Chapter 6

Wednesday November 12

Breakfast with Hailey has become a regular thing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Our schedules don’t really line up well the other days.

I’ve been assembling a spyware package to slip onto Simone’s computer over the last few days. I didn’t write it all myself, of course - that would take forever. But if you know where to look, you can find pre-made malware kits that you can customize. You just pick which modules you want, adjust a bunch of settings, write a little bit of glue code, and you’re ready to go.

Thursday November 13

I went to the Chi Omicron study group again tonight. I helped Simone with her homework again, and it seems like the concepts have finally clicked for her. I helped another girl, too, with some web design stuff. I discretely infected both of their computers in the process.

I confess I did enjoy spending time with the Chi Omicrons. They were a fun bunch of girls, and most of them did seem to take scholarship seriously. I could probably be friends with these girls, if they weren’t fucking their way to valedictorian. Hailey joked about me pledging next semester, and I said maybe; but in my mind I added, “ ... if Chi Omicron still even exists by then.”

I’m not really sure what to do once I have the proof I’m looking for. Do I take it to the University? Probably not: you hear about universities covering up embarrassing events all the time. The police? That would be the “right” thing to do. I don’t know specifically which laws are being broken by whom, but I’m confident that this is illegal somehow. But police move slowly, and by the time the public heard about it, everyone would have hired lawyers and spin agents. Anyway, I’ve broken a few laws myself. The only other options I can think of are the newspapers - as if anyone reads them any more - or releasing it all straight to the Internet.

Friday November 14

Tommy called and asked if I was ready for what he had to show me. I said no. Anyway, I wanted to spend the night at home combing through the contents of Simone’s computer. The most interesting bit was this email exchange with Piper:

Simone: Have you figured out what you’re going to do about Professor Haig yet?

Piper: Which one is that again?

Simone: Lesbian Philosophy teacher. You said that she was unhappy to be off the red list.

Piper: Oh, right. When Kelly graduated, we lost our only carpet-muncher. We need to recruit more lesbians. Do any of this semester’s pledges lean that way?

Simone: No, they’re all straight. I guess we need a quota system! LOL! Diversity! Can’t you just tell Prof. H. that we don’t have anyone for her right now?

Piper: No. She’s a trouble-maker. We can’t risk jeopardizing the whole arrangement over a little thing like sexual orientation. One of the girls will have to just take one for the team.

Simone: NOT IT! I’ve done more than my share, reassuring Dr. Abrams about his micropenis for the last three semesters! (How can a man with that much power be such a whiny baby?)

Piper: I know you have, babe, and we love you for it. Hugs and kisses!

Simone: Try assigning Allison - she does drive a Subaru, after all! Hugs and kisses!

I looked up Dr. Abrams. He is the dean of the Humanities college, and a member of tons of committees, including the Ethics Committee. Clearly this conspiracy reaches pretty high up. When I bust it open, I’ll have to reveal it to outside authorities - I can’t trust anyone in the University itself.

It seems like Piper is the administrator of the whole faculty brunch scam. Getting access to her computer - or at least her email account - would be the holy grail. That should provide enough evidence to bring the whole thing toppling down. If possible, though, I’d like to get some video footage of some of the teachers and students getting it on, to really seal the deal. I can now tap into Simone’s webcam, as well as that other girl’s, but they use laptops so I don’t think that will help. How many people leave their laptops open and pointed toward the bed when they’re doing the deed?

Saturday November 15

Hailey said, “Hugs and kisses!” to me as she was about to leave this morning.

“I keep hearing that,” I said. “What does that mean?”

Hailey giggled. “It’s just sort of an unofficial motto for the sorority. Chi and Omicron are written like X and O. XO - hugs and kisses - get it?”

I worry about how deeply Hailey is getting into this sorority thing. I want to warn her to pull away - that bad things are heading Chi Omicron’s way that she doesn’t want to get mixed up in. But I don’t dare. I need her, and I can’t risk tipping them off to my investigation.

I ran into Tommy heading in to the rec center today. He suggested that we skip our workouts and instead go burn off calories at his apartment. “Check with me after I’ve done my laps,” I told him. “Maybe the endorphins will make you irresistible.” He was waiting for me outside of the locker room when I was done, and he surprised me with a kiss. Maybe it was the exercise high - for whatever reason, I went home with him.

We goofed around in the living room a little bit, wrestling and kissing. He swatted my butt a few times. And then he pulled me by the arm - practically dragging me - into the bedroom.