The next morning, Leia rode the tram in going to school, for her bike was ruined. She hasn't told her father about it, more so about her situation. She dreaded the fact that she might come face to face again with the mean redhead girl, and her classmate Bearwin. Force be with me today, she thought.
The tram stopped in front of the school gate, and she, along with the other students, filed down. Leia tried to walk confidently, her head held up high, but the fear was still there. It was so hard to shake it off. The school outcasts probably felt this way everyday, she thought, now sympathizing with what they have to go through.
"Leia!" Siobe called out to her from behind. She turned her head and found her friends sitting underneath a tree, doing their homework at the last minute.
"Hi there!" she said smilingly. She went up to them and sat on the ground.
"Wazzup, Lelila?" Xandy asked her. "Feeling any better?"
Silence. Judging from the look on her face, her friends realized that something bad happened to her. "Err... did Bearwin tormented you again?" Rhye asked hesitatingly.
"No," Leia said, as she shook her head. "Yesterday, three girls whom I barely knew tormented me and they locked me up in the storage room."
"WHAT!" the girls exclaimed at the same time. With that, Leia proceeded to tell them about the horrible experienced she encountered at the hands of the redhead girl and her two friends.
"She said that she did this to make up for her friend who has a crush on Professor Westenro. Then she called me a flirt and a slut because I 'stole' him from her," Leia narrated.
"She said that!" Roxie asked, her eyes bewildered.
"And that I shouldn't spill, because the redhead girl belonged to the cheering squad and she might come upon you next," she added, referring to Roxie and Xandy. Leia looked around to make sure that the girl wasn't in sight, and felt relieved. "I can't help it anymore. I haven't told my father about this, but I think you guys must know. I don't want dad to interfere with this problem."
"I know the redhead you're referring to!" Xandy exclaimed. "That's Tanya Strider. She's in 3-D."
"You do?" Leia asked.
"Yes. She's in with the popular kids, all right, but nobody really liked her because of her rotten attitude."
"And when you say 'rotten', I mean, big time!" Roxie chimed in.
"Tanya Strider..." Leia mumbled. She now has a name to her face. "But... who was that friend she was saying?"
"Tanya has no other friends aside from her two sidekicks, Elaine and Antoinette," Xandy replied. "Don't you know that she does that to you because she's very jealous of you, and another thing, Professor Westenro is fond of you," she added, her voice in a lower tone this time.
"What do you mean?" It was now Winter who asked, who took the time to look up from the book she was reading and listen to the girls. "How would Tanya know about Leia crushing on Professor Wes?"
"Oh, you're so outdated with the news, Winter," Rhye remarked. "In all of his classes here in third year, he always tells the students what a smart student Leia is, how industrious she is when it comes to her studies. Including in our section, of course. Because of it, a lot of girls who are crushing on Professor Westenro are starting to feel hateful towards Leia, Tanya included."
"And Tanya is known to have a very big crush on him," Xandy said. "Even though she's pretty and a cheerleader at that, she's not very smart at all. She's a total airhead."
"I thought Bearwin started this," Leia said.
"He wasn't the one who started this, although he had a part in making Tanya feel so flared up against you. When you walked around that day with that paper plastered behind your back, Tanya thought this was a good opportunity to torment you," Xandy continued.
Leia was starting to feel sick through her stomach. She couldn't believe how many girls who would judge her just like that, and imagined the third year girls whom she would meet down the hallway later on. They're now talking behind my back. I wonder how many names they have called me. And the other lies Tanya must have been circulating around. She felt the urge to ask this question.
"Are the cheerleaders ganging up against you?" she asked Roxie and Xandy.
"Not so, although they're starting to distance themselves away from us," Roxie answered from her.
"I'm sure they're gossiping in groups against me, aren't they?"
Roxie and Xandy grew silent; obvious that they'd rather not spill out all the other gory details, even though they knew what Leia said was true.
"So, Tanya is jealous of me because Mr. Westenro's fond of me? And he's very obvious with it?"
"That's right," Rhye replied sadly.
"And later on, you guys too will stay away from me?" Leia asked doubtfully, tears brewing up in her eyes. It was the first time in her life that she was put on the line like this.
"NO WE WON'T!" Siobe exclaimed defiantly.
"Whatever happens, we'll be there for you," Winter assured her smilingly.
"Even if the other cheerleaders gangs up on us, we'll never leave you," Roxie said.
"That's what friends are for, right?" Xandy said as she smiled at her.
"Right on!" Rhye exclaimed.
Hearing the wonderful things they said made Leia felt less afraid, knowing that her friends will be there for her to defend her, if needed. "Thanks guys," she said, her voice choked with tears.
"Don't cry there, will you?" Winter said as she slapped her back.
She stifled a laugh. "These are just tears of joy," she joked, wiping her eyes.
The bell rang, and they stood up. As they walked inside the school building, Roxie placed an arm around Leia and said, "Not even the bullies in the world won't stop us from becoming your friend, Leia, even if they don't understand you."
"Thanks for that." Before they parted, she embraced Roxie.
"No prob, Lelila," she said, waving goodbye before she entered the classroom of 3-B along with Xandy and Rhye.
Before they entered their classroom, Leia whispered to Siobe and Winter, "Don't trail behind me. I don't want you girls to get ganged up too," she warned them.
"Okay. If that is what you want," Siobe answered.
"We'll pretend we came late than you," Winter added.
Leia nodded her head. Upon entering the classroom, she caught a group of girls swarming around a table and gossiping. On earshot, she heard one of them say, "I couldn't believe Leia is such a flirt. To think that she's a princess, and she has a name to protect."
"Maybe she and Mr. Westenro are dating now," a girl said. "I heard Mr. Westenro likes her a lot, and he'll tell the other sections how he likes her so much."
"How would you know if they're dating?" a girl asked.
"Of course, they're not very obvious about it, just like in those movies about teacher-student relationship," the girl said matter-of-factly.
Leia just stood there, and couldn't believe how her classmates, who used to be so kind and friendly to her, would now treat her just like that. It's amazing how many people can you brainwash with such a piece of cheap gossip, and they're willing to believe it, even without proof.
The girls stopped talking when they saw Leia standing in front of them. They tried to look innocent. "Oh, hi Leia," one of the girls said.
"We're just talking about the weather," one of the girls uttered, pretending to come up with an excuse.
"You don't need to say that. I know what you're talking about," Leia said under her breath as she went up to her desk.
She sat, and saw the girls return to their seats. She heard the girl in front of her whispered, "Her highness knows about it."
"Yeah, so keep your mouth shut, will you?" her seatmate answered.
Winter and Siobe entered and proceeded to seat beside her. Winter noticed the sad look on her face. "Why sad, Leia?" she asked softly.
"They're talking about me," she replied. "Everyone hates me now for something I have no control of."
"If you need help, I'm willing to fight for you!" war-freak Siobe exclaimed as she positioned her hands like a boxer.
"Thanks for that, Siobe," she replied gratefully.
Leia remembered this song about someone who is a victim of unwanted rumors, and she could very well relate.
I'm tired of rumors starting, I'm sick of being followed. I'm tired of people lying, saying what they want about me. Why can't they talk about me? Why can't they let me live?
She sure felt the same way.
(Line and chapter title borrowed from Lindsay Lohan's song, "Rumors". It sure fits this chapter. Sorry if I got some of the stanzas wrong.)