So, Hunter transferred to our school last August. He was cute, smart, and actually nice. I got a massive crush on him and told my friend, Valyria, about it. She was super supportive, saying, “OMG, you guys would be perfect together,” and helped me figure out what to text him. We’d analyze his responses together, and she kept telling me I should go for it.
I’d known Valyria since freshman year. We weren’t best friends, but we hung out sometimes and had most of the same classes. She always seemed supportive. I trusted her, which makes everything that happened so much worse.
Hunter and I started talking more by October. He’d wait for me after chem class, and we’d walk to lunch together. I was seriously falling for him. Valyria kept asking for details, which I thought was just her being a good friend. One time, he complimented my presentation, and I literally texted her from the bathroom immediately after. She replied with all these heart emojis and said, “He’s definitely into you.”
In November, I finally got brave enough to ask him to a movie. Valyria helped me draft the text. I was so nervous I had to close my eyes when I hit send. He took forever to respond and just said, Sorry, was busy on Sunday night. Then Monday at school, he basically ignored me. I was confused until Wednesday when another girl, Tiffany, came up to me at my locker asking if I was stalking Hunter. I laughed it off until she told me Valyria had been telling everyone I was obsessed with her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend? I had no idea they were even talking.
That afternoon, I saw them together in the parking lot. He had his arm around her waist. When she saw me looking, she whispered something to him, and they both laughed. I felt like such an idiot. That night, I couldn’t stop crying. I confronted Valyria the next day at lunch. I was shaking so much I could barely hold my tray. I asked her how long she’d been dating Hunter, and she just casually told me they’d been together since September.
September. The whole time she was “helping” me text him, they were already dating. When I asked why she pretended to help me, she just shrugged and said she thought it was better than telling me to back off. She didn’t even seem to think she’d done anything wrong.
By Friday, the rumors were everywhere. According to Valyria, I’d been desperately chasing Hunter, even though I knew they were dating. She showed people our text conversations about him, twisting everything to make me look crazy. I started skipping lunch because I couldn’t deal with the stares.
December sucked. Someone wrote “stalker” on my locker. My lab partner asked to switch because he’d “heard things.” In chemistry, we had to do group work, and nobody wanted me in their group. The teacher had to assign me to a team, and they barely spoke to me.
I spent winter break hiding from everyone. When school started again in January, I tried to keep my head down, but Valyria kept making it worse. She and Hunter would make out right in front of me. She’d text me stuff like, Hunter thought your outfit was funny today, then deny sending anything.
In February, someone made a fake Instagram account with my photo that sent creepy messages to Hunter. Everyone assumed it was me. I got called to the counselor’s office, and they called my parents. I kept saying it wasn’t me, but no one believed me. My mom tried to have a heart-to-heart about “healthy relationships and obsession.” I ended up screaming that I didn’t do it and slamming my door.
The only person who still talked to me was my friend Ruby’s freshman sister, Yael. She believed me because Valyria had been mean to her before, too. One day in March, I was at her house studying when she went to get snacks. Her Facebook was open on her laptop, and I saw Valyria’s name in a conversation with Ruby. I know I shouldn’t have looked, but I couldn’t help it.
What I found made me sick. Valyria had told Hunter she was pregnant to keep him from breaking up with her. She wasn’t pregnant at all. There were messages where Valyria admitted to Ruby that she’d gotten the ultrasound pictures she’d shown Hunter from Google. I took pictures of the conversation with my phone. I felt guilty for snooping, but also like I’d finally found proof that Valyria was a liar.
I didn’t know what to do with the information. Then Hunter posted this big prom proposal for Valyria on Instagram with the caption, Can’t wait to start our future with the mother of my child.
I snapped. I made an anonymous email and sent Hunter all the screenshots. I showed him the fake ultrasound matched with the Google image. I felt sick after I sent it, wondering if I’d made everything worse.
Three days later, everything exploded. Hunter confronted Valyria, and she admitted the pregnancy was fake. But she somehow turned it around and said I’d been plotting revenge because I was jealous. People were grossed out by her lie, but even more disgusted by my “obsessive investigation.” My phone blew up with texts from numbers I didn’t even recognize, calling me a psycho stalker and worse.
