BEDAugust 5

It's day five of BEDA/VEDA and I've already fallen into a routine. I film, edit, and post my videos in the morning, then I go to work, then I come home and write a blog. It's not the best plan (partially cause of the lack of sleep that results), but it's working for me so far, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So I'll just throw out some flash fiction.

Today's piece is based off of this Figment Daily Theme  
Write a story in which a false rumor spreads about a character. While the speculation isn't flattering to this person, he or she decides to embrace the story anyway and to pretend that it's true. 

"Yep, it's all true." Melody spoke casually and Annie's mouth dropped open.

"Seriously? All of it?" Annie and the other girls gathered in the locker room shared surprised looks.

"Every single word." Melody shrugged, pretending as if it was nothing.

"You mean to tell me..." Bethany began.

"I spent the summer in rehab. I was an alcoholic, and I got so trashed at a field hockey party that I slept with Andy the water boy, made out with Hannah the team captain, and jumped off the roof, breaking my arm. All true." Melody relayed the list of transgressions like a robot, having memorized them just this morning.

"I heard that you even got drunk at rehab and they had to lock you in solitary." Candace almost whispered. Melody blinked in surprise, that was a new one, and shrugged.

"Not really worth mentioning, but also true." Melody made a mental note to add solitary to the notebook. She turned back to the sink to finish pulling up her hair, hoping the other girls would move on. She watched in the mirror as they whispered to each other, comparing rumors and stories. She saw Diane open her mouth to speak, but the bell rang. The girls immediately stopped speaking and left.

Melody lingered in the bathroom for a few moments. She had five minutes to make it to homeroom across the hall, and Mr. Frost wouldn't care if she was late anyway. Melody pulled the notebook from her bag and added "drunk at rehab and locked in solitary-Candace" to the growing list of things she'd been up to this summer. The truth was she'd spent it in California with her aunt and uncle, looking at colleges, playing with her cousins, reading, and writing in the sun.

She had been to that field hockey party, it was the last thing she'd done before flying out to Cali, but she hadn't even had so much as a beer. There had been no drunken sex, making out with girls, or jumping from roofs, or rehab. There hadn't even been a broken arm. Yet, when Melody had arrived back at school last week the whispers had been hard to ignore. People kept looking at her with a mix of awe and disgust. Her friends stated asking questions and it didn't take long for Melody to piece it all together. That's when she made the list.

When she figured she had a good enough grasp on everything she supposedly did this summer, she started hinting that it was all true. Conveniently, Andy had graduated and moved to New York for college, Hannah was well known for kissing girls and had been so drunk at the party she remembered nothing, and everyone who was there that night seemed to remember someone jumping off the roof. Melody remembered Keith and Michael tossing off a blow up doll. It was shocking how easily even her friends started to believe it was true. They somehow found it easier to accept that her stories of going to Cali were a cover up for rehab than that rehab was just a rumor. Melody was hurt by this at first, that her friends could think so little of her, but she rapidly realized that it didn't really matter anyway.

Melody embraced the lies and even started embellishing on the original rumor. Every time someone added a new tidbit she accepted it and molded it into the story of her summer. She begged her parents not to say anything, and even took the pictures of her summer in California off Facebook, pretending they had been fakes anyway. She slowly came to realize that people were more amazed by this tale than disturbed by it. They asked her what it was like, and everyone wanted to hear her harrowing tale of struggling with alcoholism and coming back from the edge. They ate up the idea of a rehab romance and soon Melody was the girl who survived so much, rather than the girl who partied to hard she had started the year as.

It was almost two months into the school year when Melody finally figured out who had started the first awful rumors about her. Melody had been standing at her locker when Amanda came over with her little entourage. Amanda had disliked Melody from the moment Melody took over as editor for the school newspaper, and their rivalry had only grown.

"I know you didn't go to rehab this summer." Amanda said.

"Really? What makes you think that? I remember it very clearly, do you know something I don't?" Melody raised her voice, admittedly trying to draw attention.

"You know exactly what I mean." Amanda insisted, paying close attention to the eyes watching them argue. "You didn't do any of those things you say you did."

"Well, I'll admit I wasn't planning to tell anyone." Melody said, "But when I got to school everyone seemed to already know, so their wasn't any point in denying it."

A large crowd had gathered to watch by now, and Melody smiled, knowing Amanda was stuck. She would either have to admit she made up the stories, and ruin her reputation, or pretend they were true and let Melody reap the benefits of her knew fame. Melody enjoyed watching the emotions play across Amanda's face while she made her decision. Melody saw a flash of anger that might have scared her once, but that old Melody hadn't been through rehab.

"I heard you sucked off one of the orderlies to get him to bring you booze." Amanda said finally, her eyes triumphant, figuring Melody wouldn't own up to that. Melody looked at the floor.

"I was sick and desperate," she said quietly, but still loud enough for the crowd to hear, "I'm not proud of what I did, but there's no point in lying about it." Melody heard the crowd gasp as one.

"She's so brave. I can't believe she went through all that. Melody is such a role model. She's gone through so much. I feel bad for her. I'm going to stop drinking too." The crowd whispered back and forth. Melody watched as Amanda's face grew redder and redder, but she didn't open her mouth. Instead, she slammed her locker, turned on her heel and marched away.

"Score one for the little guy." Melody whispered as she watched Amanda disappear down the hall.

********

Let me know what you thought of the story. Until tomorrow.