The rumors
1310 Words
Lily's pov
The next morning, Lily knew something was wrong the moment she stepped through the school gates.
The atmosphere felt different.
Students stood in small groups, speaking in low voices. Some glanced around before whispering, while others seemed almost afraid to say what was on their minds.
Lily slowed her steps.
She had barely walked a few feet when two boys near the entrance caught her attention.
“They're back.”
“Are you sure?”
“I heard someone saw them last night.”
“Keep your voice down.”
Lily turned slightly.
“Who are they talking about?” she wondered.
Before she could hear anything else, the boys noticed her and immediately stopped talking.
Lily frowned.
She continued toward the main building, but the strange feeling followed her.
Something was happening.
And everyone seemed to know about it except her.
“Lily!”
She turned and saw Mia, Nia, and Chloe approaching.
Mia reached her first.
“Have you heard the news?”
“What news?”
The three girls exchanged looks.
Nia lowered her voice.
“The Black Wolves.”
Lily's eyebrows pulled together.
“The Black Wolves?”
Chloe nodded.
“That's what everyone is talking about.”
“Who are they?”
Mia looked surprised.
“You've seriously never heard about them?”
“No.”
“Well…” Mia glanced around. “Nobody really knows much about them.”
“Then why are people so scared?”
“That is exactly what makes the rumors worse,” Chloe said.
Nia stepped closer.
“Some people say they're a group that has been around for years. Others say they're involved in things nobody at school wants to talk about.”
Lily listened carefully.
“And what's with the wolf?”
The girls looked at her.
“How did you know about the wolf?” Mia asked.
Lily quickly shrugged.
“I heard someone mention it.”
Mia nodded slowly.
“Apparently, the wolf is their symbol.”
Lily's stomach tightened.
A wolf.
She immediately remembered the tattoo.
The guy from Wayne's circle.
The tattoo she had accidentally seen.
The way he had quickly covered it.
She said nothing.
Instead, she forced herself to look uninterested.
“Sounds like another school rumor.”
“Maybe,” Nia said.
“But everyone seems convinced there's something behind it.”
The bell rang.
Students began moving toward their classrooms.
Lily followed her friends, but her mind remained stuck on one thing.
The wolf.
By lunchtime, the rumors had spread even further.
Everyone seemed to have a different version of the story.
One person claimed the Black Wolves had been seen near the school.
Another said they had been involved in something that happened outside the city.
Someone else insisted that they had been around for years and that nobody had ever managed to expose them.
Lily listened quietly.
Most of it sounded ridiculous.
But then she heard something that made her stop eating.
“They always leave the wolf behind.”
Lily looked up.
“What did you say?”
The girl who had spoken looked at her.
“The wolf symbol. That's how people know it's them.”
Lily's fingers tightened around her fork.
She suddenly remembered something else.
Her phone.
The messages.
The strange words that had appeared without a name or number she recognized.
Some things are better left unseen.
You should have listened.
She had never understood what they meant.
Until now.
Her heart began beating faster.
The first message had come after she saw something she wasn't supposed to see.
The tattoo.
The wolf.
And now everyone was talking about the Black Wolves.
Lily slowly looked down at her phone.
A terrible possibility entered her mind.
What if the person sending those messages is one of them?
She swallowed.
She had no proof.
But the timing was enough to make her uneasy.
Then another thought came.
What if Wayne is part of them?
Her eyes moved across the cafeteria.
Wayne was sitting with Kane and the others.
As usual, nobody seemed willing to get too close to their table.
There was something about Wayne that made people uncomfortable.
His silence.
His expression.
The way people seemed to move aside whenever he walked past.
Lily had noticed it before.
But now it felt different.
Maybe the rumors are true.
Maybe Wayne really is part of the Black Wolves.
Then she immediately questioned herself.
Or maybe he isn't.
The guy with the tattoo could be connected to the group without Wayne being involved.
Maybe Wayne knew nothing.
Maybe he knew everything.
Lily couldn't tell.
And that uncertainty only made her more curious.
Later that afternoon, Lily found herself staring at a picture on someone's phone.
It was connected to the incident people had been talking about.
She wasn't particularly interested at first.
Then she noticed something in the picture.
A small wolf symbol.
Her breath caught.
She leaned closer.
It wasn't exactly the same as the tattoo she'd seen.
But it was close.
Too close for her comfort.
She stared at it for several seconds.
The rumors.
The tattoo.
The messages.
The picture.
Everything seemed to be forming a strange circle around the same symbol.
Lily quickly stepped away.
She didn't tell Mia.
She didn't tell Nia.
She didn't tell Chloe.
For some reason, she felt like this was something she needed to understand herself first.
Her eyes drifted toward Wayne again.
He was talking quietly to Kane.
Lily watched him for a moment.
Then she looked away.
Is he really part of them?
She didn't know.
And that was the problem.
She wanted to know.
She wanted answers.
But she also knew that asking the wrong person could bring attention to her.
For now, she would keep watching.
Keep listening.
And maybe, just maybe, she would find a way to learn more about Wayne without anyone realizing why she was asking.
Lily picked up her bag and walked toward the exit.
Across the cafeteria, Wayne sat with Kane, Darren, and the rest of the guys.
Around them, the cafeteria remained loud and busy. Students talked over one another, chairs scraped against the floor, and laughter came from different corners of the room.
But at their table, the conversation was quieter.
Kane leaned forward, resting his arms on the table.
“The rumors spread fast,” he said. “I honestly don’t understand how people catch things so quickly.”
Darren chuckled.
“That's school. Give people five minutes and they'll turn one sentence into a whole story.”
Sasha smiled from where she sat beside Kane.
For once, she was actually sitting with the guys.
She had been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time.
Then she casually leaned forward.
“Have you guys heard about the Black Wolves?”
Kane looked at her.
Darren raised an eyebrow.
Sasha continued, watching their faces carefully.
“They seem to be getting really popular around town. Everyone is talking about them.”
She paused.
“I heard people are even scared of them.”
Her eyes moved from Kane to Darren, then finally to Wayne.
She was looking for a reaction.
Anything.
But Wayne simply sat there, his expression completely indifferent.
“So?”
Sasha blinked.
“So?” she repeated.
Wayne shrugged.
“Let them talk.”
Kane laughed.
Darren shook his head, amused.
Sasha forced a smile and stood when the others did.
They began walking away from the table together.
She followed beside Kane, but her mind was somewhere else.
Why was it that anything concerning the school—or any popular gossip everyone else seemed obsessed with—never seemed to concern Wayne?
Everyone else cared.
Everyone else talked.
But Wayne?
He acted as though none of it mattered.
And somehow, that made Sasha even more curious.
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