Chasing Butterflies Chapter 56: Nobody Cares (Patreon)

Olivia skipped visiting the band room on Monday morning. She couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of annoyance when she imagined running into Alyssa or regaining the attention of the gawkers who'd been captured by her utterly inane rumor. Compared to that, the slight inconvenience of carrying her flute case for a few hours was nothing.

Instead, she slid into one of the desks clustered near the edge of Ms. Roche's English class. Early as she was, neither Trisha nor the other girls had arrived yet, but that was all right. She knew better than to try and isolate herself by this point. The blonde cheerleader simply would not abide by it. Besides, talking to the girls did prove pretty entertaining.

Trisha was the first of the group to arrive, strolling in just before the bell. Her tight-fitting top flared out into flowy sleeves that somewhat resembled white trumpet flowers, their edges gilded in golden thread. The warmer attire heralded the approach of fall and its cooler temperatures, though it wasn't quite cold enough to justify a scarf or sweater yet. Olivia was certain she'd see plenty of those in the coming weeks.

"Hey, Trish."

"Hey, Livi!" Trisha wasted no time in letting her backpack thud to the ground next to her own seat. "What's got you down?"

Olivia blinked in surprise. "Do I look down?"

"Uh, yeah. Or stressed about something, at least."

Olivia shook her head. She was surprised that the blonde had picked up on it. Then again, hadn't Jason always told her she was an open book?

She contemplated denying the accusation anyway, but decided against it. "It's... It's dumb. Have you heard the rumors going around about me?"

Trisha tilted her head. "What? The ones about you being a foreign exchange student?"

Olivia stared at her. "What?"

"Yeah. The way you handled yourself at Dom's party really made an impression. The whole 'Old York is not my favorite' thing and all that." Trisha's eyes twinkled playfully. "But I'm guessing those aren't the ones you're talking about?"

That was surprising. She recalled someone making a comment about her being from Europe, but that was just in passing. There hadn't been much reason to give it any real thought. Had something that minor really spawned into a rumor, too?

These things really do have a life of their own.

"No, it's not," Olivia confirmed. She hesitated for a moment. This could all backfire in her face. Trisha was pretty much the queen of rumors, after all, and she'd already seen how a tantalizing piece of juicy gossip could tempt even friends.

...No, she's better than that. Trisha's given me no reason to distrust her, and besides, she was at the party with me the whole time. If anyone would know it's all nonsense, it would be her.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia lowered her voice and took the plunge. "There's a rumor going around. That... that I got pregnant. At the party."

Trisha reeled back, blinking rapidly. "I'm sorry, what?"

"...Yeah."

Trisha stared at her in silence for a long moment until the bell rang. Then she shook her head. "Sorry. I was just struck dumb by how fucking stupid that is."

Olivia couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah. That was about my reaction, too."

"And who, exactly, did you hear this rumor from? Some goblin under a bridge? A blind fortuneteller? Shelly?"

"More than one place, actually. I'm told that the whole band is talking about it," Olivia said dryly.

To her surprise, the blonde relaxed suddenly and laughed. "Oh. Oh! That makes total sense then."

"What? It does?" Olivia asked, confused at the abrupt change. But Trisha was already waving a dismissive hand.

"I was wondering how in the world I hadn't heard about this, but if it's a band rumor? Pssh. Do you know how much those count for? Zilch. Nada. Like, literally no one cares."

"What are we not caring about?"

Eileen slid into the chair next to Olivia, with Sophie and Leah following close behind. No one paid any mind to the fact that they'd arrived several minutes past the final bell—Ms. Roche least of all.

Trisha scoffed. "Catty band kids. Apparently, they're trying to smear Olivia now."

"Seriously?" Eileen's eyebrows rose. "Why?"

"Because she's actually popular, duh," the cheerleader rolled her eyes. "Which is absolutely unacceptable."

"I may have ruffled some feathers," Olivia admitted. "So it's not like it's coming out of absolutely nowhere."

Even though it definitely feels like a disproportionate response. I suppose the bruised ego of a teenage girl is no small matter.

"Yeah. I'm sure it's totally your fault." Trisha rested her chin on one hand. "Daphne says that they're always trying to start rumors about someone. Usually it's the cheer girls, obviously. Thing is, they're so bad at it. They can’t make anything that’s even a little believable, much less something that’s gonna stick. It's kinda hilarious."

Olivia wasn't sure how to feel about that. In her previous life, she'd never known the band kids to engage in such behavior. Even Alyssa had seemed positively normal in her memory. Then again, that clearly wasn’t the case now. And she had been pretty oblivious to all of this, hadn't she?

"...I guess I should feel a bit relieved about that, then," she said.

Trisha nodded. "Definitely. Something that absurd is not gonna stick, even inside band. I'd give it a day before it flares out, tops. When did it start going around?"

"First I heard about it was Saturday. Though it may have started earlier. I've never been the most attentive to gossip and the like," Olivia admitted.

