The Anti Social Network Read Online Free PDF

each other and Amelia’s standing there, wanting it to stop—she always hated yelling—so she says, quietly, that she could change it, if they wanted.”
    “She could
change
it? But SAT scores are, like, impossible to access.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s what everyone thought. Mr. Dawson laughed in her face. But the son knew that Amelia was really smart and was always on the computer and he said they should give her a shot. So Amelia hacked into the website right then and there and showed them. She changed his score to a 1850.”
    “That’s incredible!” Lisa’s eyes were wide. “Did he end up going to college?”
    “Yeah. The guidance counselor flipped, she was so excited. His grades still sucked, but he got into Indiana State and left the next year.”
    “Wow,” Lisa said.
    “After that, the Dawsons started paying a lot more attention to Amelia.
    Amelia was so sweet and innocent—she just wanted to help and be noticed and feel appreciated, you know? One day Mr. Dawson asked her if she could hack into his company’s system and increase his sales figures, said he was afraid he was going to lose his job and just needed a little boost. He said he didn’t have to be the top salesperson or anything, just needed a higher figure. But he was paid on commission, so he was essentially asking Amelia to help him embezzle money. Then a few months later, he directed Amelia to the bank and had her move money out of the company’s bank account into another account. He made up some story about holding accounts for future sales or something, and Amelia didn’t think much about it until a year later when she read an article in the newspaper about a “mystery hacker” who was stealing money from the State Insurance Bureau. She realized it was her and freaked out. She came to me unsure about what to do. I told her just to stop, to tell Mr. Dawson that they changed the security codes and she couldn’t hack in anymore. But being Amelia, she insisted on telling the authorities the truth.”
    “Oh my God. What happened?”
    “Well she called the police and told them everything. And the next week, they arrested Mr. Dawson and he was sentenced to six years in white-collar prison. They gave Amelia the lightest sentence possible, but she spent three months in a juvenile detention center. That was the only time we’ve ever been separated.”
    Adam paused.
    “Obviously, we couldn’t live with the Dawsons anymore. Part of the deal Amelia struck involved our being placed in another foster home. So I was moved to another state and lived there until Amelia could join me. The authorities were really good about keeping our whereabouts a secret from the Dawsons. But at the beginning of this summer, right after we started working at the incubator, we got a phone call from Jacob, the older son.
    They found us, I guess because of the Doreye website. Mr. Dawson is about to be released from prison, and they’re saying we ‘owe them’ for ruining The Family. I’ve been getting e-mails and phone calls all summer trying to blackmail us into embezzling money for them again.”
    “But how can they blackmail you? What have they got against you?” Lisa asked.
    “I don’t know,” Adam lied, looking down at his hands. “But these people are crazy. They’ll do anything.”
    “Adam, you have to go to the police.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Why not? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
    “But everything is going so well right now; I don’t want to screw things up by getting involved in some investigation. Can you imagine how bad the press would be for Doreye? I just need them to go away, and I don’t know how to make them stop calling.”
    He looked down at his shaking hands. Lisa reached out and clasped them hard between hers. “I know you’ll do the right thing, Adam. And I’m really glad you told me. Maybe it’ll be better now that you’ve gotten it off your chest. It’s hard keeping secrets.” He looked up at her beautiful smile