Almost loved

Half Lies half truth

It started with a whisper.

By Monday morning, it had grown teeth.

“Did you hear what Jason did at his last school?”

Matilda overheard it near the lockers.

“Got caught with two girls. At the same time. In the library.”

Another voice, half-laughing, half-scandalized. “He was expelled for it. Some principal’s daughter or something.”

The words wrapped around her like cold hands.

She tried to ignore it. People said things all the time. Lies traveled faster than truth.

But when she got to homeroom, Zara was already waiting—arms folded, eyes sharp with something unreadable.

“You heard, right?” Zara said casually, sliding into the seat beside her.

Matilda’s heart sank. “Heard what?”

Zara arched a brow. “About Jason. What he did at his last school.”

Matilda forced a scoff. “You believe that?”

“I didn’t,” Zara said, dropping her voice. “Not until I heard who he did it with. Apparently, she was dating someone else. And he knew.”

Matilda stared at her.

Zara leaned closer. “That’s the kind of guy he is, Tilly. Charming. Secretive. Dangerous when he wants something.”

Matilda looked down at her hands, nails pressed into her palm.

“But… he said he left because of family stuff.”

Zara clicked her tongue. “That’s what guys like him say. You want to be another one of his mistakes?”

Matilda didn’t answer.

She just nodded like she believed her.

But inside, everything was spinning.

---

By lunch, the rumor had reached a fever pitch. Jason was sitting alone under the stairwell, hoodie up, unreadable as always. He didn’t look bothered.

But that almost made it worse.

Matilda watched from across the courtyard. Half of her wanted to go to him. The other half heard her father’s voice like a warning siren.

“Guard your heart. Men want one thing.”

And now Zara’s:

“He’s dangerous.”

So Matilda turned away.

And for the first time since Jason had smiled at her, she felt cold.

---

The rumor should’ve been enough.

But Zara could feel Matilda slipping — hesitating. There was still doubt in her eyes. Still some quiet, aching hope that maybe Jason wasn’t who everyone said he was.

And hope was dangerous.

So Zara did what she always did best: controlled the story.

---

She borrowed a friend’s phone — someone who wouldn’t ask questions — and created a fake account on an anonymous chat app.

The username was vague: @RiveraTruth.

Then she uploaded a screenshot. Two, actually.

One looked like a DM conversation. Jason’s name at the top. The messages below:

> “You were the best part of my last school.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t want it.”

“Matilda’s just a distraction.”

The second image was grainier. A blurred photo of Jason sitting close to a girl — clearly not Matilda — laughing, leaning in. The kind of photo that told the wrong story very well.

She sent it to a group chat she knew would spread it fast. Added a simple caption:

“Y’all need to know who he really is.”

By third period, it had made the rounds.

---

Matilda saw it during lunch. Zara “accidentally” showed her.

“Oh my god,” she said, holding her phone so Matilda could see. “I didn’t even want to believe it, but—look.”

Matilda stared at the screen. Her stomach dropped.

“That could be fake,” she whispered.

Zara tilted her head. “You think someone made up all that? Just to what—ruin him? Why would anyone bother unless it was true?”

Matilda didn’t have an answer. The image burned into her memory anyway.

Later, alone in the restroom, she locked herself in a stall and sat on the closed lid of the toilet, phone shaking in her hand.

She pulled up Jason’s number.

Then she deleted it.

No texts. No goodbyes. Just silence.

Because if what she’d seen was real…

Then Jason had been lying to her from the start.

And Zara had been right all along.

---