Chapter 1 Natalia

Natalia“Hey, did you hear about it?” Alicia, my BFF asked, both Caroline and I. “What?” I asked, wondering what was going on.“That rumor that’s going around…” Alicia started to say, but she paused to make sure that no one else was listening.Class was supposed to start twenty minutes ago, but the professor hadn’t shown up, and we were seated near the back of the room, which was virtually empty. There was a quiet buzz in the room as everyone else focused on their own conversations, a buzz that would drown out our whispers if anyone did happen to be close enough to hear us. Alicia still looked around before she leaned close and whispered to us, her long blond hair another screen.“There’s this new chat line going around IU. I didn’t believe it when I first heard about it, but it’s true! Can you believe it?” She broke into giggles, her blue eyes alight with delight.I’d only been at Iowa University a few weeks; I was happy when by chance, I became Caroline and Alicia’s friend overnight. They were popular in a short space of time; it felt like a dream coming true, getting into my dream university and having friends. Not just any ordinary friends, but popular girls too.“Just tell us what it is, already” Caroline said, my other BFF with a look of excitement her green eyes curious as she leaned in, flicking her long red hair. “I haven’t heard any strange rumors on campus.”Alicia grinned. “It’s called, ‘Sext me.’ Can you guess what it’s about?”My eyebrows jumped up. Just from the name, I had an idea, but who would be crazy enough to start something like that? “What is it?” Caroline asked, her pale skin flushed with excitement.“So, it’s like this.” Alicia moved even closer, and lowered her voice a bit more. “You call the line or text I guess, and you get to meet up with a hot guy. You know, for sexy time.”My jaw dropped in shock.No way!We were in university, and I didn’t think people would be this crazy! Was the line operated on campus? If it was, if the univeristy found out, then they would be thrown out, for sure.“I hadn't heard that one,” Caroline admitted, her eyes a little wider, but she didn’t look nearly as surprised as I was. “Where did you hear about this? I’m pretty sure we know all the same people, but I’ve never heard about this.”Alicia waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, you wouldn’t know who it was even if I told you. I was in the field and some sophomores were talking about it. I wonder who’s doing it? All I know is it can’t be another freshman, maybe a senior?”I bit down on my lip as I listened to them chat about it with lots of whispers and giggles. I wasn’t paying attention to the talk anymore. Aside from just shocked, I felt a little uncomfortable. Sex was something I thought about often, which wasn’t unusual. I was eighteen years old, I’d just started college, and it wasn’t a surprise to find out, that it was a pretty hot topic.When I first came to university, I knew that everyone was older and that they would talk about things, that we didn’t back at high school. But, I was still surprised when the hottest topic of conversation was about sex, especially from the girls. In high school, girls liked to whisper about who was dating whom, and before Prom it would be about who would loose their virginity, and after wards it was about who had done the deed. It was just that here, the conversations were so much more open.It left me feeling a bit embarrassed. “What about you?” Caroline asked, those blue eyes a dagger that held me in place. I’d been lost in my own thoughts and blinked at them when I found Alicia and Caroline staring at me.“Huh?” I blurted out, confused, my brown eyes now turned back to them.Caroline rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you weren’t listening? Have you done it or not?”I was still confused. “What?”“Sex,” they both said, and leaned in close to whisper the word, before they broke into giggles.“We’ve both done it already,” Caroline continued. “What about you?”I froze. I knew the answer they wanted to hear, so I forced a smile, and tried to say it with as much confidence as possible, so they wouldn’t know that I was lying.“Of course, I’ve done it,” I said confidently. “I’ve done things like that loads of times; I can’t believe someone wants to get paid for it. Isn’t that male prostutuion and isn’t it illegal on university campus?”I didn’t want them to think I was a virgin, even if I was, I’d never had girls deem me as their BFF’s. That was the difference between high school and now, having Alicia and Caroline by my side, everyone wanted to be my friend. Back in high school, I had none and it was so lonely, I wasn’t willing to go down that road again.I’d never so much as kissed a guy before, let alone had sex with him. The most I’ve done was hold hands with a boy once, but I was in junior high, and it was for an activity in gym class.They kept talking, and I realized I’d just shot myself in the foot, because I knew that sooner rather then later, this lie was going to bite me in the foot, and there was no healing from it.“Why don’t you try it?” Alicia suggested, her lips parted with the thrill of a new game to play.