Reputation Rehab: How to Bounce Back from Rumors   Artwork by Ed
Ruscha  Valerie,* fifteen, was sick and tired of being her
school's good girl. President of her class and involved in
countless clubs and activities, she was desperate to break out
of her rut. "I didn't want to be known as that girl," the now-
eighteen-year-old says. "I wanted everyone to know I could
loosen up." So one Saturday night, she and her friend went to an
upperclassmen party. After several drinks, Valerie hooked up
with an older guy from another town. When he found out her age,
he got angry and called her a slut in front of everyone. On
Monday morning Valerie was experiencing a different kind of
attention. Students openly gawked as she walked down the hall.
"Undercover slut," they sneered. People said her good-girl image
was an act. Her Facebook wall grew eerily silent. "One night
changed my whole reputation," Valerie recalls.  A ruined rep can
also be the work of a vicious lie, as it was for Zoe, eighteen.
When Zoe enrolled at a new sc