The mood at launch today was weird. Quite mumurs and whispers passed through the cafeteria, that in itself was not an issue. This was something different, the conversations being whispered had a quiet, ominous edge to them. I was yet to hear them, but I was certain I'd be informed soon. I turned to Rebecca, her warm eyes said it all, she noticed something was off as well.
"Do you know what's going on?" She shook her head, she was as oblivious as me. "Give me a moment, I'll find out." Rebecca scanned the long table, sorting through our large group of friends, her eyes lit up when she found her target. "Mills do you know what's going on. Seems like there's some juicy gossip going around, you wouldn't mind sharing it with me, would you?" Mills reaction brought a bitter taste to my mouth, she seemed nervous, she coiled into herself a bit. I couldn't possibly be that serious, right?
Rebecca's ever smiling face fell slightly. "Mills what's going on." Everyone at the table was paying attention now. Everyone was curious now, I especially so. I didn't think the gossip was about me or Rebecca. So why was she so hesitant to share it. Mills was know at our table as the busy bee that hovered around the latest news. In fact she was our reliant source for the newest happenings. And never before has she been hesitant to share the news, she practically thrived on sharing.
The pressure finally got to her, Rebecca's serious and insistent gaze the most heated of all. "Fine, I'll tell you guys. Tobias I'm not really sure it happened alright. It's just a rumor, there's no proof." So it did concern me after all, 'What could it possibly be, I don't remember doing anything that could get me in trouble lately.' "Word is that Luke Fitch sucker punched Jonathan DeLark and split his nose."
I leaned back into my sit, 'That is most definitely a lie, Lukehiem would never, would he?" It's been hard to get a good read of him these past few days. The constant staring and strange hostility he held for Jonathan didn't help. I looked at DeLark, true to rumors he had a bandage on his slightly swollen nose. "Why would people think Luke punched Jonathan?" Rebecca asked Mills. "I'm not sure, Jonathan has not confirmed it himself, his friend seem convinced it's Luke though." I turned back to Rebecca, her eyes reflected the same emotion as mine, we were concerned.
Rumors didn't spring up from nowhere, the facts could be misunderstood or someone could be playing a prank, but there was always intent behind it. I doubted anyone cared about the quiet, lonesome Lukehiem to spread false rumors about him. So it was probably the other option, someone had misunderstood the facts and appropriated Luke as the likely suspect. Jonathan's silence and his unwillingness to confirm the rumors supported my thesis. Then again his silence and unwillingness to deny the rumors caused problems and made clarification obscure.
"Tobias, this is more serious than I thought." Yes it was, the mumurs were basically accusing him of violence and unprovoked assault. '*Sigh* what do I do, what a wonderful way to begin the week. This just had to happen after I had one of the best weekends of my life.' Now that I was in the know, I perceived the context of the whispers with much more details. Unlike the humorous or inquisitive undertones I was expecting, all I felt was condescension and judgement.
That wasn't right, even if the rumors painted Luke in bad light, wasn't it too soon. Without confirmation it usually took days, weeks for the public to turn on the accused. Rebecca tugged at my sleeve pulling all my attention, "You felt it too, is there something we don't know about." She had a point , was there more to the story. I glanced at Jonathan's table, every few seconds someone would 'pass by' and stop to ask some questions. Jonathan never did the talking himself though, his friends did the heavy lifting or maybe not. The people seated around him gave me a bad feeling. I even noticed hostility, wait hostility?
Why hadn't I noticed this sooner, alot of people were giving Lukehiem strange looks. And Lukehiem always lost in that bubble of his was eating his lunch absentmindedly, casually sipping on his glucose, salt blend. This was bad, really bad. Normally, clearing up this situation should be simple, both parties involved would simply meet up and announce that the rumors were false and any personal grudges between them that caused the rumor to spread in the first place would be resolved. At least that's how it should have gone normally, but this was weird. I needed to speak with Luke, I needed his take, maybe I'd figure out what caused the misunderstanding.
"I'll be back." I informed Rebecca, I had nothing better to do for the rest of the break. Why not seek answers during my leisure time. I picked up my tray and moved over to Luke's table. As always he was absentmindedly stuffing his face. For someone so frequently lost in thought he really did love food. "Hey Luke, how are you doing?" He didn't even bother to glance up from his plate, not that it would make a difference. "Oh hey, I'm fine." I nodded and smiled, of course he was fine. "Say you haven't noticed anything strange going today, have you?" He most definitely didn't.
He took a moment to think about it, "Strange you say. You mean the rumors being passed around, about me punching DeLark in the face." I reeled back in shock, how the hell... 'heheh, you never seize to surprise me Lukehiem.' "Yep that one, how did you figure it out." I was genuinely curious, even I found out a bit late and he didn't have any other friends to inform him. "Hmm it's hard not to notice, especially with the eyes boring into my head." That didn't really explain much though. He didn't plan to explain any further.
"Did anything happen recently, anything that could have been misunderstood, something that would convince everyone that you and Jonathan fought." This was the most important, as long as we could find the source of this rumor and correct it, everything would smooth over. Luke was strangely unbothered by this, perhaps he was not aware of how much of an impact something like this would have on his reputation, his credibility, maybe the rest of his time in high school. Even now he didn't look up from his plate, he just played around with his food, rhythmically pushing it from one end of his plate to the other. His prolonged silence was becoming concerning.
"Hey Luke, none of the things being said would happen to be true would they?" Please say no, please any answer would be good just say no. He finally stopped moving his spoon around and looked up, he looked at me with those hollow eyes. "They are true though. I did punch DeLark in the face and I savoured every moment that my knuckles met his gesicht." That was it, we were finished. "Do you mean that metaphorically and if not can you tell me why." Why did I keep asking questions, his face said it all, but even still I hoped for a better answer. "Hmmm, why? Well he ticked me off, that's why." All my hope went up in smoke, 'What a way to begin the week.' "Okay buddy I'll see you later." He hummed his reply while I made my way over to Rebecca.
"What did Luke say? If anyone's spreading lie about him, so help me." I put my hand over her own and smiled, a bitter, exhausted smile. " No one's lying, Luke did it. He punched Jonathan in the face." Her deadpan conveyed the same emotion I felt just moments back. "Did he tell you why?" As expected of my sunburst, she was quick to process this and was gunning for a solution. "Jonathan ticked him off. Those were his words, apparently he has no regrets." Her face fell even further, it didn't suite her. I'd prefer to return to the moment minutes back when she was beaming and giving me that warm smile of her's.
"Luke has to apologize, we have to sort this out soon any delay might spell trouble for him." She made a valid point. Even as I was seated with him I felt the stares, heard the hushed whispers. Something like this would spell trouble for the average person, the feeling of isolation and being the subject of gossip would ruin anyone's time at school.
But this was Lukehiem we were talking about, he didn't fear isolation or rejection from his peers, rather he welcomed it. "I don't think that will work love. Apparently he enjoyed every moment. Given the opportunity to do it again, he probably would." She looked to me with a pained smile and stroked my thumb with her's. "In that case the best we can do is damage control. Let's find time and talk to Jonathan later. The fact that he hasn't played into the rumors is still a beacon of hope." "Yeah let's do that."