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Chapter Thirteen: Rumors

Lizzie entered the doors of her school cursing her life. She hated Mondays with a passion. Almost as much as she hated school. I could be doing something meaningful instead of being stuck here in this intellectual wasteland, she thought not for the first time. Arriving at her locker, she tossed her stuff in, grabbed the books she would need for first period and left.

By third period, she knew something was up. As she walked through the halls Lizzie felt the eyes of her classmates on her. Some were snickering, others downright laughing. She had spied Melanie with her gaggle of preppie airheads tittering behind their fists and she swore she caught a few words, "whore", "slut" and "skank" being among them.

Lizzie felt the first tendrils of dread creep into her system and her face felt hot with embarrassment. She hated being the center of attention and had gone out of her way to remain in the shadows of the social caste that was her school. She only had a few friends, and even those relationships weren't solid. Lizzie was distrustful and made no bones about it. Anyone that wanted to get close to her would have to work hard for it. So far, no one was willing to make the effort.

Lizzie swallowed and opened her locker, still feeling eyes on her. There was only one thing that could have happened: One of those guys, either Cody or Liam or Neill, had blabbed about Saturday. And because high school was like the ocean, where others were sharks and swarmed when they smelled blood in the water, Lizzie felt like the innocent seal that was harmlessly swimming not having a clue that she was about to be eaten. She almost laughed at her analogy. Yeah, Casey was right. Sometimes she was a drama queen. She slammed her locker and headed for the next class, hoping that whatever was said about her would fade as the day went on. Surely someone else would do something stupid or embarrassing so the heat would shift off her. Lizzie could only hope.

By lunch, Lizzie's hope had turned into anger. She was barely hanging on to what calmness she could project when her "friends" sat down next to her. They wasted no time in grilling her.

"So, what's this I hear about you getting it on with three guys on Saturday night?" Scott said unceremoniously while shoving chips in his mouth.

Lizzie's eyes bulged. "What? Who said that? That's not what happened!"

"Yeah, I knew it wasn't true. Didn't I tell you it wasn't true?" her other "friend" Tabitha said while hitting Scott in the arm.

"Ow, you bitch!" Scott said, but he was smiling.

Lizzie covered her face with her hands, trying not to cry. "My life is over," she moaned.

Tabitha awkwardly patted her on the back. "Well, you have two choices: You can either just ignore what everyone's saying – don't give them the satisfaction of letting them see it get to you, or you can try to prove that it's a bunch of bullshit."

Lizzie peeked through her fingers at Tab. "How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

Tab shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me."

Scott interjected. "So, what did really happen? I mean, something obviously did by the way you're acting," he said eying Lizzie carefully.

Lizzie fought the urge to tell him off. She didn't need to justify herself to anyone. Instead she found herself saying, "Look, I ran into Cody, Liam and Neill at the mall and hung out with them at Neill's house. We got drunk and that's that. Liam took me home. End of story." They didn't need to know anything other than that. It was nobody's business but her own.

"Huh," Scott said, obviously not believing Lizzie's story. "Well, I don't know what to tell ya. Why the hell would those guys make that shit up, anyway? I mean, it's Cody. Why would he lie about getting it on with a frosh? Shit like that would ruin anyone else's rep."

"Oh, and because it's Cody, well it obviously has to be true then," Lizzie said through gritted teeth. She was trying to keep her voice down as she felt like every ear was straining to hear what she had to say. Damn it!

"I'm just saying," Scott added unhelpfully, making Tabitha scowl at him.

"You are such a douche sometimes," she said.

Scott shrugged and gathered up his trash. "I'm just telling it like it is," he said before heading outside for a smoke before class started again.

See, this is why Lizzie didn't get close to people. No one did the right thing anymore, and god forbid someone should go out of their way to help anyone else. The whole concept of the Good Samaritan was totally bunk, and all Lizzie could do was grit her teeth and bear it for the rest of the day before going home and never coming out in public again.

At the end of the day, Lizzie thought she was home free until she turned around and came face to face with Melanie, who of course, was flanked by her flunkies.

"What?" Lizzie said snottily, putting a hand on her hip.

Melanie smirked. "So, Liz, I heard something interesting today…" she trailed off, no doubt for dramatic effect.

A few of the bimbos snickered behind her.

