Walking down the hall at school on Monday morning Emily could hear the whispers. She could feel the stares as people watched her. She knew what they were thinking. She also knew they were wrong.
Making her way to her locker she overheard someone say "I knew all along she slept around. Now everyone else knows too."
Fighting against the tears burning her eyes, she turned and went back the way she had come. It would do no good go confront any of them. They all believed what they wanted to believe. She didn't know what to do.
"Emily?" Todd's deep voice caused her to jump as he spoke from behind her, "Are you ok?"
"No," she said simply, finally losing the battle against her tears.
"Things here or at home?" he asked sincerely concerned.
Wiping the tears from her eyes she answered, "Both."
At 15, Emily was a beautiful young lady. The type of girl the boys dreamed about and the girls were jealous of, physically at least. her long blonde hair, blue eyes and flawless complexion were the source of envy among many less attractive girls.
Many of them assumed, that because of her looks, she slept around. They were so wrong. She did notice boys of course, but they weren't her priority. She was Vice-President of the Abstinence Club, an honor student and captain of the debate team just to name a few offices she presently held. Her first priority was her education. She wanted to be a child advocate attorney and everything else took a back seat.
She had met Todd in her honors English class. He was popular and good looking, captain of the football and baseball teams and also an honor student. He was three years older and had a reputation with the girls but he had always been respectful to Emily.
"You need to talk to someone," Todd said. "You need to let someone know what is going on."
"I don't know if I can," she said sadly. "Now on top of everything else, everyone at school thinks we had sex because of how they found us at my pool party."
"I'm sorry about that," Todd said, his sincerity showing in his voice as well as his eyes.
"It's not your fault Todd. People are just stupid sometimes. I do need to go talk to Mrs. Marks though."
"Want me to go with you?"
"No, I think I need to do this on my own," Emily replied. "I did nothing wrong."
"Neither of us did," Todd said, his eyes suddenly brightening as if he had an idea. "I do know something I can do though. I will put a stop to the rumors."
Before Emily could respond Mrs. Marks came down the hall. "Mrs. Marks, may I speak with you for a minute please?" Emily asked.
"You going to try to lie to her and tell her you still belong in the abstinence club?" came a snide voice from a group close by.
What happened next shocked everyone, including Emily herself. As the anger flashed across her face, all the years of embarrassment and pent up resentment came pouring out in that instant. In a voice louder than she intended Emily set the record straight.
"I'm sick of all this so all of you just stop with the stares and the comments. Todd and I did not have sex. What people saw at the pool party was no more than a friend helping a friend."
"Then why did Joanna catch you in bed together?" came another unknown voice.
"Did anyone bother to realize we were both dressed?" Todd asked.
"Yes, we were on the bed in the pool house. Yes, he was holding me. But do any of you have a clue as to why?" Emily continued angrily. "No, you don't. So let me tell you. My mom was drunk again, yes, I said again and she had hit me again. Todd just so happened to see me crying and asked what was wrong. After I explained to him that my mom was an abusive alcoholic he hugged me and held me until I stopped crying."
Everyone in the hall had stopped when Emily began speaking, now that she was finished you could hear a pin drop. No one really know what to say. They realized how wrong they had been. They also realized the big pool party incident was something completely different and much more serious.
Placing his hand on Emily's shoulder Todd asked for the second time in fifteen minutes, "Are you ok?"
"No," she replied, "but I will be."