidgeting and feeling all fluttery just before the meeting with the Dean of Students. His office was in the administration building. As it turned out the Provost of the university also joined in the meeting – a woman who appeared to be about seventy years old.

The Dean’s secretary ushered Christie into Dean Holcutt’s office. Marcia waited in the lobby. He, in turn, introduced Provost Marietta Collins to her. They sat in three comfortable chairs in front of his large and very cluttered desk. Christie sat on the edge of her chair, almost as though she was prepared to leap into the air and bolt for the door.

“Miss Lee, thank you for seeing us. This is a strange meeting for us to be having because we have never had a situation like yours before. I assume you have an inkling of why you are here?”

“I presume it has to do with the manner I chose to make money to help finance my college education,” Christie said. She tried a smile but it didn’t come off well.

Provost Collins said, “It does. I also suspect that you may be expecting some dire result from this meeting, such as expulsion or discipline. I assure you that we have no plans in that regard.”

Christie breathed easier and sat back slightly on that bit of news, but was still curious about why she was there.

Holcutt spoke, “I’m curious; do you think the university should have any position regarding your past behavior?”

Christie spoke in measured terms, “My family was poor and I am the first member to ever go to college. When I graduated high school, I had no money and basically no marketable skills. A friend recommended me for a job at the Club Ecstasy, and that in turn led to my being approached about doing some adult films.

“I have continued my affiliations with the Club and Circle-X Productions, and am close friends with the owners of the Club and the video company. I have to admit that I still dance or act for them, but in a greatly reduced role. I do have some cash flow from those appearances as well as royalties from my prior video appearances.”

Holcutt and Collins nodded in understanding.

Christie went on, “College is expensive. The tuition is very high for someone like me, and then there are normal living expenses. I have a private scholarship of sorts to help me pay and live. That comes from the Bennett Foundation.”

Collins asked, “And how do you feel about what you did – the videos, I mean?”

“I have always enjoyed sex, been a bit of an exhibitionist,” Christie began in an honest tone, “and I felt empowered and mainstream doing them. I became good at what I did, and it earned me a lot of money AND let me save up quite a bit of money. Contrary to what many believe, everyone in the adult industry is not on drugs or a whore. I have to admit, at the start when I did have no money, I did have to resort to selling my body to get by. Those days are far behind me.”

Holcutt said, “If we take any action against you, our general counsel tells me you could sue for reinstatement and damages. We do like to think of this place as a moral institution and that we share some values about propriety and restraint.”

Christie spoke, “Dean Holcutt, Provost Collins, in the past week I have received several hundred emails, texts, and Facebook posts threatening me, telling me what a bad person I am, and even how one person plans to kill me. There is a woman sitting in the waiting room for me that is a bodyguard because of that. My boyfriend insisted that she be there.”