Chapter 6 Rumor Has It
Tasha’s POV
“SO, WHAT’S this I heard just moments ago?”
Lila’s voice startled me so badly that I nearly dropped my phone onto the floor.
I looked up too quickly from where I sat on the edge of my bed, my chest still tight from my conversation with Old Man Reyes. For one terrifying second, my brain immediately jumped to the worst possibility.
Had she heard everything?
Had she heard Ricardo Hamilton?
But Lila only stood near the door with narrowed eyes and a suspicious expression, her books pressed dramatically against her chest while she stared at me.
“What are you talking about?” I asked carefully, forcing my voice to sound normal.
She dropped her books onto her desk with a loud thud before turning toward me again.
“Oh, don’t act innocent,” she complained while walking closer. “The girls outside were literally talking about you the second I walked in.”
Relief hit me so quickly that I almost slumped over. Not that. Just Carlos. Again.
I quietly locked my phone and placed it beside me before she noticed how tense I still was.
“What happened now?” I muttered tiredly.
Lila gasped like I had personally offended her. “Now? Tasha, people are saying you kissed Carlos Santiago in the middle of training.”
“It was an accident,” I replied immediately.
“That is exactly what someone involved in a very romantic accident would say.”
I groaned and grabbed the nearest pillow, pressing it against my face while she laughed.
“You should hear the stories going around campus right now,” she continued dramatically while sitting beside me on the bed without permission. “In one version, Carlos punched somebody for looking at you. In another one, Bianca almost started crying. Honestly, these people need hobbies.”
“That’s because nobody in this school minds their own business,” I complained through the pillow.
Lila grinned unapologetically. “That’s Vanguard. Rich students survive through gossip, caffeine, and emotional damage.”
Despite myself, I laughed quietly.
The room settled for a moment after that, and when I lowered the pillow from my face, I noticed her expression softening slightly.
“Hey,” she said more gently this time. “Are you okay?”
The question caught me off guard because beneath all the teasing, she genuinely sounded worried.
I looked away for a second before shrugging lightly. “I’m just tired.”
“That’s not surprising,” she murmured. “Half the university turned your life into entertainment in less than a week.”
I let out a long breath and leaned back against the wall behind my bed. Everything lately felt exhausting. The whispers. The attention.
The constant feeling that one wrong move could ruin everything I worked for.
Lila studied me carefully for a second before speaking again.
“You know,” she said slowly, “I don’t think people are reacting just because you kissed him.”
I frowned slightly. “Then why are they reacting?”
“Because Carlos Santiago doesn’t look at girls that way.”
Heat rushed embarrassingly fast into my face. “He does not look at me any differently.”
Lila immediately snorted. “Tasha. Please.”
“I’m serious.”
“And I’m serious too,” she countered while crossing her legs on the bed. “That man looks one inconvenience away from fighting anybody who gets too close to you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No,” she said calmly. “What’s ridiculous is you pretending not to notice it.”
I stared at her in disbelief while she continued watching me with knowing eyes.
“He’s just intense,” I argued weakly.
“He’s cold,” she corrected immediately. “There’s a difference.”
That made my stomach twist strangely. Because deep down, I already knew exactly what she meant. Carlos was sharp with everyone. Dismissive. Controlled.
But with me…
Everything always felt too personal. Too aware and emotionally charged.
Lila tilted her head while studying my expression carefully. “Do you like him?”
“What?” I nearly choked.
“That’s not a no.”
“I barely know him.”
“But you think about him.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but she pointed at me triumphantly before I could even speak.
“See? Delayed reaction.”
I threw the pillow straight at her face.
She burst into laughter while I groaned dramatically and fell backward onto the bed.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want attention,” I muttered while staring at the ceiling.
“Well…” Lila hesitated slightly now. “You should probably prepare yourself because the attention’s only getting worse.”
That made me sit up immediately. “What does that mean?”
Instead of answering right away, she grabbed her phone and opened several campus posts filled with blurry pictures from training earlier.
