Rumor's Out!

By DeAnna Kinney

For Rumor Gellar, being the most popular girl in school was never something she desired, but she embraces it, wearing it like a badge of honor to inspire those around her. That, however, is all threatened when then new girl arrives. Determined to take Rumor's place, the deceitful Jessica Handy plays her games, weaves her web, and starts a nasty rumor that triggers a chain reaction with severe consequences.
Rumor, defeated and bruised, has no choice but to dig deep within herself to find the courage to stand tall and face, head on, what's coming next.
She might be down, but she is definitely not out!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kinney Publishing
• Release date: Jan 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215760109

DeAnna Kinney

DeAnna Kinney is the author of the successful Charity Series, a Young-Adult Paranormal series with a twist. She is also the author of New Adult and Adult Romance, Action Adventure, and Children's books. She considers herself as fun-loving and a bit peculiar. Besides writing, she loves reading, all things purple, Star Wars, acting like a goofball, and dancing while she cooks (she can see her kids rolling their eyes as we speak). She believes whole-heartedly that chocolates and a good book go hand in hand. And, having experienced it herself, believes utterly in the power of true love. She lives in the lovely North Carolina with her husband, four kids, a black lab named Lincoln Six Echo, or just Link, who thinks he's a human, and a bunny named Lula Bell who thinks she owns the world.

Book preview

More Books by DeAnna Kinney:

The Charity Series:

Charity Moon (Charity Series Book 1)

Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2)

Raven’s Rose (Charity Series Book 3)

Charity’s Storm (Charity Series Book 4)

Charity Rain (Charity Series Book 5) The Drake Triplets

Charity’s Light (Charity Series Book 6) Anora’s Story

Charity: A New Beginning (Charity Series Book 7)

A Charity Christmas Novella

The Cross Series:

Calico Cross (Cross Series Book 1)

Tender Crossing (Cross Series Book 2)

Double Crossed (Cross Series Book 3)

The Lavender Series:

Loving Lily Lavender (Lavender Series, # 1)

Leaving a Lavender Legacy (Lavender Series, #2)

The Dream Siren Series:

Emerald Moon (Dream Siren Book 1)

Dream Siren (Dream Siren Book 2)

Stand Alones:

Box of Gaza

My Forever June

Jewels of Sanctum

Exposing Kitty Langley

Running from the Mark

Christmas at Clove Cottage

I Was a Fairly Hairy, Slightly Scary, PINK Werewolf

Saving My Rock Star

Children’s Books:

Sammy the Sea Cow Makes a New Friend (Sammy, Book 1)

Sammy the Sea Cow Learns a Valuable Lesson (Sammy, Book 2)

Sammy the Sea Cow Loses His Way (Sammy, Book 3)

Prologue:

The Dream

Iwoke with a start , but it wasn’t the alarm on my phone that woke me; it was noise coming from the hallway.

The light was streaming through the window and a bad feeling settled into the pit of my gut. I reached for my phone, but my hand came up empty. I jerked to a sitting position and searched the table, but my phone was missing. I knew I had put it there before I fell asleep. I jumped from the bed and pulled back the curtains, staring down onto the street below. My eyes widened in horror—I gasped. Today was the day our field trip was over. We were heading home. Students were loading into the buses. They were getting ready to leave—without me!

I spun and grabbed my jeans from the floor and jumped into them faster than I even knew I could. I flung my night shirt off and pulled on a new shirt while barely shoving my feet into my shoes. I shuffled toward the door, my converse magically hanging on.

Wait for me! I yelled to anyone who might hear and grabbed my backpack I had repacked the night before.

I hopped down the hallway toward the elevator, securing one foot at a time into my shoes, not even bothering to stop to tie them.

I smacked the button on the elevator frantically, as if the more times I hit it the faster it would open. I hadn’t taken the time to pee before rushing out, and I was suddenly feeling the sting. I squirmed back and forth from one leg to the other waiting for the elevator door to open.

