Megan reflects on her decision

Megan Feeley blushed a little at Onessa's suggestion that she was hired because of the color of her skin. Was the implication that the school was somehow enhanced by the presence of fair-skinned females? Or, more ominously, was her value not in her role as educator, but something physical, maybe sexual? And if so, was it the students she should fear, her fellow staff, her boss...?

Megan reflected on her hiring, an email correspondence with Mr Mwezi. She was typically formal and deferential, and he requested access to her social media pages, which she granted. There followed a deluge of access requests from black men, and she queried Tyrone about these strangers: 'Mr Mwezi, I am getting attention from lots of negro guys. Should I let them in? Thank you, Megan.' His reply was direct: 'Do what they ask.'

Megan figured that meant these were influential men, maybe from the school board or local parents' groups. First there were a dozen, but soon she had comments from scores of black strangers on her posted images, especially swimsuit photos from summertime or those from her dancer days. They also started infiltrating associated pages for friends and even her 18 year-old sister, Caitlyn.

Most of the comments were approving if somewhat degrading ('Hot!' 'Nice rack!' 'Bet you look great naked') but a few were aggressive and so were some of the private communications: personal questions about her body or sexual experience, and more than a few invitations to interracial intercourse. 'Time to go black, Christian whore,' wrote Abdul K, whose avatar was a scowling and slightly out-of-focus black man in a sideways ball cap pointing a pistol.

Megan hoped she would never meet men like Abdul K in real life, and all she felt comfortable doing was deleting the rude or violent comments and sending tersely polite replies to the less offensive inquiries: 'Sorry I don't date black men, I hope you respect that I just want to be a teacher, hope we can meet someday and I can impress you in person.'

For the first time, Megan regretted accepted a job offer online without visiting the neighborhood or even meeting with her new boss. Onessa's comments left her feeling foolish and ****. Was she safe here?