I have a scenario. People are telling you something horrible is going to happen to you. The thing in question seems impossible and you don’t believe it. You assume it’s a prank. Eventually, you start to hear people talk sarcastically about it behind your back. If everyone is in on it and “jokes” about it to your face, are they likely to “joke” about it behind your back too? Or does that mean you’re actually in danger? When someone is involved in a “prank”, are they likely to be sarcastic about it to the people involved as if to make fun of your fear?
I feel like I need a different situation to really judge it but from my pov I would think that it would depend on who the people talking about it are. If they’re all friends with eachother and usually hang out, then yeah they could be making fun of you. But if they don’t normally talk or hang together then it’s more likely to be real imo
For example, a friend group of athletic guys in HS talking about how one of them has a crush on you. Making jokes towards the guy and teasing you and stuff. But no else at the school really cares or talks about it or anything, then it’s probably a joke and not real. But if the nerds and band kids and others also are talking about it, it’s more likely to be real