Ding! The elevator door crept slowly open. I rushed in and hit the button to the lobby. The elevator door was even slower closing.

C-mon, c-mon! I begged as if that would somehow help.

I was relieved when I finally reached the lobby. I bolted from the elevator, rushed out of the hotel door and into the street.

My relief quickly turned to horror at the realization that the buses were all gone.

I had been left behind!

I dropped my backpack and covered my face, screaming at the top of my lungs.

I bolted straight up in my bed, my screams ripping from my throat.

My mom burst into the room. Rumor! What’s wrong? Are you all right? There was fear in her tone.

It took me a moment to gather myself. Realizing it was just a dream, I sighed as the relief quickly flooded me.

Yes, Mom, I’m fine. It was just a bad dream. I’m sorry I woke you. You can go back to bed.

A dream? she asked. Hmm, I warned you not to eat that old pizza, and right before bed too. Maybe next time you’ll listen to your old mama, huh?

I gave a slight laugh. Maybe next time I will. Love you, Mom.

I love you too. Now, go back to sleep. She pulled the door shut, and the room grew dark once more.

As I lay down, sinking deeper into the softness of my cozy blanket, my mind went back to the ending of my dream. Hmm, it was a classic—getting left behind. Everyone feared it, but that could never happen to me.

Yeah, that will never happen to me, I whispered to myself, and it was the last thing that passed through my mind right before I drifted back into sleep.

Chapter One:

The New Girl

2 Days Later...

It’s was a glorious morning. The sky was a brilliant blue, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and spring was right around the corner, which meant warmer weather... finally. The smells of winter were slowly beginning to fade. I absolutely hated cold weather. I guess I took after my mom like that. We were both nature lovers and enjoyed being outside during the warmer months.

There was still a slight chill in the air, so reluctantly, I rolled my car window the rest of the way up as I made my final turn toward the school—Jefferson T. High School. It was my senior year. I struggled in a few of my classes during the first half of the year, but I’d been working much harder and making great improvements on my grades. This was only one thing out of so many to be thankful for.

I whipped into my normal parking place and quickly spotted Freida and Beth running toward my car. I was once again reminded how great my life was.

I couldn’t have foreseen any trouble headed my way. How could I? With my friends coming toward me, their smiles wide with anticipation of seeing me, trouble was the last thing on my mind...and yet it was coming.

I had never really wanted to be the popular girl; you know, the one everybody looked up to, the one everyone wanted to be or at least be friends with. But that’s how it worked out.

My popularity actually kicked into high gear during my junior year when I began dating Lee Ryan. He was the most adored and desired boy in the entire school, with his lean muscles, dark wavy hair and dazzling white smile. I was popular, to a degree, before that, but dating Lee was what catapulted me into superstar status. I was never really attracted to guys like Lee. I liked the quieter, more sensitive ones, ones that used their brains more than their muscles. But when he rescued me from a group of admirers in the public library by pretending to be my boyfriend, his charms were hard to resist. After begging me for two weeks to go out on a date with him, I finally agreed, against my better judgement.

His friends became my friends, his hangouts became my hangouts and so on. I was so in love with Lee. He was everything a girl could want in a guy, or so I thought. It didn’t take me long to notice how much he noticed other girls.

I broke up with him last summer. I knew he couldn’t remain faithful over the summer break...poor guy didn’t have it in him. It hurt to let him go, but somewhere deep down, I knew I deserved better.

I wanted a guy who would adore me and only me. And truthfully, I didn’t want to have to work so hard to keep it. I wanted someone who would love me for who I was, not for who they wanted me to be or even who they thought they could make me.

Now, granted, I did have issues, I mean I was lazy, sometimes selfish, and I could spend hours staring out the window at nature, which to some might make me boring. I’d rather spend time letting my mind wander, thinking of new material for my poetry to add to the book I was writing, than go to a party. This became an issue with Lee and me. I actually put my poetry aside for most of my junior year because of that. I picked it back up after the breakup. I was back in love with poetry and no