I Fall Apart

Lin

I hadn't gotten a call from Nora's school for quite a while, so I was disappointed to hear that they needed me to come in. Something about an inappropriate picture. I figured Nora had found something she thought was hilarious but was immature and had disrupted class. Reluctantly, I hopped on the subway and rode it to Hunter.

When I arrived at the front office, I didn't see Nora. When the principal invited me in, she surfaced from a corner, looking embarrassed. She wouldn't look at me.

The principal invited us to sit down.

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Miranda," he began. "We have an unfortunate situation involving your daughter. There's been a picture distributing amongst the student body. It's a nude photo of Nora."

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I looked over at Nora, and she was red as a beet, slouching down in the chair.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"She shared a photo yesterday with a male friend, and that friend shared it with two others and it spiraled out of hand from there."

I leaned forward on my elbows, not expecting to hear this. "Is it posted on the Internet?"

"I'm afraid so," he reported. Nora was probably expecting me to be angry with her, and I was, but first and foremost I felt terrible for her. There was a nude photo of her circulating around the entire school. She must be humiliated.

"Oh Nora," I began. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

I turned back to the principal. "So what do we do about this?"

He sighed, folding his hands. "Well, unfortunately we can't control the distribution of the photo. I'm required by law to report this to the police because it involves a nude photograph of a minor. It's considered child porn. Likely, the recipient, Justin, and the other two boys will be charged, and we could also threaten similar repercussions for anyone who's caught with it."

I sighed out loud. "Wow," I said again. "That seems difficult to regulate. Have you called Justin in here?"

"I'll be doing that next," he said. "And then I'll get the names of the two boys who distributed the photo."

"Does Nora have any consequences at school?" I asked.

"Since it took place out of school, no," he said, then turned his attention to Nora. "Nora, how has your day been?"

"Shitty," she said honestly. I'm sure it has been. "Can I go home?"

The principal sighed. "Yes, I'll allow that. Do either of you have any questions for me?"

"Do I need to file a police report myself?" I asked.

"No, we'll do that, but we'll be putting you on the contact list. You'll probably get a visit from NYPD."

"And do we have to press charges, or is that up to us?"

"That's up to you," he said. I looked at Nora and sighed, thinking we had a mountain ahead of us.

"Alright, let's go," I told her. Nora picked up her backpack and followed me out the office. I signed her out and we walked out the door. It was embarrassing for both of us. We rode the subway in silence. When we got home, she went straight to her room. I decided we both needed some time to process this. I didn't want, or need, to see the picture, and I'm sure Nora didn't want me seeing it.

After a good hour, I finally knocked on her door. She was laying on her bed and I could tell she'd been crying. She sat up and wiped at her eyes. She immediately handed me her phone.

"I assume you're taking this," she said.

I took it from her and tucked it in my back pocket. "Yep. Nora, why did you take that picture?"

She sighed, embarrassed to have to have this conversation with me. "I don't know. Justin and I were flirting and he asked."

"Did you think about the fact he might share it with someone?"

"No," she said. "I thought it was private. He had to show his stupid friends."

"Well, now we have a bit of a situation," I said. "We have to decide if we want to press charges against Justin and whoever these two other boys are."

"Please don't," she begged me. "I don't want to go to court. It'll be so embarrassing."

"I can get how you wouldn't want to relive this," I agreed. "But don't you think they should face some consequences for what they did? They invaded your privacy in the worst possible way."

"Kinda, but I don't want to have to see that photo displayed up on some projector," she said.

"I imagine they're pretty private with this stuff, considering you're a minor."

"I just want to forget about it," she told me, crossing her arms.

"Well, unfortunately your photo is out in cyber space forever," I told her, that fact sickening me. "If we go to court, we might be able to at least hold them legally responsible."

"I don't know, Dad," she told me, obviously uncomfortable with the whole idea.

"Think about it," I told her as I stood up. "If we want to do something, we'll need to do it in the next few days. I'll ask V for some advice."

I left the room and went to my own bedroom where I called up my wife. It was certainly handy that she was a lawyer. I filled her in on the situation and she was as sickened as I was.

"We need to sue," she told me. "We can't let them get away with this. They just think they can share photos like that without any repercussions?"

"I agree," I told her, pacing the room. "But this also needs to be Nora's decision. It's about her life."

"I know, but she's also fifteen," Vanessa pointed. "She's not thinking logically."

"But she's the one facing the consequences for the rest of her life," I reminded her.

"True," she said, sighing. "I'll talk to her when I get home."

Nora stayed in her room the whole afternoon, and I couldn't blame her. I would just want to hide under my covers for weeks. I began preparing dinner, and soon Vanessa was home with the two boys. I gave her a quick kiss, and she wanted updates.

"How is she?" Vanessa asked.

"She's been in her room all afternoon," I reported. "She's incredibly embarrassed. She turned her phone off and gave it to me."

Vanessa nodded. "Do you think she'll want to talk to me?"

"You could try," I said. "She'll probably be more receptive to you."

Vanessa went back to our bedroom to change out of her work clothes and the boys went straight for their toys. As I was setting the table, I saw V knock on Nora's door. I knew Nora probably didn't want to talk to me about this. I hoped she would open up to Vanessa.