Lizzie bit her lip in anger. "Well, that's just fascinating. I've got to go," she said before moving to go around them. Melanie blocked her path, and Lizzie noticed that a crowd had started gathering.

"Yeah," Melanie said louder, her voice carrying in the suddenly silent hallway, "I heard you had a real good time with Cody and the guys." The guys needed no names, everyone knew who she was talking about. They were practically joined at the hip.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Panic was setting in.

"No? Well, let's see…" Melanie tapped a finger to her lips in mock thought. "I heard you like it up the ass," she said before laughing cruelly.

Lizzie could hear laughter coming from all around her and felt sick. "That's a lie," she ground out, her hand tightening on her backpack. She needed to get out of there now.

"Did ya swallow?" came another voice from behind Melanie. Lizzie didn't know who had spoken.

"Fuck off," she bit out, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Sounds like you did already," said someone else from her left.

Lizzie's vision started darkening and she felt as if she would pass out if she didn't get some fresh air soon. She thought she might be having a panic attack, but not having had one before, she didn't know. She wanted Casey.

"Cody and his minions are a bunch of liars," Lizzie said trying to keep her voice even. "Now get out of my way," she said before pushing her way through the crowd and practically running down the hallway to the door.

"Slut!" someone yelled after her and Lizzie swore she could hear everyone laughing.

Casey wasn't yet home, which Lizzie found both relieving and disappointing. Because as much as Casey drove her nuts, she also wanted to crawl into her big sister's arms and have Casey tell her that everything would be alright. Casey would make it all better.

Lizzie dropped her backpack at the door before heading to her bedroom, tears now falling freely down her face. Once she started crying, she couldn't stop, and soon sobs were breaking from her violently, her body shaking and hiccupping with their force. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore before falling into a restless sleep on her bed.

Casey wasn't surprised. She knew it was coming sooner or later, she just didn't think it would be now. Chad had pulled her aside and told her (at great distress to him) that Casey was being let go because business had plummeted. Chad apologized profusely and begged Casey not to hate him, practically crying himself. Casey took pity on him and gave him a big hug, promising that she didn't hate him, that she knew he was only doing his job and that they would be best friends forever. She even invited him over on Friday night for movies and popcorn as it had been a long time since they had spent any quality time together. Chad had jumped up and down before exclaiming, "Oh, girlfriend! Can we have a Hugh Jackman-athon? I just love that man's abs!" To which Casey replied, "Could you be any more gay?"

Chad just threw back his head and laughed uproariously.

"Liz?" Casey called upon arriving home from (her now-former) job. She had a few hours before she had to be at the warehouse to clean, so she wanted to make sure that her sister got started on her homework and had dinner before Casey had to run out again. "Liz, you here?" Casey called again. She'd better be here, she's grounded, Casey thought frowning.

Casey headed down the hall and opened the door where she found Lizzie asleep on her bed in a fetal position. Casey noticed the red, puffy eyes and smeared makeup and immediately went to her sister's side. "Liz, wake up."

Lizzie came to slowly, her eyes coming to rest on Casey. "Hey Case," she said groggily, too tired to still be mad at her big sister.

"What's the matter? Are you OK? Were you crying?" Casey fired off question after question.

Lizzie sat up slowly and rubbed a hand over her face. "Nothing, it's nothing, OK? I just had a bad day at school."

Casey's eyes softened. "What happened?" she asked in a lower voice.

Lizzie just shook her head and said nothing. She couldn't talk about it without bursting into tears and she didn't want to do that.

Casey sat down next to Lizzie on the bed and wrapped an arm around her. "You know you can tell me anything, right? That's what I'm here for."

"Yeah, I know," Lizzie mumbled, her resolve weakening.

Casey didn't say anything else, just rubbed a hand on Lizzie's back. "Well, I won't force you to tell me, I just want you to know I'm always here," she said as she rose to start dinner. "What do you want to eat? I have time to fix something before I need to head out."

Lizzie felt the tears falling before she could do anything and a sob escaped her. "Don't go," she whispered, her head down.

Casey whirled around at the sound of Lizzie's voice. "Liz, sweetie, what's wrong. Tell me, please," she begged sitting back down.

Lizzie threw herself into Casey's arms and started sobbing openly. "People are spreading rumors about me in school," she said through her tears. "Everyone was laughing and making fun of me."

