Rumors

Bridget's First Day.

"Are you ready?" Bridget's mom smiled nervously, glancing back at her through the rearview mirror. Bridget quirked her lips and shrugged. "I know high school hasn't been as fun for your first year," her mom sighed, "but this is a new start! You won't have to put up with the same stuff as last year."

Bridget tuned her mom out, having listened to the same rambling for the past few weeks. It became tiring after a while. The words were always the same.

"You'll make new friends!"

"You can forget everything that happened - put it behind you!"

"Your high school years will be the best here!"

Freshman year of high school had been hell for her. All of her friends turned against her. The whole school ridiculed her, with guys coming up and asking for a 'quickie' in the school's bathroom. Pictures of her in vulgar positions were posted on a Twitter page that had been taken down by the authorities. Even her family had turned against her at one point, believing everything they had heard until she explained what had happened to them.

Now it was Sophomore year, and Bridget honestly didn't expect it to be any better. Even though the pictures and posts about her had been taken down, and she had a restraining order against the ones who did it all, she was terrified of the students at her new school figuring out what had happened. She didn't want to go through everything she had been put through last year. The humiliation, the depression, the anger, the hate - it almost destroyed her, painfully removing her innocence.

And she didn't think she'd be able to dump the bottle of pills down the drain this time.

"Honey, we're here!" cooed her mom, clapping her hands excitedly after she put the car in park. Bridget looked away from the window and met her mom's eyes through the rearview mirror. "Oh! I'm so excited!"

"Bye, mom," Bridget mumbled, swinging her small bag onto her shoulder and pulling the handle of the door. Her mom's goodbyes and well-wishes followed her out of the car, gaining amused looks and raised brows from passing students. Bridget slammed the door shut.

She was now recieving curious looks, though not mean, from others of the school. They had moved to a small town, where everybody knew everybody, making it strange for new students to arrive. Bridget had been told by the principal that she was the first new student that they've had in four years. Her parents were pleasantly surprised by the news. Bridget wasn't.

Being the new student, especially when just starting out high school, was tough. Before everything happened, Freshman year had been hard enough with getting used to things. Now Bridget had to adapt to another school and the major change from middle school to high school.

Breathing out a silent sigh, Bridget turned the volume of her phone up, blasting the earbuds in her ears, and strode towards the front doors of the school. They were open, inviting students inside, and on the door was a large, worn out sign covered in bold print.

'No electronics. No gum. No littering.' it read. Bridget frowned and pulled her phone from her pocket, turning her music off and shutting the phone down. She leaned over the trash bin beside the door and spat her gum out. At her last school, students had been allowed to at least chew gum.

"No one really listens to those rules anymore," spoke a voice from behind her. Bridget looked over her shoulder and raised a brow at the boy standing there. Big brown eyes, curly mop of black hair, and tall. He was like an oversized puppy. "The teachers don't even pay attention, as long as students are participating in class."

"Then why are they there?" Bridget asked almost lazily. The boy grinned and shrugged. "Right," she muttered, tucking her phone and earbuds into her purse. "Bye."