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Eighth grade mall dilemma.

Say Ashley and Nicole have been best friends since kindergarten, but now, because of a suspicious incident at last week’s dance, Ashley has decided that Nicole is out to Steal Her Boyfriend. So she doesn’t want to hang out with Nicole, of course. Nicole is furious that Ashley has accused her of such a thing. Ashley’s boyfriend isn’t even that cute!

So, Nicole doesn’t want to hang out anywhere – I mean ANYWHERE – that Ashley might be. Unfortunately, the mall is still the best place to hang out, and she is not going to stop hanging out there, for god’s sake, not because of that horrible Ashley certainly. But clearly it wouldn’t hurt to try to show up there when she knows Ashley won’t be there, like during Ashley’s bassoon lesson on Thursday night or Sunday morning when Ashley’s family is at church. But there is a problem. If she only goes to the mall at those times, then Ashley will hear about it and know that Nicole is only going during times when she knows Ashley won’t be there. So obviously she has to take some riskier actions. An even bigger problem is that she doesn’t know if Ashley is also trying to avoid her. Maybe Ashley wants to “accidentally” run into her at the mall so that they can make up. If that is so, maybe Nicole would consider doing so as well. So should Nicole cleverly try to accidentally run into Ashley? And how can she figure out what Ashley wants?

This is a very hard problem for Nicole to figure out.

Obviously this is somewhat similar to the prisoner’s dilemma, but there are intriguing differences.

Comments

Zinnia said…
Nicole should send hate mail to Ashley thereby reducing her to a jellyfish of a teenage girl. Then she won't go to the mall. She will sob in her room listening to eighties music and letting her eye makeup soak and seep down her cheeks. Ashley, of course, might feel a little hollow. But shopping cures all?
9:52 PM
Anonymous said…
One of the "intriguing differences," of course, is that nothing as crucial as escape is riding on the decisions. Perhaps both girls can just hang in there until they grow up a bit, at which point the "dilemma" will seem curiously to have resolved itself.

And so time weaves its fingers through the knots....
7:19 AM
Anonymous said…
It is clear that ~ besides having rather obtusely missed the point ~ you are not the parent of a teen :)
12:52 PM
listeme said…
For the sake of simplification, we're not letting Nicole or Ashley punch anyone. The equations are messy enough as it is.
8:58 AM
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