chapter 6
1544 Words
**Rumors and Whispers**
Crestwood High had a superpower.
It wasn’t the math team’s ability to solve equations in under thirty seconds, or the marching band’s uncanny way of turning “Sweet Caroline” into a battle anthem. No, Crestwood High’s greatest and most terrifying superpower was gossip.
A single whisper in the hallway could transform into wildfire by second period. By lunch, that whisper wasn’t just a rumor anymore it was practically folklore, woven into the school’s collective memory as though it had always been true.
And today, the folklore was Ava Martinez and Jace Carter.
It began innocently enough.
Ava was at her locker Monday morning, alphabetizing her binders in precise order history, English, biology when her best friend Emily bounded up beside her. Emily’s grin was wide and mischievous, like she’d just stumbled upon the world’s juiciest secret.
“You didn’t tell me!” Emily squealed, bouncing on her toes.
Ava blinked, pausing mid-swap between her biology and English binder. “Didn’t tell you what?”
“That you and Jace are, you know…” Emily wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Ava’s stomach dropped to the floor. “Excuse me?”
Emily lowered her voice though her glittering eyes betrayed just how much she was enjoying this. “People are saying you’re dating.”
The word slammed into Ava like a dodgeball to the chest. Her hand slipped, nearly dropping her binder. “What?! No. Absolutely not.”
Emily folded her arms, giving her a look that said she wasn’t buying it. “Well, that’s not what I heard. Apparently someone saw you two in the library together on Friday.”
“We were working on the group project!” Ava snapped, her voice a little too sharp, a little too defensive. Her face flamed as she slammed her locker door shut.
“Mhm.” Emily tilted her head knowingly. “Alone. At the same table. For two hours.”
“That’s what studying looks like!”
Emily’s smirk only grew. “That’s what chemistry looks like.”
Ava groaned and buried her face in her hands. “This school is ridiculous.”
By second period, the rumor had mutated, grown arms and legs, and developed a life of its own.
As Ava stepped into biology, she felt it immediately. Dozens of eyes trailed after her, darting with knowing smirks and suppressed giggles. The weight of the stares made her skin crawl.
“Hey, Martinez.” The voice came from behind her. Ava turned to see Tyler, one of Jace’s basketball teammates, lounging against the doorframe with a smirk. “When’s the wedding?”
The room erupted into laughter.
Ava’s jaw dropped. “What are you talking about?!”
“Don’t play dumb.” Tyler winked. “You and Carter. Heard it’s official.”
“It’s not official!” Ava’s voice cracked, but the damage was done. More whispers snaked through the class, more laughter bubbled up. By the time she slid into her seat, her cheeks were on fire.
Halfway through the lesson, a folded note landed on her desk. Ava glanced around, hesitant, then slowly unfolded it.
It read, in bubbly handwriting: Mrs. Ava Carter 💕
Her entire body lit up in mortification. She crumpled it instantly and shoved it into her bag, but the words branded themselves into her brain.
If the rumor was a spark in the morning, by lunchtime it was a full-blown bonfire.
The cafeteria buzzed like a stadium during a championship game. Conversations overlapped, laughter rose, and the clatter of trays only added to the chaos. Ava clutched her own tray like it was a shield, eyes locked on Emily’s table across the room. If she just kept her head down, she could make it—
“Hey, Mrs. Carter!” a voice bellowed.
The cafeteria erupted.
Ava froze, her tray rattling in her hands. Fury shot up her spine. “WHO SAID THAT?!” she barked, spinning in place.
Laughter doubled. Someone wolf-whistled. And then, to her horror, a chant began, voices echoing: “Ava and Jace! Ava and Jace!”
Her ears burned scarlet. Her heart galloped against her ribs. She spotted Jace across the cafeteria, surrounded by his teammates like a golden boy basking in the chaos. Of course he was grinning. Of course he was enjoying this.
She stormed across the room, slamming her tray down on the table with enough force to rattle the water bottles. “This is your fault!”
