Listen to Bad Reputation for the best reading experience

She got a bad reputation, she takes a long way home. And all of my friends seen her naked. Or so the story goes.

Every time I am in the hallway I hear almost every student talk about her. They tell each other stories that involve her, and then I hear the same story from another student, but the story it's a little bit different.

They can be all from that she slept with a teacher just because she wanted an A, to that she tried to take her life. And all these stories are spreading like a wave in the hallways.

But one thing do I know, that these people don't know. They don't know what she has been through. They have heard one thing, and then they are coming up with their own stories, and just in a few minutes, the story had escalated through the whole school.

Whenever she walks in the hallway everyone is looking at her and whisper to each other. It's so bad that she some days hides in the bathroom until the hallway is empty and she can walk out of the school. Or, she just takes a 30 minutes longer way home, just so she can walk home in peace.

But the most disturbing thing is that she also thinks that I am one of them. And I say them now because they don't even deserve to be called by their real names.

But I'm not. I'm not one of them. On the contrary, I know everything about her, I know all the weight that is on her shoulders. That she is carrying around all day, but no one except me notices it. She made one little mistake before, and all the students in a school refuse to let go of that.

Even my friends start to be one of them which I hate. They tell me that they have slept with her at a party and they tell me how she begged for more. But I know, that's a lie. Everything that is coming from their mouths is a big fat lie.

Nobody knows the way I know her.

She got a bad reputation, nobody gets too close. A sight of a soul when it's breaking. Making my heart grow cold. And into the deeper, she's sinking. I'm begging her, please don't let go.

The first time I saw her in the hallway, I fell in love. I tried to talk to her but she wasn't much for a speaker. And now I know why. She is afraid to speak to people, in case if the persons she is talking to will make their own stories and the rumors will spread.

But one day at a party, she opened up to me. She told me her whole life story. And after that day, we have been talking a little bit. But she doesn't want to talk to me in school, because she is afraid that students will see us together and then they will make up rumors about me as well.

So we just hang out outside the school.

Now it's the 10the day that she hasn't been to school. I have texted her a lot, but she hasn't responded to any of them. And to be honest, I'm starting to get worried.

And I can't talk about that in school. Then people will hear me talking about her. And now you might think that I am mean and just thinking about myself. No no, that's not the case. I do it for her.

I looked down at my phone but still no sign from her. So, I decided to call her.

One signal, two signals, three, four, five.

"Please Kelly pick up," I said under my breath and ran my fingers through my hair in frustration and worry. I came to her voicemail and hang up. I threw all of my stuff in my locker and walked to her locker.

I stood in front of it and just stared at it. Someone has written 'Psycho' in big letters with black graffiti color on her locker. I sighed in disappointment and open it to take out some school books for her. When I had put them in my backpack I walked my way to the doors.

I know that it is in the middle of the day. But I need to make sure that she is okay. Once I was outside the school building, I tried to call her again.

"Hi, this is Kelly" for a millisecond I got hope, but then I realized that it was her voice mail. I ended that call and tried again. After five more signals, I came to her voicemail once again, and I could feel the worry building up more and more every second.

"Hey Kelly, it's me. Shawn. I'm just calling to see if you are fine. You haven't been to school for days. And I know that you probably don't want to talk to me. But you need to hear me out. I'm not like them. And I am so sorry if I have hurt you in some way. Anyways, I brought you some stuff from school and I am coming over, rather you want it or not"
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I knocked on the door but no one opened it. I could hear footsteps on the other side of the door, but they never approached the door. I knocked once again and rested my forehead against the surface of the wooden door.

"Please Kelly, I can hear you, you know. Just open up so I can see if you are okay. Then I will leave"

"I am okay. So, can you leave now?" she asked from the other side of the door. I closed my eyes and sighed. "I hate to do this. But I have to do this in a hard way"

I walked away from the door and the porch. I walked to the big tree that stood in front of her house where one of the branches reach over to her bedroom window that luckily was open.

I climbed up on the tree and to her bedroom window. I know, it sounds creepy. But I have to make sure that she is okay.

Who am I kidding? Of course, I know that she isn't okay at all, but I need to make sure that she isn't doing something stupid, or planning on doing something stupid.

When I entered her room through the window she walked right in and I saw on her face that she didn't feel okay. She is feeling worse than ever.

She wore an oversized sweatshirt and too big sweatpants. Her face was pale and she looked different. Has she lost weight? She had dark circles under her eyes and her eyes are glossy.

She pulled in the sleeve of her sweatshirt and looked down at the ground. Trying to not get any eye contact with me. Is she trying to hide something? I took determined steps towards her and grabbed her one wrist. She tried to tear her arm away from my grip, but I refused.

I need to see if she has done what I think.

I pulled up her sleeve, and I had right. She has done that. And it wasn't that she had scars on her arms that made me more upset. What made me upset was that a few cuts were new, which mean that she has done it before I came.

She looked up at me "Can you please go now?" she said low and I let go of her wrist.

"I know that you don't want me here right now. But please Kelly, I'm beginning you to trust me. I'm not like them and I will never be. And if you just knew how hard it is for me to not punch those people in the face when they are talking about you. And I don't think you know how worried I got when you didn't respond to my texts or calls. I thought that you have killed yourself!"

My voice cracked and I could feel tears starting to build up in my eyes as I said every word. "But I'm not like them. I don't treat you like that, and I never will. Trust me, I could be the one to treat you like a lady. And I don't care what they say about you. They don't know what you've been through. And I am here for you Kelly. You can open up more for me and I won't judge you"

I shook my head slowly as a tear escaped my one eye.

She walked up to me with slow steps and then looped her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her body and buried my face on her shoulder as tears rolled down my cheeks.

I wrapped my arms tighter around her body and pulled her closer to me, if possible. We stood like that for a few minutes. Our arms wrapped around each other, tears streaming down our cheeks, and just comforting each other.

"I can't take it anymore Shawn," she said between her tears and buried her face into my chest. "You can't give up now Kelly. I know that you have a really hard time and it will take some time before they forget about everything. But please Kelly, whatever you do, don't give up"

"I don't know Shawn. Everyone hates me, everyone is talking about me. Everyone makes their own stories about me, everyone does their own rumors about me. Which some of them are true" she cried even more which made me pull her closer to me.

I squatted down and wrapped my hands around her thighs and carried her to the bed. I laid down beside her and she rested her head on top of my chest.

"I can't let anyone too close. Because I am scared that they will start to make their own stories about me. You are the only one that I have opened myself up to"

She lifted her head from my chest and looked me in the eyes. I tugged a strand of hair and placed it behind her ear.

"I want this to stop" she placed her head on my chest again.

"I want the pain to go away. Everything would be so much easier if I didn't walk in those hallways again. To not hear everyone talking about me. Everything would be so much easier without me. Everyone would be happier. I'm tired of being the school's rumor. I'm tired of having a bad reputation"

One more tear escaped my eye and slowly rolled down my cheek. "Don't say that. Please don't let go" I said softly against her forehead. Trying to hind that I am crying like a little kid.

~One week later~

I wish that I could've done something. Something different. I wish that I could be there for her. I wish that I could help her sooner and that my help was good enough.

Why didn't I talk to her in the hallways? Why was I such a pussy that didn't talk to her in front of others?

I wish that I could tell her how I felt for her. I wish that I could kiss her. But I can't.

It's too late.

She got a bad reputation. She took a long way home.

~~~
I know this is a long imagine. But I just got so much inspiration from the song and I couldn't stop writing. I hope you liked this one❤️