While I was certainly motivated to get this rumor off our backs, motivation is only one piece of the problem-solving puzzle, and unfortunately for me I was missing all of the others as well.

I didn’t have any experience dealing with this kind of problem, and I wasn’t sure if there was a handy guidebook to dispelling rumors anywhere. In fact, odds are there wasn’t, as otherwise dumb rumors like this wouldn’t be destroying reputations all over the country. I considered consulting Mr. MacArthur about this, but I didn’t want to get him involved with what would likely be such a time-consuming process. He had enough work on his plate between his job and his family.

The best solution seemed to be to hear the story from the horse’s mouth, but Cap was missing from school today, and I didn’t know his phone number. Even if I did, though, if he really was dealing with legal problems, he would likely be too busy to talk to me, if he even wanted to at all. Unless, by some miracle, I managed to run into him on the street, I wouldn’t be able to get the truth out of him at all.

Seemingly out of options, I decided to make my way straight home once classes got out. I didn’t think it would be smart to stick around and attempt to make a plan with all the distractions of school, particularly when it was possible some jerk would decide to have some fun at my expense.

Unfortunately, I was naïve to think I would escape the school building unscathed.

“Hey, Red-Eyes,” a voice addressed me as I was walking to the bus.

I turned my eyes to see Cap’s friend Miles standing by a street sign, clearly irritated. While he was the last person I wanted to see at the time, I decided that he deserved a slight bit of mockery before I departed.

“Why, hello there Miles,” I greeted, a clear sense of superiority present in my voice, “How’s Cap doing? Heard he missed class today, and I imagine he would have told you of all people why.”

“Don’t screw with me,” he growled, failing to hold anything remotely akin to a poker face, “I know you’re the reason he’s not here.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I was attempting to aggravate Miles when I said what I did, but was I actually correct? If so, why would Cap have stayed home because of me?

“Excuse me?” I asked, “This is news to me. The two of us haven’t talked much recently, so I missed out on a lot of the news.”

“That’s not what I mean, dumbass,” he raged, “Cap’s reputation has been dragged through the mud because of you, and it’s hurting all of us.”

“What do you mean, ‘because of me’? I’m not the one spreading these asinine rumors, and they’re certainly not true. Don’t assume this is my fault just because I exist.”

“Do you care about anyone but yourself, Red-Eyes? This isn’t about you.”

“Right, right,” I halfheartedly responded, “It’s all about you, Miles. You don’t like that your reputation has been sullied by false rumors, and so you’re taking out your anger on the easy target instead of trying to actually solve the problem. God, you people are so simple.”

“What did you say, punk?” he murmured, taking a step forward.

“I said you’re targeting me for self-satisfaction instead of actually doing something right.”

At this point, I could see his muscles begin to bulge slightly, and his face contorted strangely, almost giving off a false anger that is common in stage production. However, I knew that he was completely serious about what he was planning to do, and I suddenly had the desire to run for the hills.

“You son of a-“ he snarled.

Then, he charged me. Expecting this, I jumped back, hoping he had planned his actions in advance and would thus end up off-balance. However, I had clearly underestimated his physical abilities, and I was quickly met with a sharp pain in my nose.

“Guh,” I grunted, grabbing my face.

He had landed a direct, full-power punch to my face, leaving me staggering back. Momentarily contemplating how miraculous it was that I stayed on my feet, I decided that the fight was already lost, and decided to retreat.

When I started running, however, I could hear Miles’ voice following me in the distance.

“Get back here you little sh-“ he started.

However, by the time he had finished his sentence, I had already made it to the other side of the nearby train tracks, with the gate coming down signifying a train close by. Sensing safety, I stopped to catch my breath. After that terrifying altercation, I lamented my relative lack of physical ability, as it would have made a big difference.

However, in that moment, I let my guard down, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground.

Ignoring the pain in my left side, I turned my eyes up to see Miles straddling my right side, shoving my body into the ground.

“You’re gonna pay for what you did to Cap, Red-Eyes,” he declared, “I don’t let anyone who hurts my friends get away with it.”

“You say that,” I gasped, “Like you know what’s going on.”

