The Millennial Box by Julie Steimle (rainbow fish read aloud TXT) 📕

back on Friday, I met Michelle and Joy at the mall when I was on a date with Kevin, and they said that they saw you with Jeff coming off the highway. And then Kevin made this remark about how close you and Jeff were getting. And that made Joy really mad because you know she has a crush on Jeff. And then Michelle made another remark that you two looked really cozy on that bike, which made Joy even angrier. But it wasn't until today that the rumor really started because nobody knew where you were at until Mr. Humphries was overheard talking to the school counselor about you two getting into more trouble, and that you might need a serious talk to about the facts of life and all that."

Zormna just stared at her, her eyes almost glazed. The light hum of electricity in Zormna's alarm clock and the wind outside seemed louder in the room.

"I didn't mean to," Jennifer whimpered, pulling away but not leaving her seat. "But people's imaginations sort of ran wild after that, and I started to wonder myself."

Zormna only closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I doubt you would purposely try to ruin my reputation," Zormna at last said, regaining her composure. "But I wouldn't put it past Michelle to tromp all over it - if only to get Joy angry at me." She punched the bed. The mattress and frame rattled. "What kind of girl do they think I am? If I wanted to have intimate conjugal relations with a boy, I'm sure I would have plenty of takers. But let's be realistic, this is me. I don't even think like that! They're just boys, besides."

Jennifer rolled her eyes at Zormna's usual overdone vocabulary. Intimate conjugal relations. Why couldn't she just say sleep together like a normal person? That, and the fact that Zormna did not regard high school boys as worth her attention was annoying. It didn't seem likely Zormna would sleep around with men either, though. Not with the way she shot up Agent Keane's car Homecoming night (with the pistol she had found in his glove compartment) when he hit on her.

Shrugging, feeling braver, Jennifer said, "Well, they did think you and Jeff were an item for a while. And Jeff did ditch his Homecoming date to go fetch you off the mountain."

Zormna glared at her sharply. "That is completely unrelated. Everyone should know that Jeff and I don't think about each other like that. We've said it a billion times - "

"I dunno. Sometimes the way Jeff looks at you it's like...." Jennifer shrugged again.

"Like what?" Zormna pulled back, still glaring at her.

Sighing, Jennifer gazed at her as a concerned friend. "It is almost like he wishes you did like him. You sort of give him that same look sometimes."

Standing up, Zormna shouted, though her face was red. "I do not! I only look at him like I always looked at him. He's a jerk and an annoyance - but he is the only person who understands me nowadays!"

Jennifer rose, lifting her hands. "Ok. I won't argue about this. Just tell me you didn't do anything stupid that week, and maybe I'll try to squash the rumor."

Zormna folded her arms tightly, looking away. "We didn't do anything of the sort. And I won't let anyone accuse me of it, for that matter. Besides, he's not the type."

"Good." Jennifer sighed. She nodded again to herself as she headed toward the door. "Good."

Once she had closed the door, Zormna dropped back on her bed with a hard flop. Her papers flew up and scattered, fluttering off the bed around it. Her pencil rolled underneath the remaining pile.

Standing up, Zormna growled to herself. "Dirty-minded roaches. Those stinking little fleas! I'll...I'll...oooh!"

 

Chapter Eight: Remarks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"God gave you two ears and one mouth, and that's gotta tell you something." - Anon -

 

 

The rumor had spread quickly. Most of the school now was convinced that Jeff and Zormna snuck off to have weekend fling in a motel in Florida so they would not get caught. And though Jennifer tried to correct her mistake, it was too late. Zormna bore the snide, judging stares from the girls and the less-than-chaste looks from the boys who had always accused her of being too prude. Thing was, Jeff had not known about the rumor at all until Tuesday.

"So." Bradley Hershott, their varsity football quarterback, sidled up to Jeff as he was pulling on his shirt for PE. His eyes barely took in the scars on Jeff's back that everyone assumed has been inflicted on Jeff by his 'abusive father'. "I heard you went to Florida with Zormna and stayed at hotel there."

Jeff paused, his thoughts freezing. He had been thinking about nothing in particular, though his mind had wandered to their findings in Florida that morning. He peeked over at Bradley, brow wrinkling.

 Bradley's smirk curled as he licked his lips and hunkered down to whisper closer. He said, "So, how was it?"

"Was what?" Jeff puzzled at him.

His friends shared looks, as well as the other boys around them, eyes widening.

"You know," Bradley said. "Banging her. Was she good in bed?"

Immediately hot in the face, Jeff lurched up and grabbed Bradley's shirt, shoving him against the lockers. "What did you say?"

Bradley paled, but barely as he was merely startled and pushed Jeff's hands off. "Oh, come on! You got that naïve chick, Zormna, to give up being a military nun. You got laid, didn't you?"

