But now I start to imagine all these fan sites and message boards dedicated to me, sites done in pink and aqua (since I put those down as my favorite colors on my application) that say things like “Welcome to the fan site of Ally Cavanaugh, In the House: Freshman Year.” Then they’ll have all these nice things about me, like about how it was so generous of me to go to the strip club with Jasmine on our first day even though I knew my family probably wouldn’t approve. They’ll also express their displeasure for the student body of Syracuse College for being so mean to me and not making an effort to get to know my wonderful, fabulous self. These sites will be run by the girl fans, but a few guy fans will have them too. On these sites I’ll be called a “hottie with a body,” and boys will bemoan the fact that I have a boyfriend and call Corey mean names.

“I don’t know, Ally,” Jasmine says, sounding a little annoyed. “Get online if you want to read about yourself. But I’m warning you, it’s not all nice.” It isn’t?

“How do you know?”

“Because I read the stuff about me.” Oh. Well, of course they’re going to say bad things about Jasmine. She’s a stripper. Well, a stripper turned Hooters girl. I mean, hello. People hear “stripper” and make a snap judgment about her sluttiness, whether or not it’s true. Not to mention the fact that Jasmine’s beautiful, and so people are going to hate her just on principle.

“Um, hello, guys?” Simone asks softly, reminding us that the conversation was originally about her.

“Oh, right.” I consider pointing out the fact that Sam the cameraman is recording this whole conversation, so it’s very likely James will hear about it from one of his friends that watches the show, making all this obsessing obsolete. I don’t want to scare Simone, though, so I keep my mouth shut. “Well, the fact that you found out online settles it. He will inevitably ask you how you knew they were his favorite, and then you will have to tell him, and he’ll think you’re a stalker.”

I look to Jasmine for confirmation. She nods her head. “Agreed.”

That settled, I grab one last handful of chocolate chips, grab my milk, and head to the computer to find out what the world is saying about me.

NOW

Ignorance is bliss. That’s all I’m saying.

THEN

I settle into the computer chair in the living room, thankful no one’s using it. We have one computer for everyone in the house to use and we weren’t allowed to bring our own computers from home. Just another way the show controls every single aspect of our lives.