“And you say that like your next bed isn’t going to be in a hospital somewhere.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a punch coming toward me. I closed my eyes, desperate to preserve any ability to escape I could.

“Hey, stop!”

The voice that rang out while my eyes were closed stopped the punch from ever landing. Once I was certain that I was safe, I opened my eyes to look at the owner of the voice, though in truth I knew who it was the moment I heard it.

“Cap?” I muttered, seeing a blurry figure run toward us.

Miles, who looked like a deer caught in headlights, immediately got up, leaving my prone body on the ground while Cap approached.

“What the hell is going on here?” Cap asked in angry bewilderment, “Miles, what are you doing?”

“This guy’s out here ruining our reputation,” Miles replied, his voice clearly reflecting a sense of righteousness, “I’m just fixing the problem for you.”

“And who asked you to do that?” Cap closed his eyes, putting on a façade of calmness.

“No one in particular, but if you knew what people are saying about you because of him, you would be thanking me.”

Cap remained silent for a moment, his face keeping a stern, but calm demeanor. I could tell that it was all he could do to not burst out in anger right then.

“So why did you think it was a good idea to attack my friend, again?” Cap questioned, “If this is just because of some rumors that are going around, why would it be okay to resort to violence, exactly?”

“Cap, you don’t understand,” Miles protested, recognizing the situation he was in.

My eyes widened, in spite of the pain I was in. Cap Johnson, one of my biggest antagonizers for all of middle school, was actively defending me against someone who was doing exactly what he used to do.

“I understand plenty,” Cap expressed, “Miles, I can’t believe you. I’ve been attempting to put my past with Ret behind me, and you go and pull this stunt. If he thinks, for whatever reason, that I’m a problem because you went and did this, that’s on you, not him. You attacked him over something petty. From what it sounds like, you’re just mad that your reputation was hurt by something that he said or did, and that’s no reason to lose your cool.”

“I’m sorry,” Miles broke eye contact with Cap, “I did lose my head a bit. But it was to defend you.”

“I’m sorry too. I don’t want to deal with friends that commit violence for my sake. So I think we’re done.”

“Excuse me?” Miles asked.

“I don’t want to be your friend, and no friend of mine would do what you did. So goodbye, Miles.”

Cap, who was done speaking with Miles, walked over to me. Miles remained frozen in place, unable to say anything after what had just transpired.

“You okay, Ret?” He asked, lending me a hand.

I took his hand, and stood up with only slight trouble.

“I’ll live,” I concluded, “Nose is probably broken, and I’m going to have to deal with some extreme bruising, but it’ll heal in time.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cap nodded, a smile appearing on his face, “Why don’t we go get some food, and you can explain to me what’s going on?”

I nodded. While I still wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of sharing dinner with Cap, I did probably owe him an explanation at the very least, as these rumors would affect him more than either me or Iris. Plus, something in me couldn’t turn him down after he intervened in our fight and saved me a trip to the emergency room.

After determining a nearby diner to eat at, we made our way over there, leaving Miles to deal with his crisis himself. Once we arrived, I ignored the strange looks I received from nearby strangers to focus on the questions I had for Cap.

“How on Earth did you find us?” I asked, “You weren’t at school. The odds are one in a million that you just happen to come across us fighting at that time.”

“I won’t deny that,” he admitted, “I was pretty lucky to be out there when I was.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I pointed out, “Why were you there in the first place?”

“I live near the train tracks. I was just taking a walk.”

I blinked in surprise.

“That’s it? Pure, dumb luck that we happened to be there?”

“Yup,” Cap confirmed, “Just happened to be there.”

I sighed.

“So much for my theory that you embedded a tracking device in my skull in middle school.”

Cap started laughing at my joke.

“Damn, dude,” he chuckled, “Didn’t know you had a sense of humor.”

“I didn’t really realize it myself,” I shrugged.

“So what’s up with these rumors?” Cap asked, suddenly serious, “Miles mentioned something about how they were your fault, but I never got a chance to hear what actually is going on.”

“That’s complete bogus,” I replied, “I had nothing to do with the rumors spreading.”

