The Friendster Stalker
Back then, people didn’t know what stalking was and how powerful social media is. So, no judgements here as I tell my story of how social media helped my friend.
When I was in the second year of middle school (known as Form 2 in Malaysia), this new girl came to my school. Her father got transferred to Penang Island and she joined my school. It is a convent school and one of the most prestigious schools on island. Although I had Chinese and Malay friends, I always hung out with my Indian friends during recess. And all my Indian friends are scattered across the 6 classes in the year. I think it was really good networking we had back then and we’d have each other’s back for homework, class projects and all other stuffs, that is inappropriate for a blog. The fact that we didn’t have to be ladylike to impress any guys made us more rebellious, I guess. Man! My high school days were awesome and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
So, we had this new girl in school, right? Let’s call her P 😊 It was her first day and she was always polite and timid, so unlike us, we were loud and boisterous in our school. We saw her brother waiting for her recess time and thought to ourselves what an eye candy he was. Now he is a brother to us but back then ‘anything goes’ was the policy.
Fast forward to fourth year of middle school, we all had been through our first relationship by then. Except P. P is a caring and generous friend. She probably understood that not everyone come from privileged family like hers, we all came from various family circumstances. She would offer to pay for friends who can’t afford lunch. She is a smartass. She is the type of person who’d whine about getting a bad score in an exam. Her bad score was 90% *facepalm*
Then, one day, I had a long chat with P. I asked why she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Mind you, I am guilty for pressuring her into it back then. Ask me now and I’ll ask you to go out and enjoy life instead. P is a very beautiful girl, maybe because her heart is very beautiful, so she looks really pretty in my eyes. There were guys going after her at tuition centres. She refused to even talk to any of them.
When I asked, I found out that her first crush, V from her old school is still on her mind. She told me about how silly it sounds and her crush might have moved on. Her crush is one year older than us. She told me some basic information about V as she was telling me her memories of him. Because I am a ‘FBI since birth’, I was making mental notes of this basic information.
Also, I was a hopeless romantic even back then. She had a lot of ‘what ifs’ and I wanted to help her. I sneaked behind her to look for V. Those days, Friendster was the most common social networking account. One day, for the fun of it I tracked down V from the school he studied. Sadly, no such person’s profile came up.
I like to take my chances; hence, I sent a long Friendster message, explaining my friend’s situation to this guy from that school! Just some random dude. I was so reckless, I didn’t even know if V still studied in that school. I am so glad I took the chance because this dude is V’s best friend now!
It was the happiest news I have ever gotten in my life.
He even explained that V still talks about P and still has the token they exchanged before she left. How exciting! So, I got V’s contact number since he doesn’t have a Friendster account. I spoke to him beforehand and we formed a bond, that exist till today. P’s birthday is on 14th August and her 16th birthday’s present from me was V’s contact number. It was a surprise for her because she didn’t know I was working behind her back. She teared, I am definite it was tears of happiness.
Things worked out great for them. Love blossomed and they had a long-distance relationship for 2 years. After 2 years, they broke off and P had a tough time going through her first heartbreak. V wasn’t too happy about breaking up either but both of them did what was best for their family. They both love their family more than they loved each other.
Some might disagree with my actions to look for V and cause heartache for them but P doesn’t have to live with ‘what ifs’ anymore. Now, she knows the exact reason why things would not have worked out between them. They gave it a shot and have closure for that aspect in their life. Heartbreak is an important part of growing up and I don’t regret reconnecting P and V.
Out of this story, I am truly amazed of how easy it was to look for someone using social media. About 10 years back, Internet wasn’t used for all the wrong reasons as they are being used now. I used it for a good cause and it was an amazing feeling. I can’t exactly tell this aloud to people because they think I am a creepy stalker. Though it is undeniable that I do check out people’s profile on social media from time to time, I do not call it stalking. It is part of maintaining a profile for individuals on my database. I am good at collecting information, maybe one day it will be a resume worthy skill.
