That Was The Afternoon Her Heart Went

In any form of society, you will always find people in different shapes and sizes. There will be tall people, short people, fat people, skinny people, and everything in between. Not just with appearances, too, as you would get a mixed bag of personalities. You will find cheerful people, friendly people, grumpy people, shy people, and so on and so forth.

Of course, where there are people with varying attitudes and mindsets, there will also be ideologies. The school that Stacy and Steven attends is no different in that matter.

Although, the ideologies that exist within the campus do not relate to any greater political leanings or some other social construct. Rather, they were mostly ideas on how everyone should conduct themselves with regards to Steven, especially in terms of romance. As silly and superfluous as it sounds, these ideas nonetheless exist and are taken very seriously. Some of them are even organized, and the three main groups are The Moderates, The Conservatives, and The Extremists.

The Moderates believe that everyone should be free to love. They think it is fine if someone confesses their feelings to Steven, and if they end up dating, they will accept it. That tenet also extends to Steven himself. If he was to fall in love with another girl, then so be it. They will also accept it.

The Conservatives believe in the status quo. They think Steven should remain single so he could remain to be everyone’s target of affection. He is an idol, so to speak, that cannot be touched. Hence, they do not condone confessions of love to Steven, especially among their members, as they believe it can lead to chaos. However, if Steven chose to date a girl by his initiative, they will also still accept it, although begrudgingly especially since most of the members are girls who had already confessed and been rejected by him.

Lastly, there are The Extremists. They are an offshoot of The Conservatives and agree that Steven's relationship status should be unchanged, but they do not agree that he should date anyone if he wants to - ever. They believe that he should be everyone’s idol until graduation, if not forever, and people should not be allowed the thought of getting into a relationship with him.

Despite their extreme views though, they were harmless. Their influence was minimal because they were mostly composed of awkward and antisocial introverts who only took their grievances online and never acted upon them. They have not banded together to form parties for preventing confessions or the like for the simple reason of them being unable to talk to anyone else besides their ilk. But even if they find the courage to act on their beliefs, they were still small in number so their reach was short, and due to this, information regarding confessions usually gets to them only after the fact. The worst that they have done was anonymously call people ugly on internet message boards.

However, that all changed on the weekend of Stacy and Steven’s date.

The three groups may not agree on certain things, but that does not mean they are at complete odds against each other. A member from one group may still even be friends from another group, so information is still exchanged between each of them and their members. Of course, as in the age of the internet, news travels as fast as ever. Once someone had discovered the aforementioned pair out in town together, it was not long until someone from The Extremists read it on some social media site, which they had promptly spread among their peers.

Unsurprisingly, there was a reaction from the group. The storm was already brewing on Sunday afternoon while Stacy and Steven’s date was ongoing.

At first, it was tame. The news was broken out on Twitter by some random user with around a dozen or so followers, so almost everyone dismissed it as someone rumor mongering for attention. This was despite the fact that the user really witnessed the scene firsthand and was actually one of them. But since this person was unable to identify the girl Steven was with, she could not convince anyone after she found that her online post was being talked about.

However, people still spread the news regardless of factuality. Such is the way of the internet. But because of this, a few other people started coming out to say that they have also witnessed Steven out in town. Some of those also were not able to give the name of his date. A few have said they saw him alone. Some have named suspects, but there was one name mentioned more than a few times that it stood out.

Stacy.

The Extremists were quick to pick up on this and spared no time throwing the same insults she had suffered the entire week in some internet forum where she could not see.

“Who? That plain girl that we thought Steven was going to confess to last week?”

“What? Miss Plain Jane?”

“That fugly bitch with a poor attitude?”

“Are we sure it’s Stacy yet?” one user asked in the fast-growing thread.

It did not go unnoticed though. One user reaffirmed her concern. “Yeah, poor girl being roasted here when there isn’t even solid proof of it yet.”

“Proof? She’s been named more than a few times already, what more proof do you need?”

“There were plenty of other names mentioned too though?”

“Like what, Sarah? Lots of Sarahs in our school.”

“There were also others, including those that didn’t recognize her, that said the girl he was with had shoulder-length hair and wears glasses… Guess who fits that description.”

“Plenty of girls not named Stacy fit that description, too...”

“Yeah, I fit that description and my name has been thrown into the mix, too. I’m not on a date with Steven though, but I wish I was!”

“Heretic!”

“Yeah, I’m with the others… pics or it didn’t happen.”

“I agree. So many ‘eyewitness accounts’ yet nobody bothered taking out their phones to take a picture? It smells like bullshit.”

“Are we sure it wasn’t Stacy’s mom? lol” one user joked in reaction to the topic.

“I refuse to believe Steven is into grannies!”

“Well, you better believe it because it came right out of the horse’s mouth.”

