It all started on a Thursday in May of 2006. After a bittersweet final day of high school, Matt met some of his friends for what promised to be the “ultimate” high school party. With well over a hundred guests in attendance, ORPD had the party busted by sunset. After a brief stint hiding in a creek, Matt and his friends regrouped at Krystal to figure out a plan. Thankfully for everyone, Matt’s friend Brittany was able to find another place to hang out.

When Matt pulled up to the house, all seemed perfect. Aside from a few cars out front and some lights on inside, it didn’t look like a party from the street. When Matt’s crew walked in, there were maybe 15 others hanging out inside. It was a small group of “older” Oak Ridgers celebrating a birthday.

Among them was one particularly cute girl who immediately caught Matt’s eye – Christina Bishop. She had been a cheerleader at Oak Ridge while Matt was on the drumline, so Matt had seen her on many Friday nights when they both were in high school. He’d certainly never actually had the chance to meet her, though. He was wondering how he would manage to introduce himself tonight, when a solution suddenly presented itself. Matt’s friend Logan began talking to Christina, clearly having met her before. Matt used this excuse to strike up a conversation, but he coyly cut it short to (hopefully) keep her longing for a deeper conversation later in the night.

That conversation didn’t happen that night, however. Just a few minutes later, the party came together for a toast to the birthday boy. As the group repeatedly chanted his name, “CHUNG,” in unison, ORPD busted down the door. The party ended in a frenzied scramble, as the police isolated and later interviewed each guest. Those who had already been to college – including Christina – were deemed “experienced and responsible” enough to head out on their own. Those who were younger – including Matt – had their parents called. Matt’s dad made the trek across town to pick up Matt and his friends.

A few weeks later, Matt was browsing the hot, new social media platform at the time – Facebook – when he stumbled across Christina’s profile. At that point, only those with an official college (.edu) email address could have a profile, so Matt was new to the network. He requested to be Christina’s Facebook friend, hoping they would one day meet again. She accepted a few weeks later, and his heart fluttered.

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