Chapter 43 Chapter 43
Noah's POV
Emily and I left things the way it was last night, she ended up walking away, chickening out as usual, but something felt off the second I walked into the locker room. I wasn'y obvious. It was just wrong.
The noise was there, lockers slamming, guys talking, someone laughing too hard at something that wasn’t that funny, but underneath it, there was this shift, like a room that had already reacted to something before you got there. Conversations cut off when I passed. Eyes flicked up and then away from me.
I dropped my bag onto the bench harder than necessary. “What?” I asked, not looking at anyone in particular. No one answered. Marcus busied himself with his phone. Sean leaned against his locker, arms crossed, watching me in a way that immediately told me that he knew something. “Sean,” I said.
He didn’t move, he didn't even look surprised, he just exhaled.
“Don’t,” he said quietly.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing you can fix by reacting.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He pushed off the locker, walking towards me, lowering his voice. “Tyler opened his mouth.”
My jaw tightened. “About what?”
Sean hesitated, which he never did with me like this. “About you,” he said.
“And?”
“And Emily.”
Everything in me went still and cold. “What exactly did he say?” I asked.
Sean ran a hand through his hair. “He was drunk. Talking to some guys from another team. He said the whole thing was fake.”
“Fake how?” I asked.
Sean didn’t sugarcoat it. “PR relationship,” he said. “That its arranged and not real.”
My hands curled slightly at my sides. My blood was boiling at this moment. “And people believed him?”
Sean gave me a look. “Come on, Noah.”
Right. It all made sense to them, because I always got the girls and I party and all those fun entertainment things, of course they will believe him, not that what I actually feel for Emily is real. I had already given them enough reasons not to trust anything about me, and now Emily was part of that.
I turned around and scanned the room, Tyler was sitting on the far bench, scrolling through his phone like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t just blown everything up. I walked towards him. I tried to keep myself under control with my bursts of anger. I exhaled slowly because if I let go, I wouldn't stop. He looked up when I got close and grinned slightly.
“Hey, man-”
“What did you say?” I asked through gritted teeth, my voice was low.
The room quieted anyway. Tyler shrugged, “Relax, it was obvious anyway.” This wasn't just about me, it was Emily's reputation, her career. I stepped closer, enough that he had to lean back slightly.
“What did you say?” I repeated slower this time.
His grin faded a little. “I told them you weren’t actually dating her,” he said. “I mean-come on. It’s not like it was convincing.”
A few guys shifted uncomfortably nearby. Sean moved slightly behind me, but not stopping me. He just stood there in case. “You told them it was fake,” I said.
“Yeah,” Tyler shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”
I could take a hit. I had taken worse. But Emily was off limits. She didn’t sign up for this. “You don’t get to decide what’s a big deal,” I said.
Tyler rolled his eyes slightly. “Dude, relax. Everyone already suspected it.”
“That doesn’t make it true.”
“It doesn’t make it false either.”
That was enough, I grabbed the front of his shirt, hard enough to make a point and to make him understand. This wasn’t a joke. The room went completely still. “Noah,” Sean said behind me. But I didn’t look away. I didn’t break eye contact, because Tyler needed to see it.
“You don’t talk about her like that,” I said.
Tyler swallowed. “You’re overreacting.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s not like she-”
“Don’t.” That one word made him stop, because now he saw it. He understood now. This wasn't about ego or reputation. It was about something he had just stepped into without realizing it.
I let go of his shirt and stepped back. Because if I didn’t, this would go somewhere worse. “Fix it,” I said.
Tyler frowned. “How?”
“Figure it out.”
“It’s already out there.”
I turned around and walked out. This cannot be happening right now. I needed air and space.
By the time I got outside, it was already happening. Phones were out and people were whispering. Groups clustered together, their heads bent over screens. My phone buzzed. I didn’t want to check it. But I did anyway. There were too many notifications.
I opened one.
The headline was brutal.
Westview Star Noah Harris’ Relationship Exposed as PR Stunt
There was another one.
Influencer Intern Accused of Manipulating Athlete for Career Gain
The other one read.
Fake Love Story? The Truth Behind Noah Harris and Emily Taylor
My jaw tightened. My grip on my phone tightened with it, because there it was. It wasn't just my name anymore, Emily's name was there along with mine. Front and center. Dragged into something she didn’t deserve.
Comments scrolled faster than I could process.
She’s using him.
He’s a fraud.
This was all staged.
She planned this.
She’s manipulative.
This had consequences for us both. She had worked for everything.
I looked up, scanning the courtyard, the campus and then that's when I saw her, standing alone across the open space, She stood still, like everything around her was moving too fast and she hadn’t caught up yet... or maybe she had and didn’t know what to do with it.
People were looking at her. Enough that you could feel the judgement. Her phone was in her hand. She had seen it. Her posture was straight was controlled, but I could see the tension.
They were going to tear her apart for this and question her, even blame her. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I started walking towards her. One thing was already clear. They weren’t going to destroy her for this.