Mirror Images

Summer Forqurean stretched as she woke up. The sun was streaming through her window, but she still felt sleepy since she had been up late studying. She gazed up at the irregularly spaced, vaulted ceiling of her bedroom. Living in Zeta House was something Summer truly enjoyed. The house was a one-hundred-fifty-year-old mansion that had once belonged to a Boston Brahmin, a master of cargo shipping. His wealthy family had generously donated the stately home to the university for use as either a fraternity or sorority. Summer often reflected on the history, she imagined all the students who had come before her, walking through the long hallways, spacious common rooms, and the sweeping staircase leading to the second and third floors where the bedrooms were located. She pondered the other young women who had occupied her room previously, envisioning their dreams as students and wondering how many of them had succeeded or surpassed their goals. Summer knew she was fortunate to be here.

Her cell was vibrating. "It's still early," she realized. She was about to decline the call and go back to sleep when she noticed that it was one of her new freshman pledges calling. "I hope she's not in trouble," Summer forced herself to attention.

"Hi Amber, are you okay?"

"Summer?"

"Yes."

There was a long pause. "I wasn't sure whether I should call but... did you really mean to send the new pledges...those pictures. A couple of us talked about it. We're pretty sure it was a mistake, but they came from your personal email, so we weren't positive. I know Zeta got in trouble for hazing a few years ago. We were thinking maybe they were from when you were just accepted into Zeta."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I was never hazed. I wouldn't have joined Zeta if there had been hazing. What pictures?"

"Oh, so you didn't send them. That's what I thought but was hoping... Summer you're in trouble. Someone might be trying to hurt you. Or has someone been trying to blackmail you?"

Summer was completely awake and now understandably alarmed by what her young charge was telling her. "What are the pictures?"

"They're nude photos of you. They all look like selfies you took in a mirror."

"Tha..that's not possible," Summer replied slowly. She felt as though she might be sick.

"They're from an an address labeled ZetaGirl100 and Summer Forqurean is listed as the sender. There's also a link at the bottom of the message to a website where the pictures are posted."

"I wonder if they're photoshopped or AI-generated," Summer said, though she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Can you forward the email to me?"

"Of course. Summer, I know I'm new here at Zeta, but if I can help you somehow please let me know. I'll do anything for you. All of us new pledges will. We've all appreciated the help you've given us getting started with school and with Zeta. You've been unbelievably kind to us. We all wanted you to be our "big. We're here for you."

Summer appreciated Amber's sentiment but was too distraught to respond. She turned on her computer and waited impatiently until Amber's message came through.

"Hi there," the message started in greeting. "Here are the pictures you asked for. I hope you like them. I was reluctant to take them at first, but I really got into it. Honestly, I'm surprised about how well they turned out. Send me some of yours when you have the chance."

"Lots of love, Summer"

p.s. As you requested, I asked my boyfriend to post them for me in higher resolution at "post your girlfriend." The link to the site is pasted at the end of my message.

Below the message was the string of twelve selfies that Summer had taken a couple days previously. She looked closely at the photos, her eyes lingering on picture 12. Her legs were splayed with her fingers inside. Her head was tilted back, and her eyes were half closed -- she remembered her orgasm and how difficult it was to take the picture in that moment. Summer rose from the desk chair, quickly ran to the bathroom and was violently sick.

---

Summer remained in her room the entire day. "How could I have been so stupid!" she kept saying out loud. She lay on her bed, walked around the room, alternately weeping, and filled with fury. "I'm so gullible. Why? -- how could he do this to me?"

Ethan, Camden, Brennan, Courtney, Aubrey, and other friends at Zeta had been texting her repeatedly all day. Summer only responded to Camden Tallis.

"Cam, something terrible has happened to me. I took some explicit pictures of myself. They were for Ethan. Someone got hold of them sent them to the new pledges."

"Oh Summer, I know. I received them too. I think everyone in Zeta received them, not just the new pledges. I'm so sorry. I'm here for you."

"This feels like a nightmare. It..it's so humiliating. Everyone has seen me. I even afraid to leave my room."

