"You're very brave to be able to do all that." Connie paused for a thought. Then she asked, "But how did she persuade you to do all that?"
"She offered me money, a lot of it," Sandy replied.
Connie blinked. "You did it for money?"
"Yeah," Sandy admitted, "It really was a lot of money. Now I'm not so sure it was a good idea."
"It wasn't something you should've done," Connie agreed.
"Especially since I didn't even get paid," Sandy added.
"Wait, you're regretting the whole thing because you didn't get paid?"
Sandy looked down at her half-empty cup. "Yeah."
Connie stared at her. "Say, uh, Sandy... if... if I paid you to have sex, would you do it?"
Sandy immediately looked up with a bright smile. "With you?"
Connie flinched back in horror. She raised her hands, palms forward, as if in preparation to push an attack away. "Um, never mind. Forget I asked."
Sandy's smile faded. "I suppose it's a bad idea... it'll make me a prostitute, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, yes, it would," Connie readily agreed.
The girls sat silently for a minute. Sandy finished her drink and started eying Connie's half-full cup. The redhead was gazing at one of the cafeteria windows.
Connie looked back. "Say, Sandy, would you like to do something for me?"
"I'm not sure..." Sandy was actually hesitant, especially after the events of the previous day and with the label 'prostitute' hovering over her, looking for a spot to land. Also, no money had been offered yet.
"Oh, don't worry, I won't ask you to do anything outrageous. It's just talking to some people." And it seemed that Connie had read her mind, for she added, "I'll even pay in advance."
That last statement had Sandy's full attention. "What do you want me to do?"
"Tell as many people as you can about what Annie did to you."
Sandy hesitated again. "But they'll know what I did too..." Her left forefinger itched for the brush of her right thumb.
"Oh, um, you'll have to twist the story a bit," Connie suggested.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't mention yourself. Say it happened to another girl."
"Okay," Sandy understood.
"Say that you heard that Annie bullied a girl into stripping naked and dancing." Connie smiled. "That isn't that far from the truth."
"Okay."
"Just don't add any more details," Connie advised, "Or else someone might figure out that it's you and... you know." She gestured with a hand.
Sandy shivered. So if she handled things wrong, everyone would know what she had done.
Connie pulled a few small notes from her purse and held it out. "So do we have a deal?"
Sandy reached for the money. "Yes."
***
The next day, Sandy decided not to tell the altered story to the girls of her class. Selina was there and she knew the truth. Instead, Sandy started with Sarah from 9-A. She knew Sarah quite well from the gym classes that they shared. After Sarah, she continued on with the other girls of 9-A. The rumor spread quickly that Wednesday.
On Thursday, Sandy had people telling her a severely distorted version of the story. The version she heard had Annie physically ripping the clothes off an unfortunate girl and kicking her out into the winter. The details of the story was so vivid that Sandy actually believed that there was an unfortunate victim of Annie out there shivering in the cold.
(Sandy did not make the connection between that new rumor and the story she had initially told the girls of 9-A.)
***
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