The Hard Crush 1 (Feelings For You)

THIRTY-EIGHT

When Winifred stepped into the hallway, the full wave of Beatrice's statement washed over her. She received awkward looks from students. This was different from the looks with Elijah's case. This was more aggressive and it made Winifred's knees weak as she maneuvered to her locker, drowning out all the whispers that were slowly increasing with each step she took.

What was happening? Why was she being glared at? It wasn't like this with Elijah whom she'd literally punched. What the hell did Hilary sprinkle in her lies to make her look extra bad?

"That's her, right?"

Winifred paused mid rummaging through her locker. Some girls were gathered together about three lockers away from her right.

"Damn, she really had to make it so obvious, huh?" One of them said.

"At least she should have known her limits." Another one said.

"Fighting over another girl's man is just absurd."

"You can't blame her, Ricky is too good looking to overlook," the first one remarked and they all laughed.

Who the hell was Ricky?

Winifred slammed her locker shut and the girls jumped in surprise.

If they were going to gossip, they should have at least made an effort to do it properly.

Winifred brushed past them, feeling more confused than when she'd first arrived. Luckily, she bumped into someone who could finally fill her in on what was going on.

"Winnie!" Catherina ran to meet her, her expression masking disbelief.

"Please, tell me what the hell is going on here," Winifred said to her. "Who is Ricky?"

"It's Jerry and, oh my God, people are saying horrible things about you," she said breathlessly.

"What are they saying?"

"Apparently there's a rumor spreading about you beating up Hilary after finding out that she's been secretly squatting with Jerry in his house due to some inconvenience that occurred at her own house."

"What sort if bullshit is that?" Winifred asked indignantly.

"That's not all. Rumor has it that Jerry turned you down and you got furious and jealous because he's been spending too much time with Hilary lately and that's what pushed you to hurt her yesterday."

"I didn't hurt her! She hurt me," Winifred snapped.

The hairs on her arms stood on end. Her knees were weak and she wanted to disappear from this crazy, cruel world that was full of lies and false accusations.

The whispers were still echoing in the hall way. She was constantly receiving glares and looks of disapproval from everyone that walked past her. What hurt the most was that no one would believe her even though she told them the truth because she'd been caught red handedly trying to punch Hilary yesterday. So apparently, she looked like the offender.

The most disheartening feeling in life was having no one believe you, even when you knew you were innocent.

Winifred struggled to hold the tears in her eyes at bay. She was not going to cry in front of these people. No. Never.

You are stronger than this, Winifred. Do not break because of this.

Hilary.

As ugly and inhumane as the thought was, Winifred couldn't wait to spit in her grave. Of course, she was the mastermind behind all this.

"Winifred," Catherina said calmly. "It's not true, right?"

"It's not," Winifred answered, her eyes silently pleading for someone to be on her side. Her tensed shoulder relaxed when Catherina wrapped her up in a warm, comforting hug.