Ragain Mastain didn't even notice the "edit" to a photo caption of herself in the Hickman High School yearbook until her boyfriend called the night after the books were distributed.
When the eighteen-year-old graduating senior flipped to page 270, Mastain saw her last name had been changed to "Masturbate." While surprised, she says her reaction was measured.
"It's not an ideal situation," she tells Daily RFT. "But it's also something I have no control over."
Within roughly 24 hours, a classmate, seventeen-year-old Kaitlyn Booth, found herself in another less-than-ideal situation: locked up for her alleged hand in this little game of X-rated Mad Libs.
After the discovery was made (and splashed all over social media), it was soon clear that this was not some epic damn-you-autocorrect moment. Just before the final pages were sent to the printer, one of the yearbook staff members at the Columbia school must have entered the system and changed Mastain's name. According to Mastain, teachers interviewed all the students with access to the editing software, and by the end of the day, Booth was led away in cuffs.
Mastain says she really didn't know or work much with Booth, nor does she believe that she did anything to deserve the prank.
"I don't have that many positive things to say to her at this point. If she wanted to reach out to me and apologize or show some sort of remorse, I'd have been more than willing to speak to her," says Mastain. "I really hope whatever the lesson that's intended for her to learn from this she learned. I agree with the charges that were brought against her."
As of now, Booth has not been formally charged, but she was arrested for felony property damage and harassment. According to the Columbia Daily Tribune, which broke the story, Booth was also given some sort of discipline at school, though that is not public.
Mastain and her staff spent an entire school day taking back the yearbooks and covering the offending word with a sticker. Mastain says Hickman is such a large high school that many people don't know who she is and came in talking loudly about how bad they felt for whomever had been the butt of the joke.
"I'd be like, 'Yeah, I'm fine, I'm right here,'" she says.
All things considered, Mastain -- who's heading for the University of Central Missouri-Warrensburg to study graphic design -- is handling the whole debacle extremely well, even as the tale is going viral. She says she does consider the incident bullying and is even glad that it didn't happen to someone else.
"I know how to handle myself," she says. "But I do know people that this would have completely devastated them and completely ruined their senior year...the message that needs to be taken away from this situation is this is not OK."
Daily RFT left messages with police and the school and will update if we hear back.
Follow Jessica Lussenhop on Twitter at @Lussenpop. E-mail the author at [email protected].
