It doesn't matter if you two have gotten close that the gossip started. People will always find something to gossip about - which is something she needs to understand.
Guys and girls can be close friends tbh, which is something else she has to accept. Most of my friends are guys and I prefer that because I find girls to be bitchy and I have more in common with guys. Yeah, people say some **** sometimes but I always just ignore it and move on. If you both are just friends and are comfortable with that, it shouldn't matter what other people say.
Tbh, she's not sounding like a great person to me by what has been painted to me. She seems to care alot about other people's opinions and seems to be a bit of a sheep. If she's willing to throw a good friendship away because she's listening to other people's opinions and are afraid of what others are saying, then it really is her loss - not yours.
Unfortunately, you are both in secondary school and unfortunately, at that age -- people are sheep tbh and will follow "the crowd" to stop the rumours/gossip, but like I said its her loss if she is willing to throw a good friendship away to be a people's pleaser. Most likely, she will probably mature eventually, realise a mistake she has made and then apologise to you. When you leave school, you realise that the friends you have are most likely not going to be your friends anymore and it really doesn't matter what other people think.
E.g. Like when I was at school, had all the popular kids... But now tbh, pretty much all of them are on the dole, having kids and doing **** all with their life! 😂
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