The Colors In Her Voice

☆Chapter 07☆

I pushed my bag high up on my shoulder and walked toward my locker. School was over and I felt like I could finally breathe along with everyone else who's eager to get back to their homes too. Like Beth had promised, everyone had left me out of their loophole of discussions and ceased to throw their distasteful looks and I couldn't have felt much better. I embraced the feeling of being left alone.

After putting my locker combination, I opened it and stuffed all my books in. As soon as I was done, I closed it and huffed in exhaustion. Just when I made my way toward the exit of the school, I heard my name being called from behind me. I turned around to see Mason jogging in my direction. "Hey," he said, panting and giving me a full blown smile. 

My breath hitched at the sight of his beautiful smile. "Hi, Mason." I gave him a small, shy smile. That's when I remembered something. 'The rumours! What if he has heard them too? Is he here to talk to me about it?'

My expression must have given me away because his eyes widened. "About those rumors-" Before he could continue, I cut him off quickly. 

"They're all lies, trust me. Don't believe them!" I told him, with my heart beating way too fast for my liking. "I-I..." I stuttered, blinking my eyes and not knowing what else to say to make him believe me. 

He must have come to confront me about those wild rumours. He would have thought that being kind to me was just a huge mistake he's made and it led me somewhere I shouldn't have gone to. My throat constricted in pain at the thought of him hating me like the others too. I could bear and accept anything. Anything except for the notion that Mason might start keeping his distance from me which was something I hadn't prepared myself for. 

But a logical side of me, one which is more rational, enlightened me with its insight. My logical mind came up with a response that made me feel a little better. A person like him would never do that to me, would he? If so, he would have done that already. 

"Rachel... Rachel? Rachel! Hey!" Mason almost exclaimed, concern etched on his features. He waved his hands in front of my face to get my attention. My glazed eyes seemed to come back to focus. "You okay?" This time, he asked me very gently and softly. He must have noticed my internal battle sketched on my face because his next words brought me immense relief. "I don't believe them either," he whispered, although there was a tinge of hurt in his eyes but it was gone as soon as it came.

"Really?" I asked, blinking back the tears that were just seconds behind from flowing down my cheeks.

"Really," he said, laughing at my gobsmacked expression. "I mean, after all that's what they are, right? Just rumours," he assured me with his never-out-of-style kind smile.

"Yeah." I breathed.

"So... I saw you with Bethany earlier today?" He told me but by the way he framed his sentence meant that he was intrigued to know about our source of talk.

"Yeah, actually uh... she apologized," I mumbled, shrugging it off as if it was not a big deal but in reality, it was. Mason started walking and gestured to me to follow suit. His pace was slow as if he wanted to know more and that we're not in a hurry.

"Okay." He nodded his head but I could see his frown. His gaze was straight ahead as if thinking something through. "That's very unlike her," he muttered as if talking to himself but I heard him anyway. 

"That and she asked me to be friends with her. Also, she promised me that she won't let anybody tease me anymore," I informed him giddily. My tone was also buoyant when talking about it. "Not even Dylan."

He took a sharp intake of breath and looked at me incredulously. "Don't tell me that you believed her."

I looked at him with eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I did," I told him hesitantly. "And she did fulfil her promise. Everyone has stopped calling me names."