I felt my heart rate speed up after Olsen told me that. It felt as though time was speeding up, too. 

"Of course, I've tried to dispel the rumours as much as possible but you know how people are at this school, Zoe. They have a tendency to gossip. Anyway...I think I'm going to go and do some reading and think on this whole Penny situation. Don't worry about the rumours, I'm sure they'll go away soon enough," Olsen told me. 

"I hope so," I muttered. 

"I'll catch you later," Olsen told me, before he headed on out of the music room. 

In his absence, I walked over to one of the pianos and gently pressed on the keys for a short while, until I stopped. My mind was too preoccupied with what Olsen had told me. Why couldn't people mind their own damn business? 

I sighed and continued to play the piano, gently creating simple melodies until I heard the door to the music room open again. Fortunately, Drew hadn't been the one to enter it, despite the fact that I had taken a sharp inhale of breath. 

"Hi Zoe!" Yasmin Grace said happily, as she entered the room. 

I hadn't seen Yasmin in a while but I had always been inspired by her cheerful disposition. I knew that I could trust her to not spread rumours like rapid fire, which made me wonder who had started this whole rumour about Heather and I. 

I wasn't sure who it could be but...I had a weird feeling that Drew may have been behind it. Of course, I had always thought that I could trust him, so I was now wondering whether I had been so gullible to have such high hopes in him from the very beginning. Drew and I had been friends for so long but ever since I had gotten closer with Heather, he had become a...well, I wasn't sure what he was anymore. Although I hated keeping secrets from him, perhaps it was the right thing to do when he was going to react in the way that he had, without really knowing anything about Heather and I at all. 

"Are you okay?" Yasmin asked me, as she picked up a violin. 

"I'm okay," I said. 

"You seem fairly preoccupied. It's not because of the rumours, is it?" she asked me. 

I didn't say a word. 

Yasmin gave a slight shake of her head. 

"People can be exceptional assholes at times. I'm going to get some music playing in. It'll be fun! We can just own this room for a little while. It's rare to come along and find that it isn't being used by Drew and his band members. Wait...you're friends with Drew, right? What happened about that?" Yasmin asked me. 

I suddenly felt very, very sad. 

I tried to disguise that, when I spoke again, though. 

"Nothing happened," I lied. 

"Well, I'm sure it'll all work out! Anyway, want to make up a song together?" Yasmin asked me. 

I smiled at her optimism and gave a nod of my head. 

Yasmin's appearance was as bright as her personality. She currently had dyed her hair blonde and was wearing it in braids. She then wore a colourful dress that I had a feeling she had made by herself. Yasmin had always been creative. When we had art class together, she was always getting the best grades and the best praise from our teacher. 

Yasmin began to play the violin, while I began to press keys on the piano in front of me to go along with her melody. 

We played for a short while and my mind drifted away from my worries for some time, until it came time for us to head to our first class of the day. 

"I'm exhausted already. I guess I'll slip into a daydream or something," Yasmin said, as playfulness flickered in her eyes. "I'll see you later, Zoe," she told me. 

"Yeah! I'll see you later, Yasmin," I replied. 

Yasmin walked off to her first class and I decided it was about time for me to do the same. 

I walked to class and found that Heather wasn't there, either, which made me wonder where she had got to. I hoped she was alright. I was beginning to wonder whether I should stop by her house after class. 

I went to take a seat next to Becca Taylor. The two of us hadn't spoken for some time since she had become best friends with Penny. However, she wasn't the type to abandon her friends. 

Our teacher gave us our literature work for the lesson and we began to write. 

"Hey, Becca," I said, when our teacher wasn't looking in our direction. 

"Hi, Zoe," she replied, "I'm going to be honest, I was thinking about talking to you for a while, especially given that all this drama is happening with the rumour about you and Heather but...I'm here for you. I get it, better than I'm sure a lot of people do. Don't feel as though you're on your own." 

I smiled at her, then. It felt good to know that I had someone on my side, especially when it felt as though Drew was so against me. 

However, I couldn't help but wonder if Drew and I would ever speak again, especially not after the conversation that we had several days ago. I didn't want to be such a pessimist but Drew and I had never had an argument like this before. I wished that he wasn't so demanding. I wished that he could accept the fact that there were some things that I simply couldn't tell him. 

"You know, I do still care, even if I'm not around as much anymore," Becca reminded me. 

I felt shy all of a sudden, as though I wasn't sure what to say to that. 

I ended up mumbling a "Thank you," before returning my attention to the work in front of me. I tried to get as much writing done as possible, despite the many thoughts floating around inside my head.