YMMV / After (2003)

• Paranoia Fuel: The rules are always changing; break one and it's a one way ticket to 'Operation Turnaround' [read: your grave]. What might some of these rules be? Did you have a cell phone on your person at school? What about gum? Anything red? Did you eat lunch alone? Oh, and Big Brother's watching you. Really closely. Yes, even 50 miles away. Remember your sweet history teacher? The one who didn't report that sweet, A++ girl who broke a rule? Yeah, she had a "Health Emergency". And don't expect your parents to help you, they've been brainwashed. Everything is for your own good. And they could come for you at any time — right in the middle of a normal school day, even if you've done nothing wrong. Have fun at school, dear.
• Unintentional Period Piece: It's not entirely irrelevant, but the description of email newsletters that somehow "brainwash" the parents is very 2003. Email is treated as somehow magical and very dangerous, and Prose failed to predict that propaganda would soon advance far beyond email newsletters.

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