Even though I didn’t end up in a fight the previous day, waking up in the morning was somehow tougher than it had been the previous night. Whether it was the stress of the rumors finally catching up with me, or the frustrating lack of answers to my predicament, it didn’t change the fact that I woke up much more outwardly irritable than usual. It was unlikely anyone at school would notice the difference due to my usual demeanor, but I was not looking forward to the look my mother would give me before I departed the house.

I took a look at myself in the mirror before heading downstairs, and was somewhat disturbed by what I saw. While it isn’t unusual for people with little sleep to have black circles develop under their eyes, the level of darkness present in my face coupled with my red eyes had me creeped out, and subsequently wondering if people had been looking at this for the past few days, and I simply hadn’t noticed what was going on. Out of a twisted courtesy for those around me, I grabbed a pair of sunglasses and threw them on before I left.

However, as I feared, I ran into my mother on my way down the stairs, and she immediately seemed concerned at my appearance.

“Retter? What’s with the sunglasses?” she questioned.

I lifted them up a bit.

“I don’t want anyone thinking I’m the reincarnation of Frankenstein’s monster, now do I?” I sharply replied.

My mother winced at my tone.

“Retter, is something wrong?”

Realizing this conversation was going nowhere, I lowered my sunglasses and closed my eyes.

“Nothing in particular.”

“Are you sure?” she checked.

“I’m going,” I declared, before quickly exiting the building.

Of course, my denial was completely false, but the last thing I wanted to do was rely on my mother for advice. However, a fight with her was the last thing I needed at the time, since school was beginning in only an hour. Thus, I decided it would be best to retreat while I still had some level of self-control.

Unfortunately, the day would bring more irritants on top of what I had to deal with in the morning. While I was expecting to navigate a wave of whispers about my choice in apparel, I wasn’t ready for how intense the rumor mill would be surrounding it.

“Do you thing he’s snapped?” One girl asked as I walked toward my first class.

“Maybe he’s finally realized how much of a creep he is,” the other whispered back, just within earshot.

I rolled my eyes, but it didn’t change the light sting I felt at those words. I hadn’t done anything to anyone to deserve that kind of treatment, and yet here I was being slandered for the great sin of covering up the one thing that people hated me for. What irony.

It didn’t help that, like yesterday, Cap was absent in the morning. If he was here, he would be taking up the attention of some of the class, and thus take their focus off me. That was how I had gotten used to living prior to his family problems taking center stage, and the twisting that had caused once it reached the student body.

Speaking of which, that was another direction the sunglasses rumors went, as well.

“Is he trying to go undercover?” One of the students in question asked, “Make us forget about what he’s been doing to Cap?”

“Cap’s gotten in a lot of trouble, and yet keeps talking to him,” a friend replied, “Must be some kind of blackmail.”

“Why else would he be paying attention to someone like that?” A third chimed in.

I shook my head, keeping my head down. I had my reasons for the sunglasses, even if they were a little eccentric. Cap was not a part of it.

When I headed to lunch, Iris was the only one there, as expected. Unlike the previous day, Cap had not showed up by lunch, leaving the two of us alone.

“What’s with the new look?” Iris questioned.

I raised my sunglasses, showing her my eyes.

“Do you see anything different?”

She tilted her head, thinking for a moment.

“Can’t say I do,” she pondered, “Is there some reason you’re hiding your eyes, then?”

“Can’t deny your advanced perceptive skills,” I commented, “Don’t worry about it. Something was bothering me about my eyes this morning, that’s all.”

“I’m curious, though,” she complained, “You sure?”

I nodded in slight exasperation. I really didn’t want to talk about my eyes at that moment, especially after all the gossip I heard that morning.

She sighed.

“Well, all right then,” she conceded, “Where’s Cap?”

“Beats me,” I replied, “Probably dealing with more divorce proceedings.”

“Sounds horrible, I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through.”

“Maybe somewhere,” I considered, “But I think part of him is happy, too.”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Based on what he’s told me, his father was quite abusive. If they’re cutting him off from their family, it means he doesn’t have to live with that abuse anymore. That’s good, right?”

She didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she looked at her feet in shame.

“I guess you’re right, but I can’t imagine cutting my dad off from the family. He’s a critical part of it.”

“That’s true for you,” I pointed out, “You’re dad’s the only one you have left.”

“Even if that weren’t the case,” she protested, “Losing a parent is painful for any reason. After all, they’re the reason you’re alive.”

