I was never one to be bothered by rumors. It could have been immunity through exposure, but I had heard so many rumors growing up that they all were easy to brush off and leave in the past. That was what made this particular day so bizarre for me.

I could hear rumblings as early as the bus ride in the morning. While I wasn’t able to tell what anyone was saying, I had gotten proficient at analyzing the tone of hushed conversations, and I could immediately tell that whatever the crowd was talking about, it was social gossip that was making the early rounds. I wasn’t particularly curious at the time, but as it would turn out, the gossip would end up reaching my ears.

After the first class of the day, the halls were bustling with hushed whispers and people pointing at me. This was nothing unusual, as it happened once or twice every other week when someone got a funny new idea for how to mess with me. However, when I reached second period, I was finally able to get a whiff of the information that had been spreading like a rampaging wildfire.

“Hey, did you hear the news?” one student was telling his friend.

“What ‘news’? What are you talking about?”

“Apparently Cap’s gotten caught up in some messy legal case,” he continued, “It’s why he’s absent today.”

Hearing Cap’s name immediately caught my attention, as I was expecting whatever rumor it was to either be about me or someone I didn’t know, as those were the two scenarios that made up a supermajority of rumors.

The first surprise in the rumor, however, wasn’t the rumor at all. Ever since the semester started, Cap had maintained perfect attendance, and in past years his attendance rate was in the highest percentile in the entire class, making every day he missed an unusual event. So hearing that he wasn’t at school, especially if it wasn’t because of an illness, was quite the surprise.

“Really?” his friend responded eagerly, “You think he’s gonna end up in jail?”

“Haha, maybe,” the first student guessed, “Isn’t that crazy, though? Never thought Cap was a bad boy.”

For whatever reason, hearing them diss Cap was beginning to get on my nerves. Unable to control myself, I turned to them, not hiding my irritation.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I confronted, “There’s now way Cap got caught up in any criminal activity.”

The first student, whose name eluded me, raised his hands in defense.

“Hey, it’s just a rumor. It’s not like it’s confirmed or anything.”

His friend, on the other hand, had different ideas.

“Hey, you’re that red-eyed kid,” he observed, “How the hell did you get Cap to talk to you anyway? Nobody likes you.”

While I was used to such direct attacks, this one hurt more than usual.

“I don’t see how I play into this,” I muttered.

“Maybe he heard about Cap’s criminal background, and blackmailed him into spending his lunches with them!” the first student gleefully speculated.

I felt my fist begin to clench, but I managed to keep myself from doing anything rash. Instead, I told them exactly what I thought.

“Maybe you should keep your speculation to yourself, assholes. You don’t seem to know anything about what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, what, did the freak get butt-hurt over what we said about him? Doesn’t change what happened,” the second student taunted.

I ignored him, instead focusing on calming myself down. My mind was filled with one thing: a command not to punch the both of them. The last thing I needed at this point was discipline from the teachers over such a stupid incident.

As the day went on, though, I realized that my lack of control during second period had backfired. In spite of my angry denial, the rumor that I had blackmailed Cap, who was facing criminal charges, spread incredibly quickly, to the point where I was almost impressed with the efficiency with which it was permeating through the student body. Every class, it seemed like all anyone was talking about was the rumor about Cap, and the fact that Cap wasn’t here to dispute the original rumor wasn’t helping me, as nobody would trust the word of a freak like me.

Once lunch rolled around, I figured that I had to consult Iris over the situation that was unfolding. She was even more friendly with Cap than I was, even if it wasn’t saying much, and the time I had spent with her over the prior three weeks told me that, like me, she wasn’t enjoying the rumors that were going around about us.

It turned out to be even worse than I thought. Once I got to lunch, I found Iris almost in tears, with her fist clenched as well.

“Hey, there, Iris,” I greeted awkwardly, not sure how to break the ice, “What’s going on?”

She looked up at me, and I saw a mix of anger and sadness in her eyes.

“What’s going on right now?” she pleaded, “Why are so many bad rumors going around?”

“I heard about them too,” I admitted, “I may have even fanned the flames a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

I told Iris about the argument I had gotten into with the idiots in second period, and how the rumors morphed to match their warped version of events as the day had gone on.

