6. Stories (The past)

Judith rolled her eyes with a playful smile on her face before it quickly turned into a look of concern.

“Ooh Ann! I don’t want to get you angry or sad right now but the rumors and stories are bad. Every hierarchy had their own version of the stories, each gets worse from the previous ones I heard. I don’t think I should even be telling you this.” Judith stated as if in a deep thought and nodded her head quickly to herself, knowing she made the best decision for herself. Ann rolled her eyes at her and pouted. Rolling her eyes was die hard habit of hers whenever she’s in deep thought, nervous, anxious or angry but in this case it’s was for the anxiety of the unknown.

“Stop over reacting Jud, I won’t die from hearing what others think about me and don’t forget I’m not weak either. There are just rumors with no truth in them, c’mon you can tell me”, Ann reassured her.

Judith smacked her lips loudly, she knew it was no use to deny her request. Whenever Judith wants to know something or wants something, she will pester you till she gets what she wanted. So with a defected sigh she began,”the nerds say, you went to Rex house to make a deal with him to bribe him from the dismissal awaiting you. They said you bribed him by accepting to do all his homework, projects and even assignments for a year. Apparently, you have to appease him for the mocking and your rudeness towards him but he declined and told his father what happened. His father got so angry and threw you to the the white caspian tigers they kept as pets”. Judith finished with a sad and soft tone. Hearing herself retell that rumor was humiliating for her, she couldn’t believe she accepted it and was terribly bad. That rumor truly didn’t make sense after she heard herself retelling it. Ann giggled childishly at her blushing best friend and threw her head back in laughter. “Judith? Jud, that sounded like a toy story. Did people actually believed that rumor? Damn! it’s very funny to hear hahahahahahaha”, Ann chuckled happily.

Judith smacked her head gently and with a small smile,” it wasn’t funny then okay, I was terribly very hard when I heard that story. I actually believed them because Pearl, who so happens to be Rex’s neighbor allegedly said she saw you go into the Radford mansion last night and heard you screaming for help later on”. Judith muttered shamefully with a pout.

Again, that threw Ann into a laughing fit, she laughed so hard that her stomach was starting to hurt. Judith joined her laughing competition later when she realized how ridiculous that story sounded, she knew very Ann wasn't that kind of person. She wasn’t an asslicker.

The two friends laughed for a long time that they were even tearing, after sobering up, Ann spoke,”I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard and so genuinely. Thank you Jud, now let’s go to the next story. Which hierarchy is next?”, Ann asked mischievously.

Judith wiped away her happy tears and nodded with a smile,”the second story is from the populars, oh gosh! I even feel dumber for believing a word that hierarchy vomited. Well, Avirina and her minions started spreading the rumor that you humiliated Rex in front of everyone to get his attention. They said you worked as a stripper since you got out of the orphanage system and you also do drugs. Apparently, you are currently getting low on cash and is very desperate for your next fix. When you heard Rex was a multi billionaire's son, you wanted his attention so you can seduce him and made him sponsor you. And seeing as you have red bags under your eyes, I think people will believe this story more!”, Judith stated in panic.

Ann paused her lips whilst Judith thought of a way to conceal the red bags under her eye,” mmm she will never agree on makeup, I remember the last time she had a fight with Davin and was punched. She went to school with that mark for days until it disappeared. She didn’t care about the weird looks she was receiving either as long as she doesn't have to wear make up. But there's is no harm in trying again, lemme ask her and see”, Judith whispered to herself under her breathe.

“Ann, how about I use my concealer to conceal the red bags under your eyes? I promise, I won’t use a lot, just something small okay?”, she cooed at Ann.

Judith gave Ann a sweet smile at the end of the speech to convince her to accept the offer but as usual, Ann just causally shock her head at her.

“ I don’t want to. If I do that, it will simply that mean I have something to hide while I don’t. I don’t care whatever any one says about me, I know my truth and that’s more than enough for me. Actually, I’m not surprised that bi*ch and her minions came up with a story like that, I just wonder why they don’t put the same kind of effort and energy into studying. I mean if they did, their parents won’t resort to bribing the university authorities and high schools administrators with projects to get them positions in classes each year”. Ann muttered.

She groan in annoyance whilst Judith snigger softly at her words which they both know was the absolute truth. They’ve been in the same school since 3rd grade and knew everything about their grades. They were the most hated amongst all the students because they were schooling on scholarship so they performed better than anyone in their year batch. They don’t have the luxury to stack, it was their future on the line.

“There are other stories too, some said Alfred Radford sent his body guards to dump you in the desert, others said you were sold into slavery or prostitution, others say you run away to Mexico and changed your identity but the problem is they are so obstinate about it.” Judith finished with a shake of head in a helpless manner, she was like them barely a few minutes ago.

“ Fuck! To think I believed everything I heard due to my fear and had to rush all the way here to checked up on you.” Judith uttered shamelessly.

Ann smiled a bit at the end part, ‘well, that actually came to mind to relocated to Mexico and change my name but I didn’t have the nerve to actually do it and no way am I ever going to say this out loud to another person’. Ann thought to herself with a blush.

Seeing Ann’s expression and mistaken, Judith mistook it for sadness and rushed to reassure her. “Ann, why don’t we go to the fair in town instead of school today, let’s give them the chance to make up more stories and be anxious about what truly happened”. Judith suggested happily.

Ann smiled brightly and nodded sharply, she knew what Judith wanted to do and wasn’t in the mood for school anymore,”yhh yhh that’s a great idea but I have to come a bit early so I can sleep before my shift later on in the evening”. Ann replied.

Judith squealed like a spoilt school girl and they rushed through the stairs to the van outside the crampy old apartment building. She was taking two steps at a time whilst tagging Ann along with her. Ann was laughing so loudly like she had no fear in life and it was truly a rare sight to behold. Her past was dark, she had a lot of fear in her heart, a lot of deep hidden secret and scary skeletons in her cupboard.