Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Denial: The First Step To Recovery ❯ Rumors ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

Rumors

 

People milled around Eleri as she tried to reach her locker. She could easily hear the whispers, the stupid little comments made about her. This was no doubt the work of Miranda. The girl had been hostile towards her for the last week and it was wearing on her already frazzled nerves. She actually had the audacity to confront Eleri and accuse her of trying to steal Alec away from her. Of course that was about the farthest thing from the truth, but Miranda wasn't about to believe her.

 

The only virtue that she could see in this is the fact that Alec seemed completely oblivious to the rumors, and even if he had heard them, he hadn't said anything to Eleri. She was hoping that he had just dismissed them.

 

Keeping her head down, Eleri closed up her locker and headed to her next class. She could feel the stares from her classmates, all whom were too curious for their own good. That was one of the disadvantages to living in such a small town, people grasped on to every little bit of interesting fact that they could and blew it up to supernatural proportions. Whatever truth was in the rumor got twisted until no one could even remember what the truth was. Unfortunately for Eleri, this time they had twisted whatever lies Miranda had told them all into something horrible… the honest, actual truth.

 

It was an interesting fact that they had figured out something that Eleri had never told anyone, well, there was one person, but he would never betray her trust. `Maybe I'm overreacting. It's really not that big of a deal.' She grimaced. `I don't really care what anyone else knows. I really don't. It's just that Alec… he can't.' Something clicked in her mind, causing all of her worries to go out straight out the window. `Who says I have to admit to it! I'll just deny it if he asks and then absolutely nothing has to change… nothing.'

 

In the broad scheme of things, this whole rumor thing was small, insignificant. It was so much bigger in her mind than it really was.

 

Just then, her friend Rachel sidled up alongside her. “Hey El, I didn't know you liked Alec! Why didn't you tell me?” she whined. “I thought I was like, your best friend. Next to Alec, that is,” she teased.

 

Screw the broad scheme of things… this was high school.

 

“Don't you dare start that,” she threatened. She glowered at Rachel for a moment, and then looked forward again, ignoring the people that had overheard her friend's loud line of questioning. Eleri sunk her head into her hands. It was going to be a long day.

 

“Aww, why not? Just tell me if it's true or not. I won't tell anyone. I promise.” Uttering a terse growl, Eleri grabbed Rachel and ducked around the corner to a nearly deserted section of hallway.

 

“You have to promise not to tell Alec.”

 

Her eyes widened. “So it's true. You do like him.”

 

“I'm serious.”

 

If possible, Rachel's smile widened even more. “I won't tell him… but I think you should.”

 

Eleri stepped back in surprise. Breath catching in her throat, she nearly yelled, “You've got to be kidding me. Do you know how... how… disastrous that would be?”

 

Her smile dropped, replaced by a frown. She motioned for Eleri to calm down before they attracted any unwanted attention. “Huh, what do you mean? You guys would make such a great couple. Think about, you're already so close. And you know everything about each other. You know, I always thought this would happen. I mean, how long can a guy and a girl be such good friends without one of them falling for the other? It was bound to happen.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “If you're worried about rejection, don't be. He cares about you too much to hurt you like that. Also, he's not exactly picky.”

 

Eleri massaged her temples with her fingertips. Rachel was obviously not getting it at all, and to top it off, she was now rambling. “Stop…”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Have you even been listening to yourself? This is Alec we're talking about, and I'm his friend… only his friend, and he'll never see me as anything else.”

 

“You'll never know until you try.” She glared at Rachel, restraining herself from knocking some sense into the girl.

 

Leaning back against one of the lockers, Eleri sighed. “And even if he did want to go out with me, how long to you think it'd last. He'd get sick of me before too long and then find some other girl. He's never been in a long-term relationship and I don't think he really wants one.”

 

“Oh.” Rachel's shoulder's dropped, her enthusiasm gone.

 

“Yeah, and I don't think I could take that. It's just better if things stay the way they are.” She dared to look up at her. She had kept this from her friend for far too long. It was a secret that she wanted to share, but was always so afraid to. It wasn't that she was afraid of Rachel not understanding, it was simply that she thought it was easier to deal with on her own. Secrecy was obviously no longer an option though.

 

Rachel's eyes were full of compassion for her friend. The halls were eerily quiet and both of them could here their footsteps echo against the walls as they began to walk to class. Realization dawning on the two, they turned to stare at each other. They had obviously missed the final bell and were late for class. Glancing at the clock on the wall confirmed their suspicions.

 

“I don't want to want in late, do you?” Rachel asked with a mischievous grin.

 

“Well, no.” Eleri didn't like the idea of walking in while their teacher was explaining the lesson only to have everyone turn and stare at them. `As if I'm not already the center of attention.'

 

“You wanna skip? We can come back at lunch.”

 

Eleri smiled for the first time that day. A distraction like that was definitely something she needed. “Let's go.”

 

They snuck past the principles office by ducking under the window. The camera by the door couldn't be avoided. There was one at every door, so taking a different route wouldn't help much, but they could hope that no one would be watching the monitors at that minute. `It's not like they can do much once we're gone anyway,' Eleri thought to herself.

 

The girls dashed out the front door simultaneously, attempting to be sneaky about it, but failing miserably when the doors slammed shut. Looking behind her for a split second, Rachel laughed and then veered off to the right, around the corner. Then she peeked around the corner. Curious, Eleri followed in suit. Moments later, she saw why. One of the teachers was poking his head out the doors, looking around for whoever had made all the racket. When he couldn't find the culprit, he walked back inside, muttering something to himself.