“So you haven’t heard?” was her response.

“Huh?”

“There’s more than just that,” Iris recounted, “Apparently there are rumors going around that the three of us were in an illicit sexual relationship, and that Cap and I are being dragged along by you.”

Quite appropriately, my vision went completely red. How dare they bring Iris into this, and how dare they sully her reputation because of what I did? This was no joke. Rumors like this could easily ruin reputations, and now Iris has been tangled in this web of rumors that I naively expanded with my own hands.

“Ret? You’re scaring me right now.”

Hearing fear in Iris’ voice, I began to calm down a little bit.

“I can’t let this keep going on,” I muttered, only barely keeping control, “You two are being hurt because of me, and I can’t stand for that.”

“Ret, what are you trying to say?”

“I think I should leave,” I propose.

Iris’ eyes widen.

“Ret, what are you saying?”

“I’m the one who’s gotten you into this mess. I’m the reason these rumors are going around. If I leave, your life might go back to normal.”

Iris shook her head, resolve appearing in her previously emotional eyes.

“You’re my friend, Ret. Probably my best friend, at this point. I don’t want you to leave, even if it means my reputation is hurt because of it.”

“But if I wasn’t here, then-“

“What’s your evidence?” she challenged me.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. Instead, I let her continue.

“You think just because you got in that argument, those guys wanted to get you back? That’s a load of crap, and you know it.”

“But it could just be my reputation.”

“People make up things about people all the time,” Iris contended, “That’s not abnormal. Rumors die as fast as they’re born. This hurts, but this will pass. If you leave, and don’t come back, then you’re doing exactly what they all want, and the effects will last longer. Think about it, Ret.”

I chuckled a little bit at the rising irony of the situation.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s just that,” I started, “We started with you crying, and now you’re cheering me up. Just a little ironic, that’s all.”

“Are you feeling better, Ret?”

I nodded.

“A bit. I still feel guilty over this, but you’re right. Rumors have followed me for so long, and they never last longer than a day or two. People will forget, and move on, just like they always do.”

“If you feel guilty, I have a way you can pay me back,” Iris offered.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Be my friend.”

I laughed.

“Had a feeling you were going to say that,” I chuckled, reaching my hand out for a shake.

She returned it.

“Glad to hear you’re feeling better,” she expressed, “Now let’s figure out how we can fight these rumors on Cap’s behalf.”

“I thought we agreed to just let them pass,” I objected.

“Nope,” she denied, shaking her head, “Cap’s not here to fight for himself like we are. So we can’t assume that he’d be okay with just letting them pass. Unlike you, Cap probably hasn’t had to deal with many situations like this in his life.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded.

“So, the first question is how we’re going to tackle dismantling these rumors. If we don’t have some kind of strategy, this isn’t going to work.”

Unfortunately, she was right. The two of us being subjects of the rumors removed our credibility, as we had an interest in people not talking about them. If we weren’t careful, we would only dig ourselves, and by extension Cap deeper into the hole we were already in.

“So, what do you have in mind?” I asked, not having anything to pitch as a starting idea.

She didn’t answer for a moment, but I could see the gears turning in her head as she wracked her brain for a solution. After a minute of this, things finally shifted.

“Say, what was the original rumor?”

“Why do you ask?” I responded.

“You said you were the reason the rumor morphed into what it is,” she explained, “Whether or not that’s true, it means you knew the rumor changed, meaning you probably knew what it was before you got involved.

“That’s true, I do know,” I admitted, “But the question is why it’s important.”

“Just answer me, for now.”

“The original rumor was that Cap’s absence was due to some legal issue he had been involved in. Apparently a lot of people were beginning to think that ‘legal issue’ was criminal in some way.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes not finding a point to focus on.

“See, rumors rarely come from nowhere. They usually have a grain of truth at their center, and the falsehoods come from third-party interpretations and details being lost in transition.”

“What?” I stammered, completely bewildered.

“You’ve played telephone, right?” she checked, prompting a nod, “In the game of telephone, it isn’t uncommon for the choice word or phrase to get mangled by the end. Now imagine that, except everyone needs to wait fifteen minutes to two hours before sharing the word. If they didn’t mishear it already, their memory could be faulty.”

