High School Treachery | ✓

09 | The Rumor Mill

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The Rumor Mill

It took all of two days for me to realize that Arlin Preparatory High School maybe, just maybe, isn't a regular high school.

Not with the way gossip flies around here.

I was lucky enough to escape unscathed on my first day, even though it was clear people were saying things about me. I guess that would be expected, seeing as I am the new girl, and according to Rachel, Noah and I are the only transfer students this year. We were bound to be talked about.

The shit I faced on my second day of school, however, had nothing to do with being the new girl and everything to do with Jalen fucking Uccello.

"Did you see the way London chased after Jalen till he finally talked to her on the bleachers?"

"London Prince is really pathetic. She's here for all of one day and she's already trying to get into the King's pants?"

"Technically, she's been trying for more than one day. I heard she begged Malia to let her tag along to every party this summer so she could stalk Jalen!"

"All that girl has going for her is her eyes. Everything else is too average to have someone like Jalen Uccello."

Some of the things they said were clearly more hurtful than others, but adding it all together made me nauseous for the rest of my day. I hid during lunch and practically ran away when I spotted Jalen across the field during dismissal.

I'll be damned if I associate with him anymore and have more people bashing me for no reason.

And if I'm being honest with myself, part of me is still really salty about the whole Cortney thing. Hearing what people were saying didn't really help with that, especially when one thing I heard stayed in my mind all weekend.

"I wonder if Cortney will even waste her time trying to get rid of this one. Then again, she probably will since this is Malia's cousin. We all know how good Malia is at stealing Jalen away from her. Maybe London will be too!"

What I gathered from hearing that is the fact that Jalen has gone after other girls before while dating Cortney, she's tried ending it herself, and has never succeeding in tearing Malia and Jalen apart.

Is it completely stupid that the fact that it's seeming like Jalen does have something going on with Malia bothers me so much? I mean, compared to the other stuff going around about me, it seems so dumb to stay hung up on that one thing.

But I couldn't stop my fists from clenching every time that same rumor came up last week during my first two days.

It's Monday morning now. It's a new week and, what I was hoping would be, a new attitude from all of my peers, but instead, I'm getting the same looks from people and letting a rumor that doesn't involve me at all tick me the fuck off.

I slam my locker shut, much harder than need be. A few heads turn my way from down the hall, and I should feel annoyed with myself for drawing more attention my way, but honestly, what difference does it make? Whether it's five people or fifteen, I'm still being watched and talked about.

My anger grows more as I remember why all of this shit's even happening. The realization hits me the second I see Jalen down the hall, and it takes all of my self control to not march over there and actually hit him.