Chapter 3 Screenshots & Whispers

Rhea stared at her phone, huddled on the grimy bathroom floor, while the rumor took its first real breath - and then kept breathing, breathing, breathing until it felt like it was sucking the oxygen straight out of her lungs.

Girl... is this you???

She read Naomi's message again, as if the words would magically rearrange themselves. They didn't. The blurry photo glared up at her from the cracked screen: her face inches from Jace's, his hands on her waist, the accidental almost-kiss frozen in a perfect scandal snapshot.

Her stomach clenched so tight she thought she might be sick.

The door swung open with an echoing creak. Two freshmen tiptoed in, their whispers bouncing off the grimy tiles like pebbles in a glass jar.

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah! Liv's already reposting it - she's pissed."

"She's gonna ruin that girl. Who even is she?"

"Some debate nerd, I think."

They giggled, lip gloss glinting, eyes wide with the thrill. Rhea shrank tighter against the stall door, knees hugged under her chin. Invisible - but not really. Not anymore.

When they left, she forced herself to stand. Her reflection in the cracked mirror was a stranger: hair wild, eyes glassy with panic. She felt peeled open - a frog on a dissecting tray, the whole school poking at her insides.

Her phone vibrated again. And again. And again.

She had twenty new notifications: group chat pings, Instagram mentions, Naomi's name lighting up her lock screen like a warning siren.

She grabbed her binder and books with trembling fingers, shoved them into her backpack, and forced her feet to move. One step, then another. Out the bathroom door, back into the hallway river - but this time the river didn't flow around her. It crashed into her from every direction.

---

The hallway between the science wing and her first-period class stretched like an airport terminal she'd never reach the end of.

Every few feet, she caught people turning their heads - not at her, and yet exactly at her. A girl she didn't even know whispered something, a guy by the vending machine barked out fake kissing sounds. Rhea ducked her head so low her chin nearly touched her chest.

Her phone buzzed again. She didn't want to look. She had to look.

She flicked it on just long enough to see the horror show: her name tagged in someone's Instagram story - "New power couple?? LOL" - and a TikTok clip titled: The invisible girl makes her move?? It already had fifty likes. And counting.

A hand grabbed her arm - Naomi's. Thank god.

"Rhea! There you are!" Naomi steered her toward the library wall, out of the main traffic flow. Her Debate tote bag bumped against her hip, her messy bun tilting like a battle crown. "I've been looking everywhere."

"Naomi-" Rhea's voice cracked. She couldn't get the words out. Her eyes stung.

"I know, babe. I know." Naomi squeezed her arm. "It's so dumb. People are idiots. It'll blow over."

"Will it?" Rhea croaked. Her skin felt too tight for her bones. "They keep reposting it. I didn't even kiss him. It was an accident."

Naomi winced - just for a second - before she forced a bright smile. "Okay, yes, it looked like a kiss. But that's not your fault! It's not real."

Rhea let out a short, humorless laugh. "That makes it worse."

Right then, two freshmen drifted by. One stage-whispered, "That's her!" The other pulled out her phone, not even pretending to hide it.

Rhea's throat closed up. She pressed her back against the wall, wishing the bricks would swallow her whole.

Naomi stepped forward like a lioness. "Seriously? Go gossip about your own life, you parasites."

The girls flinched and scurried away.

Rhea's phone buzzed again. She flinched. This one from an unknown number: "Lol did you really think you had a chance w Jace???" Her stomach twisted to acid.

"Don't read that," Naomi said, snatching the phone away. "It's trash. They'd gossip if a pigeon pooped on someone's head. It'll be old news by lunch."

But this wasn't a pigeon. This was Jace Rivera. The golden boy with a fan club - and an ex who treated gossip like blood sport.

"Liv's gonna kill me," she whispered.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Liv can build a bridge and get over it. You tripped - you didn't seduce him. People are jerks."

A burst of laughter shot down the hall. A group of basketball players pointed. One cupped his hands and yelled, "Hey, Jace's girl! Want a real kiss?"

Rhea flinched so hard she hit the back of her head on the wall.

"Don't listen to them. They're human Q-tips - all fluff, no brain," Naomi snapped.

The bell rang - shrill, merciless. Rhea's pulse jumped in her throat.

Naomi squeezed her shoulder. "Come on. You sit with me. We're gonna get through this together."

---

English class was a minefield.

Rhea slipped in behind Naomi, eyes glued to the floor, hoping she'd shapeshift into the tiles. It didn't work. Heads still turned. Whispers coiled through the air like smoke.

"Is that her?"

"Yup."

"Dude, she's freaking out."

"Jace could do so much better."

Every word a paper cut.

Naomi dragged her to their usual desks by the window - far from the gossip cluster. But when Rhea looked up, there he was: Jace Rivera, leaning back in his chair, scrolling his phone like none of it mattered.

He looked up, eyes locking with hers. Time flickered. He didn't look embarrassed. Or angry. Just... amused. Like he'd seen this before - like it was all a game.

He lifted his eyebrows, tilted his head - and then smirked.

Tiny. Barely there. But it felt like a match dropped into her lungs.

Naomi elbowed her. "Told you. He doesn't care. So stop giving him rent-free space in your head."

She wanted to believe her.

Ms. Green droned on about Gatsby. Rhea tried to focus, pen scratching nonsense into her notebook. But her eyes kept flicking around: phones half-hidden under desks, Liv glaring icy knives from two rows over, Jace smirking at something on his phone.

Halfway through the quiz, a note landed on her desk. Folded tiny. She unfolded it under the desk.

Congrats on your free upgrade to slut status.

No name.

Her chest squeezed so tight she could barely draw breath. She crumpled the note, shoved it deep into her backpack.

When the bell rang, she bolted. Naomi chased her into the hallway.

"Hey - hey - deep breath. We're hiding out in the library for lunch. Just us, okay? You'll feel safe there."

Rhea barely heard her. She risked a glance down the hall. Jace was there - surrounded by his satellites, Liv glaring, his friends laughing about something she didn't want to know.

And him - the boy who hadn't known she existed a week ago - lifted two fingers in a lazy salute.

A wink.

A smirk.

Like none of it mattered to him.

But to Rhea?

It was already ripping the girl who vanished in crowds apart.

And now she was the headline.