Chapter 6 Rumors, Sparks, and Shadows
1836 Words
Whispers had a way of spreading faster than the morning bell.
By the next day, the school was buzzing… not about grades… not about exams… not even about the football team. But about them.
About Aiden. About Noah. About something nobody could name, yet everyone wanted to.
Noah could feel it the moment he stepped through the gate. Eyes. Everywhere. On him. Watching. Studying. Measuring the “new Noah” like he was a movie everyone wanted to see the ending of.
His hoodie wasn’t on today. His hair wasn’t covering his eyes. His walk wasn’t small anymore. There was a calm confidence in his steps. Not loud. Not arrogant. But steady… firm… and dangerously attractive.
Airpods in. Hands in pockets. The wind catching the edge of his shirt. His eyes were clearer. Sharper. He wasn’t hiding anymore. And the school noticed.
He could feel Aiden’s presence even before seeing him.
He didn’t know how that worked. He didn’t know why his chest reacted before his eyes did. But it did.
And then he saw him.
Aiden was standing at his locker surrounded by his friends, but he looked distant. Detached. He wasn’t laughing like he always did. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. His posture said something was weighing on him.
Pressure. Expectations. Fear of failing.
And yet… when his eyes lifted… They landed right on Noah.
Instantly.
As if Noah was the only anchor in a crowd of meaningless noise.
Their eyes didn’t just meet.
They held.
Something slow and warm slid through Noah’s chest. Something confusing and unsettling tightened inside Aiden.
Neither of them looked away first.
The whispers doubled.
> “Are they talking now?”
“They sit together every class now.”
“Noah’s tutoring him.”
“I heard Noah rejected someone yesterday…”
“But why is Aiden always staring at him?”
“You think they…?”
Nobody finishes the sentence.
Nobody had to.
They both felt everything.
Noah swallowed and looked away first. His heart wasn’t racing like before but it wasn’t calm either. It was alive. Loud. Warm.
Aiden dragged a hand through his hair and exhaled slowly.
“Bro… you’re zoning out again,” one of his teammates said.
Aiden didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
His heart already had.
---
Shared Desk.
Shared Air. Shared Silence.
This was dangerous.
Aiden slid into the shared desk in class a little earlier than usual, resting his arm lazily across the table as students poured in. Noah walked in seconds later and the room shifted.
People pretended to face forward… …but their attention was stuck on the two boys sitting side by side.
Noah sat. Calm. Aiden tensed without knowing why.
The room felt smaller. The air thicker.
Their elbows brushed.
Just slightly.
Just enough for warmth to pass.
And neither moved.
Aiden pretended he didn’t feel it. Pretended his heart didn’t skip. Pretended his chest didn’t tighten at the soft contact.
But pretending became impossible when it happened again.
A book slipped. A movement shifted. And Aiden’s hand accidentally covered Noah’s.
Warm skin. Firm touch. Full contact.
Time didn’t just slow. It stopped.
Noah froze. Not in fear. Not in shock.
But because he liked it.
The warmth. The closeness. The safety. The danger.
His breath got caught somewhere between his chest and throat.
Aiden’s hand stayed. Not because he wanted it to. But because moving suddenly felt impossible.
His thumb twitched against Noah’s skin.
That tiny movement sent an electric current straight through Noah’s bloodstream.
Noah slowly lifted his eyes.
Aiden was already staring at him.
And there it was.
That thing Aiden couldn’t name. That thing he had been fighting. That thing he didn’t want to understand…
But now he couldn’t ignore.
Something soft… Something warm… Something terrifyingly gentle…
A feeling that shouldn’t be there.
A feeling that shouldn’t feel this right.
Aiden swallowed. His heartbeat hammered in his ears.
Why does touching him feel like this…? Why does it feel good…? Why do I want to keep my hand here… just a bit longer…?
He didn’t even realize he was gripping Noah’s hand tighter.
Noah didn’t pull away.
He didn’t want to.
For once in his life, someone touched him not to hurt him… not to mock him… not to bully or shove him aside…
But softly. Almost… protectively.
Then reality slammed back.
A chair scraped loudly. A sharp gasp echoed. Someone actually dropped their pen.
The entire class had seen it.
Their hands. Their silence. Their faces. Their eyes.
Their tension.
Aiden jerked his hand away. Noah blinked and exhaled softly, leaning back, trying to regain his calm.
Whispers exploded.
> “Did they just—?”
“He held his hand.”
“That wasn’t accidental.”
“Did you see the way they looked at each other…?”
“Something is definitely going on…”
The teacher hadn’t even entered yet and chaos already owned the room.
Aiden dragged his fingers through his hair, heart pounding aggressively now.
Why did it hurt to pull away? Why did leaving Noah’s touch suddenly feel like losing something?
He didn’t understand. And it scared him more than failing school.
Meanwhile Noah just stared quietly at the board. But his fingers still tingled from the warmth Aiden left behind.
He didn’t complain. Didn’t freak out. Didn’t panic.
He simply smiled faintly…
Just for himself.
Just for that moment.
---
Then She Walked In.
The room shifted again.
But this time… It wasn’t because of Noah. Or Aiden.