Casey was surprised. Since when did Lizzie care about what anyone thought of her? "What were they saying?"

Lizzie shook her head against Casey's shoulder. "Just stuff."

Casey knew there was more to the story. It must have been really bad to upset Lizzie so much. "Sweetie, what were they saying?" she asked again a little more forcefully. She hoped that Lizzie wouldn't choose to shut down and not tell her anything else. Casey hated when Lizzie did that.

"They were calling me a slut, among other things," Lizzie said softly.

"Why would they call you a slut?" Casey asked before thinking.

Lizzie's head whipped up. "I'm NOT a slut!" she said loudly causing Casey to flinch backward.

"Shhh, I know you're not a slut, that's why I was asking. It makes no sense."

"Since when does anything that teenagers do make sense?" Lizzie countered, making Casey smile.

"You're right, Liz. As always, you are years beyond your age."

Lizzie took a deep breath and moved back before meeting Casey's eyes. "Case, I have to tell you what happened. I need to."

Casey's stomach dropped. She knew there was more to the story, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear it. Instead, she said, "Yeah, OK," while clenching her hands in her lap.

"Look, what I said about meeting up with a few guys from school at the mall was true," Lizzie said before pausing.

Casey kept her face neutral. "OK…."

"It was this guy named Cody and a few of his friends. They're part of the popular kids at school," Lizzie explained while she stared blankly at the wall. "They knew who I was, Case. I never thought they would know who I was! Anyway, they asked me to go hang out with them, and I don't know, I just said yes. I didn't even think about it, and before I knew it, we were hanging out in one of the guy's basement drinking beer and playing cards." Lizzie stopped and met Casey's eyes before continuing. "Anyway, Cody kept flirting with me, and he's so cute, Casey, you should see him, and I was flirting with him and before I knew it we were making out on the couch."

Casey took a deep breath and tried not to yell. She thought she was doing a great job of keeping calm, thank you very much. "OK, go on," she urged, needing to know the rest but dreading it.

Seeing Casey's face, Lizzie added. "I didn't have sex with him, if that's what you're worried about."

Casey let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "OK, that's good, I guess. But something did happen, so why don't you tell me the whole story."

Lizzie's face registered annoyance. "Basically, we made out, he took my top off and then I got sick," she stopped to look for Casey's reaction, but Casey wasn't giving it. "After that, one of Cody's friends dropped me off. That's all that happened, Case, I swear it, but one of the guys must have started telling everyone that I did more because everyone at school thinks I fucked all of them!" Lizzie said before bursting into tears again.

Casey leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Lizzie. Fucking men! she thought angrily. "Shhhh, I believe you, Liz, and I'm glad you told me everything." Casey struggled to find something else to say that wouldn't sound trite.

"You should have heard the shit that people were saying to me. I swear, I don't think I can ever set foot in school again. Can we move…like now?"

Casey blew out a breath. "Liz, I would love to move, but it's just not possible right now." She didn't think now was the right time to tell Lizzie about losing one of her jobs.

Lizzie nodded her head. "I know, but the thought of having to go back to school tomorrow makes me sick to my stomach," she said clutching her arms across her abdomen.

"I know," Casey said sympathetically. "Hey, do you want me to kick their asses for you?"

Lizzie laughed. "Nah, that's OK. But don't be surprised if you get a call from the school letting you know I was in fight."

Casey smiled. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"I can't tell you that," Lizzie said half-smirking.

Casey sighed and decided to hold her tongue. She had to pick her battles, and this wasn't one of them. Besides, if she could, she'd go to the school herself and put her foot in the ass of whoever started that rumor. She knew how cruel kids could be and the thought of anyone making Lizzie cry was almost too much to bear.

"So, what do you want to eat? I'll make you anything you want," Casey said brushing back a piece of Lizzie's hair from her face.

Lizzie got an excited look on her face. "Anything?"

"Anything."

"Can I have beanies and weinies?" she asked bouncing up and down.

Casey laughed. "I tell you I'll make you anything and you want beanies and weinies? Seriously?"

Lizzie put on a mock-hurt look. "What, are you being a food snob now?"

Casey shook her head smiling. "No, but I expected you to say steak or something."

"We can't afford steak."

Casey's smile faded a bit. "I would find a way to get you steak."

Lizzie reached over and grabbed Casey's hand. "I know you would."

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