Love Changes

Rumors Between Us

By the middle of the school year, everyone at Westbridge Academy knew Patricia, Anna, and Naomi. Not because they were the most popular girls in school, but because they were always somewhere together—walking through the halls, sitting together during lunch, laughing over something nobody else seemed to understand.

Patricia and Anna were the closest. They had been friends for years, long enough for Patricia to tell Anna practically everything.

Naomi was different. She was their friend, but she had her own circle too. She could spend the entire afternoon with them and then disappear to basketball practice with someone else without thinking twice about it.

Patricia was smart, observant, and usually confident. She wasn't the loudest person in class, but she knew how to have fun. She was also protective of the people she cared about, sometimes a little more than they wanted her to be.

Anna was more talkative. She loved jokes, gossip, and anything that made school less boring.

Naomi was the easiest to get along with. She was friendly with almost everyone, wore mostly baggy clothes, played football and basketball, and was always doing something—singing, dancing, writing, or making jokes.

Then Daniel arrived.

He transferred to Westbridge halfway through the school year, just before midterms.

He was funny, good at sports, and smart enough to keep up in class without acting like he knew everything. Within his first day, he had already made several people laugh.

Patricia noticed him almost immediately.

It wasn't just his looks. She liked the way he joked with people, the way he seemed comfortable anywhere, and the fact that he didn't take himself too seriously.

By lunch, she had already found a reason to talk to him.

“So, you're new here?” she asked.

Daniel looked up from his food.

“That's what everyone keeps telling me.”

Patricia laughed. “You know what I mean.”

“I know.”

From across the table, Anna watched them with an amused expression.

When Patricia finally came back, Anna leaned closer.

“You like him.”

Patricia rolled her eyes. “I never said that.”

“You didn't have to.”

Patricia tried not to smile.

She didn't tell Naomi.

She told Anna almost everything, but some things were just for Anna.

Over the next few days, Patricia kept finding reasons to be around Daniel. She helped him find classrooms, explained things about the school, and sometimes saved him a seat.

Daniel noticed.

So did everyone else.

But Daniel also started noticing Naomi.

Not because she was trying to impress him. She wasn't.

She treated him exactly the way she treated everyone else.

When he made a joke, she laughed.

When he said something stupid, she told him it was stupid.

And when he joined the football game during lunch, she played against him without treating him like the new student.

One afternoon, Daniel missed an easy shot.

Naomi laughed. “You call yourself good at football?”

Daniel put a hand over his chest. “That was intentional.”

“Sure.”

“You're just jealous.”

“Of what?”

“My talent.”

Naomi shook her head. “You don't have any.”

Daniel laughed.

Patricia happened to see them from across the field.

She didn't say anything.

But she noticed.

Around that same time, Anna started asking Naomi the same question she'd been asking her for almost a week.

“Who do you like?”

“Nobody.”

“Come on.”

“I said nobody.”

“There has to be someone.”

Naomi sighed. “Anna, leave me alone.”

Anna laughed. “Just tell me.”

Naomi looked at her for a moment, clearly tired of being asked.

“Fine. Ethan.”

Anna's eyes widened.

“Ethan?”

Naomi immediately shook her head. “I don't even like Ethan. I just said his name so you'd stop asking.”

But it was already too late.

By the end of the day, Sophie and a few other girls had heard about it.

Naomi didn't care much.

When Ethan eventually heard, he walked past her at lunch with a grin.

“So…” he said. “I hear you like me.”

Naomi didn't even look up from her food.

“Congratulations.”

Ethan laughed. “That's it?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don't know. Something romantic.”

“Go away, Ethan.”

He laughed and walked off.

The rumor disappeared almost as quickly as it started.

For a day, nobody really cared.

Not long after that, something else happened.

Daniel and Ethan were sitting near the sports field after lunch, talking about a basketball game.

“You only won because I wasn't paying attention,” Ethan said.

Daniel laughed. “You lost because you're bad.”

“I beat you twice.”

“And I beat you three times.”

“That doesn't count.”

“How does it not count?”

“Because I wasn't ready.”

Daniel shook his head. “That's always your excuse.”

Ethan laughed and leaned back.

“You know what your problem is?”

Daniel looked at him. “What?”

“You act like you don't notice anything.”

“Notice what?”

Ethan glanced across the field.

Naomi was standing near the building with Sophie, laughing about something.

“You and Naomi are always talking.”

Daniel shrugged. “She's my friend.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Just your friend?”

“Yes.”

“Then why do you always look for her when you walk into class?”

