Standing at the entrance of the school felt like she was stepping toward judgement day. It was a surreal feeling considering Ada always felt at ease there. Maybe the high school experience was just too easy for her and it was time to pay the piper.

Either way, she mentally braced for the persecution of her peers as she reached for the door handle.

"Whatcha doin'?" Britt blurted right next to her ear.

Ada jumped at the surprise, causing her to fling the back of her head into Britt's nose.

"Mother fucker!" Britt covered her nose with her hands.

Ada turned beet red, a color she was awaiting to flow from between Britt's fingers. "I am so sorry, Britt. Are you okay?"

"Fuck you, I'm not okay," Britt answered with a grimace.

"Well, you shouldn't have snuck up on me. I'm sorry, but that's kind of what happens."

"I know that," Britt admitted, still half yelling at her. "That doesn't mean I can't be pissed off about it." Britt let her hands drop to her sides and tilted her head back. "Is it bleeding?"

Ada inspected Britt's nose, and there was no blood. "You're good."

Britt leveled out her head and rubbed her nose a few times.

"Oh, Mr. Bennet!"

At the sound of the disturbance, Ada looked to the side and saw someone from the newspaper walking toward the door. He had the biggest crush on Britt for the last four years, which meant he must have given up hope to tease Ada in front of her.

"Your pen is so long and your words are so-o deep," he spoke in a theatrical, not-so-sexy fashion.

"Well, you just earned yourself a tiny dick rumor," Britt said with dry tone. "Good job, Jimmy."

"Justin," he corrected, seeming to regret his mocking of Ada.

Britt just shook her head and grabbed on to Ada's arm. "Nobody cares." She pulled Ada along with her and they entered the building side by side, through the large double doors of Ada's doom.

It seemed to be the second the doors sealed behind her, all eyes were on her. Most people weren't in the halls anymore as they were in the cafeteria or wherever else people drifted off to at this time, but those who walked the hall or were at their lockers all seemed to feel her presence and it felt as if they all turned in unison to stare.

Ada doubted it was that dramatic in actual life. But hearing someone nearby singing 'Hot For Teacher' confirmed that at least one person had noticed she walked in, and the song seemed to act as a beacon for others.

She shook her head to allow her hair to fall toward her face, hanging her head down to hide. It was pointless as eyes were all on her, but it was all Ada could do, minus turn around and flee the building. So she allowed Britt to guide her as she kept her eyes on her own sneakers moving forward on the scuffed cement floor. Concentrating on the squeaking of shoes against that floor and clink of the lockers being flung open didn't quite drown out the sound of the nearby snickers, but it would have to suffice if Ada was going to preserve sanity.

It was the first time in her high school career that Ada hated having a locker next to Tom's classroom. She used to give him a neighborly wave or smile as she crossed his room in between classes. Sometimes if he was standing out by his open door watching the crowds go by, they'd have a brief conversation as she gathered her books for her next class.

But Tom wasn't there to smile or wave at. He wasn't there to wish her a good morning or tell her to have a good day.

Instead, a woman who looked like as if she was young enough to be a college student, if not a peer, stood in the room as her principal explained the situation to her.

When the principal saw her dawdling past the classroom, he gave her a pathetic closed lipped smile. Maybe it wasn't pathetic, but since she faulted him for putting Tom on leave, a smile from him felt like a slap in the face, even if he was just doing his job.

They continued to walk passed until his classroom disappeared from her line of sight.

"How's Mr. B taking this whole thing?" Britt asked.

Ada shrugged her shoulders. "It's hard to say. He's hopeful it will all work out. I dunno."

"I hope it works out too. You're dealing with enough as it is."

It was an understatement, but still very accurate.

"Hey, Ada!"

Ada turned at the sound of her name yelled by a guy and braced herself.

He had a dorky smile plastered on his face, proud of himself already. "I always wondered how you got such good grades. If I had all those late nights with a teacher, I'd be gettin' straight A's too!"

