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    Chat Room
    Chat Room
    Chat Room
    Ebook67 pages1 hour

    Chat Room

    By Kristin Butcher

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    Linda joins her high school's private online forum and gains a following, but someone wants to take it offline.

    Linda is shy and avoids getting involved at school. But when her high school sets up online chat rooms she can't resist the urge to visit them. Fuelled by interest in a student with the nickname Cyrano, Linda participates in online conversations using the nickname Roxane and gains a reputation as the queen of one-liners. Soon Linda starts receiving gifts from a secret admirer who signs his gifts, "C." She is certain that her life has taken a turn for the better until "C" reveals his true identity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateMar 1, 2006
    ISBN9781554695904
    Chat Room
    Author

    Kristin Butcher

    Kristin Butcher is the author of twenty books for children. She has been shortlisted for the Silver Birch Award, the CLA Children's Book of the Year, the Red Cedar Award, the IODE Violet Downey Book Award, and the Manitoba Young Reader's Choice Award, among others. Kristin lives in Campbell River, British Columbia.

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    Reviews for Chat Room

    3/5

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    • 3/5
      In person, Linda is ordinarily quiet and shy. When her high school gets a school-only chat room, however, Linda is at once excited and scared. She wants to try it, but her friend Janine tells her repeatedly that only weirdos and crazy people use chat rooms. Linda decides to take a username and access the chat room to see what is written there, and one user, who seems like a nice guy, has the username Cyrano. Impulsively, Linda takes the username Roxane and becomes active in the chat room, but when she starts getting gifts and notes from a secret admirer named C., she wonders who Cyrano really is and whether he has feelings for her in real life. This story is fast-moving and easy to read, for teens who have difficulty reading; however, teenagers used to Facebook and Twitter may wonder why the heroine is so frightened of going into a chat room. The part of the plot dealing with the secret admirer makes this story a contemporary, believable take on the Cyrano de Bergerac mythos for teens.
    • 3/5
      I have to say, i didn't really think i would like this book. The cover didn't look lke something i would enjoy reading, but i was wrong. (Don't judge a book by its cover) It's about chatting on a school website-like msn, but you have a nickname so no one knows who you are, and is basically a love story. It isn't that simple but if you'll like to know more, try reading it. You might find out it's not such a bad book.
    • 1/5
      What a crappy book.

    Book preview

    Chat Room - Kristin Butcher

    Chapter One

    Back in elementary school, assemblies meant sitting on the floor. In high school things are different. Because we’re older now, we sit in actual chairs—at least that’s the theory. If you’re one of the first people into the gym, the system works fine. But I always arrive after every seat’s been taken. If there’s not a person sitting in it, it’s being saved for someone. Basically, it’s a school-wide version of musical chairs, and I’ve always sucked at that game.

    Take Friday’s assembly. The gym was packed as usual, but for once it looked like I was going to get lucky. There was an empty seat at the end of the third row. I would have preferred something a little farther back, but it was that or nothing. So I grabbed it.

    Unfortunately Janice saw me and started waving from the middle of the row. I wanted to pretend I didn’t see her, but I knew if I did she’d unleash that bullhorn voice of hers, and in two seconds I’d have every kid in school staring at me. So I bumped my way through the line of knees separating us and shriveled into the seat beside her.

    What class are you missing? Whispering wasn’t a skill Janice had ever learned, and, even though everyone around us was talking, her voice drowned them out.

    Math, I said, shrinking a little deeper into my chair. I intentionally avoided asking her what she was missing, but that didn’t stop Janice.

    "It’s biology for me. Thank God! If I had to miss band I’d be ticked, but I can definitely do without forty minutes of Bio-Bernstein droning on about reproduction. What have they dragged us in here for anyway?"

    I shrugged. I don’t know. The gym riot maybe? There are posters about it up all over school. I nodded toward a group of students huddled around the microphone. It looks like student council’s running the assembly, so I bet that’s what it is.

    Janice rolled her eyes and flopped back in her chair. Oh, joy! Just what we need —another chance for Wellington High’s favored few to show off.

    I wasn’t sure if Janice was referring to the gym riot or student council running the assembly. Probably both. She was against everything social.

    Janice Beastly was queen of the grumps. Her real name was Beasley, but she was so negative and in-your-face that everybody called her Beastly. It didn’t help that she was built like a wrestler with a voice to match. She didn’t have a lot of friends. None, actually, unless you counted me.

    Even that was only friendship by default. I didn’t like Janice any more than anyone else did, but when she showed up at the start of grade nine, she adopted me. And since her locker was right beside mine, I was stuck.

    Maybe I should have been grateful, because except for Janice, I don’t have many friends either. Not that people hate me. At least I don’t think they do. I’m just not part of any crowd.

    The microphone squealed.

    Sorry about that, said the boy standing in front of it. It was Marc Solomon, student council president and one of the most popular guys in school. He grinned. But now that I have your attention, let’s get this party started. The first thing on today’s agenda is the big gym riot coming up next Friday.

    Behind him the student council started clapping and cheering, and in a matter of seconds the audience joined in.

    Marc leaned into the mic. That’s the spirit, Wellington!

    Oh, spare me, Janice muttered.

    Marc held up his hands for quiet. As always, the riot’s going to be a blast, and this year we’ve added a whole bunch of new events like tricycle basketball, egg toss and a chain-gang relay.

    What’s that? someone hollered.

    Marc grinned again. I’ll get to that. That and all the other details. He turned and gestured toward a pretty blond girl standing behind him. She smiled and waved. Thanks to our student council vice-president, the teachers have agreed to give us gym riot planning time, he paused, last period this afternoon.

    Hey, that’s my band class! Janice protested, but her complaint was lost in the roar that erupted around us.

    When it got quiet again, Marc motioned for a boy in the front row to join him at the microphone. Hesitantly, the kid stood up. It was Chad Sharp. I recognized him from French class.

    "Right now, though, I want to tell you

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