Photograph [Maya Hart]

06 ~ social network

Harley and Cassie walked to Mr. Matthews class the following day at school.

"My mom introduced me to this guy she's seeing," Harley informed his best friend. 

"Oh, really?" Cassie said. "What's he like?"

"He seems cool," Harley said as they entered the classroom. "Hi, Mr. Matthews."

"Hi, Mr. Matthews," Cassie said.

"Hi, guys," he greeted the two.

"How did your mom meet him?" Cassie asked as they walked to their seats.

"They met on set," Harley said.

"Oh, he's an actor too?" Cassie asked as they sat down.

"Uh - huh," Harley nodded. 

Cassie smiled a little.

"And guess what?" Harley said.

"Hm?" she said, taking out her notebook from her backpack.

"He's taking Peter and I to the baseball game this weekend," Harley said, excitedly.

"What? How?" Cassie looked at Harley. "I thought it was sold out completely."

"Yeah, well, he pulled some strings and got us tickets," Harley said, smiling. "I don't know how he did it, but he did it."

Gabriel, Caleb and the others came into the classroom.

"Hey," Riley greeted Harley and Cassie cheerfully.

"Hey," Harley said.

"Hi," Cassie smiled. 

Harley opened his mouth to inform his friends about the baseball game as they took their seats, but the bell range and Mr. Matthews began his lesson.

He sat on the edge of his desk and clapped his hands together.

"I hear the freshmen just joined the high school social network," Mr. Matthews said.

"Not me," Riley said, proudly.

"I hear someone has already caused quite a stir," Mr. Matthews continued.

"Not me," Riley smiled.

"So, who is ready to learn something today?"

"Not me," Maya said.

"A social network is something that has its roots firmly planted in our history," Mr. Matthews said. "Cave paintings, stone tablets, scrolls and papyrus leaves, they all help decode what went on in a society. Now, what are historians in the future gonna use to help determine who we were?"

"The internet and my frozen brain," Farkle Minkus said.

Harley smiled and glanced at Cassie, who smiled as well.

"If they look at the Internet, they're gonna think we're pretty ridiculous," Lucas said.

"You think?" Mr. Matthews raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Because the Internet makes us look like a society of people that only care about dancing cats," Zay explained.

"But we're more than that," Farkle said.

"We are, but no one knows that if the dancing cat videos have a billion views," Mr. Matthews said, "and the discovery of a new planet only gets 27,000 likes."

"All me!" Farkle said, proudly.

"What's the different?" Gabriel asked. "Dancing cats and a new planet are going to get replaced by something new tomorrow."

"Exactly right, Mr. Miller," Mr. Matthews said. "So what does that say about us?"

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Maya said. "It's not that we're s moiety of dancing cats, we're a society of - yes, Matthews?"

"It says that we're a society that lets things rise and fall that have no real value," Harley said, "because the internet makes them so readily available to us so they get a lot of clicks and likes and comments, and then they face out of our mind when the next thing comes along."

"Thank you, Harley," Mr. Matthews said. 

"Well, what's wrong with a little distraction?" Caleb asked.

"Nothing," Mr. Matthews said, "if that's all it is. How many of you have seen the dancing cats video?"

Everyone in the class raised their hands.

"What about the sneezing panda?"

They put their hands up again.

"'Cause it goes, 'Achoo!' and the other one goes, "Ah!'" Maya said, smiling.

Harley smiled seeing how excited she got about it.

His smile disappear as he realized what he was feeling. What was that feeling? He never felt like this before. It was weird. He never felt this way towards a girl before. Not just any girl, a girl he hardly knew. What was wrong with him?

"It seems to me this isn't a distraction at all," Mr. Matthews said. "It's a lifestyle. Mr. Walker, I believe you have some experience with social network?"

Everyone turned their attention Harley.

He took a deep breath.

"My mom is an actor," Harley said. "For a long as I could remember, everyone wants to know what's going on in my brother and I's lives because we're our mothers kids. There are days where I'd put in a little too much thought and effort into what I post on my social media accounts because everyone's watching. It's sometimes hard to not read what people think of me when I look the comments of the last picture I posted."

"Thank you," Mr. Matthews said. 

"We also use the internet to study as well," Lucas said. 

"And that's great," Mr. Matthews said. "Okay, so who here knows the capital of Minnesota?"

No one said anything.

"What about penguins? Are they in the North Pole? Polar bears at the South or the other way around?"

"We only have so much room in our brains," Maya complained.

"Really? Who has seen the 'Charlie bit my finger -'" Mr. Matthews began before everyone said, "Charlie bit my finger. He bit my finger, Charlie. Oh, Charlie!" they all laughed.

"Okay," Mr. Matthews nodded, "I guarantee you guys that what historians will say about us today is that we're a society that spent a lot of time with a click or a like or a comment. And it's especially easy if nobody knows who you are, because a lot of people spend their time posting under anonymous names. Is it a good thing or bad thing?"

"Good," Riley said instantly.

"Good," Mr. Matthews siad. "Why good?" 

"Just good," Riley said.

"It's bad," Harley said.

"Why is bad?"

"Because it's easy to send a person hate," Harley said. "I've seen it happen. It has happened to my mom. It happened to me and my brother. It's easy for people to comment someone they don't like a bunch of hateful stuff if they don't know who they are. People tend to forget how hurtful it can get."

"I'm sorry," Mr. Matthews said, sympathetically. 

"It's not your fault," Harley said. "There's nothing anyone can do about it."

"You see, everyone?" Mr. Matthews said. "It's east for someone to say something negative. Or someone who's too scared to express themselves an underserved moment of attention."

There was a chiming from the speaker.

"Attention, Abigail Adams High," the voice said. "Will Jexica please report to the school office? Jexica."

Riley turned to Maya and Gabriel with a smile on her face.

"We just really want to meet you," the voice said.

Harley and Cassie noticed the smile on Riley's face and the two glanced at each other.