I declined to answer at that point. I figured it would be best to agree to disagree, and I didn’t want to overstep my bounds without Cap here to rebuke me for it. It didn’t seem like Iris was going to complain about my decision, either, so we sat in silence for several minutes, left to our own minds. Eventually, however, Iris decided to focus on a different, more pressing topic.

“So, about those rumors,” she began, “Have you found a way to deal with them yet?”

I shook my head.

“Unfortunately, no. I did try to talk to Mr. MacArthur about it, but Gibson was too hyper and made it impossible to make any real progress.”

“Gibson?”

“His son. I think he’s three or four, but I need to double check. He’s a good kid, but sometimes a little too energetic for his own good,” I explained.

“Well, what was he doing?”

“He was running around before I got there. I’m not sure Mr. MacArthur would have caught him if I hadn’t been there. Evidently, when we went into his office, the kid kept interrupting us, saying I should just yell if we were upset, like he would.”

“Yell, huh?” Iris contemplated.

“Yeah, that’s kinda out of the question, though,” I shook my head, “My reputation is already tenuous, I don’t need to be immature on top of that.”

“I guess you’re right,” Iris agreed, “Still, I wonder about whether he has a point.”

“Maybe, but I don’t want it to backfire.”

In truth, I had brushed off Gibson pretty quickly, but it was possible he had half a point. Maybe me going crazy would get people’s minds off Cap and onto me. Still, it was a little too messy for me. I didn’t want to simply shift the rumor mill, I wanted to wreck it. If I was going to do that, the last thing I would want to do is put myself under even greater scrutiny.

“We know the truth, it’s just an issue of spreading it,” I thought out loud, “How would we do that?”

“We could spread a conflicting rumor,” Iris offered, “If two rumors contradict each other, they both tend to fall apart.”

“That or the stronger rumor simply becomes more pronounced,” I rejected, “If they find out we’re the origin, it could reinforce their bias rather than remove it.”

“Well, then what are we supposed to do?” Iris asked no one in particular.

I furrowed my brow, attempting to think of something that would allow us to escape the situation we had found ourselves in. However, no matter what I came up with, everything seemed hopeless. Mess up even a little bit, and the operation will backfire. That seemed to be the case with every possible solution. If we wanted to fix this, we would have to walk a tightrope suspended above a pit of lava.

“We’re going to need to take some kind of risk,” I responded to her previous query.

“I think you’re right,” she agreed, “But what will we do?”

“For now, I think we should wait for Cap,” I proposed, “I don’t want to do too much without him. His reputation is on the line as much as ours.”

“Sounds good,” Iris acquiesced.

We headed back to class at the ten-minute bell, as usual, but my brain was left right in the same place it was when lunch began. I was stuck trying to fix the problems I had been trying to fix for a week, and I wasn’t really getting anywhere in spite of what I’d learned.

“Hey, why is Cap missing again today?” I heard a nearby peer whisper to a friend.

“I think he’s stuck in court again,” his friend responded.

I started tapping my pencil, trying to rein in my frustration. I was getting sick and tired of hearing all these nobodies talk like they knew Cap. And it wasn’t just them. I could hear similar whispers coming from all over the classroom.

“Seriously? Again? What did he do?”

“Who knows, but I think it has to be something criminal.”

My left fist began to clench, while my pencil was tapping the desk faster. I didn’t want to hear it, but I couldn’t escape it. They were accusing Cap of terrible things when he did nothing wrong.

“The golden boy, a criminal, huh?”

Even though I was trying my hardest to keep myself under control, I was beginning to hear only one thing in my mind.

“Just yell at them.”

I shut my eyes, shaking my head slightly so as not to tip off anyone else that something was wrong. But all I could hear was that one phrase, the phrase that came from the lips of a preschooler.

“I yell when I’m mad. So yell at them.”

What was wrong with me? Why was I only able to think of that? Yelling wouldn’t solve anything at all.

“Man, remind me to stay away from Cap and that red-eyed kid. Who knew they were actually bad news?”

That was it.

I stood up quickly, my feet hitting the floor in a noise that could only be considered a stomp. At the same time, my hands slammed my desk, getting everyone’s attention. I looked up, and exhaled.

If I couldn’t control myself, at least I should make what I did yell the truth. I wasn’t going to let them slander my friend any longer.

“Listen here, assholes,” I announced, taking off my sunglasses, “Hate me all you want, but leave my friend out of this.”

