crowns

*

        "Nobody even cares, Mariah. Just let it go."

        Mariah's eyes narrowed, and her hands went to her hips. "Where do you think I was for fourteen hours?"

        "Stop being such an attention whore, we know you made it up. Nothing happened that night."

        "Shut up, Jillian." Mariah's words shot through the air like bullets. "Just because you're too stupid to admit that your boyfriend cheated on you doesn't mean you have to blame it on me."

        A few freshmen standing nearby were looking and poiting at them. People around paused from getting their lunch, turned from their lockers and gathered in little groups to watch.

        Jillian rolled her eyes. "C'mon stop." Her voice was almost a whisper. "Can't you just let it go? It never happened, you're fine now."

        Mariah ignored the cue to lower her voice and raised it instead. "You actually believed that he loved you. Every stupid lie had you head over heels. I wouldn't even be surprised if you were in on his sick plans. You would do anything for him, Ethan has you as his slave. You even lost your virginity to him." Mariah stared down at Jillian's shocked expression and tilted her chin slightly upward, maximizing her three inch height advantage. She could feel thirty cell phone cameras filming.

        Jillian's pale face burned, and she gripped the textbooks in her arms as if they would save her.

        Mariah put on her best bitch glare, the one that got her through middle school, and kept attacking. "You little slut, I bet you did it with him even when you knew he was cheating. It's been a week and you still haven't dumped him. You think your relationship is so perfect. Even if he had raped me you would still say what you told the police, that Ethan could never do anything like that because he's your boyfriend. You'd believe him over me any day."

        Jillian shook her head and brushed past Mariah, walking quickly down the hall, probably to go eat lunch in the choir room.

        Mariah felt smug satisfaction spreading across her face. In truth, she didn't enjoy tearing down her best friend, but she was tired of everyone calling her a liar. She knew what had happened to her was real, no matter what people said. Something needed to be done to prove she wasn't crazy. Since that night Mariah had been thinking hard about every option, only to come up at another wall in her face. Her friends thought she was insane just like the police, her parents, and the rest of the school. Jillian deserved this.

        Mariah flipped her long hair and walked the other way, heels echoing on the tile, kids steering clear and avoiding eye contact. Soon the videos would be on Twitter, and the whole sophomore class would be whispering about her. Mariah pulled out her phone and dialed Josh's number. With every ring she clenched her fist tighter. When he finally answered she said "Pick me up outside the school right now."