The Rivalry We Didn't Expect

They All Know

TW: A little bit of mild assault coming up, just letting you all know.

Noah sat down in the chair of Mrs. Barber's office, sniffling. His eyes were sore and irritated, and he was not in the mood to talk. And by the looks of it, neither was Mrs. Barber. Thankfully, Alejandro wasn't here right now. Noah could speak freely.

"Noah..." Mrs. Barber sighed out with a betrayed look. "Look, we all make dumb mistakes as teenagers. But I don't understand this. Why would you cheat on Alejandro?"

"I didn't!" Noah cried out, a bit too loud as he slammed his hands down on the desk in front of him. He could feel the tears coming once more. "I don't know how that photo was made, but it's not real! I haven't kissed Emma in two fucking years, and I don't know how it looked so realistic..."

With that, Noah broke down once more, leaning back on his chair. "And now I've lost Alejandro, and he's believed Courtney, the whole school thinks I'm a boyfriend kissing whore!" He cried out.

"Noah, please calm down." Mrs. Barber panicked, placing a hand on Noah's shoulders. "How can I believe you? It looked real. I know you may be a victim here, but I need proof."

Noah's jaw shook as he looked up at Mrs. Barber again. He was embarrassed to cry in front of a teacher, to cry in front of anyone. But this was too much to handle, and he couldn't even think about that right now.

"Is there a way to look at the photo again?" Noah asked quietly. Mrs. Barber nodded and pulled out her laptop, pulling down her reading glasses and typing.

"My laptop is synced to the projectors. If we can look in my recently opened, it should be there." Mrs. Barber muttered, before clicking something and turning the laptop around to Noah. And there it was. The picture.

It looked very realistic.

Noah scanned around the picture for any faults, feeling his stress rise. His eyes scanned over to the lockers. Nothing. Any parts of Emma? Nothing. And as his eyes scanned over to himself, he gasped.

"There. This is fake!" Noah muttered, pointing at his face in the photo. "Look, that's not my face. This has been photoshopped to look like my body and hair." He couldn't help but grin in achievement as Mrs. Barber nodded her head.

"Ah, your right." Mrs. Barber spoke. "I'm sorry for accusing you, Noah. You understand why I didn't believe you, right?"

"Yes, I know. But if it's fake, how do I show this to Alejandro? I'm sure he's probably blocked me... and he won't want to speak to me, and-" Noah began, his jaw trembling as Mrs Barber stopped him. The pain was overwhelming. He couldn't imagine trying to talk to Alejandro after what just happened.

"Noah, calm down okay?" Mrs. Barber muttered softly. This was the first time Noah had seen her be soft. She was obviously feeling sympathetic. "We are going to figure this out. I need to contact the office. For now, let's just stay calm."

Noah nodded and sat back in his chair. Now that he had someone to believe him at least, he felt a bit better. But he couldn't help but think what was happening. He was worried about Alejandro. Mrs Barber picked up the phone and dialed the office number, and after a few minutes of Noah sitting there with a worried expression, she sighed out and put the phone back.

"They can't find Alejandro anywhere." Mrs Barber muttered.

"What?"

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Alejandro could barely breathe. He was absolutely heartbroken. He could barely think either. He needed to find somewhere and cry his heart out, somewhere alone. And there was nowhere in school he could do that. He knew that people would be gossiping, spreading rumours, asking questions. He needed to get out of there fast.