"Ethan has sent texts and phone messages to me asking about you. He's worried. He says you haven't texted or called him back. He's planning on coming over to find you soon. I wasn't sure what to tell him."

"Please call him back and tell him that I'm not feeling well and ask him not to come. I need some time to think before I talk to him."

"Okay. I will. I'll bring you something eat."

"No, I'm not hungry. There are a few crackers here if I need them. Thanks Cam. I appreciate you being my friend.

"I'm so sorry Summer. I truly wish this had never happened."

Summer didn't want to look at the pictures again but knew she had to be sure. Finally, she went to her computer and followed the link from the email. A page opened titled "My Zeta Girl, Summer." The twelve pictures were all there, and when she clicked on one individually it would expand to fill the screen in high resolution. Below the pictures was some text. "My girlfriend sent these to me and asked me to share. When she sends another batch I'll add them. Hope you enjoy!" Looking at other pages on the website she found similar pages dedicated to other young women.

---

Summer slept fitfully that night even though she was exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the previous day. "I have to get up and face things. It will be hard, but I know I can do it. I just have to," she told herself. She texted Camden.

Summer: Hi Cam. I'm coming down for breakfast. Can you come up to my room and meet me. I know I can use some company at breakfast.

Cam: Yes. I'll be right there. I'm so glad you're coming out of your room.

Summer: I have to take care of some things. And I need to go to class no matter what else might be happening.

Camden Tallis and Summer went silently down the stairs to the Zeta dining room. Summer had a sense of unreality. She felt as if she were floating down the wide ancient staircase. She was dazed with trepidation as she and Camden entered the dining room. The entire room went quiet as ongoing conversations ceased. The other Zetas looked over at her. Then:

"Summer, we've got you," someone shouted out.

"Don't worry Summer. We know you. We love you."

The entire room came over to embrace Summer, to talk and encourage her.

"We'll get past this together Summer."

"We're all Zetas."

Tears of gratitude flowed down Summer's face at the outpouring of support. She tried to speak but was overwhelmed and started sobbing.

After the girls returned to their tables, Aubrey Hutchison, Brennan Bjorklund, and Courtney Rothschild came to sit down with Summer and Camden.

"The Zeta crew stays together," Brennan said, smiling at Summer.

"That's right," said Aubrey.

"Thank you guys. I'm lucky to have such good friends. But there are some difficult things I'm going to have to do. And I'm not naïve. This will be hard for me to handle but I'm going to have to do my best. What's the other option. Drop out of school. That's not going to happen."

Camden put her arm around Summer and looked at Brennan and Courtney with a complex look that was impossible to decipher.

"Yeah, hang in there Summer," Courtney said. "We're all in this together."

Camden noticed Courtney wink at Brennan as they rose from the table. She also saw a few other girls in the group trying, with varying levels of success, to suppress smirks.

Camden walked Summer to her first class.

Summer did her best to concentrate during class but glanced frequently and unsurely around the room. Why had that guy been looking at her? How many people had seen her pictures?

After class, Summer texted her boyfriend.

Summer: Hi Ethan. I heard you were looking for me yesterday. I didn't feel well. Can we meet in my room at 5 PM today? We should talk.

Ethan: Sure Sum. Hope you're feeling better. I've been thinking about you. I've been looking at your pictures. I hope you're feeling well enough to... I want you. See you this afternoon.

---

In the middle of the afternoon Summer received a text from Sarah Borden, the Alumna advisor for Zeta. "Summer it's extremely important for you to call me as soon as possible. I've been trying to reach you by phone all day and you haven't responded."

Summer called Sarah immediately. "Hi, Sarah. I'm sorry that I didn't call you earlier. I wasn't feeling well yesterday and have been trying to catch up." Summer had decided to delete the flood of voice messages and texts she had received over the past two days --she hadn't wanted to deal with them. She hadn't noticed Sarah's voicemail messages among them.

Sarah was typically jovial and breezy when she spoke with Summer. She had told Summer multiple times how much she enjoyed Summer and the other girls at Zeta -- that being among them made her feel as though she was back in college. Therefore Summer couldn't help but now notice Sarah's business-like tone, "Summer, I need to speak with you as soon as possible. Can you come to my office this afternoon."

