Dear Lost Love

Chapter Twenty-One

There was a rumor circulating around school.

"Did you hear?" a freshman whispered to her friend.

"Everyone is talking about it!" a sophomore girl gasped dramatically.

A bunch of juniors and senior guys walked by my locker. "Karma is a bitch, man," one of them said.

I had stopped listening to rumors since my harsh break-up, but there was just something about this one. I didn't want to believe it, but in some way, I did. I knew rumors were hardly ever true. They were usually just created from hatred, anger, jealousy or some were just misguided. But there was a part of me that wanted this rumor to be true, no matter how cruel it made me seem.

I didn't realize Kate and Alice were there until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned away from my open locker and looked at my two friends. "It's true," Kate said, a solemn look on her face. "Holly cheated on Ben."

It felt like I was punched in the gut. I was wrong. I thought I'd be happy to know that Ben was being hurt just as much as he had hurt me, but I wasn't. I felt...numb. That was all. 

"That's not all," Alice contradicted. "She's been playing him all along. She's had a college boyfriend way before you and Ben broke up, Rachel. Apparently, he came to the party they were at and saw them together and things just blew up," she gushed.

I'd heard it so many times, in all versions, so why should I believe this one? But looking at Alice, I knew hers was probably the closest to the truth. She didn't spread rumors and didn't gossip if it was false. But thinking of Ben going through all that, knowing he was probably hurting right now, it made me feel queasy inside. I'd heard the saying 'what goes around, comes back around' and it used to make me feel better when my friends told me. But now all I felt was emptiness.

"I see that look on your face, Rachel," Kate said to me, warningly.

I snapped out of it and looked at her with blank eyes.

"Don't feel bad for the asshole. He had it coming," Kate added.

I glanced away and just nodded, mutely before turning back to my locker. I wasn't sure if I really felt bad for him, but either way, I wanted this feeling to be gone.