The message
1182 Words
I barely slept that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, the message flashed behind my eyelids, You shouldn’t be asking about Noah.
Then the second one, colder, Some things are better left alone.
The words burned into me, over and over, until morning light started slipping through the curtains.
I sat on my bed, hugging my knees, my phone still clutched in my hand. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
Who would send that? And why?
I thought of Noah’s quiet eyes, his calm voice, his unreadable smile. I thought of those boys — Caleb and the others and how easily he had laughed with them.
The sound didn’t fit with the Noah I thought I knew.
By sunrise, I’d gone through every possibility with Mia, Destiny, Ryan, maybe some random classmate who noticed me talking to Noah. But none of it made sense.
And yet, one thought kept repeating like a whisper I didn’t want to hear: What if it came from one of them?
The next morning, I was late for school. My head hurt from the lack of sleep.
Mia spotted me the moment I walked through the gate.
“Bella! You look awful,” she said softly, looping her arm through mine. “What happened?”
I hesitated, then sighed. “I got a message last night. From an unknown number.”
Her expression changed instantly. “What kind of message?”
I opened my phone and showed her. She read them, her eyes widening. “You shouldn’t be asking about Noah? Bella, what is this?”
“I don’t know,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “That’s what’s scaring me.”
Mia bit her lip, her brows knitting. Then she took a deep breath and said, “Okay. First, don’t freak out. Maybe it’s just a stupid prank.”
“I thought that too, but—”
“Listen,” she cut in gently, “don’t tell Noah. Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because…” She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “Because we don’t know who he really is, Bella. You’ve known him for what, a few weeks? He’s nice, sure, but people can hide things. Especially someone like him.”
Her voice softened at the end, but it still stung.
“I’m not saying he’s bad,” she added quickly. “I just don’t want you walking into something you can’t handle.”
I nodded, pretending to agree. But all morning, the thought refused to leave me.
Don’t tell Noah. Don’t tell Noah.
But what if he was the reason behind it?
By lunchtime, I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I saw him sitting alone again, under the same tree where we’d worked on our project before. A part of me wanted to run the other way. Another part,the louder one,needed answers.
I walked toward him, my steps shaky. He looked up when I stopped beside him, his expression calm, unreadable as ever.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I breathed, my voice barely steady. “Um… can we talk?”
He closed his book, studying me quietly. “Sure.”
I opened my mouth — but before I could say anything, he spoke.
“Actually,” he said softly, “I wanted to talk to you first.”
That caught me off guard. “You did?”
He nodded once, and his eyes met mine. They were steady, serious and yet there was something tender in them I hadn’t seen before.
“Bella,” he said, voice low, “will you be my girlfriend?”
My heart stopped.
For a second, I thought I’d misheard. “What… what did you say?”
He gave a small, nervous laugh. “I’m serious. I like you. I’ve liked you for a while, and I just thought, maybe it’s time I said it.”
I blinked, my mouth opening but no sound coming out. My mind was a storm of confusion, fear, happiness, disbelief, all tangled together.
“I—Noah, I…”
“You don’t have to answer right now,” he said quickly. “I just want to get to know you better. But I’d really like you to say yes.”
My heartbeat was so loud I could barely think.
“Yes,” I blurted out before I even realized I’d said it. Then, flustered, I added, “I mean… yes, we can… try.”
His smile reached his eyes this time — soft, real, and somehow grounding. “Great,” he said.
Then he stood, stepped closer, and hugged me just for a moment. Warm, brief, but it left me frozen in place, my pulse racing.
Before I could say anything else, he pulled back and said, “I’ll see you later, okay?”
Then he walked away, leaving me standing under the tree, staring after him like the world had tilted slightly off its axis.
The next few days blurred together.
We started spending more time together,walking between classes, sharing lunch, talking about books and small things that didn’t seem to matter but somehow did.
He was still quiet, but with me, he smiled more. And every time he did, something inside me softened, even when I tried to resist it.
But at night, the messages haunted me.
I never told Mia that I’d said yes. Not yet.
And I hadn’t told Noah about the texts either though the weight of them pressed heavier each day.
Until finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
We were sitting outside after school, the sun dipping low behind the buildings. He was talking about how he hated loud crowds, and I blurted out, “Noah, someone sent me a message. About you.”
His expression shifted instantly. “What kind of message?”
I took a breath. “It said I shouldn’t be asking about you. And that some things are better left alone.”
For a moment, he didn’t move. Then he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh no. That must’ve been Derek.”
“Derek?”
“Yeah, one of my friends. He likes to mess around with people stupid jokes, bad timing. He probably thought it’d be funny to see if you’d panic.” He looked genuinely apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Bella. I didn’t know he’d do that.”
I stared at him, my chest tight. “So it was a prank?”
“Yeah,” he said quickly. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll talk to him.”
He reached for my hand, just lightly, his touch warm against my skin. “I promise, you’re safe. He won’t bother you again.”
I wanted to believe him. I really did.
But as I walked home that evening, his words kept echoing in my head, He probably thought it’d be funny.
Something about it didn’t feel right.
Because when Noah said Derek, his eyes flickered — just for a second and it wasn’t guilt I saw.
It was something else.
Something that made my stomach twist in quiet unease.
- Writer
