When Your Name Found Mine
Chapter Eleven — The Rumor Game
Monday morning was supposed to be simple — wake up, grab a coffee, meet Dave before class.
Instead, I woke to Jenna shaking my shoulder, her eyes wide.
"You've seen it, right?"
"Seen what?" I mumbled, pulling my blanket over my head.
"This." She shoved her phone in my face.
It was a photo, clearly taken from a distance, grainy but unmistakable: Dave and me, standing at the edge of campus, kissing.
The caption read: Guess Maya's not the only one he's been practicing with.
---
The words felt like ice water.
"Who posted this?"
"Campus Confessions," Jenna said grimly. "Anonymous. But it's already got like, a hundred comments."
I took the phone, scrolling.
Some comments were supportive — Cute couple! — but others were sharper.
Maya deserves better.
Didn't take long for him to move on.
He's been at this for a while.
I shoved the phone back into her hands. "I don't have time for this."
But of course, I did have time for it — because every step I took to class, I could feel eyes on me.
---
Dave found me outside the library, his jaw tight.
"You saw it."
"Everyone's seen it."
He ran a hand through his hair. "I swear, Evelyn, I don't care what they say. You believe me, right?"
I wanted to say yes immediately. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and shut the world out. But the whispers I'd heard walking across campus stuck to me like burrs.
"I believe you," I said slowly, "but they're making it sound like—"
"Like I was with her and you at the same time," he finished. "I know."
---
We sat on the low stone wall outside the library, the morning sun warming our faces.
"She was upset when I told her I didn't feel the same," he admitted. "I think… maybe she's the one who sent it in."
My stomach twisted. "Why would she—"
"Because she's hurt. And when people are hurt, they do stupid things."
I nodded, but the knot in my chest didn't loosen.
---
That afternoon, my Literature professor announced our midterm would be a partnered analysis project — with partners assigned randomly.
When he read out, "Evelyn Carter and… Maya Reyes," my heart stopped.
---
After class, Maya approached me, her smile too sweet.
"Looks like we'll be spending some quality time together."
"I guess so," I said carefully.
We found a table in the back corner of the library. For the first twenty minutes, we worked in silence, notes scratching on paper.
Then she set her pen down.
"You know, Dave and I were really close before you came along."
"I've heard," I said, not looking up.
"He told me things. Personal things. Things I'm not sure he's told you."
I looked up then, meeting her gaze. "If you're trying to scare me off, it's not going to work."
Her smile widened, but it didn't reach her eyes. "We'll see."
---
By the time I left the library, my head was buzzing.
Dave was waiting for me outside, leaning against a tree.
"How was it?" he asked.
"She's… polite," I said.
"Which means she wasn't."
I sighed, slipping my hand into his. "Let's not talk about her right now."
We walked across the quad, leaves crunching underfoot, and for a few minutes, it felt normal again.
---
That night, my phone buzzed with an unknown number.
Unknown: Do you really know who you're with?
A second later, a photo came through — Dave and Maya in the campus café, sitting close, heads bent together.
The timestamp read last week.
---
I stared at it for a long moment, my throat tight. I knew it could be innocent — maybe they were going over project notes, maybe they'd just happened to sit that way.
But the angle was intimate. And after everything, I wasn't sure what to think.
---
I didn't reply to the message. Instead, I turned off my phone, climbed into bed, and stared at the ceiling.
When I finally slept, my dreams were full of voices whispering my name — and his.
---
The next morning, Dave caught me outside my dorm.
"You didn't answer my texts last night," he said, frowning.
"I was tired."
He studied my face, then sighed. "You got another message, didn't you?"
I didn't answer. I didn't have to.
"Evelyn, I'm telling you, whatever they're sending, whatever they're saying — it's not what it looks like."
I wanted to believe him. I really did. But the more people tried to convince me of the truth, the more I felt like I was standing on sand, waiting for the tide.
---
We stood there in silence until Jenna's voice broke through from the dorm steps.
"Evelyn! You need to see this!"
She was holding up her phone — and whatever was on the screen made her look like she'd swallowed a stone.
"Someone just posted…" She trailed off, looking between me and Dave. "You should both come inside."
---
Inside, she pulled up the Campus Confessions page again.
The latest post was a video.
It showed Dave and Maya — in what looked like the student center lounge — and though the sound was muffled, you could hear her laugh, see her hand on his knee.
The caption read: Still think she's the only one?
I felt my pulse in my ears.
Dave's face went pale. "This isn't what it looks like," he said again, but the words felt heavier now, like they'd been worn thin.
---
I closed my laptop. "Then you'd better start explaining," I said quietly, "because right now, I don't know what to believe."
---
To be continued…