Confusion struck the minds of Athens Drive High School students when a fake student engagement announcement was posted on Oct. 28, 2024. Someone used social media to fake the relationship between two students: Paige Taylor and Bryce Atonal. Little is known about who is behind both accounts or who these two students really are.

The culprit created accounts for Taylor and Atonal, both fake Athens Drive students, and followed many Athens Drive students on Instagram months prior to the scandal post to build accounts that looked legit. The engagement announcement was posted on Atonal’s Instagram story with a picture of the couple, “Marry You” by Bruno Mars attached and text above reading, “Some may say it’s crazy to get engaged in high school. But when you’re with the right person you just know.” The photos of the couple can be found on Pinterest, posted by someone named Jaycob, so it is speculated that these photos were stolen.

Rumors around Athens spread rapidly as students rushed to figure out who these students were. Within a few hours of the Instagram story, rumors died down after students realized no one had ever met these students. Taylor’s Instagram bio stated she was a part of the women’s soccer team, but MaxPreps had no record of her. Same with Atonal on the men’s baseball team.

To prove students’ suspicions that Taylor and Atonal do not exist at Athens Drive, many investigated their tagged posts and the people in their comment sections. As shown by the schools listed in their Instagram bios, most of the people in Taylor’s comment sections go to Millbrook Magnet High School or Sanderson High School, both located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Taylor is tagged in a school dance Instagram post with the location of Scottsdale, Arizona, on which she commented “What a fun night.” The owner of the post replied, “Thank you very real person”—a seemingly sarcastic response. Once the news had been confirmed as fake, most students moved on to the next drama of the week. But many were confused as to why someone would plan something so in-depth, and why they chose Athens Drive.

“I think that these students go to another school and wanted to prank people, so they looked up the number one magnet school in America and found Athens Drive and decided to choose us,” said Bridget Shuck, senior.

Nov. 12, 2024, less than one month after the engagement post, the couple posted a picture of a positive pregnancy test and a photo of an ultrasound scan. The pregnancy test photo was taken from Babycenter, from a November 2024 Birth Club post. The ultrasound scan photo taken from The Australian Parenting Website, from the article “20-week ultrasound scan in pregnancy: what to expect”. The couple wrote “2/02/25” on the post, revealing the baby’s supposed due date. By this time most students at Athens knew these accounts were a prank, but it was still disturbing that someone would go so far to fake a teenage pregnancy. The baby’s name was announced as “Gracie Wilma Atonal” later that day.

With instances like this one, students and teachers worry about online safety. Online catfishing is becoming increasingly frequent among young people. Catfishing is when a person uses false information and images to create a fake online identity to deceive people for financial gain, emotional manipulation, or even cyberbullying.

Taylor and Atonal’s story should be seen as a warning to high school students on social media. While students figured out their false story, catfishing rates are still on the rise. According to All About Cookies, in 2024 it’s estimated that there are approximately “4 times as many reports of catfishing scams than there were at the beginning of 2019.” Since Generation Z has grown up with social media, it’s common for students to think they are too smart to fall for scams. To avoid dangerous catfishing, it’s recommended to have physical mutual acquaintances with online accounts before accepting a follow request. This little prank could have evolved into something much worse, so take it as a reminder to stay safe online.