Ramming Bradley Hershott, harder against the locker lockers, Jeff shouted. "We did nothing of the sort!"

"Hey!" Bradley pushed back. "You don't have to get violent! Had I known that you had a limp - "

Jeff punched him.

Bradley fought back.

The fight dented the lockers and it took all their friends to pull them apart, along with the coaches. Both boys came out of it with black eyes and bloody noses, both of them scowling at the other.

"Fighting is not acceptable!" Coach Baker snapped at the pair, fists on hips. But he mostly with exasperation at Jeff. He had honestly hoped Jeff would not get into fights that year. "I don't care what was said! If either of you are caught fighting again, you'll both be suspended."

 Then he had both boys stay after school for detention.

But Jeff fumed through the rest of the day. Just the idea that he would take advantage of Zormna's trust in him infuriated him. And it wasn't for the reasons people thought. He saw it as a judge on his character.

 

Zormna waited for Jeff outside the detention hall, mostly to see if he was fine. Bradley winked at her as he passed by. But she only rolled her eyes at him.

Then Jeff came out.

When he saw her, he growled.  - That is, until he saw the expression on her face. She had long lost her military façade, having become a more relaxed and emotional person. But currently she was flushed and out of sorts to the point that she was near tears.

Same day, backtrack to the beginning.

Jennifer really was trying to correct her mistake. But Zormna had to endure the snide remarks and judging stares - as well as the leering looks from boys. To be honest, this kind of reputation was different from the other kinds she had endured back in 'military school'. Zormna could handle being called a snob, or a prude, or even vicious words describing her personality to the equivalent of a female dog. But this was the first time anyone had ever called her a slut. And though it really wasn't her, she could not shake it or demonstrate that it was false. The thing that bugged her the most was that it described an ideology that she did not prescribe to. Zormna had loudly declared before that she thought it was downright foolish for a girl to be sexually active outside a committed marital relationship. And regardless of popular culture that decried slut shaming, Zormna herself thought that sex ought not to be engaged in simply for the pleasure of it. The worst part of it all, was that she ended up as the center of the debate on subject when she hadn't even participated in any sexual activity in the first place. 

In first period, Joy avoided looking at her while one girl passed her a note with a dirty remark.

In second period, Michelle nudged Stacey who whispered a question to Zormna using words Zormna did not know in English. But Jessica, who was listening in with Jennifer snapped, "Shut it, you slut! Can't you see from her face that she doesn't even know what you are talking about?"

"Zormna's not like that," Jennifer McLenna chimed in, nodding sharply.

But Tammy, who was in the same class, huffed with a roll of her eyes and whispered to nearby girl that Zormna was pretending. Even the girls whom Zormna liked in that class were peering at her darkly. After all, a girl that overwhelmingly beautiful who hung mostly with boys had to be sleeping around. At least that's what they told themselves to justify the cruelty of their gossip.

In the third hour came more of the same. Jennifer had tried to defend her, but Zormna seemed to shrink into herself as the girls called her 'easy' and a 'ho'. In the fourth hour, Darren continued to be still and unresponsive - leaving her open to snide remarks from others. And when Jeff had not showed up at lunch due to in-school detention for fighting, and her guy friends seemed more than a little distracted by the rumor - Zormna slipped off to the library and spent the rest of the hour finishing all her homework for that day. Things were only better in the sixth hour because Jessica was with her and would not let anyone say anything cruel about Zormna in her earshot.

But that all fell apart in PE.

With the other cheerleaders, Zormna got an earful of her teammates' mindless prattle on the subject. Half the cheerleaders thought it was funny that it annoyed Zormna so much to be called a 'slut'. The other half wanted to call her one.    

"Honestly, Zormna, you'd think it was your first time," Michelle said, peering down her upturned nose while Zormna was tying her own shoe, trying to keep her eyes from the judging stares at her.

Finally losing her temper, Zormna rose. "First time? I never even one-timed! Jafarr and I didn't do anything."

Michelle scoffed, tossing her hair. "Yeah, right."

Exasperated, Zormna shook her head.

"Really, it's not that big a deal," Stacey said, shrugging. "You're a liberated woman, right? So, what are you so bugged about? It is just slut shaming."

Zormna stepped up to her, standing taller with fists clenched. "I AM NOT A SLUT! I HAVE NEVER ENGAGED IN SEX!"

"Yeah, right," Michelle laughed, turning away to go outside.

"I've never even kissed a guy!" Zormna almost whined, following after her. "I mean, come on! I don't even like going about with my shoulders showing. You know I don't wear a skirt without shorts underneath. What makes you think I'd just turn around and bare all with some boy when I don't even go on dates?"

"Well, Jeff is super-hot," murmured one of the girls.

"More like a vampire," another