"Yes, I was just heading back to my room, but I'll come to your office right now." Summer was sure that this had something to do with the pictures. She hadn't been thinking about potential ramifications with Zeta. At the moment, such worries paled in comparison to the other problems that had arisen from the photos.

Summer knocked lightly on the door. "Come in Summer. And please close the door. I imagine you know what this is about?"

"Yes."

"I was called to meet with the PanHellenic Council this morning about your selfies. Actually, some of the girls at Zeta had already contacted me about it yesterday, so I had been trying to decide how to handle the situation even before this morning's meeting."

"I'm sorry Sarah. I was so stupid and gullible."

"Yes. This is so surprising to me. I thought you were such a poised, level-headed young woman. I know this kind of thing happens occasionally but it's hard for me to believe that you would do this... I must ask, just for the record, did you really did take these pictures? They aren't somehow faked? I know there's a lot of new technology. I have trouble keeping up."

"I took them."

"Did you send them by email to the other girls? Or did you ask your boyfriend to post them online?"

Summer felt tears welling in her eyes as she thought about the email and the website. She fought as hard as she could to keep from crying, but she felt a tear issue first from her left and then her right eye. Both tears slowly descended along each cheek as she responded, "Absolutely not. I would never do that."

"Do you think it was your boyfriend then? Or who else had access to the photos."

Summer started crying in earnest. "Sarah, I don't know why he would do this to me. I thought he loved me. But he used me. He's humiliated me."

Sarah came around the desk and put her arm around Summer. "I'm sorry this happened to you Summer. Sometimes you think you know someone, but you really don't. Some people have sides to them that they keep hidden and that you don't expect.

"We've already had the university IT department investigate both the source of the email message and the source that uploaded your photos to the website linked on the email message."

Summer looked at Sarah expectantly.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be able to easily identify the person or people who send these. The people in IT say that, most likely, some kind of VPN chain from a public WIFI network off campus was used to set up an email account in Europe in your name. The email address is held by a providing service that has a policy of not sharing the information of its users including their IP address. But even if we obtained a court order, and they were willing to cooperate, presumably they also wouldn't know the initiating IP address because of the VPN chain. So it won't be possible to identify the originating IP address. IT says that if this were a matter of national security, some higher-level government agency might be willing to help. But this obviously doesn't rise to that level.

"Ethan is so adept at computer and networks." Summer thought. "This might not be national security. But it is my life!"

"Some good news, if you can call it that, is that IT can tell that only university email addresses of Zeta house residents were targeted. Your pictures weren't sent to other campus addresses. However, there's the possibility that the pictures were sent to addresses off campus, or that some members of Zeta might have shared the pictures with others.

"I've done what I could. When I found out about your pictures yesterday, I sent an email to all the girls at Zeta, stating clearly that this is a situation that absolutely must remain in house and that I expect the girls to not talk about or share the pictures -- that there would be serious repercussions if they did so. Nearly everyone emailed back promising to cooperate. Most of the girls offered to help -- you're obviously liked and admired. But with such a large group of people, there's no guarantee.

"There's also the issue of the website with your pictures. We're doing what we can to get the page taken down, but there's a high probability that distribution of your pictures can't be easily contained.

"Thank you for trying to help me."

"Unfortunately, I have to talk with you about something else now Summer."

Summer reached for a tissue from Sarah's desk, did her best to dry her tears, and waited for Sarah to continue.

"The Panhellenic Council discussed your case. They concluded that, regardless of how the pictures had surfaced, the selfies you took demonstrate extremely poor judgement on your part, and that your actions are inconsistent with someone who should serve as a role model for the other members of Zeta, especially the freshmen pledges and sophomores. In this, I agreed with the rest of the Council. Two actions will be taken. First, we must insist that you not serve as president of Zeta for the reasons I just stated. Luckily since just had our election you hadn't yet started to serve. Since Courtney Rothschild received the next highest number of votes, we'll ask her to step into the position. Second, we're placing you on official probation as a member of Zeta Mu Xi. If there's an additional infraction of any kind you'll be asked to leave.

