A is for....

So I just watched Easy A and I have to say, it really hit close to home for me. Why, you may ask? Well, never fear. Just gather around the fire place and I'll tell you the story of something that once happened to me.

First, I have to establish the fact that I attend an absurdly conservative school. Like you would not believe. Next, I have to let you know that I was living in what I'll nickname, 'the Smart Kids dorm', which, sadly, was not actually full of intelligent children. Instead, it's where they put all the socially awkward people who had never been in a room alone with a boy, who had never been to a sleepover and who had never entertained the idea that there could be a way of life different from theirs. From my very first day there, it couldn't have been more obvious that I was different. I wore shorts that didn't go down to my knees and I didn't use scrunchies. I had had boyfriends before and I had gone to public school. All this was enough to mark me as an outsider but don't worry, the story gets better.

So my roommate was one of my best friends at the time and we were happy, or so I thought. At the time this story takes place, J had just come back from a trip to the ER and I told him he could spend the night in my room, after asking my roommate at least twenty times. No understatement. Granted, I knew it was against the rules but I didn't want to send him back to his room and risk something else happening to him and so, we went to bed. At 15 minutes past the end of visiting hours, our 'RA' [and I use the term loosely] came and dragged us downstairs, throwing an endless slew of questions at my groggy head. I answered them with as much poise and patience as I could and after a few minutes, she sent me back to bed, letting me know that I would have an appointment with the... what did they call her? Halls manager? My personal title for her was Self-Righteous Gossip but that's just me.

Anyway, I went the next day after class to speak with her, prepared to apologize for what was a temporary lapse in judgment but I was in for a shock. APPARENTLY, my wonderful roommate had not only told our RA and the entire dorm that I was 'promiscuous' but she had told the halls manager that J and I had sex about three times a day, screaming obscenely loud, sometimes while she was in the room. Of course none of this was true. I had been suffering from my fair share of lady-part problems after my stint in the ER for an intense ovarian cyst, having been put on the pill to regulate my periods and developing a UTI. Sex was the absolute last thing on my mind but for some reason, my former roommate was on a mission to tell everyone that I had. It was written on my dry erase board. Entire groups of people would fall silent when I walked by. My friends [with the exception of M] wanted nothing to do with me and the whispers were audible. I was, undeniably, the outcast. The Hester Prynne. The A.

When the Halls Manager asked if this was true, I tried to defend myself. I wasn't going to go into too much detail but I was going to say that my medical records could prove that I was too much of a hot mess to get intimate with anyone, much less three times a day. I was going to tell her I didn't know who would start these rumors but she wasn't hearing any of it. She refused to believe it. She told me I better watch my back because everyone "knew I was a whore" and if I wanted any chance to change my reputation, I'd better have a complete physical and personality overhaul or just pack up my things and move. I was a bad influence. I didn't deserve to be there. Needless to say, I was in complete shock. I could NOT believe that someone who was supposed to be in a position of authority would submit to petty gossip. I had half a mind to tell someone, anyone but she made it abundantly clear that no one would believe me. That she could make my life worse.

I sincerely doubted that. For the remainder of the semester, M was my only friend in that building. In that 500 mile radius with the exception of my high school friends and J. I found out my roommate at the time had been the one spreading all these rumors and when confronted, she finally admitted to it and then set about making my life miserable. She grew mold in my juice canteen and moved all the clocks back 15 minutes so I would always be late. I could go on but I digress. Anyway, all of the friends that I thought I had in that dorm completely abandoned me. They were all content with listening to these rumors and not a single person asked me what the truth was.

Then I left for London and I haven't had to go back yet. Luckily, I have my own apartment this year but I'm still surrounded by those same people. And that's my Easy A story! Hope you enjoyed :]