Page 102 of What Happened to Lucy Vale
@meeksmaster:why? What’s she done now?
@kash_money:she’s not home. Her mom hasn’t seen her. The car is missing
@kash_money:she set fire to our mascot, for one
@meeksmaster:the Toyota?
@geminirising:waitWhat
@geminirising:that wasLucy Vale???
@kash_money:no, the civic. The one her mom bought her when Lucy passed her test.
@geminirising:can weStick to one conversation at a time
@kash_money:The cops think Lucy was the one who set our mascot on fire
@kash_money:I guess the school had security tapes
@kash_money:They came looking for her last night
@kash_money:But she wasn’t home
@kash_money:Her mom doesn’t know where she is
@kash_money:She filed a missing person’s report last night
In the silence, we saw new alerts: @sunshineandhugs, @blackrainbows, and @swifty99 were asking to join the server. Soon requests from unknown usernames thickened in the waiting room.
It was only a matter of time before Spinnaker had a meltdown.
@spinn_doctor:who are all these people? Where are these requests coming from?
@highasakyle:look, we can’t trust anyone named @sunshineandhugs
@highasakyle:that’s a fact
@kash_money:I told everyone to meet here.
@spinn_doctor:confirm we have verification procedures in place @ktcakes888
@kash_money:we have to find her
@spinn_doctor:this server has protocols
@mememeup:Fuck you, Spinnaker
@mememeup:Let them in
@mememeup:Let’s find Lucy Vale
We scrambled to keep track of the inundation of new subscribers. A rapid volley of new requests quickly exposed problems in our infrastructure, namely that Spinnaker was a control freak. He proposed a system of verification questions that would ensure the new subscribers at least attended Woodward. We scrummed first over the system’s viability, then over what the questions should be. Akash accused us ofwasting valuable time. Evie Grant reminded us sanctimoniously that the first seventy-two hours after someone’s disappearance were the most important. We told her we’d all seen old episodes ofLaw & Order. Allan Meeks expressed doubt that Lucy Vale was missing at all. He suggested she might simply be seeking attention once again, trying to leverage our sympathies. Spinnaker said we should locate her just so she could be properly booked and charged with destroying our swim team mascot. Hannah Smith lamented that we had so little compassion for mental illness. Spinnaker called her a gullible simp. Meeks told her to go pop some Zoloft and cry about it. Kaitlyn Courtland blocked him from commenting and threatened to boot him from the server until he apologized and, preferably, sought help. Nick Topornycky recommended he try Zoloft.
Meanwhile, a backlog of new users were idling, waiting for our permission to join.
@nononycky:who is @reesespieces1698?
@sunshineandhugs:that’s Reese.
