Rumour Has It

Tina, Elly and Joy sat opposite me on the bus. They got on after me, and the only place left with seats in a group of three were the ones in a row along the back – opposite me. They looked at each other nervously then came back here and sat down, daring me to move first.

I'm not going to move. I might have lost them as friends but I haven't lost some of the things they taught me, like the attitude that I am entitled to sit at the back of the bus without being eaten.

I'm trying not to listen to their gossip. I tell myself I don't care anymore. I get my iPod and put my music on loud to drown them out, but I can still hear them going on about Baz's girlfriend, who has apparently got pregnant and run off with some other guy.

Poor Baz. He was alright really.

Anyway, I don't care about that lot anymore.

The bus rounds a corner, and I see Elly's street come into view. I breathe a sigh of relief; they'll get off here.

They don't.

I wonder where they're going instead? Maybe they're going on to Joy's house, which is further out of town. Her parents must be away somewhere if that's right; she would never let us round her house if her stepdad was going to be there.

Anyway, I don't care about that lot anymore.

Maybe I should get off the bus instead. It's not that far from the next stop. I could walk it in about half an hour.

No, I can't, I don't have the time. If I don't get home soon, Mum will kill me.

Anyway, that would be letting Tina, Elly and Joy win. I'm not moving.

The part that hurts the most is that I was one of them once, and I thought I knew how this would go. I was there when Lexi left our group for better things, after she'd failed one test too many and her parents put their foot down. After that, whenever we saw her around town or even in school, just the sight of her would make us fall about laughing. Somebody would whisper the latest lie about what she'd been doing in her new group with Emily's friends, and we'd all smirk and snort and squeal with laughter. That's what I'd expected them to do to me.

There's nothing. Silence.

I'm invisible.

Ouch.