Fadia

Fadia is a well-liked Grade 12 student. She hangs out with a small group of girls who are considered pretty “cool”. They tell each other everything that’s going on in their lives. Recently, Fadia’s friend Terry has been talking about her boyfriend who seems to be losing interest in her. Terry is really upset and the other girls have been trying to comfort her and boost her self-esteem.

One evening, Fadia goes to a party. While she is sitting on the couch, Terry’s boyfriend comes and sits down beside her and starts talking to her. He sits close to her and looks deep into her eyes while he speaks, telling her how pretty he thinks she is. At one point,he puts his arm around her.

Fadia is very uncomfortable and doesn’t know what to do or how to respond. She can see Terry out of the corner of her eye watching the two of them. When Terry’s boyfriend puts his arm around her, she jumps up and says, “I’ve got to go home now.” She quickly leaves the party.

The next Monday at school, Fadia notices that Terry is hardly talking to her. She seems really angry with her and when Fadia tries to talk about what happened at the Saturday night party, Terry walks away. Fadia notices a group of girls laughing and looking at her. When she walks up to them they all fall silent. When she walks down the hall, she notices a couple of boys leaning against the wall and leering at her with suggestive smiles on their faces. Finally, a friend comes up and tells her that she had been reading about Fadia on Facebook and asks her if the stories about her are true.

When Fadia gets home, she rushes up to her computer to find out what is being said about her. She is horrified to see the stories about her and the words that are being used to describe her and what she had supposedly done with Terry’s boyfriend. The next day, when Fadia’s mother comes to wake her up to go to school, Fadia tells her she doesn’t feel well and thinks she is coming down with the stomach flu. Fadia’s mother lets her stay home for the day. Fadia can’t help wondering what she will do the next day.

That evening, Fadia receives a phone call from a girl from school. The girl lets her know she has seen the Facebook messages and doesn’t believe them. She thinks they are really mean and feels really badly for Fadia. She asks Fadia if she would like to meet before lunch the next day, so they can sit together in the cafeteria.

Fadia feels very touched and grateful to this girl for her show of support and friendship. Although she is still dreading the next school day, it makes her feel just a little bit better to know that there is at least one person on her side.