It wasn’t completely true, but I rolled with it anyway.

“What are these rumors?” Cap asked again.

“I heard several flavors throughout the day,” I explained, “Early in the day it was that you missed school due to some kind of legal thing, and later in the day it was that I was blackmailing you and Iris into being my friend, and doing some...let’s say unscrupulous acts with you two. They’re obviously full of hot air, but Iris and I were quite bothered by them.”

“Wait, you were bothered by rumors?” Cap repeated, “After all the rumors that you let slide when we were in middle school, now you’re bothered?”

I nodded.

“That kinda hurts my pride a bit,” Cap murmured.

Seeing me raise my eyebrow, he quickly became apologetic.

“No, no, I don’t mean that the way you think,” he explained, “It’s just that when you do something, there’s a sense of pride in knowing you did it right. I don’t mean to do that to you anymore, I promise.”

Not seeing anything to say in response, I shrugged my shoulders.

“Whatever,” I replied halfheartedly, “I owe you one, so I’ll let it slide. It’s not like I was bothered by them for my own sake, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“The rumors involved you and Iris. If it was just me, I wouldn’t care.”

I heard a slight ‘ah’ from Cap, and figured my explanation was good enough.

“So, what do you think?” I asked.

“Think about what?”

“The rumors,” I repeated.

This time, it was his turn to sigh.

“Well, you’re right that they’re mostly wrong,” he admitted, “But there’s some truth there.”

“Iris said that might be the case,” I recalled, “At the heart of every convincing rumor is a grain of truth.”

“A bit more than a grain here,” he said.

I tilted my head, signaling my curiosity.

“There’s a lot going on, it’s going to take a while to explain,” he explained, “I’m not even sure I can get to it all here.”

“That’s fine,” I responded, “What’s the short version?”

He sighed again.

“You’re persistent, aren’t you?” he commented, “Very well. The part about the legal case is true. I’m involved in quite the situation right now, and since it’s mostly happening in the morning I have to miss class.”

“What’s going on, Cap?” I asked, growing concerned, “Is this related to why you’ve been spending more time with me recently?”

Surprisingly, he chuckled at this.

“Now that you mention it, there could be an indirect connection,” he said, “But I never really thought about it like that.”

“Cap,” I looked him in the eye, “If you want me to trust you, you have to trust me too. What’s going on?”

After a moment of hesitation, Cap finally gave in.

“Fine, but this is going to take a while. Why don’t we head back to my place first?”

After paying for our food, we departed the restaurant. At this point, I was equal parts curious and afraid. I wasn’t sure what he was going to tell me when we arrived, but I was beginning to hope that it wasn’t anything that would tie me up. The last thing I needed was involvement in a scandal of some kind.

“Here we are,” Cap pointed as we arrived.

It was a small home a few blocks from the train tracks. For what seemed like a relatively cheap property, though, it was quite well-kept. The house seemed like it had been painted recently, and the grass was neatly trimmed. In addition, there was a garden out front that clearly got a lot of love from whoever was in charge of gardening.

“Seems like a cozy home,” I commented, “Small and sweet.”

“Definitely,” he agreed, “I wouldn’t trade it for a million-dollar mansion any day of the week.”

Cap invited me inside, and I cautiously followed him. Despite his previous actions, and the growing comfort level I had been dealing with recently, I had to remind myself that this was the same Cap Johnson that would give me wedgies every other lunch period in middle school. I had to keep him at arm’s length until I could be sure of his intentions, no matter how nice he seemed on the surface.

I took a seat on the couch in the living room, and Cap sat in a chair opposite a small coffee table in the middle of the room.

“So what were we talking about?” he asked.

“I think you were going to tell me about this legal thing, and how it potentially impacted your change in attitude toward me.”

“That’s right, I did say that,” he conceded, “Was hoping you’d forget, to be honest.”

“Sorry, I have a good memory,” I smirked.

“Apparently so,” he laughed.

I leaned forward, ready to hear his story. With the amount of pressure I had put him under, I could only hope it was good. As he began explaining, I listened in earnest, attempting to soak up every detail I could. And in the process, hopefully I could finally find a reason to trust him.