Last week, Valyria’s parents complained to the school. I got suspended for “cyberbullying” and “creating a hostile environment.” Hunter texted to thank me for telling him the truth, then blocked me on everything. My mom cried when the principal called. My dad got so angry he had to leave the room.
I revealed a manipulation that was trapping someone in a relationship built on a huge lie. But now I’m the toxic one. I’m the villain. Is it ever okay to expose someone’s secrets if they hurt you first? Because from where I’m standing, the answer seems to be no.
My parents got my suspension reduced from two weeks to one, but going back was awful. People straight up walked away when I approached. My usual lunch table was suddenly full. I ended up eating in the bathroom stall.
The school counselor had the nerve to suggest I write Valyria an apology letter for “my part” in the conflict. I refused. Meanwhile, Valyria was playing the victim perfectly on Instagram, posting sad captions about healing from betrayal. Her follower count was actually going up.
Three days after I went back, Hunter came up to my locker. He asked if we could talk somewhere private. He said he wanted to thank me for telling him the truth. He told me Valyria had him completely convinced. She’d faked throwing up, showed him ultrasound photos with his last name edited onto them. He looked so embarrassed, admitting how completely she’d fooled him. When I asked why he’d blocked me, he said Valyria still had access to his phone and had blocked me herself.
He asked if I’d really been obsessed with him. I told him the truth: I had a crush, and Valyria knew. That’s what made it hurt so much. I could see him putting the pieces together, realizing just how manipulative she had been to both of us.
That night, my mom found me crying and just sat with me for hours. She suggested I talk to her sister, my Aunt Kelly. I was skeptical, but desperate. Aunt Kelly was surprisingly cool. She didn’t give me any cheesy “it gets better” speeches. She actually told me about how her best friend turned everyone against her senior year over a guy. “High school feels like the whole world when you’re in it,” she said, “but in a few years, none of this will matter.” It helped a little to know she’d survived something similar.
Things got weird on Thursday when Hunter texted asking if we could meet again. We were having a good conversation at a coffee shop until Valyria walked in with two friends. Not a coincidence; Hunter later admitted she follows his location, and he forgot to turn it off. She made a big show of being shocked to see us, then loudly told her friends that I just couldn’t leave them alone.
Hunter surprised me by actually standing up to her. He told her to stop spreading lies. He said he knew she was never pregnant and had manipulated everyone. Valyria immediately started crying, saying she couldn’t believe he was taking my side. We left quickly. He walked us to our car and thanked me again for telling him the truth, even though it cost me so much.
When I got home, my parents were sitting at the kitchen table. The school had called. Valyria’s parents were threatening to file a restraining order against me.
The next morning at school, someone had taped a negative pregnancy test to my locker with a note: Unlike some people, I’m not a liar. The day after that, someone wrote “boyfriend stealer” on my locker in Sharpie. The principal saw it and finally seemed to take things more seriously. He called me to his office and said they would review the hallway security footage.
The next day, I was called back to his office. To my shock, Valyria was there, too. The principal informed us that the footage showed Valyria writing on my locker. She was being given in-school suspension. She didn’t even try to deny it, just glared at me like this was somehow my fault.
The next few days were strangely quiet. On Friday, Hunter officially asked me out on a date. I said yes. We went to a theater in the next town over to avoid running into anyone. It was both wonderful and awkward. Afterward, over pizza, the conversation finally started flowing. He held my hand as we walked back to his car. When he finally kissed me good night, it felt like the first good thing to happen in months.
Of course, by Monday, someone had spotted us, and word had spread. In the bathroom, I overheard two girls discussing whether I had “stolen” Hunter from Valyyria. Valyria was back from suspension and clearly knew. She walked past me in the hallway and deliberately bumped my shoulder hard enough to make me drop my books.
That weekend, Hunter and I went to the mall together, openly as a couple. Someone took a picture of us, probably to send to her, but we decided not to care. Summer starts tomorrow. I’m focusing on my driving test, getting ready for college applications, and trying to rebuild my life. My family is closer now. I know who my real friends are. And I’ve learned more about myself than I wanted to. If anyone’s in a similar situation, my only advice is to find at least one person who believes you and remember that high school is temporary. The people who matter will eventually see the truth.