Life, Love & A Little Coffee

Chapter Nine- Stars Of The Shit Show

There were whispers happening in the hall Tuesday morning. Gossip rarely fazed her, but not knowing what the gossip was and seeing it spread to everyone but her was more than a little galling.

Ada stopped by Tom's classroom before the start of school, but there was no sign of him. He was generally there, so his absence created an uneasy feeling in Ada's stomach.

Seeing Britt walking with Rayna down the hallway, Ada ran to catch up. They had spoken little on Monday, so their last actual conversation would have been Thursday, virtually a record for them. But if anyone knew anything, it would be Britt.

"Wait up!" Ada yelled as they both turned out of sight. "Britt!"

Ada made the same turn and there Britt was, leaning against the wall of lockers as Rayna grabbed a few things. "Now you want to talk?" She had a prejudice in her voice, but Ada had it coming.

"Just tell me if you've heard anything today."

"You mean about last night at the coffeehouse?"

Rayna snickered into her locker, the door blocking Ada's view of her. Still, she could imagine the expression of gratification on the bitch's face, no doubt being one culprit who caused the whispers aimed toward Ada. Britt did not recognize just how much Rayna secretly hated her, or that she'd been the one to cause Ada's insecurities her freshman year; a wolf in perky clothing.

"What about it?" Ada didn't want to guess what was going around. If it was innocent enough, she didn't want to make it sound worse. Innocent didn't make for decent gossip.

Britt looked back at her like she was a martian or something. "Mr. B getting cornered by your dad because he found out about you two having sex."

Ada's entire body stiffened. "What the actual fuck, Britt? That's what people are saying?"

"Isn't that what happened?" Britt looked dumbfounded.

That Britt believed that was more or less proof that she didn't know Ada, no matter how long they were friends for. She guessed Rayna was the one dropping subtle shades of doubt of Ada's character.

"Of course it isn't. My dad confronted Tom because he found out we hung out on Sunday to, you know, talk."

Then Ada remembered what her father yelled at Tom before he left. He warned him never to sleep with her, something that could have been distorted through the grapevine. "Do you know where Mr. B is?"

Britt seemed to comprehend how significant this all was. "He was heading into the office last I saw him. I heard they were going to put him on leave."

Ada shook her head, feeling her stomach twist as she headed into the direction of the office. It wasn't until then she began noticing the stares in her direction. She wanted to yell at them all for thinking so little of Tom.

She clasped the handle and jerked the door open, hearing her father's voice bellow from somewhere out of sight.

"I don't give a shit what you heard happened. I'm tellin' you what happened. Tom's tellin' you what happened."

Ada followed the sound of her father's voice toward the principal's office.

"I cannot overlook a rumor concerning a teacher having a sexual relationship with a student, Mr. Sinclair, no matter who the teacher is or who the student is."

"Horseshit! Have you even met my daughter?"

"I have. She's one of our brightest students."

"You don't know jack shit if you think Ada would do something like this."