"Yeah, you're good. Trust me. I'd be shocked if anyone is still talking about it—other than the instigators, of course. Though if they do keep trying to push it... Well, there are ways to deal with that, too."

Trisha smiled playfully, her eyes gleaming. Before Olivia could ask what she meant, Eileen pulled out her makeup bag and let it thud onto the desk. "Who started that thing, anyway? Do you know?"

"My section leader, I'm pretty sure. She, uh, doesn't like me very much."

"Name?" Trisha asked.

"Alyssa? Alyssa... Warnock, I think is her last name. She's a senior."

Leah snorted. "Seriously? A senior?"

"No way."

"You seriously have a senior punching down at you? What did you do, steal her boyfriend?" Eileen asked.

"Is that the girl that was being all catty at the homecoming dance?" Trisha interrupted. "The one in the fugly dress?"

Olivia grimaced. "Yeah. That's her."

Trisha nodded sagely. "Yup. I could see that. She was totally jealous of you."

"She sounds like a total bitch," Sophie added helpfully.

"She's... just a little insecure, maybe," Olivia admitted. She didn't particularly want to stand up for the girl who was bullying her, but injecting a bit of much-needed empathy into the conversation couldn't hurt.

"A little?" Eileen paused applying her mascara to roll her eyes. "Come on. This is like, personal grudge-level behavior. What senior picks on a freshman like that? Especially one she’s in charge of? That's totally out of line."

"Tell me about it," Trisha agreed. "There was this one girl I heard about, on the swim team? She was a junior, and she went after a freshman that her ex got together with. Spread all sorts of nasty rumors, I heard she even pushed her in the pool one time. She got suspended."

"Seriously?!"

"No way! For that?!"

"It's true! I swear!"

The conversation moved on after that, meandering through a few more of Ridgeview High's most notorious bullying stories before shifting toward more mundane topics like pop culture. Olivia found herself relaxing a bit, the worst of her fears assuaged as things moved into safer waters.

I guess I didn't realize just how much this was bothering me.

Trisha's reassurances did make her feel a bit better. She didn't particularly want to care about other people's opinions of her, much less the opinions of teenagers. Yet the idea that she wasn't about to have the entire school turn against her was more than a little comforting. Still, she wasn't entirely certain whether the cheerleader was right about the rumors flaring out so quickly.

It's still probably better to avoid the band kids till tomorrow, at least. It won't be too hard. I'll just practice with Naomi for lunch and leave a little early, before everyone floods in.

For the moment, she simply contented herself with the conversation around her. The group gossiped about typical teenage girl things—fashion, current trends, celebrity gossip, and, of course, other girls. Normally, they weren't things that Olivia particularly cared about. But in her current situation, it proved a surprisingly useful way to orient herself in the time period.

"Did you hear about Tampa Blume?"

"I heard. He and Kaitlyn broke up?!"

"What? What?"

"No way."

"It's true. They're donzo."

"She was never good enough for him."

Well, all right. Some of it she still didn't care about. But in general, it was a far more approachable way to learn about current events than searching the internet. This way, she didn't have to hope that some thirty-something journalist writing articles for Newsday had his finger on the pulse of high schoolers across the country. YouVee was still in its infancy, so the ecosystem of influencers and vloggers she would normally be able to reference were currently off the table. This was probably the best way to find out what was deemed important among her current peers.

Though I guess OurSpace is a big thing right now. That's probably where I should be going... But even looking at that dated interface makes me feel so, SO old. Even older than Oogle's current homepage does.

"Livi?" Eileen arched one freshly penciled eyebrow and gestured to her makeup bag. "You want to borrow anything?"

She shook her head. "Not today, thanks. Though I’m thinking of picking up a few things of my own to practice. Any recommendations?”

“Uh, yeah.” Eileen grinned and dug out handfuls of supplies. “Though I can do you even better. I’ve got a ton of brands if you want to try before you buy.”

“I appreciate the offer, seriously. But I feel like I’ve already stolen enough of your makeup. I don’t want to take advantage of you too hard.”

Trisha chuckled. “You can try. Have you seen how much is in there?”

“This is only her travel bag, too,” Leah whispered loudly. “You should see her room. Total makeup mecca.”

“With your style, you’re not making a dent,” Sophie agreed.

Olivia grinned. “I don’t doubt it. If you insist, I’ll be happy to try out your sample bar… But then again, whoever said that I can only do minimal styles? Maybe my preferred look is to go around with enough caked on to look like a clown.”

“Ugh. Stop it.” Trisha rolled her eyes. “If you wanna start a scandal that will actually stick, be my guest!”

“What? I gotta get in practice for my Halloween costume!”

Eileen made a gagging noise as Lily giggled. Trisha put her hands on her hips. “You are not going to dress up like a clown! Absolutely not! I forbid it!”

Olivia's smile dropped abruptly as she put on her best stricken face. "You mean... You don't want to match with me? I thought for sure... I was even going to do your makeup and everything..."

Trisha gave her a light push as the others laughed.