"Somehow I see you being more of a D student in the late night kind of class," she yelled back at him, trying her best to appear stronger than she felt on the inside.

Ada didn't know how to get through this for the rest of the year. The persecution would not end once Tom returned, and it was clear her and Britt's social status didn't mean shit with something like this.

"You gonna go down to the police department and find out how many of 'em you'll have to 'get off' to get Mr. B off?" Ada heard someone from behind her yell out.

"Okay, that one was a little clever," Britt said.

It was, but Ada still struggled to find the humor in any of it. Life would be easier if she could, but this wasn't one of those silver lining situations or 'laugh and the world laughs with you' scenarios. This was a craptastic catastrophe that wasn't going away.

"Yeah, clever," Ada muttered as stopped at her first class of the day. "Guess I'll see you third period." The only class they had together was Tom's, which Ada was not looking forward to in the least.

"See you third." Britt gave her a small but sympathetic smile before giving her arm a light squeeze and walking away.

Ada watched as Britt disappeared in the sea of people before she turned and went to her locker, which was right by Tom's classroom. She half expected to hear his voice in the room, but it was a woman's voice who was talking to the principal.

She let out a sigh before opening her locker, noticing several pieces of folded up paper fall out in the process. She opened one after the other, feeling gutted with each one, all with different chicken scratch handwriting.

Maybe when Mr. B's done with you, you'll let me get between those legs.

The quiet ones are always the biggest whores.

If you don't have herpes yet, give me a call.

Heard a rumor that the whole teaching staff has had a round with your pussy.

I saw Mr. B's replacement is a chick. If you're still hot for teacher, I definitely want to watch.

"Ada?"

Ada took a deep breath to soothe herself before turning around. She recognized the girl from her last period, and from classes they shared in the past. She couldn't remember her name for the life of her, but remembered her to be shy and nice. "Yeah."

The timid student in the oversized tee shirt looked down at the cement floor and bit at her lip before looking back up. It took so long for her to speak that if she hadn't been fidgeting so much, Ada would have feared she'd gone catatonic.

"I just wanted you to know there's a lot of people who'll stand by you. I mean, we might not be as popular as the people you're used to hanging out with, but a lot of us are defending you right now and are here if you need them."

Ada shook her head. "Why?"

"Because you've always been a nice person, even after you got popular. And because if it is true, you're a victim. If it isn't true, you don't deserve it."

"It isn't true," Ada responded quickly.

The meek girl shrugged. "I figured. Anyhow, I should get to class."

She wasn't sure how much encouragement that would really provide, but it wasn't until then that Ada realized that the only people she was hearing comments and snickers were higher up on the social food chain, most of them being Britt's friends, or ex-friends. Ada wasn't sure if she'd even spoken to them since this all broke out.

In her first and second class, there was an uncomfortable silence. Every now and then someone would giggle or whisper, but mostly it was so quiet that Ada could feel them thinking up ways to torture her in between classes.

Ada made her way to her third class, the one she knew would be the low point of her day. She stopped at her locker to switch out her books and noticed a glistening on the vents of her locker. When she opened it, she noticed the gel like substance sticking the newest notes onto her textbook, but couldn't quite figure out what it was until she wiped off the book and flung her locker door shut, noticing an empty bottle of lubricating gel on the ground nearby.

"What got on your book?" Britt asked as she joined Ada right before walking in.

"It's nothing."

Ada made it to her desk and saw the word 'whore' dug into the wood. It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did, and yet...

Ada shook her head and said, "I can't do it," before turning around and leaving the room. Britt noticed the word carved into the desk and followed.

"I'm sorry. I just really can't take anymore of this shit."

"You need to talk to the principal."

Ada snickered. "Like he can do anything. Everyone's being careful not to do anything around teachers. If I go to the principal, I'll just look paranoid."

Ada's phone beeped.

