The Art of Highschool

three | rumour has it

The Rosevelt rumour mill moves fast.

I learned just how fast after Olivia dragged me into the girls bathroom before first period.  Olivia, Farah and Jade from French class corner me. They've got to be the least intimidating gang I've ever seen, all of them ranking below 5'4."

"What's going on with you and Taylor?" Olivia takes the lead in this interrogation. All three girls have their arms crossed and are attempting to coax me to speak. Kody had blown up my phone this morning with a slew of messages ranging from questions about my abrupt exit from the party to whether the rumours were true.

"Nothing." I hold up my hands, my eyes dart to the door planning my escape but as if Olivia had already planned my next step, 'reinforcements' arrive. Quinn Jack barricades the door. Quinn is really into heavy lifting and has an impressive physique to say the least. There was no way I was getting out of this without at least spilling something.

"That's not what Maya who heard from Esther, who heard from Jane's Cousin, who heard from Mark's boyfriend's sister, that she saw you and Taylor hookup last night in his conservatory."  Jade accuses.

Huh. 

"Wait! He has a conservatory too?" The fact the rumour mill not only got wind of me kissing Taylor, but  also convoluted it into a chick-lit worthy sex-capade,  is more than impressive.

"Wait so you... didn't hookup with him in a conservatory?" Olivia says genuinely confused.

"No. I thought we established that after you realised I didn't even know he had one." Olivia waves a hand dismissing Quinn, I left out a sigh of relief.

"Did you at least hookup with him?"

"You make it sound like you wanted me to." Olivia betrays her role of bad-cop by letting her facade crumble into a huge grin. 

"I wouldn't be your best friend if some part of me didn't." Since when did she consider me her best friend? I guess thinking back on it, I exclusively hung out with her and Kody. I guess I always thought she was being nice not because she liked me but because I was friends with Kody.  "I heard Oliver left upset, so something must've happened..."

I hate the little part of me that lights up after learning I made him feel something,  that is before it's quickly shrouded by a cloak of deep guilt.

But the next important question, "Since when did you keep tabs on Oliver." This time Olivia shoos both Jade and Farah out of the bathroom.

"Since he became my lab partner and started asking way too many question about you." She props herself onto the sink's surface, shimmying until she feels comfortable. "I knew you guys dated, but I didn't know he was that boyfriend, you should've told me."

I didn't think we were close enough to share things like that. "Funny that you say 'that' boyfriend, seeing as I've only had one." I shuffle from foot to foot. "That's besides the point,  just how bad is this Taylor debacle?"

Olivia sighs, pulls out her phone and shows me her twitter timeline. I forgot to mention, the Rosevelt rumour mill isn't just some unnamed collective,  they have a twitter too. I'm assuming you know who their recent tweets are about.

"Shit."

"Yeah, big shit." She locks her phone screen and slips her phone back into her handbag. "On the bright side, everybody and anybody knows you or wants to know you."