When I was in the second year of middle school (known as Form 2 in Malaysia), this new girl came to my school. Her father got transferred to Penang Island and she joined my school. It is a convent school and one of the most prestigious schools on island. Although I had Chinese and Malay friends, I always hung out with my Indian friends during recess. And all my Indian friends are scattered across the 6 classes in the year. I think it was really good networking we had back then and we’d have each other’s back for homework, class projects and all other stuffs, that is inappropriate for a blog. The fact that we didn’t have to be ladylike to impress any guys made us more rebellious, I guess. Man! My high school days were awesome and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
So, we had this new girl in school, right? Let’s call her P 😊 It was her first day and she was always polite and timid, so unlike us, we were loud and boisterous in our school. We saw her brother waiting for her recess time and thought to ourselves what an eye candy he was. Now he is a brother to us but back then ‘anything goes’ was the policy.
Fast forward to fourth year of middle school, we all had been through our first relationship by then. Except P. P is a caring and generous friend. She probably understood that not everyone come from privileged family like hers, we all came from various family circumstances. She would offer to pay for friends who can’t afford lunch. She is a smartass. She is the type of person who’d whine about getting a bad score in an exam. Her bad score was 90% *facepalm*
Then, one day, I had a long chat with P. I asked why she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Mind you, I am guilty for pressuring her into it back then. Ask me now and I’ll ask you to go out and enjoy life instead. P is a very beautiful girl, maybe because her heart is very beautiful, so she looks really pretty in my eyes. There were guys going after her at tuition centres. She refused to even talk to any of them.
When I asked, I found out that her first crush, V from her old school is still on her mind. She told me about how silly it sounds and her crush might have moved on. Her crush is one year older than us. She told me some basic information about V as she was telling me her memories of him. Because I am a ‘FBI since birth’, I was making mental notes of this basic information.
Also, I was a hopeless romantic even back then. She had a lot of ‘what ifs’ and I wanted to help her. I sneaked behind her to look for V. Those days, Friendster was the most common social networking account. One day, for the fun of it I tracked down V from the school he studied. Sadly, no such person’s profile came up.
I like to take my chances; hence, I sent a long Friendster message, explaining my friend’s situation to this guy from that school! Just some random dude. I was so reckless, I didn’t even know if V still studied in that school. I am so glad I took the chance because this dude is V’s best friend now!
It was the happiest news I have ever gotten in my life.
He even explained that V still talks about P and still has the token they exchanged before she left. How exciting! So, I got V’s contact number since he doesn’t have a Friendster account. I spoke to him beforehand and we formed a bond, that exist till today. P’s birthday is on 14th August and her 16th birthday’s present from me was V’s contact number. It was a surprise for her because she didn’t know I was working behind her back. She teared, I am definite it was tears of happiness.
Things worked out great for them. Love blossomed and they had a long-distance relationship for 2 years. After 2 years, they broke off and P had a tough time going through her first heartbreak. V wasn’t too happy about breaking up either but both of them did what was best for their family. They both love their family more than they loved each other.
Some might disagree with my actions to look for V and cause heartache for them but P doesn’t have to live with ‘what ifs’ anymore. Now, she knows the exact reason why things would not have worked out between them. They gave it a shot and have closure for that aspect in their life. Heartbreak is an important part of growing up and I don’t regret reconnecting P and V.
Out of this story, I am truly amazed of how easy it was to look for someone using social media. About 10 years back, Internet wasn’t used for all the wrong reasons as they are being used now. I used it for a good cause and it was an amazing feeling. I can’t exactly tell this aloud to people because they think I am a creepy stalker. Though it is undeniable that I do check out people’s profile on social media from time to time, I do not call it stalking. It is part of maintaining a profile for individuals on my database. I am good at collecting information, maybe one day it will be a resume worthy skill.
Comments
Post a Comment