Free Rumor Central by Reshonda Tate Billingsley

that nerd, Valerie, to help you. Is she tutoring you?” Angie asked.
    I couldn’t tell if she was being nosey or what, but she had her nose turned up like she was disgusted.
    â€œShe isn’t tutoring me. Just with my schedule, I needed an assistant,” I replied. I didn’t need anyone knowing that I was failing my classes.
    â€œOh, I’m not trippin’,” she added. “Shoot, I had to get her buster friend, Jennifer, to tutor me.” Angie turned to one of the other cheerleaders who had hung back waiting on her. “At least these ratchet scholarship students are good for something,” she laughed as they high-fived each other.
    I laughed with her. The scholarship kids at our school got a serious bad rap. Most of them came from underprivileged families and families that couldn’t afford the school. Personally, I felt like if you couldn’t afford Miami High, you needed to take your butt to the disgusting public school down the street.
    Chenoa was the only one not laughing. She looked back at Angie and said, “Come on, Angie. We need to get to the gym or Mrs. Burkett is gonna have a stroke.”
    â€œBye, girl,” Angie said, darting off down the hall.
    I waved bye and had just made it to my locker, when I spotted Bryce standing over Sheridan. It looked like they were arguing, but as soon as she spotted me, she threw her arms around his neck and started kissing him to the point that someone yelled for them to “get a room.”
    It felt like someone had punched me in my stomach and if half the hallway hadn’t been staring at me, I would’ve turned around and gone the other way. But since they were, I kept strutting like I wasn’t fazed.
    â€œExcuse me,” I said, pointing to my locker, which they were leaned up against. I knew I should’ve moved my locker away from Sheridan when we first fell out. “Can I get in my locker, please?”
    Bryce saw me and looked super embarrassed, but Sheridan just smirked. “My bad, got a little caught up.” She giggled and I wanted to punch her in her teeth.
    Bryce looked apologetic, but remained quiet. I so couldn’t stand either of them. She was a backstabbing troll and he was so dumb he couldn’t see she was playing him just to get back at me.
    I ignored her as I unlocked my locker and tossed one book in, then pulled another one out.
    â€œSo, Maya, did you get a date to the homecoming dance?” she asked, wrapping her arm around Bryce’s waist.
    â€œBi—” I caught myself before I went off. I was not about to let her take me there. I took a deep breath, then smiled as I closed my locker. I ran my eyes up and down her body, didn’t say a word, then laughed as I walked off. I could feel her eyes piercing my back.
    â€œThat is so tight how you played her,” Valerie said, catching up with me as I rounded the corner. “Everybody saw it. I hate how Sheridan acts so high and mighty.” Valerie leaned in. “If she knew the truth, she might think twice about treating people like crap.”
    That made me stop in my tracks. “What truth?” I asked. Sheridan and I had been super tight, so I couldn’t imagine there was something about her that I didn’t know.
    Valerie leaned back and smiled. “I know something about Miss Sheridan’s superstar mother, the fabulous Glenda Matthews.”
    â€œWhat?” I asked, eager to hear any dirt about Sheridan’s mom. Glenda Matthews was one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. She had like a million Grammys, had had several big-time movie roles, and was always traveling overseas or staying at their Los Angeles home, which is why Sheridan ran out of control. They were from Miami and the plan had been that her family was supposed to be watching her, but they took Ms. Matthews’s money and left Sheridan to fend for herself. And since Sheridan liked her freedom, her mom didn’t even