"Initially, some members of the Council thought it best that you be immediately expelled from Zeta. However, I told them how impressed I had been with you as a person, a student, and a member of Zeta up to this point and persuaded them to let me speak with you first. Had you indicated to me that you had emailed these pictures yourself, I would have returned to the Council and agreed with the suggestion of expulsion. But I do believe you, and I'm truly sorry that someone close to you probably instigated this unfortunate episode. Do you understand what I just told you?"

"Y..yes. I understand. I don't blame you. I'm glad I'm not expelled. I love Zeta."

As she walked from Sarah's office to Zeta house, Summer was immersed in intense evaluation and reassessment of everything that had happened over the previous two days. So much turmoil had been unleashed by what she had intended only as a playful, intimate gift for someone she loved. The betrayal was so vicious. Her reputation among her friends, and her sisters at Zeta, was tarnished or maybe even ruined. Those pictures -- every time she thought about them, and that seemed to be perpetually, she relived the humiliation. Who knows how many people had seen her. Had seen all of her. Had seen her doing what she did.

"Summer had long been accustomed to, and enjoyed, being the resilient one--someone upon whom others in the group could look to for strength and inspiration." She hated to cry, even though she knew, in this case, that her friends, anyone really, would understand. Summer was kind and strong. She had tried so hard not to cry during her meeting with Sarah but had failed. She had cried in the Zeta dining hall before that. She had been crying in her room. Summer would steel herself and not similarly weep when she met with Ethan. He had used her and made her vulnerable. She was now adamant with herself that she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of appearing weak in front of him, even though she recognized how fragile she really felt.

---

Bren: Did you see her face? NGL didn't think I'd actually see tears.

Cam: Yes. You brought her down a peg. So that's enough Bren.

Bren: Lol.

Cam: She's pulled herself together pretty well. Considering.

Bren: You think so?

Court: Hey you guys.

Bren: Hi Court. Congratulations!

Court: Thanks Bren. I wasn't expecting it to work out the way it did.

Bren: You'll be great as president.

Cam: Yes. Congrats.

Aubrey: Hi

Cam: Hi Aubrey

Bren: So phase 2?

Cam: No Bren. I'm not sure what you have in mind. But no.

Aubrey: I agree with Cam. None of this should ever have happened.

Bren: Just a little TLC lol. She can handle it.

Court: You think it's necessary?

Cam: No!

Aubrey. No

Bren: Lol

---

"Hi Summer. I'm glad you're feeling better," Ethan started as he walked over to Summer. Strangely, Summer had her back to him as she stood, peering out the window of her room overlooking the large, manicured lawn and garden in the back of Zeta house. "I've been thinking about you. You're so hot. I haven't been able to think about anything all day other than being with you."

Ethan approached and hugged Summer from behind. He placed his left hand over her left breast and let his right hand drop to the front of Summer's jeans.

Summer stood stiffly as she carefully and mechanically grasped Ethan's wrist and removed the hand from her jeans. She slowly turned to face him.

"Summer, what's wrong?" Ethan removed his other hand from her breast. "You don't look like yourself. What's wrong with your eyes?"

"I'm okay. I'm just fine. And I'm going to be even better soon."

"What do you mean?"

"So apparently you liked the pictures I sent you the other day," more statement than question.

"Yes. Honestly, I've been looking at them several times a day since you sent them. It makes me want you even more than before, something I didn't think possible. You probably shouldn't have sent them to me -- it makes it difficult to concentrate on my homework," Ethan laughed awkwardly, trying to lighten the mood. He was confused.

"Yes, we agree on that at least. I definitely shouldn't have sent them to you."

"What's going on Summer? You're not acting like yourself." Ethan was alarmed by Summer's demeanor. Summer had been forcing herself to maintain a neutral, controlled expression, which had started to morph into a hostile mask.

"You know exactly what's on my mind. I'm sure you'd like to know how it made me feel. I had no idea you would get off on being such a perverted cowardly asshole."

"Summer, wait. What are you..."

"No you wait! I bet you were hoping I would break down in front of you so you could tell your friends about how weak and naïve I am. If you want to know, yes, I'm humiliated by it. Is that the satisfaction you were looking for, you fucking bastard?"