Jace looked up, all wide-eyed innocence. “My fault? I didn’t start it.”
“You didn’t stop it!”
“Why would I? It’s hilarious.”
“This isn’t funny!” Ava snapped, her voice nearly cracking.
“It is a little funny,” one of his friends muttered.
Ava’s glare snapped to him, sharp as a blade. The boy practically shrank back into his seat.
Jace leaned forward, smirk tugging at his lips. “Relax, Sparkle Queen. If you keep yelling, people will really think it’s true.”
Her breath caught mid-retort. “Because yelling looks like I care?”
“Exactly.”
Her fingers tightened around her juice carton. For one terrifying second, she considered dumping it over his smug head.
The day only got worse.
*******************************************************
In gym, the girls on Ava’s volleyball team teased relentlessly. “Pass it to Jace’s girlfriend!” one girl shouted, and Ava’s concentration snapped like a rubber band. She fumbled the serve so badly it nearly hit the bleachers.
In math, someone drew a heart around her name on the whiteboard before class started. Ava erased it with such ferocity the marker squeaked like a dying mouse.
By last period, it was inescapable. Whispers trailed her everywhere she went. Ava and Jace… so cute… enemies to lovers… just like a rom-com.
She wanted to crawl into her locker and lock the door behind her until graduation.
When the final bell rang, Ava didn’t even wait for Emily. She made a beeline for the library, her sanctuary, her battlefield. Sure enough, Jace was already there, draped across a chair like he owned the place, basketball balanced casually on his knee.
She dropped her bag onto the table with a thud that made him raise an eyebrow. “You have to fix this.”
“Fix what?” he asked lazily, spinning his basketball.
“The rumor!”
“Oh, that.” He leaned back, smirk firmly in place. “Why would I fix it? Free publicity.”
“This isn’t funny, Carter. People think we’re…” Her voice caught, the word sticking in her throat. “They think we’re together.”
“And that’s bad because…?”
Ava gaped at him. “Because it’s not true!”
Finally, he looked at her, and his smirk softened into something sharper, something dangerous. “Maybe not yet.”
Her jaw dropped. “You… you can’t just—”
“What?” His grin returned, slow and infuriating. “Admit you like having me around?”
“I do not…” Ava realized too late her voice was too loud. The librarian snapped her head up and shushed them. Face blazing, Ava sank into her chair, muttering through clenched teeth. “You are insufferable.”
“And you’re adorable when you’re flustered.”
Her cheeks betrayed her instantly. She hated it. Hated him. Hated herself for not hating him enough.
They tried to focus on the project, but Ava’s brain kept circling back to the whispers, the chants, the folded note with that awful pink heart. It was just gossip. It shouldn’t matter.
So why did her stomach twist every time she thought about it?
Why did the idea of her and Jace as a couple make her nervous in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant?
She risked a glance at him. He was twirling his pen, sprawled in his chair like he had all the time in the world. But she caught the flicker in his eyes, the way they darted to her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Was this just another game to him? Or was he taking it more seriously than he let on?
The question burrowed deep, refusing to leave.
By the time they packed up, Ava’s head throbbed with frustration and confusion. She shoved her notes into her bag like they’d personally offended her and stood abruptly. “This project is going to kill me.”
“Relax,” Jace said, falling into step beside her as they walked out. “Worst case, we get an A and free entertainment.”
“Worst case, my reputation is ruined.”
He smirked. “Or upgraded.”
She shot him a glare sharp enough to cut steel. “This isn’t a game, Carter.”
He leaned down, his voice low and dangerous in her ear, a whisper meant just for her. “Who says I’m playing?”
Ava froze, breath hitching, heart stuttering painfully in her chest. But before she could form words, Jace was already striding down the hall, basketball bouncing against the tiles, leaving her in the wake of his laughter.
She pressed a hand to her chest, exhaling shakily.
Why did it feel like the rumor wasn’t the only thing spinning out of her control anymore?
- Writer
