Winning the competition had changed things for Elena. For a couple of days after it happened, the whispers and stares in the halls had died down. Students who she knew had not been her friend before were now smiling cautiously at her as she passed. Even some of Liam's friends were nodding to her in acknowledgment as if her medal had somehow dissolved an invisible barrier between them.
Bella was in heaven. She had told anyone who would listen that she had been rooting for Elena from the start. She had even brazenly claimed that she had seen the winning entry before it was turned in, which was very far from the truth.
It had almost been peaceful. Almost.
On Wednesday morning, the calm ended.
Elena was at school early, like most days. The halls were mostly empty. A few students were milling about at lockers, staring at their phones. One of them, a boy she recognized from English class, glanced at her as she walked by. He gave a tiny smirk, a twitch of his mouth.
She felt it again a few minutes later in homeroom. A couple of girls at the back of the room were giggling, looking at their phones, then looking at her. It was not the usual fish-out-of-water kind of curiosity. It was sharper. Whiter. Like the edge of a blade catching the light.
Bella scooted into the seat next to her, already holding her phone. She was holding it low, her expression tight.
"Okay, don't freak out," she said in a whisper.
"That's the kind of thing people say right before they show you something that will make you freak out," Elena said.
Bella flipped the screen up. It was a photograph. Blurry, taken at night. Elena could see herself standing outside a convenience store. It was small, like one you found at the corner of a street. Liam was standing next to her, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a bottle of soda. His head was tilted in her direction, and although it was impossible to tell if he was smiling, they were definitely close.
The caption read: Rich girl slumming it again. Westbridge's favorite charity case.
Dozens of comments were already below the picture.
"Who did this?" Elena hissed.
"No clue," Bella said. "But it's everywhere. It's on the school page, and someone re-posted it on that local gossip account."
Elena stared at the screen. The picture itself wasn't exactly scandalous, but it was enough. She knew how quickly small, meaningless things could be blown into stories.
Bella lowered her voice another notch. "You know what people are saying, right? That you're using Liam as some kind of game. That you're flirting with him because you're bored."
"That's not true," Elena said.
"I know it's not," Bella said. "But people don't care what's true. They care what's interesting."
The bell rang before Elena could say anything else.
By lunch, the story had legs.
She heard it in snippets as she passed tables in the cafeteria.
"…saw them walking around last week too…"
"…bet she's never even been in a store like that before…"
"…what's he even doing with her?"
Liam wasn't in the cafeteria. That was unusual. She found him outside instead, leaning against the back wall next to the bike racks. He had a soda bottle in his hand, the same way he had in the photo.
"Someone took a picture of us," she said.
"Yeah," he said without looking at her. "I saw."
"You don't seem too bothered," she said.
"I'm not," he said.
She stared at him for a moment. He looked relaxed, but his eyes were narrowed more than usual.
"You sure?" she said.
"They can say whatever they want," he said. "It doesn't change anything."
"It could," she said. "They could make it worse."
He looked at her then. "You care too much about what they think."
"That's easy for you to say," she said. "They've been saying things about me since I got here. I'm used to it, but this—this is different. Now they're dragging you into it."
"I can handle it," he said simply.
For a second, she wanted to believe him.
The real trouble came the next morning.
Someone had printed the photo and taped it to her locker. A red marker had been used to draw a heart around Elena and Liam's faces. Beneath it, in sloppy handwriting, were the words Power Couple followed by a laughing emoji.
She tore it down, but the damage was done. A few students at nearby lockers had already seen it, and one of them snapped a new picture before she could stop him.
Bella materialized a minute later, looking angry. "This is getting ridiculous. Who even has the time to print photos like this?"
"Someone who doesn't have homework," Elena said dryly.
Bella leaned in closer. "Do you think it's someone from St. Claire's? Like, they found out you were here and they're trying to mess with you?"
Elena paused. "It's possible."
It made a kind of sense. The girls she had seen at the art competition hadn't looked thrilled to watch her win. If they wanted revenge, this was the perfect way to make trouble without getting caught.
She folded the paper and shoved it in her bag.
In the days that followed, the rumors evolved. It was no longer just that she was a rich girl with nothing better to do. Now people were whispering that she and Liam had been seen late at night together, that he had been in her house, that she had been sneaking him into parties. None of it was true, but the more she denied it, the more people seemed to believe it.
Teachers were giving her longer looks than usual as well.
By Friday afternoon, Elena had had enough. If someone was doing this, she was going to find out who.
She started with the photo. Bella had traced one of the first posts back to a private account belonging to a student named Kayla at Northside Prep. Kayla was known to run with a crowd that liked drama.
Elena sent her a direct message.
Elena: Where did you get the photo?
Kayla: Why do you care?
Elena: Because I want to know who took it.
Kayla: Someone sent it to me. Said it was too funny not to post.
Elena: Who?
Kayla: No idea. It was a fake account.
Dead end.
That night, Elena sat on her bed, the folded printout of the photo on her desk. She could almost hear the sniggering of her old classmates at St. Claire's. It was the same sound they had made when she had tripped in the hallway once, the same sound they had made when they had concocted and spread a rumor about her skipping class to meet a boy from another school.
Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Liam.
Liam: Meet me tomorrow. The park by the old bridge. Noon.
She frowned. He was not the type to send out unannounced invitations.
Elena: Why?
Liam: Just come. She put the phone down. She could guess it had something to do with the rumors.
And she had a feeling that, no matter what happened the next day, that brief respite after the art competition was over for good.