This is the chapter that begins Izzy's downfall.
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Gossip circulated. Inside the mighty granite walls of Fallon County High School, "Isabelle Deaton is a lesbian," murmured one person. "I saw her making out with one of the girls from church. I hate her." said a second. "I heard she practices witchcraft and worships Satan," gossiped a third.
Who had seen them? Whose word of mouth was it? Was it a passerby? Did someone eavesdrop?
Honestly, no one could care less about the rumor's source. Everybody was just in awe of the lesbian.
Rumors spread like a forest fire. Soon, the student body of FCHS, minus Emma, began to eschew Izzy Deaton. The embarrassment and the offensive smirks started to stab her. The halls echoed with the sounds of this child's silent tears. Not one cared for whom Izzy was with that night. If anything else, she had hired a prostitute.
Emma was nowhere in the rumor's equation... Izzy, if ever given the opportunity to be rid of the mongrels, a rare opportunity in fact, would not let Emma speak to her in a public setting. It would lead on to more rumors.
Time passed, and as the harassment and bullying intensified, Izzy's spirit sunk beneath the waves of decency.
"All right, the test is Wednesday! Study. No excuse...Stephen, stop that!" scolded a teacher as he yelled to the departing class. School was over for that Monday.
Izzy ran away in complete pity and into the girls bathroom. She slammed the stall door and released her anger on the wall. Her foot made a new hole. Emma followed and knocked on the door. "Go away!" Izzy screamed. Emma pressed her ear to the door. She could hear crying. "It's me. Please talk." The door unlocked.
Emma entered the stall and found her girlfriend curled into a ball atop the toilet. The fluorescent light overhead flickered.
"We shouldn't have done this. We shouldn't have started dating," Izzy said.
"What do you mean?"
"This is wrong. We're wrong, Emma! Look at what the hell all this caused! Did you see what was written on my locker today?" Emma reached out her hand of bravery. "They wrote Confused whore on notebook paper and taped it to my locker." She retracted.
"Do you want me to..."
"No! No one needs to bother." Izzy sniffled. "I can handle it." Emma reached out again and pulled her shirt sleeve up.
"Your mascara is running." Freaking out and clogged with sadness, Izzy rested as Emma wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Izzy stood up trembling.
"I must look like a train wreck." She looked up.
Astonished, she babbled. "I...I...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it! I don't know what..."
Emma held her in a deadlock hug. Time stopped and the light overhead went black.
Izzy sniffled. "The janitor, he must be locking up," said Emma warningly
Izzy lifted her head. "I don't want to leave you. Will you drive me home? Everyone's pretty much gone."
Without providing an answer, Emma unhooked her keys from her belt loop and pushed open the stall door.
"I'm sorry for what I said, Marissa. It...it wasn't me talking."
"I know you didn't mean it." They shared a quick kiss.
"Oh, Emma, I forgot to tell you "Happy birthday'," Izzy apologetically said.
"Thank you. It sounds nice to be told that."
"What did your mom get you?"
"Only a music card, to buy more songs for my Nano. Grandpa Mason, well, he gave me his mom's old cookbook. He knows I love to bake." Emma smiled angelically.
"I got you a little something, baby. It's no antique cookbook, but it's special to me, so I hope you like it. Turn around and lift up your hair." Obedient to her girlfriend, Emma turned her head away from the bathroom mirrors and lifted the mess of carbonado hair away from her neck. She took away a little gentle pleasure from her girlfriend's fingers stroking against her bare skin. "Turn around. Happy seventeenth birthday, Emma." Behold, a polished silver locket with a deep sparkle that shimmered with the flickering of the overhead fluorescent light revealed itself against Emma's bosom.
Encrusted onto the heart was a figurative "A."
"It was my grandmother's. The A stands for Annabelle. She left it to me in her will. Do you like it?"
"This is the most beautiful gift I've ever received!"
She let her hair down to its usual length and embraced her love's lips, as if she had given her an engagement ring. If that situation had occurred, gleefully she would have accepted.
Taken back to reality, as the custodian began to block sections of the hallway off for mopping, the girls, both raw from their emotional undertakings, entwined their fingers together and left the girls bathroom as one. Leaving the building hand with hand, Emma and Izzy entered the parking lot together, but as a blue Silverado came close, Izzy retracted her hand and hid it in her skinnies.
"What's wrong?"
"Not now, Emma. Not where people can see...."
Emma sighed and got into her car and drove Izzy home....
