Smoke and Mirrors (Smoke #1)

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Resting against my arms that were upon the metal table that was in front of us, I was still in shock about how badly this rumour had affected my relationship with Marcus. Ever since he had overheard Crystal screaming at me that morning, he hasn't bared to speak with me about the situation. I was extremely annoyed about the fact that Michael was acting like a sixth grader, spreading around rumours for his own sake. It confused me that instead of putting his effort into his football, he decided to spend his spare time trying to ruin other people's lives.

It had been almost a day since Marcus had discovered the rumour and yet I still haven't heard back from him. After sending him multiple texts and leaving heaps of calls, it was blatantly obvious that Marcus was genuinely upset about the whole fiasco. I sighed, thinking about the way Crystal barged in my own house without asking any explanation or questions about the rumour. If she just normally asked me if it was true, I would have been more than happy to explain to her that what she overheard was false; but I doubt she would have believed me anyway, it's no surprise that Crystal would defend her boyfriend of almost seven years rather defending a somewhat of a friend of less than a year.

As I continued to lean on the table, Vanessa was near me doing her best to comfort me as I sat up and turned my attention onto her. She put on a shy smile, her hands sat gently against her lap as she sighed.

"Scarlett, you shouldn't keep stressing too much over this. Yeah, it's horrible that this has spread but you and I both know that it isn't true."

"I understand where you're coming from Vanessa but this rumour has completely messed up things between the two of us. It was like Marcus had suddenly forgotten the time we were spending with each other when Crystal shows up from nowhere and blurts out what she believes is correct." I added sadly as Vanessa bit her lip, thought for a moment.

"Do you actually have an idea of what started this rumour? Or when it might have begun?"

"Not really. All I know is that about a week ago I saw Luke heading to training and when I tried to say hi to him, he completely lost it saying that I was going behind Marcus and that Michael told him everything. So yeah, all I know is that Michael was the one to start this rumour."

"Why?" She asked confused as she looked around, as if she was trying to work out the point of it all.

"I honestly have no idea and even if I did, there wouldn't be any point to say it because obviously the damage would have already been done." I exclaimed, referring to how bad the rumour has affected both Marcus and myself. Vanessa just frowned as Caleb, Toby and another of their teammate, Lukas Webb, began making their way over to our table.

Well. This is bound to be interesting.

"What's up ladies?" Caleb excitedly added as the three of them stopped in front of our table. Caleb, was of course looking very cheerful which gave me the assumption he had no idea about the rumour. Toby just smiled at me shyly which gave me the impression that he also might not know about the rumour. And looking at Lukas, he stared at me blankly which made my heart sink a little. If he knew about the rumour, his facial expression didn't make it seem like he was impressed.

"Nothing much Daniel." Vanessa answered casually as I just shrugged my shoulders. The three looked over at my way as I just shook my head and looked over the opposite direction. I could tell they were staring at me rather baffled but honestly, I couldn't be bothered with what they thought now.

"All is well I take it from what I can see then. Mind if we join you lovely ladies?" Caleb asked as we gestured for the three of them to do so.

"Oh, I don't know if you girls know this but there's something really big that's going around at Whitten Oval?" Caleb asked as I quickly shot my head upwards, feeling my heart race at the sound of his sentence. Oh god, I knew Caleb had heard something about the false allegation and now, he was ready to grill me about my accused behaviour.