The Virgin’s Bucket List – Episode 73
Technicians disconnected the gym from the internet, but the countdown continued. Someone had installed the program locally before the building was secured. The administrator possessed physical access to Maple Hill.
Mike reviewed staff and vendor records. The yearbook company had serviced display equipment that week, giving several technicians access. None remained inside according to cameras.
Jeremy found a small computer hidden behind the scoreboard. It ran the countdown and stored encrypted victim profiles. Removing it safely required preserving evidence before the dance.
Police seized the device and replaced the display system. The event could proceed, though Mike gave families the choice to withdraw with refunds. Most students still wanted to attend.
Lindsay wondered whether holding the dance was becoming another attempt to prove fear could not control her. Wayne asked a simpler question: would she enjoy going if Next Chapter did not exist?
She admitted she would. Maple Hill held painful memories, but it was also where she defended friends, found Wayne again, and learned to speak publicly. The building belonged to more than the people who humiliated her.
Wayne wanted to accompany her. His game schedule made the trip difficult but possible if weather cooperated. Lindsay asked him not to promise until travel was certain.
Their semester reassessment also approached. Neither had forgotten the agreement to decide whether the relationship still supported their growth. The dance could not become a theatrical test of their future.
Alyssa offered to attend alone if Wayne missed it. The suggestion would once have sounded threatening. Now it was practical support from someone who understood the school’s social landscape.
Lindsay accepted. She also invited Maya, who declined to enter another crowded event. Maya preferred helping investigators analyze account messages from a secure location.
The seized device revealed a user directory but no administrator name. One profile carried full control permissions under the label “L.L.” Lindsay initially feared the initials referred to her.
Jean remembered a former yearbook editor named Lauren Lane. Lauren graduated two years earlier after a private photo scandal destroyed her scholarship prospects. She had blamed the school for failing to stop the leak.
Public records showed Lauren now worked for the yearbook vendor. Her experience gave her access, motive, and technical opportunity. Police visited her address and found the apartment empty.
An online manifesto appeared minutes later. Lauren described Next Chapter as a tool that taught privileged students how exposure felt. She considered forced vulnerability a form of justice.
Lindsay rejected the reasoning. Pain did not become ethical when redistributed. Victims could not heal by creating new victims who resembled people who once failed them.
Lauren announced she would attend the dance but threatened to release every profile if police arrested her. Investigators believed the data had already been copied to multiple locations.
Lindsay proposed offering Lauren a live, moderated chance to explain herself without controlling the event. Police worried it rewarded coercion, but a controlled conversation might reveal the decryption key.
Before they decided, Wayne called from the airport. A winter storm had canceled every flight to Maple Hill, leaving Lindsay to face the dance without him.