It was because of her.
Tall. Perfect hair. Confident walk. Dangerously beautiful smile.
Elena.
Aiden’s ex-girlfriend.
And suddenly the whispers weren’t whispers anymore. They were knives. Sharp. Loud. Cutting.
She didn’t even sit before her eyes found Aiden. Then Noah. Then their desk.
Then everything clicked in her brain.
Her jaw tightened for half a second… Then she smiled.
That smile girls wear when they’re about to destroy peace.
The teacher entered. The class finally quieted.
But tension didn’t leave.
If anything…
It grew.
Aiden didn’t look at her. He refused to.
He knew the storm she could bring.
Noah noticed her though. Not because he cared… But because everyone else suddenly did.
He didn’t know her story. Didn’t know her attachment. Didn’t know her intentions.
But he knew something: Whatever she came for… …it wouldn’t be peaceful.
And for the first time…
Noah wasn’t scared.
He had changed. He wasn’t the quiet weak boy anymore. He wasn’t prey.
He was different now.
And Aiden? Aiden wasn’t just the school’s golden boy anymore.
Somehow… In a way neither of them could explain…
They were tangled.
Connected.
And nothing would remain calm for long
By lunch break, the school was a battlefield of whispers.
Aiden couldn’t focus. Noah pretended to be unaffected. And Elena?
She wasn’t the type to sit quietly and let rumors form without her controlling them.
She walked toward their table… heels sharp against the floor… smile sweet… eyes deadly.
People moved. Chairs scraped. It was like the ocean parting.
She stopped right in front of Noah.
Aiden tensed.
“Noah,” she said sweetly, voice dripping honey and poison. “Can we talk?”
Noah removed an AirPod. Calm. Unbothered. Those sharp eyes lifted slowly.
“Why?” he asked softly. “You’re not relevant to my life.”
The cafeteria gasped.
Her smile cracked for half a second — but she patched it.
“I just want to… clear misunderstandings,” she said, voice shaky-calm. “It seems like you’re getting too comfortable near my ex.”
“My desk partner,” Noah corrected lazily. “Not your property.”
Her jaw tightened.
“He was mine. People know it. It’s history. And I don’t like people acting like they can replace me.”
Aiden swallowed. Everyone watched.
Noah leaned back, fingers interlocked calmly.
“Replace you?” he repeated softly. “No. That would imply you’re needed.”
Silence hit hard.
Her eye twitched. “Listen—”
“No,” Noah cut in, voice suddenly colder… sharper.
“You listen.”
The cafeteria froze.
“You walked in here like the world should pause because you decided to feel threatened,” Noah continued. “You broke up with him. You left. But now that you see him trying to stand again… you suddenly want relevance in his story?”
She blinked. He wasn’t shouting.
Which somehow hurt worse.
“That’s not—”
“You don’t care that he’s failing.”
“You don’t care that he’s under pressure.”
“You don’t care that he’s scared of disappointing his father.”
Her throat tightened.
“You only care that someone else is becoming important to him.”
That one stabbed.
Aiden’s chest tightened.
Noah leaned slightly closer, voice softer but deadlier.
“You’re not hurt because you ‘care’ about him. You’re hurt because your ego doesn’t like being replaced in a spotlight you abandoned.”
Elena’s eyes glossed.
Whispers started.
“He’s right…” “She only came back when rumors started…” “Noah is brutal…”
She tried to stand taller.
“I… I just don’t want him getting distracted by people like you.”
Noah smiled.
A slow… dangerous smile.
“People like me?” he whispered.
He stood. And suddenly he wasn’t the quiet cute boy anymore.
He was something colder. More powerful.
“People who aren’t rich?
People who don’t shine like you?
People who didn’t fit your ‘popular perfect picture’ of him?”
She swallowed. Hard.
Noah tilted his head slightly.
“I’m not distracting him.”
“I’m the one trying to help him not drown.”
“I’m the one who actually gives a damn whether he breaks or survives.”
Her tears finally slipped.
He didn’t shout. He didn’t insult.
He simply held a mirror to her soul.
“You had him first,” Noah said steadily. “You had the version of him that smiled easily. And you broke it. So don’t get angry at me because I’m not letting him stay broken.”
The cafeteria was dead silent.
Aiden couldn’t breathe.
Elena trembled. Then… She turned around.
But Noah wasn’t finished.
“Elena.”
She stopped.
Noah’s voice softened… painfully gentle.
“I don’t hate you.
But don’t come to me pretending you’re protecting him.
You’re protecting your pride.
And I’m not going to let your ego play with his heart again.”
She covered her face and walked out crying.
Aiden stared at Noah like he wasn’t someone from the same universe anymore.
Noah sat back down. Put his AirPods back in. And ate like nothing happened.
But his hands shook under the table.
And Aiden saw.
He gently reached under… Fingers brushing Noah’s.
This time Noah didn’t look at him.
But he didn’t pull away either.
Their hands rested there. Hidden. Warm. Alive.
For the first time…
Aiden didn’t feel lost.
He didn’t feel confused.
He felt…
Safe.
And completely, terrifyingly attached.
.
- Writer
