I still don’t quite understand how it has come to this: that I have my own lawyer, that he didn’t think it paranoid or ridiculous to imagine that my phone could be compromised, that criminal charges against me are still entirely possible. That I receive encrypted messages from other kids targeted by the FBI.

The first one arrives with a mellow bloop, and there it is: my first introduction to my co-scandalees.

PhinnyB: Welcome to this fully encrypted group text chain for those of us I could locate who are also caught up in this thing. RULES: Do not show your parents. Or lawyers. Delete each message after reading. Leaks will not be tolerated. No discussion of legal strategy. OK? I figured we could all use a friend to vent to

ALC: Did you guys know?

Slyse: No idea. I feel so stupid

ALC: Me too. My twin sister knew I think, but I didn’t. How screwed up is that? We’re 17 by the way. In the clear, probs. Delete this

Slyse: I heard they sent target letters to some of the kids. Is that true? Can anyone confirm?

PhinnyB: Yup. Got one. I’m 20

ALC: I’m not allowed to talk to my mom. Like it’s currently court ordered that we can’t talk about the case

Slyse: I never want to talk to my parents again

PrettyPen: This is a nightmare. I keep waiting to wake up. I can’t go back to school. It’s humiliating

TheIgster: I think they’re going to kick me out. I guess it doesn’t matter. My grades are dogshit anyway

PhinnyB: Ig, you in college too, bro?

TheIgster: Sophomore. Yale

PhinnyB: SCC junior. We’re so screwed

After the first text breaks the seal, the messages come in fast, one after the other, so quickly, I can barely keep up. Is this legal?

I scan the handles in the group and it’s not hard to trace each of them to the complaint, which I finally read yesterday, peeping through the fingers I held over my eyes. Reading it gave me one specific sort of rare victory—it felt exactly as bad as I had anticipated.

PhinnyB is Phinneas Black III, the heir to the KetoBagel fortune; ALC is Apple Lennon Chesterford, whose dad is the head litigator at a large New York Law firm and whose mom is a well-known health influencer; Slyse is Sly Sanderson, whose mother runs a hedge fund in Connecticut (dad unmentioned); TheIgster is Igancious Smith Wollingham IV, who is the son of two real estate developers in the Bay Area; and PrettyPen is Penelope Grace Giffords, whose mom is a famous supermodel married to an ibanker. Usually Penelope goes by Penny Grace. She posts makeup tutorials on YouTube that Isla and her friends like to watch.