Message In A Bottle

Aug 25

Alex Bailey stared at the webpage for the "Forging Friendships - Message In A Bottle" program offered by her high school. Her hand twitched, hovered over the keyboard, then she put it down again.

"Come on Alex, just do it!" Her twin brother Conner cried from the couch. He was texting his girlfriend Bree Campbell (as always). "It's not that scary— OUCH!"

Alex sighed, fond but exasperated. "Did your phone fall on your face again? I told you not to lie on the couch when using your phone."

"But it's more comfortable!" Conner protested.

"Fine, whatever you like." Alex squinted at the introduction page of the program, nervous butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

"Following feedback from last year, Forging Friendships returns with a new twist- you'll be allowed to choose which people you want to match up with! Participants from last year said it would be better if they could connect with someone who has similar interest and tastes, and we tried to accommodate that.

Each participant will create an account and use a fake name to keep their anonymity. When signed in, the Forging Friendships website will show a "Sea" of messages. At the first stage, everyone will write an introductory passage and you can choose to interact with others based on what they wrote! Just click on the mail icon at the corner of their message. There are no limits to how many people you can contact!"

Conner had bluntly said it was like a dating app. And that was why Alex was so hesitant despite her brother's overwhelmingly positive experience from last year.

"After that, the "Sea" will be open to submissions of messages. Users can choose to remain anonymous or use their online handles for their messages. Every message must adhere to our Community Guidelines . Accounts that violate said guidelines are at risk of being banned. Once a "message" is published, the poster can delete and edit it before it automatically disappears after 24 hours. Users can comment on messages (comments must also follow our Community Guidelines). Users cannot comment anonymously unless they are the anonymous poster of a message."

This all seemed rather daunting to Alex. At the same time, she was curious to see how others would use the "Sea". Would it become a venting site? A place with cute, encouraging messages? Or would it be filled with nonsense gossip and spam? Perhaps this would be an interesting social experiment.

It wasn't like Alex didn't have friends at school. Everybody wanted to be friends with her after what she achieved last year (Alex still flushed whenever someone brought it up. She was just doing what she believed she should do!). But online friends were a whole different matter. Conner and his longtime crush Bree had famously gotten together because they were paired up last year in the Forging Friendships program.

So Alex was curious indeed. She continued to read:

"Due to extra funding (from beyond the fourth wall), we've developed an app that allows users to communicate on mobile. That way, you don't need to exchange phone numbers or personal info with other users."

Well, that was considerate of them. Alex wasn't going to give away sensitive information so easily. She chewed on her lip and considered the entire thing again.

Alex was about to turn sixteen, and she had a surprisingly good reputation at school. Teachers adored her, classmates wanted to be with her, she had a good academic record, and it finally seemed like Alex was on the right track. After years of hiding in libraries and awkwardly sticking with Conner and Fred, it felt like she'd found her place at school. So why not do something a little extra this year?

Before Alex could regret it, she pulled up the sign up page and speedily filled in her details. She paused when she had to input a username. Damn, Conner had always been the more creative one out of the two.