My stomach dropped instantly.
One photo captured the exact second Carlos leaned close to me near the engine panel. Another showed Bianca staring at us from the background. And somehow that second picture felt worse.
The comments underneath made my chest tighten.
Scholarship girl moves fast.
Carlos finally replaced Bianca.
Who even is this girl?
I looked away from the screen immediately.
“I hate this school,” I whispered.
Lila’s expression softened again. “People will get bored eventually.”
But somehow, I didn’t believe that. Because this already felt bigger than gossip. And that terrified me.
The next morning only proved it.
The moment I stepped inside the training bay, conversations lowered around me. Not completely, but enough for me to notice.
Hamilton.
I heard the surname again somewhere behind me, and my grip tightened around my bag automatically.
Questions were starting.
And questions were dangerous.
I walked faster toward the workstation, trying to ignore the anxiety clawing slowly up my throat. The loud hum of engines usually calmed me down, but today even that felt overwhelming.
My thoughts kept circling back to Bianca’s words yesterday. I hated how much those words stayed inside my head.
Before I could lose my nerve, I turned toward Coach Ramirez near the center platform and walked directly to him.
“Coach,” I called carefully.
He looked up from his clipboard. “Hamilton?”
“I wanted to ask if I could switch teams.”
His brows lifted immediately. “Switch teams?”
“Yes, sir,” I answered quickly. “I think Luigi and I would work better together.”
That part was not entirely a lie. Luigi was easier. Calmer. He didn’t make every interaction feel emotionally dangerous.
Coach Ramirez glanced toward the workstation where Carlos was currently working beneath the hood of the training car.
“Any particular reason?” he asked.
Before I could answer, another voice entered sharply from behind me.
“No.”
I froze.
Carlos walked toward us calmly, grease stains visible on his hands, but there was tension underneath every step he took.
“She’s not switching,” he said firmly.
I stared at him. “I wasn’t asking you.”
“And I’m still answering.”
Coach Ramirez looked between us with obvious amusement now. “Do the two of you have a problem working together?”
“Yes,” I answered immediately.
“No,” Carlos said at the exact same time.
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest. “People won’t stop talking, okay? I’m tired of everyone staring at me every five seconds.”
Carlos’s gaze settled fully on me then. “And since when do you care what people say?”
I laughed quietly in disbelief. “Easy for you to say. You belong here.”
Something shifted slightly in his expression at that. “And you think you don’t?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“It’s exactly what you said.”
His voice stayed calm, but there was something sharper underneath now.
I lowered mine when I noticed nearby students watching us openly. “Every rumor becomes another reason for people to question why I’m here,” I admitted quietly. “I’m the scholarship student, remember? People already think I don’t belong.”
For the first time since this conversation started, Carlos went silent. Like he was actually listening.
Coach Ramirez awkwardly cleared his throat. “I’m not changing the teams. Figure it out yourselves.”
Then he walked away immediately, leaving me alone with Carlos.
I exhaled sharply. “You could’ve just stayed out of it.”
“And let you run away?”
“I’m not running away, Carlos.”
“You are,” he said quietly while stepping closer. “You’re letting people scare you.”
Something about the certainty in his voice irritated me. “You don’t understand what this feels like.”
“No,” he admitted unexpectedly. “I probably don’t.”
That answer surprised me enough to look at him properly.
Carlos glanced briefly around the training bay before lowering his voice. “But I do know this place,” he continued. “And once people realize they can push you around, they won’t stop.”
My chest tightened painfully. Because that was exactly what I was afraid of. Not just gossip or bullying, but questions and attention. The possibility that someone would eventually uncover the parts of my life I had spent years trying to bury.
Carlos stepped closer again, his expression serious now.
“You don’t leave because people talk,” he said quietly. “You stay and make them regret underestimating you.”
My heart stumbled hard against my ribs.
And the worst part was that a small, dangerous part of me actually felt safer hearing that from him.
Even when I already knew Carlos Santiago himself might become the biggest danger of all.