Daniel laughed. “I don't.”

“You do.”

“Bro, you're imagining things.”

Ethan shook his head, smiling.

“Yeah, right. You're telling me you don't like her?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “You're annoying.”

Ethan laughed. “That isn't a no.”

Neither of them noticed that Sophie had walked close enough to hear the last part of the conversation.

She hadn't heard everything.

She didn't know what they had been talking about before.

All she heard was Ethan asking Daniel if he liked Naomi.

By the time Sophie reached the cafeteria, the story had already started changing.

Daniel didn't maybe like Naomi anymore.

Daniel liked Naomi.

And because Sophie had heard Ethan say it, everyone assumed it had to be true.

Anna heard about it before Naomi did.

She found Patricia near their classroom.

“Guess what?”

Patricia looked up. “What?”

Anna lowered her voice.

“Daniel likes Naomi.”

Patricia froze.

“What?”

“I just heard.”

“From who?”

“Sophie. She said Ethan was talking to Daniel about it.”

Patricia stared at her.

Around them, a few girls had already started whispering.

“Wait, Daniel likes Naomi?”

“I thought Patricia liked Daniel.”

“So does that mean he doesn't like Patricia?”

Patricia heard every word.

She looked down the hallway.

Naomi was walking toward them.

She smiled when she saw Patricia.

“Hey.”

Patricia didn't smile back.

Naomi slowed down.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Patricia said.

Naomi looked between Patricia and Anna.

“Okay…”

She continued walking.

The rumor spread faster than anyone expected.

Soon, even students who barely knew Naomi had heard it.

And the strange thing was, Daniel had started acting differently too.

Whenever Naomi walked into the classroom, he noticed.

Whenever she laughed with someone else, he looked over.

He didn't fully understand what was happening himself.

But Naomi noticed the attention.

And she didn't like it.

At first, she ignored the whispers.

Then people started looking at her whenever Daniel walked past.

So she began avoiding him.

She stopped sitting near him.

She took a different hallway after class.

If he walked toward her, she suddenly found somewhere else to go.

Daniel noticed.

One afternoon, he watched Naomi walk past him without saying a word.

He turned to the girl standing beside him.

“Why is she avoiding me?”

The girl shrugged.

“Maybe you did something.”

“I didn't.”

“Then figure it out.”

Daniel watched Naomi disappear around the corner.

He wasn't smiling anymore.

Meanwhile, Patricia had reached the point where she couldn't keep pretending everything was fine.

She found Naomi after class.

“Come with me.”

Naomi frowned. “Where?”

“Just come.”

Anna followed them.

They went into the girls' bathroom, where it was quieter than the hallway.

Naomi turned around.

“Okay. What's going on?”

Patricia crossed her arms.

“You tell me.”

Naomi stared at her. “Tell you what?”

“About Daniel.”

Naomi blinked.

“What about Daniel?”

Anna stepped forward.

“Don't do that, Naomi.”

“Do what?”

“Pretend you don't know.”

Naomi looked genuinely confused.

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Patricia let out a short laugh.

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“You knew I liked him.”

Naomi's expression changed.

“I know.”

“And now everybody's saying he likes you.”

Naomi stared at her.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I heard what people were saying,” Naomi said. “I just didn't think you actually believed it.”

Patricia's voice became sharper.

“So you didn't do anything?”

“No.”

“Nothing?”

“No.”

Anna folded her arms.

“Then why is he always talking to you?”

Naomi looked at her.

“Because we're friends?”

Silence.

Naomi shook her head.

“I don't understand why you're both angry with me.”

Patricia looked at her.

“Because we trusted you.”

Naomi stared at her. “So you really think I would do something behind your backs?”

Patricia hesitated.

“I don't know what to think anymore.”

Naomi sighed.

“I'm your friend. Can't you believe me?”

Patricia didn't answer.

For a moment, the bathroom was completely quiet.

Naomi looked at both of them, then picked up her bag.

“So much for trusting one another.”

She walked past them and left.

Anna watched the door close.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Anna said quietly, “She could be lying.”

Patricia didn't answer.

Outside, Naomi walked down the hallway without looking back.

She didn't see Daniel standing near the classroom door.

He had been waiting for her.

And for the first time since the rumor started, he wasn't smiling.

He watched her disappear around the corner.

Then Ethan walked up beside him.

“You okay?”

Daniel didn't answer immediately.

He kept looking at the empty hallway.

Finally, he said, “I think I need to talk to Naomi.”

And that was the beginning of something none of them had expected.