I walked out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang. I noticed that Ricky was standing outside the door, waiting for me. I smiled as he put his arm around me. It was nice to have someone care about you, and take care of you when your in trouble. I'm not really popular in this school, but, I'm okay with that. If I become too popular, well, more rumors start. That's how I always thought that's hpw ot happened.

"Do you need to go to your locker?" Ricky asked me.

I nodded. "I just need to get a few books."

We walekd off to the other side of the school to where my locker was. That's when I saw one of my friends Grace across the hallway. Grace Bowman is a sweet sixteen-year-old sophomore. She's one of my bestfriends, and she's also a cheerleader. As she looked over her shoulder she waved to me, but I could sense something was wrong.

"Can I talk to Grace for a minute?" I asked Ricky.

Ricky nodded and leaned against my locker. He moved his chin forward at Grace, as if it was some sort of sign that he was going to wait for me. I gave him a quick smile then shoved my way through the crowded hallway. I waited when she was looking through the mirror as she was brushing her blond hair.

"Hey how did you get that mirror to stick to the inside of your locker like that?" I asked, amazed.

"Its magnetic." Grace said. Then she shook her head. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh," I said. "What is it?"

"Adrian." Grace looked around to see if she was around us. "She found out."

"About what?" I was so confused.

Grace sighed. "About what people have been calling her."

I raised my eyebrow. "The School Slut?"

"Shhh!" said Grace. "Someone who's walking by could hear us and tell Adrian we're talking about her behind her back. She's already upset enough as it is."

"I acutally feel bad for Adrian." I admitted.

"What?" Grace exclaimed. "How could you feel bad for her? You know the rumors she started about us?"

"It wasn't her!" I said. "I don't know exactly who it was but it definately wasn't Adrian."

"Whatever." Grace put her brush in her bag.

I frowned. "Grace, she never gets to see her mother. You know her mom is either at her job or because of a man. I don't even think Adrian even remembers her father."

"I don't care." Grace said. "I'm not part of her life and I don't plan to be. I don' t like it when people start rumors that aren't even true. Just forget about it, Amy. I was going to warn you to stay away from her because she's in a bitchy mood right now and I didn't think that you would want to get punched in the face today."

I looked at the ground. "Sorry..."

Grace sighed. "Its okay... I don't know why I'm taking my anger out on you when I should be taking it out on... that doesn't matter."

"Wait. On who?" I asked.

"No one," Grace said walking away. "Don't worry about it."

I sighed and walked back aross the hallway over to where Ricky was. "Everythng okay?" He asked.

"Fine." I said.

--

Before I went to lunch I walked into the bathroom because I realized that my eyeshadow was smudging. I swung open the bathroom door and walked in. There was a shelf near the sinks so that you can put stuff on while your going to go to the bathroom. I was fixing my blue eyeshadow when I heard someone sniff as they were walking out of the stall.

As I watched the person through the mirror I was looking into, I noticed that it was Adrian. I have never in my life see her cry before. I felt worse than I did before when I was talking to Grace. I felt like crap right now. How could Grace not feel a bit sorry for her? Was she that selfish? I decided to say something.

Adrian walked over to the sink and looked in the mirror. She sighed. "Ugh. I look like shit."

"No, you don't," I muttered.

Adrian turned her head slowly to look at me. "What did you say?"

I put a piece of hair that was falling infront of my face behind my ear. "You know your beautiful. So why do you let others put you down?"

"Oh, shut up." She snapped, then turned back to look at the mirror.

"Adrian, please." I said. "Skipping classes all day and staying in the bathroom crying isn't going to stop the rumor."

"Maybe it will."

I shook my head. "Adrian, you have to go out there and not care what people think."

"That's the last thing that would come to mind in your head when there's a big ass rumor around school that everyone knows!" Adrian cried. "There's another reason why I'm crying. Just mind your own buisiness Amy. You have no idea what I'm going through right now or what's in my head."

I saw a tear go down her face which made her eyeliner smudge. She wiped it away but it smudged even more. "Great."

I got a paper towel and whiped the smudge off her face. "I'll help you find out who started the rumor... if you let me."

"I don't want you getting involved in this," Adrian looked back into the mirror. "Plus I'm already popular right now from it, and if your going to start hanging around with me, well then they're gonna start rumors about you to."

"I told you before I don't care what people think." I said.

"Why do you even want to help me anyway?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I hate seeing my friends hurt."