So you avoid her. Years later, you run into her shopping and you learn that she's an extremely nice person and not a snob at all. You miss spending a lot of time with a cool person because you judged her based on a rumor. Once you understand the damage they can do, how do you go about breaking the chain of rumors and gossip? It's very simple. Make the rumor stop with you. If you decide that the rumor is hurtful in some way, make a stand