Mysteries of Teen Girls
Previously: Paco and Jeannie visit Academy Prep while Mark and Raj consider the mysterious code of Pr3pSF.
10:25 AM - Tuesday, November 4, 2014
US Park Police Office, Ft Winfield Scott, The Presidio
Contents of Alexa Thomas locker, retrieved from Academy Prep:
1 copy Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
1 copy Avancemos! Level 4 - (Spanish Text Book)
1 copy Hamlet by William Shakespeare
1 copy Calculus AP Edition by Ron Larson & Bruce Edwards
1 copy The Awakening by Kate Chopin
1 copy The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
1 pen case with 2 black ink pens and 3 mechanical pencils
1 tablet of grid paper
1 pale pink Dopp kit with
1 small hairbrush (with hair - keep for DNA?);
1 Oil of Olay moisuturizer with SPF 30
1 jar of Carmex
1 Fresh Sugar Rosé tinted lip balm
1 Great Lash mascara by Maybelline
3 elastic hairties
1 travel tube of Secret deodorant
1 travel tube of Clearasil
1 travel tube of Advil
1 condom (matches brand found in nightstand)
3 OB tampons
1 soft travel cube with
1 white t-shirt
1 black t-shirt
1 pair floral printed GAP Body women’s underwear
1 pair athletic socks
1 white athletic bra
1 Marine Layer light gray hoodie
1 postcard of the Manhattan skyline
1 photo of Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket in an orange butterfly dress
1 photo of Alexa Thomas and Carolina Parker in soccer uniforms
1 torn-away slip of paper written with: “zYX321123fuckyou”
“Looks like we have a feminist.” Mark said flatly, looking over the books laid out on a table in the lab. Jeannie leveled him a look.
“Sounds as though you’re disappointed Mark.”
“Hardly…I like this girl more and more. Why all the paraphernalia though? Does every girl have a whole pharmacy and wardrobe in their locker?” From across the room Amanda’s head snapped up to share a disbelieving glance with Jeannie.
“Yes.” They said together. Mark looked up and looked between both of them. Amanda crossed her arms, ready to hear what was said next. Jeannie tilted her head at him.
“Okay, wow, sorry. I don’t know the mysteries of teen girls.”
“It’s not just teen girls,” Amanda offered.
“Agree. I have kind of the same going on in my locker at the station.” Jeannie shrugged.
“Really?” Mark asked.
“Um, yeah.” Amanda said. “Do you honestly not know this about women?”
“What are we supposed to know about women?” Paco asked walking in the door.
“That when you go through puberty, which is usually in high school,” Jeannie began, “you end up having more needs. Not really every day needs, but like, just in case needs like deodorant, tampons, a little bit of makeup, that kind of thing…”
“Not to mention having Advil on hand at all times, because you know, cramps?”
“I always have Advil on me at all times.” Jeannie said shaking her head slowly.
“Okay, but a pair of underwear and socks? Not to mention t-shirts?” Mark asked.
“You don’t keep a fresh tee around, Mark?” Amanda asked him.
“And you seem to be forgetting that girls might…I don’t know, get their period?” Jeannie glared at him.
“Yeah, but don’t you know when you’re getting it?” Both Amanda and Jeannie glared at him silently.
“Wow, okay, that’s a no.” Mark said, starting to blush. “I’m - sorry? What did I do wrong.”
“You’re going to have a little girl soon, Mark. You’ll figure it out as you go along.” Jeannie offered. “But just so you know, girls in high school are usually incredibly private and often embarrassed about what they’re going through. By the time you’re a senior it’s probably easier, but still, I doubt any of these girls would like knowing someone went through their locker.”
“Went through their locker and found their contingency supplies.” Amanda tossed out. “God, I’d be mortified. Because being a teen girl isn’t mortifying enough.”
“Wow, so this is secret stuff? It seems pretty normal to me.” Paco offered.
“Ah, an enlightened one.” Amanda said, eyebrow raised. Jeannie chuckled a little.
“Okay, okay, I get it. This is private stuff.” Mark offered, “But, it’s kind of benign when you look at the bigger picture. Nothing here is very personal or even personalized — she’s barely dog-eared any of these books.”
“Maybe she’s more of a bookmark girl.” Jeannie offered. “I was taught that dog-earing was disrespectful to the book. But, I see what you mean. There isn’t really much here.”