“Yeah! I would totally do it, but I’m still seeing Brad,” Caroline continued. “You’re not seeing anyone right now, right? Try it out, and tell us who the guy is!”I opened my mouth, but no words came out.There was absolutely no way I could do something like that!That was what I wanted to say, a bold refusal, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What if they thought I was lying? What if they stopped talking to me?Lucky for me, the professor entered the room right then and walked to his podium.“All right, everyone!” He said, his middle-aged voice loud through the speakers. “I know I was late, but we still have a class today, so all of you, please get seated.”There was a scramble as everyone was outside or hanging around the room moved to occupy the seats. The conversation was cut short before I could answer but I knew they wouldn’t let it go. They would pick right back up where we left off and I was nervous throughout the rest of the class, unable to concentrate and rehearsing the conversation that hadn’t taken place yet in my head. As soon as class was over, I wanted to rush out, but Caroline grabbed onto my arm so I wouldn’t run off.“What’s the hurry…,” she said with arched eyebrows.Alicia, seated in the row ahead of us, turned back to stare at the two of us; the three of us headed to the cafeteria, because it was almost lunch.“Are you going to give it a try?” Alicia asked.I pursed my lips and tried to play dumb. “What do you mean?”Caroline rolled her eyes. “You know. What we were talking about before. The sext me line, are you gonna do it or not?”I floundered. “Can’t Alicia do it? She’s not seeing anyone right now, either, right?”“I’m seeing someone now.” Alicia smirked proudly fluttering her long eye lashes, empthasizing her brown eyes. “A guy asked me out, and we’re going out tonight. I’ll tell you guys how it goes, but this leaves you as the only single girl in our group.”I bit down on my lip. I wanted to get out of this. Having sex with a stranger wasn’t how I envisaged losing my virginity.Alicia reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. I watched as she tapped on the screen, then held it out to me. On the screen was a number she’d saved to her phone under ‘sext me.’“I dare you to text the number,” Alicia said.I stared at the number for a long time. There were just a few digits, but they held so much weight, I thought my heart was about to stop.“Sure,” I said, in an attempt to sound unconcerned. I grabbed her phone and pulled mine out. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s a guy from campus; meaning that he’s not some old creep.”“Yeah, so you should be safe enough,” Alivia said as she flicked her long dark hair, as if someone was ready to take a picture of her. She was the vainest one in our group, and the prettiest too. She had dark hair and matching eyes, but she had pale complexion as if she’d been locked in a tower for years, on the outside she appeared completley innocent, but on the inside it was a completely different story. “It could even be one of the professors or staff, now that would be funny!”The idea of it being a professor just gave me the creeps, unless he looked like Eric Taylor in Friday Night Light. Now that would be interesting for sure, and someone that I would consider going all the way with, in a heartbeat.I copied the number into my phone and saved it. I hesitated, thinking that this really was a bad idea.“Should I text this number?” I asked hesitantly. “I mean, what if it’s not safe and it’s a scam or something? The guy can find me again.”They shared a glance, then Alicia offered,“Try it on Twitter”Would someone be crazy enough to create a Twitter handle for something like this? Anyway, this was something I could erase and put behind me if things went south. I posted a tweet with the hashtag sext me.Surprisingly, I didn’t have to wait long before I got a DM, a private message.“That was fast,” I muttered as I opened the message.Alicia and Caroline had moved to either side of me to watch what I was doing. They saw the message when I did. In it, was a date and time, and a way to make payment, including cost.Damn.The price wasn’t nearly as much as I thought it would be. Alicia blurted out, “What guy is worth that much! The cheek of it!”Caroline agreed, but then she would agree to anything that came out of Alicia’s mouth including if Alicia declared that the sky was green and not blue anymore.“Well, I’ve done it,” I said, and shut off my phone’s screen. I handed Alicia her phone back.“You must tell us who it is,” she said, giving me a stern look. “Don’t think we’ll let you off if you don’t, okay?”“Sure,” I said, lost as to what else I could do now that I’d gone this far with their game.We continued to head to lunch, I wasn’t listening to the two of them as they changed the topic, and found something else to gossipp about. I was already regretting the bind I’d found myself in.No one could do something like this for fun, it had to be desperation. If people were talking about it, then the guy behind it had to be someone incredible, right? If he did it for money, then I had plenty to play with, if he’ll keep his mouth shut.The walk to the cafeteria felt as if it was longer than usual, this thing was playing heavily on my mind. I felt as if I was on a ship, walking to the plank ready to jump off. Maybe, he would be someone that I would give my virginity to on a plate. There was only one way to find out, and that meant me going ahead with tonight; I had to stop thinking the worst and think positive for one time in my life. That would be the only thing that would get me through the night.