“It’s possible. I overheard Stacy and Steven talking in our classroom about how she looked like her mom. Maybe those who said it was Stacy mistook her mom for her?”

“Does that mean Stacy finally let him meet her mom?!”

“I doubt it. She was so vehemently against it.”

“I tried asking one of the people who claimed it was Stacy and they said it didn’t look like Steven was with an older woman.”

“Yeah? Well, I asked, too, and they said they weren’t sure.”

“Do we even know what Stacy’s mom looks like exactly?!”

“Just imagine an old-looking Stacy.”

“With white hair and wrinkles. Oh, and thick granny glasses.”

“Stacy’s mom is young though. She’s just in her early 30s now if my math is correct.”

“What?! Really?!”

“Really. I was classmates with Stacy in grade school so I saw her mom a few times. I thought they were sisters at first given how young she looked compared to the other moms.”

“Wait, so you know what Stacy’s mom looks like?”

“Sure, unless she had some drastic changes to her appearance.”

“Star witness right here!”

“Can you tell us if the descriptions given so far fit either Stacy or her old lady?”

“Hard to say. It’s been a few years since I last saw her, so I don’t know if she’s changed her hairstyle and worn glasses since.”

“Well… any other descriptor you can give us? Like the difference between the two?”

“I think they had different eye colors.”

“So does anyone know if anyone spotted the eye color of our suspect?”

“Nope.”

“No.”

“I asked the posters and they said they didn’t notice.”

“Well, that was useless.”

“Well, sorry for being useless.”

“Anything else?”

“Stacy’s breasts are smaller than her mom’s. Her mom was definitely on the larger side.”

“Quick! Ask the tweeters again!”

“That’s fine and all, but how big are we talking about?”

“Yeah, and also, how do we know if Stacy did not pad herself for this date?”

“Yes! I wear pads when I’m going on a date with a boy I want to impress.”

“So, we’re not asking now? Well, I asked anyway and they said the girl was not flat. But yeah could be pads.”

“Well, that was a bust.”

“Ha ha very punny.”

“So, now what?”

“I don’t know who to flame now, Stacy or her mom?!”

“Why not both?”

The thread slowed down at this point as some users became more interested in solving the mini mystery that was presented to them. But, the conversations were only going in circles as people were either presenting theories that were already covered and buried deep in the thread, or debunking said theories, so some of them started losing interest.

It was not until more than an hour later that their conversations would take a different direction when someone posted more information - and a little more damning for Stacy than eyewitness accounts.

“To those seeking proof, here it is!” a user declared in the thread. Attached is a candid photo of Stacy and Steven sitting together at a table in some cafe.

“Oh my god! I just realized I don’t know what Stacy looks like.”

“Same. Is this the bitch?”

“Yes, this is the bitch.”

“Can confirm, this is the bitch.”

"Yes, she looks padded alright, but this is the bitch."

“Am classmate. This is bitch.”

“Am I correct to assume this is not Stacy’s mom?”

“We need confirmation from the person claiming they know what her mother looks like.”

“Yeah, where is she anyway?”

“I’m here! I can confirm this is not the mom. Her breasts are larger than what's shown in this photo.”

“That settles it! Come Monday morning, we’re building a crucifix and burning Stacy in it!”

“Wait, what?”

“A little too extreme there…”

“Everyone, I think it’s a joke.”

“Guys! Guys! We have an update!”

“Well, what is it? Don’t leave us hanging.”

“Our mystery girl just dragged Steven to a love hotel!” The post also contained another candid photo of Stacy and Steven, this time entering a building. It also shows the name of the establishment visible for everyone to see.

“BURN HER!”

“BURN HER!”

“BURN HER!”

The rest of the thread was like that. Even the ones that were uncomfortable with the joke post were saying it. There was one single post that said “Guys, calm down, they left soon after that”, but it was ignored and buried by the posts calling for Stacy to be burned.

Then Monday morning came, and there were more than a few dozen girls that came to school earlier than their normal schedules to build a crucifix and a pyre. Some of them were not even originally with The Extremists, but had converted once they heard of the news. All were intent to execute their plans of burning Stacy at the stake, but she did not appear. They were waiting for her at the school gates until first period with some even staying to keep watch until the bell signalling for lunch rang, but Stacy could not be found all morning.

In fact, Stacy had not come to school at all. She tried playing hooky again to hide from her shame, but this time her mom had approved of it after being told that her advice did not work. At home, she was busy punching her pillow to vent out the frustration of Steven rejecting her advances.

Meanwhile, by lunchtime, the teachers were already suspicious of the large crucifix and pyre that The Extremists had built and started an inquest. The girls that were identified as the masterminds were questioned, but they managed to avoid punishment by claiming they were practicing some new form of Christianity.

Regardless, they were told to get rid of the wooden constructs and to never build them again. Without her knowing, Stacy just avoided misfortune... for the moment.