By Monday, the entire school knew.
Lynn had barely walked through the gates before whispers started weaving around her like vines—soft, sticky, impossible to avoid.
"Did you hear?"
"They kissed."
"No way, Alex kissed her?"
"Lynn and the new guy? For real?"
She rolled her eyes and kept walking, chin up.
Let them talk.
She had nothing to hide.
But the second she reached her locker, Dianne and Fanshia were already there, smirking like co-conspirators.
Dianne leaned in, voice low. "Did it feel like fireworks?"
Fanshia grinned. "Or more like gravity?"
Lynn shoved a book into her bag. "It felt like I forgot how to breathe. Happy?"
Dianne clutched her chest. "We love a poetic queen."
"I love a confident queen," Fanshia added. "You kissed him before the second corner. Bold."
"I said I'd make no promises."
From behind, a new voice joined. "Is this the secret council of Lynn's love life?"
Gallagher slung his backpack onto the locker next to hers. "I heard Alex might be in trouble."
Lynn turned to him, eyes narrowing. "Trouble?"
Gallagher shrugged. "Just rumors. Someone said Coach Madden saw him smoking near the back lot Friday. People love drama."
"He doesn't smoke," Lynn said instantly.
"That's what I said," Gallagher replied. "But when you're new, it's easy to become the story instead of the truth."
Lynn's jaw tightened.
She didn't like that.
Not one bit.
---
Meanwhile, Alex was facing a different battlefield.
Peter and Sam were already waiting at their usual spot by the courtyard bench, Peter snacking on a bag of sour worms and Sam sketching something in his spiral notebook.
"Man of the hour," Peter said as Alex approached. "You broke the hallway."
Alex frowned. "What?"
"Lynn. You. Kiss. Gossip. Repeat."
Alex sat down next to them. "It's just a kiss."
Peter stared. "Just a kiss? Bro, half the sophomore girls think you're a walking Wattpad novel."
Sam chuckled without looking up. "You're not mad, though."
"I'm not," Alex said, surprising even himself.
He didn't like attention, but somehow—being with Lynn? It made the noise bearable.
Peter popped another worm into his mouth. "Oh, also—someone's trying to stir something. Said you got caught behind the gym with a lighter."
Alex's expression darkened. "I don't smoke."
"Exactly," Sam said. "But people who can't get close to you will try to make people fear you instead."
Alex clenched his jaw. "Let them try."
Peter leaned back. "Or… you could just kiss her in the middle of the cafeteria and kill the rumors with facts."
Alex smirked. "Maybe I will."
---
At lunch, Lynn found a note inside her locker.
Small. Folded. Slipped through the crack in the metal like a secret.
It read:
> "They don't know us. Let them guess. – A"
She felt her lips curve, even as something inside her twisted.
Because the truth was—they didn't know him.
Not the way she did.
Not yet.
As she stepped into the cafeteria, eyes followed her like shadows. She scanned the crowd—found Alex by the window with Peter, Sam, and Harden.
He was already looking at her.
She walked straight to him.
Bold.
No hesitation.
And when she reached him, she leaned down and kissed him.
Not long. Just enough.
Gasps filled the air like popping bubbles.
Then she sat beside him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Peter whistled. "Well damn."
Sam raised his notebook and flipped it around—it was a sketch of Lynn in motion, walking toward them like a storm.
"You really did that," Sam said.
"I really did," Lynn said, not looking away from Alex.
He smiled, slow and dangerous. "Now you're part of the rumors too."
"Let them talk," she said. "You're not a rumor to me."
And he believed her.
But just as she thought the moment had settled, someone behind her whispered too loudly.
"She'll regret it."
Lynn turned.
The voice came from a girl at the table behind them—one of the "perfect" types. Too polished, too calculated. Her name was Chelsea.
Lynn stood.
So did Alex.
Chelsea flinched. "I didn't mean anything by it."
"Yes, you did," Lynn said calmly. "Say it to my face next time."
Chelsea blinked. "You don't know what you're getting into."
Lynn leaned in slightly, voice sharp as a blade. "I know exactly what I'm choosing."
And then she sat back down, unbothered.
Alex stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time all over again.
Fierce.
Unapologetic.
Herself.
"I told you," Dianne said later when they debriefed by the library steps. "You're the storm."
Fanshia added, "Now he knows it too."
Lynn didn't say anything.
Because deep down, she felt it—
Something was shifting.
The world wasn't ready for her and Alex.
But she was.
And that was enough.