Anne wasn't sure if she had imagined some of the incidents over the next week, people stopping talking as she walked past, whispered conversations whilst looking in her group's direction, people inexplicably turning and walking in the other direction. What wasn't imagined was the girl from the pool blatantly telling the gym teacher she wouldn't get changed in the same changing room as Anne. It hurt. She wanted to retaliate but had no idea how without causing more harm.
They were sitting in history, the only class where she and Abby sat together. The teacher was going over the politics of ancient Rome, it was deathly boring.
"Miss!" One of the boys called from behind the girls, "Miss! Abby's been drawing naked pictures of her girlfriend!"
"What!" Abby exclaimed, mortified.
"Sean, sit down and shut up, no more of your spurious accusations." The teacher admonished, the boy had a bit of a reputation for stirring up trouble.
"No miss, look!" She called holding out a sheet of paper.
The teacher walked down the aisle and snatched the paper from his hand. She examined it for a second. "Want to explain this?" She asked Abby.
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The paper did actually look at first glance like Anne's naked torso. Abby remembered drawing figures weeks ago, she had forgotten the paper in the aftermath and it must have dropped from her textbook when she pulled it from her bag.
"It's just unfinished, I sketched in a vague outline and was going to draw in the clothes once the face was done. It wasn't even meant to look like Anne, I took it in to show her because I thought it was funny I had unconsciously drawn her." She said defensively.
"There you go Sean, perfectly rational." She left the picture on the desk and returned to the whiteboard. "Now, back to the senate."
There was a stage whisper from Sean, "I bet she's really been nude modelling for her girlfriend."
The teacher whirled around, "THATS IT SEAN, ENOUGH, OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR ME." She shouted. The class went deathly quiet and Sean traipsed out.
"Okay, back to the Senate, no more snide comments and distractions. I will appreciate you NOT casting aspersions on your classmates, especially in my class!" With that she continued teaching. Sean was left in the corridor until the end of class, at which time she could be heard yelling at him in the classroom from halfway down the corridor.
"Although I'm glad she dealt with him pretty harshly, this is going to be all round the school by the last break." Anne lamented.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have taken the picture to school. I didn't even realise it looked like a nude." Abby said sullenly. "Man, why is this happening even when we're really careful? I think we should perhaps wait before we tell people."