"Why don't you join me?" I say sarcastically as I tear open a bag of kettle chips. My baby carrots and ranch are long gone.
"Can I have one?" Em asks, nodding at the chips.
I point the opened bag toward her. "Be my guest."
She takes a few and shoves them all in her mouth, chomping loudly. She's so loud, I'm afraid the librarian can hear her and we're clear in the back of the room.
When she remains silent, I can't take it anymore. "Are you going to ask me if the rumors are true?"
"No." She smiles. "Because I know they're not."
I frown. "How do you know?"
"I was with Cannon on Friday night. In his room." Her smile grows. "He's definitely not interested in you."
Ha. Since he's interested in her. At least she finally realizes it. "So you two are together?"
"Oh, no. I don't tie myself down with anyone." She waves a hand, dismissing my statement. "I've learned attachments are for stupid people who don't know any better."
I think she just insulted me, but I'm going to choose to ignore it. "Well, let me just say it before you do. The rumors are bad."
"They'll blow over soon enough. There's more juicy gossip to be had. For instance, I'm sure people would love to know that a certain freshman is going around campus soliciting blowjobs before, during and after school."
My mouth drops open. "Who are you talking about?"
"Eli Bennett, of course. That boy is desperate to get laid." Em starts laughing. "He even asked me to blow him, but I turned him down."
"Em!" I say her name way too loud. I actually hear the shush of the librarian, so I lower my voice. "Are you serious right now?"
She shrugs. "Totally. He asked me last week. Led up to it by sending me dick pics on Snapchat. I screen shot one. Wanna see?"
Em's pulling out her phone and I lunge across the table, batting at her hands. "I absolutely do not want to see that picture. No way."
"You're no fun." She mock pouts as she shoves her phone back into her backpack. "Not that any dick pic is good to check out. They're all sort of funny looking, don't you think?"
"Definitely." This of course, makes me think of Jordan's. I didn't think it was so hideous. But there's nothing about him that's hideous, so …
"Not that you know much about dicks, am I right? You're still a virgin." When I feel my ears burn with embarrassment she starts to laugh. "I knew it. That's what's so great about this rumor. You're a tramp/slut/whore who lets two jock boyfriends tag team you all night long. It's so ridiculous, it's almost amusing."
"Yeah. Real amusing." I cross my arms and slump in my chair.
Em's laughter dies. "Oh, come on. You'll be fine. Have you heard the rumors they spread about me? At least they don't call you a hooker who does it for actual money. They've even said Livvy's mom's boyfriend is my pimp."
I frown. "How did he get drawn into your rumors?" Fine, I've heard the many rumors they spread about Em, but I blew them all off. How much of that can be true? Now that I'm dealing with my own outrageous story, I know the answer is pretty much none of it.
"There was that really short period of time when my parents took my car away from me? Do you remember that?" When I give her a blank look, she continues. "Well, anyway, I was walking home from school because no one would give me a ride, and he saw me and pulled over. Offered to take me home and so I went with him. I wasn't going to say no. My feet were killing me."
Just thinking about getting into a car alone with Fitch, Livvy's mom's boyfriend, gives me the creeps. He's strange. He gives off this weird vibe that Livvy says she can't trust. She wouldn't take a ride from him, even if it was the last ride in the world. Yet Em climbs into his car alone with him like it's no big deal.
"I can't believe you did that," I tell her.
"Yeah, well, I regret ever taking that ride because it blew up into this stupid rumor around school and I never did figure out who started it," Em complains.
"That's awful."
She shrugs. "I know it's hard dealing with the bullshit, but welcome to high school! It's not perfect. Not like it was when you were hanging out with your nerdy band friends and contemplating letting that guy feel you up or not in the back of the bus on the way home from an away game. Nah, this is way more hardcore. A lot more like real life, you know?" Em's eyes light up as she's talking. I think she's loving this. The fact that all the new, nasty rumors around school have nothing to do with her. It's like she's offering up advice to me, the newbie, while she's the old, wise one.