Mean Girls

I work in a company that is (surprisingly) mostly women. However that comes with a price tag. Recently I was informed that a "friend" of mine has proven herself otherwise. Let's call this friend Fern. Fern became friends with myself and two other women here at work. When we finished training and joined our respective teams, our schedules were somewhat different. Our lunch hours were no longer all at noon - but varying times. Fern's was always different everyday and never at a decent time, so we eventually quit asking her to join us. I don't know if this upset her or what, but I digress...

Fern recently told her team leader (quite loudly) that the reason I and these other two women go out for lunch together is so we can go out and complain about our jobs. She said this loudly enough for other people to hear, including a director.

I have a big problem with someone trying to smear my name just to make them feel better about themselves. I don't know what she thinks she is trying to gain from this, but I can tell you it's not friendship. She is no longer my friend and I have debated either confronting her or going directly to HR about this. I don't want her to think that she can talk about other people and get away with it! It irritates me that someone (who really has no idea about my character or my work ethic) can plant the seed of doubt in their mind. What should I do? Hmmm....