 

Rachel laughed even harder this time. Eleri couldn't see why, as this was hardly something new and not really all that funny. Nevertheless, it was contagious and she found herself crying out in laughter as well.

 

“My car or yours?” Rachel asked suddenly.

 

Eleri thought for a moment, but then decided, “Why don't we walk, it's not like we're short on time or anything.”

 

Rachel smiled at that and the two began walking, careful to avoid windows while they were leaving the school grounds. “So…” she began.

 

“Yeah.” Eleri didn't like the tone of her voice.

 

“How long?”

 

“How long what?” she replied nervously.

 

Rachel shot her a pointed look, one that clearly told her to stop playing dumb. “How long have you liked him?”

 

Eleri sighed. “Oh, I don't know…” She paused, thinking about it. “Maybe a couple years. I'm not even sure when it happened.”

 

“That's a long time.” She commented without looking at her. Eleri wasn't all too sure she liked the way that Rachel was acting. This hesitant behavior was something new from her otherwise outspoken friend. Then again, Alec was a subject that they had never touched on before.

 

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” she replied slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the grocery store, which meant that they were nearing the turnoff to Rachel's house. They weren't able to go to Eleri's place because her mom was at home sick.

 

“And just how deep does this crush go?”

 

Eleri was afraid to answer that one, so she didn't. Rachel eyed her curiously, but had the grace to stay silent. It was obviously a touchy subject with her.

 

They didn't turn at Rachel's corner, but kept walking, and Eleri figured that they were heading for the park. Since it was nice out, she didn't mind all that much.

 

====================

 

Eleri and Rachel arrived back at school a couple minutes after the lunch bell had rung. They deftly made their way into the cafeteria and to the table that they regularly sat at with Alec and Jason.

 

It was strange really, just how nervous she was over the fact that she was going to have to talk to Alec. She couldn't recall ever feeling this way around him before and chalked it up to the fear that he had heard the rumors and believed them though.

 

There was a girl standing next to Alec, touching his shoulder, flirting shamelessly with him. Obviously all the talk didn't affect any of the girls, because they didn't seem to care and gave Alec the attention that he was used to. And like normal, it hurt her all the same.

 

Alec noticed them when they got a few feet from the table. “Hey where've you two been all day?” He stared at them both, expecting a believable answer.

 

“Nowhere,” answered Rachel, who looked a little annoyed. Eleri figured that it was because of the girl who had just sat in her spot beside Alec, and who was also trying her hardest, and failing to, regain Alec's attention.

 

Eleri smiled and laughed to herself. That was something that she'd never tire of seeing; the way Alec would inevitably ignore every girl who had managed to catch his eye once Eleri came around.

 

Than again, she could also feel the stares of her fellow classmates, all curious about the exchange although her sitting with Alec at lunch was an everyday occurrence. It would have been even stranger, in her opinion, if she hadn't.

 

Alec didn't look satisfied, and even a little surprised at Rachel's answer. With a sigh, she took it upon herself to divulge the information to him. “Skipped, we went for a walk.”

 

“And you didn't take us?” asked Jason. He caught her eye and gave her a sympathetic look. Shaking her head, she silently told him that they'd talk later.

 

“Nope, girl talk,” answered Rachel, who was still glaring at the blonde in Eleri's seat.

 

Alec followed her line of vision and finally noticed that the girl was still there. “Hey, you can't sit there. That's her spot.” He nodded at Eleri, who blushed under the girl's scrutinizing stare. She got up and left peacefully though, and Rachel and Eleri sat down.

 

In an effort to alleviate the tension, Jason asked, “So, did you guys have fun while we were suffering in class?” She was grateful.

 

“Yeah, we didn't do much though, nothing exciting.”

 

Eleri stole glances at Alec every once in awhile. He wasn't giving any indication that he had heard anything, but all the talk would have been very hard to miss. She also figured that at least one of the girls in the school would have mentioned something to him. It was also possible that he was just choosing to ignore the rumors, especially since they were about her. Or maybe he just didn't want to believe them, so he chose not to.

 

Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, she had spaced out, her thoughts turned inward. She couldn't help but worry about it, especially since it was entirely possible that this could change her friendship with Alec, and that was something she definitely didn't want to happen.

 

`I'll just have to face him when he asks me about it though, there's really nothing more I can do.'

 

Jason and Rachel were too caught up in their own conversation to notice her distress. Alec, with his chin resting in his hand, was listening to them, though his mind didn't seem to be entirely on the conversation. `Now,' Eleri though, `that's really not like him at all.'

 

Alec caught her eye once when she took the chance to look at him. He smiled reassuringly and squeezed her hand briefly under the table. Did that mean he knew? No, certainly not. Hearing a rumor was one thing, but believing it was another, and Alec new her better than anyone. If he hadn't figured it out before, than there's no way that he would jump to that conclusion without asking her first. At least she hoped so. He probably just thought that she looked stressed, that's all.

 

Another look killed that thought though. He looked so far away, like there was something important on his mind, and it really didn't take a genius to figure out what that was.

 

He looked back at her with a marked frown. She stared at him, trying to desperately to read him, but finding that for once, she couldn't.

 

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A/N

 

Well, that chapter came out quicker than I anticipated. I actually wrote an entire chapter in one night.

 

I know it looks seems like she's stressing about this whole thing way, way too much. That's because she is. She's an overdramatic teen girl.

 

I tried to avoid making any mistakes in this one, but even though I went over it, I can't guarantee that there aren't any spelling or grammar errors. I really need to think about getting a beta.

 

The original story, Denial: The First Step To Recovery, is copyrighted to me.