The class immediately started whispering.

“What’s he talking about?”

“What’s gotten into him?”

“Is he going to attack us?”

I steeled myself, regaining a degree of control. I may have already been in too deep, but I was going to see this through. Even if it meant I would suffer, I was going to get my friend out from under the bus if it was the last thing I did.

“I’m hearing a lot about Cap. That he’s a criminal, or that he’s being blackmailed, and I’m sick of it,” I continued, “Do any of you know what he’s going through as we speak? Do you know what he’s been through his entire life? Do you know anything about him? If not, you have no place to be making up lies.”

“What are you talking about?” A jock in the front corner stood up, “You don’t know any better than we do!”

I wagged my finger.

“You’re right. Which is why I’m not going around spreading lies about him, and gossiping about unverified claims.”

“What do you mean, unverified?” A girl was the next to fight back, “I’ve heard from multiple people that-“

“And where, pray tell, did they hear it?” I replied, causing the girl to sit down, “The truth is, it’s all false. Cap is not a criminal. He is in court, but he’s a witness, not a defendant. He’s lived a tough life, and he’s finally being freed from it. So why don’t you help him recover and move forward, instead of acting like the gossip-obsessed sheep you all are?”

With that, I sat down. While I wasn’t proud that I lost my temper, I stood by everything I said, and would repeat it in a heartbeat if someone asked me to. Of course, no one did, as the classroom was completely silent. However, while many of them were looking at me in shock, as this was very out-of-the-ordinary for me, several students were turned around, looking at the doorway. I looked up, only to see a face I didn’t expect.

Cap was there, frozen at the door. When we locked eyes, I saw him crack a smile, and begin to clap. At this point, everyone turned around to look at the newcomer, who was beginning to walk toward the podium rather than his seat.

“Well said, friend,” Cap said, “But I also have something to say. May I have the floor?”

At a loss for words, I simply nodded, wondering what Cap had in store for us. Seeing my approval, he began his speech.

“The truth is, what Ret said is correct. I have been stuck in court for the last week or so, like the rumors say. However, I’m dealing with an extremely personal issue, so please don’t ask me about it.”

The entire class remained silent after his request, but I had the feeling they were all feeling different things about the events that had transpired.

“I bet none of you really believed him though, did you?” he challenged, “The truth is, you’re all acting under the assumption that Ret is a bad person. He’s a creep that wants to hurt you, right? He’s just covering his own skin, right?”

“Well, no. I’ve actually spoken to the boy with red eyes, and he’s just like all of us. He has the ability to feel pain, and he does on a regular basis due to what you all say about him. He hides it well, sure, but I’ve seen the look in his eyes when you slander him. Imagine if I slandered your friend, what they would look like. Now imagine if I did it so much they were used to it, and they believed it.”

Unlike when I was speaking, Cap had a sense of authority and dignity, and no one dared interrupt him.

“I feel incredibly grateful that Ret stood up for me earlier, so I’m going to make the same request. Please, try to understand who he is, and don’t act like you’re above that. Instead of pushing him down for your own self-satisfaction, why don’t you help him become a better person?”

“You’re one to talk,” the jock from earlier finally pitched, “You were as bad as any of us six months ago.”

“You’re right,” Cap admitted, “And I won’t lie. I feel bad for what I did. But my actions speak for themselves. I found myself in a better place. All of you can do that too, whenever you choose to do it. But, until then, leave my friend alone.”

“Ahem.”

Cap turned, and saw the teacher in the doorway. Embarrassed, he returned to his seat after the long-winded speech, and the teacher, pretending nothing had happened, began the lesson with earnest.

I, on the other hand, could not focus on the lesson. I could only think of Cap’s incredible speech, spoken like a professional. It had to be spontaneous, but he sounded calm and collected without being monotone. I was shocked that he was capable of such skills.

What was more surprising, though, was his willingness to throw away his own credibility for my sake. He, without any hesitation, confronted a whole class of high school students in order to help someone like me, who had done nothing for him.

Wait, could it be...?

I realized that this was what I was looking for. All this time, I had wondered what it meant to be friends with someone. None of the answers I had heard worked for me, but Cap had showed that he was willing to risk something for me, and I did the same for him. Not only that, I was confident that if Iris were in the same spot, neither of us would hesitate to do it again.

“So this is what I was looking for, huh? I guess I finally found it.”