“The nightstand drawer was more intriguing.” Paco added.
“Yeah, I agree. But she does have a condom on hand at school.” Jeannie’s eyebrows went up. “That says a lot. We don’t even know who she was sleeping with yet. I wonder if there’s a hook up spot at the school somewhere, or if they go to their cars, or what? Where do teens do the nasty these days?”
“Hookup spot at school?” Mark sounded shocked, his blue eyes wide.
“Um…yeah?” Amanda answered. “Every school has a hookup spot. The little language lab booths in our library were always active.”
“Yeah, under the bleachers at the football field for us. It’s where you went to smoke weed at lunch and apparently give or get a blowjob. At least according to my brothers, who told me I was never to go under the bleachers at the football field.”
“Wow. I - I have no idea where our hookup spot would be.” Mark looked up at Jeannie ruefully. “I was kind of a nerd.”
“Mmmhmmm, yeah I got that.”
“Pac - did you have a hookup spot?”
“On the Res? I mean, not at school, but like, plenty of people cut school all the time, so they had to be doing something. And there’s not a lot to do on the Res.” Paco raised an eyebrow.
“It seems Mark is catching up on the ways of teenagers.” Jeannie said to Paco conspiratorially.
“Okay, I’m the nerdy guy being made fun of — you guys are so original.”
“We roast you because we love you.” Jeannie said. Mark smiled a little and chuckled.
“Alright, enough. Let’s look at this.” He held up the torn-away slip of paper with the odd phrase written on it. “It looks like it could be a password of some kind. I wonder if it’s for our mysterious candy house of a website.”
“Could try it?” Paco offered.
“Yeah, but what login? Alexa’s email?” Jeannie asked. “The webmaster probably knows the news by now, whoever they are…so, maybe they’d know a dead girl was logging on and put two and two together?”
“Yeah, I see what you mean.” Mark said, leaning back a little and surveying the whole table. “It’s definitely risky, but I feel like we need to do it. Where did you find this Paco, like where inside of the locker?”
“It was kind of crushed underneath the Spanish and Calculus text books — why?”
“Well, it’s a little convenient to have a password, if that’s what this is, just kind of there, you know? Like I wonder why she didn’t have it in a notebook or something more secure.”
“It was sort of stuck to the bottom of the books. I picked them up and that came with them. It looked like the texts hadn’t been moved in a while, you know?” Mark nodded.
“Anything else under there?”
“Nope.”
Back upstairs, Mark presented the torn-out slip in its evidence bag to Raj.
“Think it’s worth a try?”
“I mean…we couulllddd?” Raj drawled. “But like, if we use Alexa’s email won’t that be the biggest alarm of all? I mean, a dead girl pops up on my chatroom, I’d notice. And whoever the witch is probably will too.”
“‘Yeah.” Mark agreed. “But, what else do we have?” Raj considered and shrugged. Mark was quiet for a few moments and nodded. “Okay, back everything up and swap out the backup drives — I don’t want us to lose anything in this. If they start to come at us, I don’t want them to find anything. Mask the servers and IPs, okay, bounce them everywhere.” Raj began typing immediately. “Do whatever you can to hide us, although I doubt they’ll think it’s anyone but us…still, hide us as well as you can. Keep this separate from the Park Police — we don’t want this on their servers.” Raj nodded. “How long do you need?”
“Give me 20.”
Twenty-three minutes later, Raj was ready. A spare laptop was open to the Pr3pSF login screen with Raj’s computer connected to monitor the hookup and run a trace. Mark had Jeannie and Paco come up from the lab.
“Okay Jean - if this goes south, just yank the whole power strip right out of the wall, okay?”
“Okay, but that’s like, everything I’ve been told not to do with a computer, ever.”
“In this case, it’s what will need to happen. Trust me. It will be more damaging if it stays connected.”
“Got it.”
“Pac - get your phone out. If we do get in, Raj will record the screen, but start snapping photos. Who knows how long we’ll have access, so —”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Mark sat in front of the laptop and looked around at everyone. “Okay, here goes.” He slowly typed in Alexa’s Academy email and the password found in the locker. He clicked the “enter” key without hesitation. Jeannie felt a wave of dread pass over her and tried to breathe.
Silence.
“Oh holy shit.” Raj said quietly, eyes on his screen.
“What?” Paco asked.
“We’re in.” Mark said.
Cliffhanger…!