“That makes sense, but how would it turn from Cap being a criminal into me forcing you two to, uh, do ‘things’ for me?”

Turning red at my choice of words, Iris pushed forward as fast as she could.

“Not only is the rumor being transformed by error, but people are inputting new pieces of information during transit. You getting involved gave the other boys the impression that you had a stake in Cap’s state, and they drew conclusions from that. In the process of spreading rumors, both malicious and unwitting people input their own experiences and interpretations to change the substance completely.”

“But how does this matter?” I probed, still confused, “Just because we knew where the rumor came from doesn’t mean we know how to stop it.”

“I said earlier that there is a grain of truth at every rumor,” she continued, “By finding the earliest version of the rumor we can, we remove a lot of that error and the negative additions. It’s like asking the second or third person in the telephone what they heard instead of the tenth. That’s going to be a lot closer to the original truth that started the rumor, isn’t it?”

I nodded, finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together. If we knew the truth, it was possible to spin the rumor back to its origin, thus mitigating the damage from it.

“But even if we know the truth, we still don’t have a way to spread our ‘rumor’ without causing credibility concerns,” I argued, “We’re not exactly the most unbiased people involved in this rumor mill.”

“I know,” Iris reiterated, “But I don’t know how we get over that particular roadblock yet.”

I slumped in my seat, feeling only a sense of defeat despite all the progress we had made.

“Maybe while we think that over, we should figure out what this ‘grain of truth’ is in the rumor,” I state.

“I agree,” Iris said, “At this point I’m just thinking in circles.”

“So, the ‘original’ rumor was that he was missing class for legal reasons,” I summarized, “Some kind of case that wasn’t included in the rumor.”

“Maybe that’s all true,” Iris reasoned, “Or maybe only part of it is. I think the key is in this statement, though.”

“What are the alternatives?”

“It could be that he was picked up by the police for some kind of minor violation, or that he’s being called into a trial as a witness of some kind. Or maybe he just got a ticket and stayed home depressed.”

I considered each option. I didn’t see Cap as a criminal of any kind, but misdemeanor offenses were surprisingly common in our age group, even if few were actually prosecuted for it. While being called in as a witness would have been the least problematic on an ethical level, and would match up with the rumor quite well, there was no indication that anything was weighing on him recently that hadn’t been before. He also didn’t seem like the type to stay home depressed because of something as minor as a traffic violation, meaning a ticket was likely also off the table.

“It’s no good,” I gave in, “There’s something missing in our understanding. None of these scenarios make too much sense, and we don’t have the information to draw any other conclusions right now.”

“I don’t want to admit it, but I think you’re right, Ret,” she agreed, “We need to talk to Cap and get his story directly.”

“Difficult to do when neither of us knows where he lives.”

After that, we remained silent, attempting to reconcile our own thoughts on the situation. As I saw it, we were going to have our reputations smashed to bits, and there was nothing we could do until we were able to work with Cap to fix any misunderstandings. While under most circumstances, I wouldn’t care to move toward reconciliation with regard to these rumors, this time was different. I wasn’t the only one hurt by this, and I couldn’t let my own problems affect the lives and reputations of others.

In other words, they were counting on me, so I needed to answer the call.

“I’m going to figure this out,” I declared, standing up, “Leave it to me, Iris.”

She looked up at me, surprised by my sudden outburst.

“Are you sure? I can help if you need,” she offered.

“I may take you up on that,” I conceded, “But I’ll take the lead here. I’ll make sure the three of us make it out of this. You have my word.”

Her half-open mouth curved into a smile.

“Of course, Ret,” she accepted, “If you need any help, let me know, and I’ll be happy to oblige you. My reputation is at stake as much as yours, after all.”

“Are you saying you’re only helping because you’re in trouble too?” I snarked.

She shook her head.

“I’m telling you not to feel bad asking for my help, not that I wouldn’t give it to you otherwise. You really need to stop assuming we’re all out to get you, Ret.”

I chuckled, impressed at her steady response.

“Maybe you’re right, Iris. Maybe you’re right.”

And with that, we parted ways. With a commitment given and a plan started, it was time for me to get to work repairing what little social capital the two of us had left. No, the three of us.