The Clichés

Chapter Twelve

Vanessa walked down the hallway to the locker room. As she strolled the hall, she heard the girls gossiping around her. 

"Have you heard?" One girl says.

"About what?"

"Vanessa Montecarlo," she replies. Vanessa's ears perked. Now, they had her attention. 

"What about her?"

"Apparently, she cleared Lucas' name," the girl said with raised eyebrows. 

"Why? Everyone would be better off with him in jail anyway."

"Apparently she's fucking him."

"I wouldn't be surprised," the girl's friend laughed. "She's probably screwing all of them." 

The girl laughed. "Oh my God, you're right. She's such a slut."

"Guess there's a new campus slut this year."

"Oh my God Kira, you're so bad," the girl laughed. 

Vanessa just laughed as she passed them. The guys said this would happen. She thought it would bother her more, but it didn't. She knows it's not true, so why should she care what they believe? What those girls didn't understand was that Vanessa didn't do all of that just to get on the Clichés good side. She did it because she believes in equal rights, for both women and men. She was starting to understand why Dylan hadn't dispelled any of the rumors against him. Still… Even though she's mostly unbothered, she can't help but hear a ghostly whisper in the back of her mind that sounds an awful lot like her mother calling her 'Satan's whore'.

She walks into the locker room and meets up with the guys. 

"So apparently I'm the campus slut now," she laughed. 

"Hey, she's finally got her cliché!" Dylan cheered. 

"Should we be happy about that?" Lucas wondered. Vanessa shrugs.

"Yeah, why not? I know it's not true, and I know I'm not gonna change their mind, so why should I care?" She said it, and yet… the words screamed in her mind, and it took everything in her not to physically shake her head to banish the thoughts away. 

"You have much thicker skin than I do," Lucas shuddered. Just then, Vanessa spotted a girl struggling to open her locker just a few lockers down from them. She made her way over to the girl. 

"Here, let me help. Do you mind?" Vanessa asked. The girl raised her eyebrows but stepped aside. 

"Go ahead," she replied. Vanessa reached up into her hair and pulled out a bobby pin. She bit off the circular ends that dulled the ends of the bobby pin, and inserted it into the lock. With ease, she picked the lock, and it opened. 

"I always sucked at opening locks, so my older brother taught me a few tricks," she shoved the bobby pin into her pocket. "You should really get a new lock, by the way. Master locks suck ass."

"Well, color me impressed," the girl replied half heartedly. Just as she was about to finish the conversation, the guys walked over. 

"Vanessa, will you please tell Mason that we aren't going to Popeyes for lunch," Dylan whined. Vanessa smiled and rolled her eyes. 

"Mason, we aren't going to Popeyes for lunch. We're going to In and Out." 

"I thought we were going to Baskin Robbins," Lucas said, disappointed. 

"Why would we do that? We just went there yesterday," Chase pointed out. 

"So? If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Lucas retorted.