Dad: Just got back from the police station. Tom was there too. They're going to talk to Crystal and are trying to track down a couple regulars, but they don't have a pot to piss in so far. Wouldn't be too worried. They're going to stop by the house later on today to talk to you.

Ada texted her dad back. The sooner the better. I just want this to be over.

"I guess the cops are coming over to the house today and I have to give a statement or answer questions or whatever. My dad and Tom just got done there."

Her phone beeped again.

Dad: Tom doesn't think it's going to go anywhere. But don't text or call him and don't see him for the next couple of days, just to be sure.

"I'm not supposed to see Tom for a while," Ada told Britt. "I really hate this."

Britt lightly tugged on the sleeve of Ada's shirt. "Are you crushing on Mr. B?"

Ada stopped in her tracks, her cheeks flushing. She wasn't sure if they gave her away, if there were feelings to give away. Ada ran her fingers nervously through her hair. "A girl and a guy can be friends without anyone getting a crush, you know."

"You are, aren't you? You're crushing on Mr. B." Her voice was compassionate, not an accusing or mocking one.

She let out a long breath, looking around to confirm they were alone in the echoing halls. Not that it particularly mattered. Compared to the rumor going around, this was minuscule.

"I don't think so. It's just this damn rumor putting stupid thoughts into my head."

"Sexy thoughts?" Britt asked with a devilish smile.

Ada shot her a glare. "Stupid thoughts," that were annoyingly sexy.

Ada continued walking toward the exit.

"Want me to let it go?"

"Yes, please."

Britt opened the door to the school just as she had this morning, only this time they were getting the hell out of dodge.

Ada took a long breath of freedom as soon as she took the last step outside. A slow smile crept onto her face and she felt as if chains were being cut from her body. It was as if someone had lifted a hundred pounds off her chest.

"I really never thought I could hate this place," she spoke as she turned and gave a pained expression toward the building she once loved. "Call me a 'dork' or a 'nerd' or whatever, but I loved school and all your so-called friends just robbed me of that."

Britt put her arm around Ada and gave her a sympathetic squeeze. "Welcome to the real high school experience, where people are your friend right up until they stab you in the back. I seriously can't wait for all those bitches to get fat in college."

Ada shook her head swiftly. "I never thought I'd say this, but I want to be popular again, or whatever the hell I was."

"These people will lose interest in this whole thing eventually and feel like the assholes they are for believing it."

"You believed it," Ada reminded Britt.

Britt only shrugged. "Yeah, and I'm an asshole."

Britt followed Ada to her car like she was a bodyguard sent to protect her. She was giving up so much to stand by Ada's side through all of this. With school nearly over, the rankings and titles that went with it would all fade away anyhow, but it was incredible to see Britt be so selfless when their friendship had been little more than habit for the last few years.

She wasn't certain when Britt had grown into such a person. Maybe she always had been, and Ada just hadn't seen it. Maybe Britt hadn't changed nearly as much as Ada thought, if at all. But she was grateful to have this friendship during such a troublesome time, a time when it wasn't so easy being Ada Sinclaire's friend. A time when the only other friendship she had was being taken away from her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cover option made by MakaylaElise

Author's Note:

So, what do you all think of the story so far? I know it sucks that Ada is getting bullied, but I can't imagine a girl being accused of sleeping with a teacher getting off very easily (that's what she said).

Bullying and gossip in a small town is incredibly difficult to avoid. No one can hide from it and no one is safe from it. I grew up going to the sort of schools that I imagine Ada went to and bullying (in grade school) was a very real thing for me. High school wasn't as bad because I went from a class of twenty to a class of around six hundred, but I also didn't do anything that warranted talking about, minus an incident sophomore year when I OD'd at school. People talked about that for a short period of time, but I wasn't visible enough to really warrant talking about for long.

Anyhow, I basically had to become a bitch in high school to be left alone, so I imagine Ada being very susceptible to it if the gossip is big enough to overcome her social status.