The Last Great American Dynasty - A Folklore Novella

Slut!

Chapter Ten

"Slut!"

Betty would count the minutes away in her classes until it was time for the music club at the end of each day.

Despite the night out they had in his car, James continued to do his usual casual ignoring of Betty at school, and text messages were rare. Betty tried her best to forget about him.

On an uneventful Friday, things changed. Betty walked into the atrium on the way to class. Emma came up to her and said something that made Betty shiver. "There is a picture of you out there online, people were laughing. I told them to delete it and stop."

Betty panicked, what picture? Then she clued in. She had sent James a few photos last summer. She wasn't fully naked or anything, but it was an attempt to be sexy and impress him. She wanted to look older for him. She had been wearing an aquamarine bathing suit. The picture was never supposed to be seen by anyone else besides James. She had made him promise and swear to her to never share it before she texted it to him.

Betty was mortified and humiliated. She left school right away and walked all the way home early. She didn't go back for the rest of the week and pretended to be sick to her mom. She didn't have to fake it, she really did feel sick and nauseous for how ashamed she was that the picture was out there in the world. It would remain out there in the abyss of the internet for the rest of time. There was no getting it back and it could never be fully deleted now because she didn't know how far it had spread and how many kids and sent it to each other laughing. She couldn't show her face at school. She didn't tell her mom out of sheer embarrassment about the entire situation. Her mom would be disappointed and she worried what would happen with her cell phone if she knew the truth about James.

She texted James,

How could you share that picture?? I trusted you.

I didn't!! Grace must have gotten into my phone and sent it out to people. I'm so sorry Betty!!!!

When Betty reluctantly returned to school the following Monday a whole week later, she braced herself for the looks from the other kids. But people had moved on from it. Thankfully, there was something else to gossip about and another victim to make fun of that week. Betty's bathing suit picture was old news. Grace and Ivy were the only people who Betty could feel their eyes digging into her.

When Betty was walking by, Grace did a pretend cough, "Slut!" She let out. Betty tried not to let it bother her. Emma grabbed her arm and held it tight as they walked down the hall. She was grateful to have a friend like Emma. The two walked together to the music club room. It was in Mr. Stephens' room where Betty felt she could really belong. The members of music were supportive. They were artsy, weird, and felt a bit different than the other cliques at school. Betty had never felt like she had belonged anywhere, but she felt like she had a place within the club. No one in the club was in the same circle as anyone who had seen the picture, so nobody knew the trauma that Betty was going through. The pain of losing her friendship with Ivy had subsided, but she still thought about James quite a bit. Even though she was still really hurt about the picture being shared, she missed him and thought a lot about the kiss they had that night in his truck. She would see him in the hall, or the atrium and they would pretend like they had never met. She could feel his eyes gazing at her when she wasn't looking. Picturing James with Ivy or other girls made her want to barf. She tried to push them out of her mind.

In the music club, she was safe. They would take turns sharing some lyrics, and Mr. Stephens would hop on the guitar or piano. They would bring in new ideas and lyrics every week. It was fun and Betty lived for the safety of it all.