Autumn skittered into the hallway rush, leaving me so lost.

I whipped my phone out, opened YouTube. Cressie’s latest episode, “Small-Town Scandal . . . But Is It, Really?” had posted. The thumbnail image was Taylor Burkin, frozen with a hand raised, and her neck tilted, and her mouth open as if she was giving someone—most likely Colossus—the business.

With no earbuds on me, I couldn’t listen, and I didn’t want to play it in the open. Had to get to class anyway, so I stayed in the semi-dark all the way until lunch when Jameer caught me by the cafeteria entrance. “I think something’s going on with your sister, but I can’t figure what it is.”

“Same, Jameer. But we’re about to find out.”

Qwan was at our table, and I knew he had earbuds with him. Me and Jameer flanked him. “Have you watched it yet?” I asked, cueing it up on my phone.

“Yeah, man.” No snark, no further explanation. Very un-Qwan-like, and it made me nervous. He passed me the buds. I took the right, Jameer took the left. Cressie filled the screen.

CRESSIE

Hey FemFam, Cressida here. I’ve been hearing from some of you new subscribers and I’m happy to see that we’ve crossed the pond. A few ladies from the UK have joined the family, I see the countries of Nigeria and Ethiopia representing, even have one subscriber all the way from New Zealand. Thank you for tuning in and dropping thoughtful comments. Means a lot.

The UK? Africa? New Zealand? I glanced below the video, checking Cressie’s subscriber count. 2.4K. More than quadruple the number from when Qwan first showed me the channel.

CRESSIE

Got a special guest today. Y’all have heard me talk about where I’m from, and how it’s not the most progressive place on earth. Well, over the last year there’s been a situation of sorts. One that’s gotten a lot of unfair attention in the local media. It has to do with a group of young women who have been ridiculed and ostracized for arguably the most natural thing on the planet: giving birth. I’d like to introduce you to one of those young ladies, Taylor.

The video cut to a wider angle so we could see Cressie and Taylor side by side on a love seat in, presumably, Taylor’s house. Taylor wore a Green Creek varsity soccer shirt, triggering vague memories of her in a yearbook team photo. I think she was pretty good at the sport.

TAYLOR

Thanks for having me.

CRESSIE

Would you mind telling the FemFam about what happened?

TAYLOR

I sure don’t.

She gave a recap of the Baby-Getters drama in a way none of us had ever heard before . . . because it came from an actual Baby-Getter. Not a news reporter. Not the Green Creek Rumor Mill. She dispelled the myth of a pact (“Nobody planned this, it was a time when everyone was stuck at home, bored. Sex happened, then the babies. Hasn’t it always been that simple?”). She gave new information (“The vice principal kept saying stuff to my mom like do we think it’s a good idea for me to return to a potentially toxic environment—it felt like he didn’t really want me to come back to school”). And she said something that we probably all sensed on some level (“That stupid nickname they gave us hurts. A lot!”).