Amy felt bad about the possibility that her boasting about Alan had led to his current bruises. Since gossip had caused the problem, she made it a point to keep her ears to the ground and listen for further gossip. She unobtrusively hung out near Heather's friends, because she figured if there was a problem it was probably connected to Heather. Because Amy was perceived as harmless, no one paid her presence any mind.
She'd been doing this for a few days - in fact she'd started paying some attention before Alan got punched - and her effort finally struck paydirt during the break between first and second periods.
Simone and another friend of Heather's named Melissa were at their lockers in a crowded hallway, standing around and talking, since they had some time to kill during the break between classes. A whole clique associated with Heather had their lockers together, so it was a good place for Amy to lurk.
Amy had been listening intermittently to several different conversations when she heard Melissa say, "I can't believe Heather wants us to tell people that! I wonder what her beef is."
Amy wandered over and acted as if she had been a party to the conversation all along. She said in her almost constantly happy voice, "Ohmigod! Heather's having you tell people stuff too? Is it the same thing she told me?"
Simone and Melissa were a bit surprised, but not too surprised, by Amy's interruption. They knew her a bit from a couple of shared classes.
Simone asked, "I don't know. What did she say to you?"
Amy was winging it, hoping that if she played along and guessed correctly, she'd figure out what trickery Heather was up to now. She made an educated guess. "I guess she's trying to ruin her reputation. She wants me to say really nasty stuff about her."
Melissa prodded, as if annoyed by talking to a child, "Who, Amy? You have to say who. Are you talking about Ms. Rhymer?"
Amy wasn't as dumb as they thought, so she played along. "Yeah. Ms. Rhymer. I guess Heather must be trying to bring her down. What did she have you say about her?"
Simone laughed. "You can say that again. I'd hate to be on Heather's enemies list. Going after a teacher, that takes some daring. She told me to say that Ms. Rhymer's gotten pregnant by a student. Can you believe it? She's going to have to quit before she starts showing or get an abortion."
"Wow," Amy replied. "I'm supposed to tell people that, uh, her boyfriend treats her mean and stuff." She just said the first nasty rumor she could think up.
Melissa tsk-tsked, "Amy, if you're spreading rumors, you have to do better than 'and stuff.' What's the rest?"
"Um, that he, like, passes her around to his friends and makes her sleep with all kinds of bad people."
"Oooh. Nasty!" said Simone. "She told you that one? That one's nasty."
Amy was amazed that the rumor she thought she'd made up was already in circulation, more or less. But she kept her simple, smiling face on and didn't give away any of her feelings. Eager to pump more information out of them, she asked, "So are you supposed to say which student made her pregnant?"
That caused a bit of consternation between Simone and Melissa. They whispered to each other with worried looks on their faces.
Amy could figure out what was going on. She was fairly certain that the rumor had Alan making Glory pregnant, and the two girls didn't want to say that part to Amy since they knew she was Alan's girlfriend.
So she said, "Are you two prudes? God! Like, no way. I totally wouldn't have figured you two to be prudes. Me, I don't hold back with anything. Like with my boyfriend Alan. The way I figure, the more girls he sleeps with, the better. It makes me so happy whenever I hear he's made another conquest. It just shows that he's such a stud and a real man!"
Simone looked at Amy uncertainly. She didn't want to be considered a prude. "Yeah. I'd heard that about you. That's a bit... unusual. Well, maybe you'll be happy to know then that the rumor says he's the one who made Ms. Rhymer pregnant."
Amy clapped her hands with glee. "Oooh! He is? Cool! See what I mean? Isn't he such a stud? Simone, don't you think he's just the bestest fuck in the whole world?"
Simone felt uncomfortable answering that, and stayed quiet. She thought, I can't believe what a total airhead Amy is.
She asked, "You're HAPPY that he made her pregnant?!"
"Totally! 'Cos then everyone will see what a complete stud he is, and then he'll be able to bang even more hotties like you." Amy didn't really like the idea of him making Glory pregnant, but wanted the others to think of her as a ditz.
Simone knew that the rumors she was helping spread would hurt Alan as well as Glory. She did feel a certain loyalty and affection for him, but it wasn't nearly as great as her loyalty to Heather, who had been her best friend since childhood and her lover for several years.
The reminder that she'd had sex with Alan too, however, put her in a bad mood. The fact that Amy obviously knew she'd been fucked by Alan and didn't mind it puzzled her. Does she really not care, and even like that fact?! I don't get it!
Melissa, meanwhile, rolled her eyes. "Amy, it's just a rumor, remember? Knowing Heather, it's probably not even true. I didn't know she's got you working the grapevine too, but go around and tell it to everyone you know. Okay?"
"M'kay! I knew that. Although, in a weird kind of way, it would've been kinda cool if he'd knocked up his teach. Bummer. I mean, how many students would be able to say that?" Amy pouted prettily, then gave a friendly wave and walked off.
Yet Amy didn't walk off as quickly as expected, and she kept her ears peeled. So she heard Melissa say to Simone, "God. What an idiot and total weirdo. What does Alan see in her, aside from her tits and ass?"
Simone snidely replied, "Well, you have to admit she does have a lot of tits and ass to like. Why do you have to go beyond those two things? I know Alan and that's all he cares about. He's like a walking sex machine. I know he looks normal and unassuming, but you'd be surprised." She wanted to think of him as a bad person so she wouldn't feel guilty for spreading rumors against him.
She added, "Besides, what guy wouldn't kill to have a girlfriend who actually loves it when he sleeps around? Amy's such a child. I kinda like her, to be honest. I don't like to spread rumors against her too. Heather's really flooding the grapevine today though. I wonder why."
The others had forgotten Amy, so she was able to stand nearby and keep listening. But the conversation drifted off into other idle speculation and she never did hear what rumors were being said about her. She left seething - a feeling almost completely unfamiliar to her - but outwardly she kept her cool. She wanted to rush off and find Alan immediately to tell him what she'd learned, but there was no time left before she had to get to class.
— — —
When Amy found Alan in the hallway during the next break between classes, she slowed down and grew cautious as she got nearer to him, because he was in the hallway talking to Glory. Amy lingered at a safe distance, waiting until he was free.
He looked over and noticed her standing about ten feet away, but he continued with what he was saying to Glory. Amy was confused, because it seemed to be some kind of mathematics discussion, but it made no sense to her. Alan was saying, "The sequence goes, zero, three, one, six, two, and nine. I'm sure of it."
Glory answered, "No. Forget the three. That's not in the sequence. You have no idea what a three is like. And a nine? Are you crazy?"
Amy thought that sounded like a very perplexing kind of mathematics problem, but then Glory saw that Alan was looking behind her at someone. Glory turned and saw Amy as well, then said something under her breath to Alan and left.
Amy of course had no idea that Alan and Glory had been obliquely discussing Glory's vibrator settings. After Glory left, Amy had a quick conversation with Alan. She had just enough time to tell him about Heather's latest before the break came to an end and third-period classes began.
Glory had rapidly become addicted to the Televibe, so she gave no further thought to removing the vibrators for the rest of the school day. She made sure to "accidentally" run into Alan in the breaks between classes so she could communicate in their code language which settings he should focus on, at least until he fully understood their impact.