Reputation

Reputation is everything. It is not just a word; it is your entire life. Wouldn’t you try to protect it?

Mr. Brooks was in the middle of giving a lecture about rumors. “Who can tell me why it’s important as a journalist to avoid rumors?” A student raises his hand, and Mr. Brooks calls on him. “Because you would lose credibility.” “Exactly, we want to maintain our reputation as a credible source,” Mr. Brooks says. “Now, how do rumors spread?” Mr. Brooks asks. He scans around and chooses William, who doesn’t have his hand up but instead has his head down. He raises his head and answers, “People talk, and they talk a lot, and they spread it like wildfire, and that’s what makes it awesome.” “Well, Mr. Hunter is correct about how rumors spread, we don’t share the same sentiment about them.” Mr. Brooks responded. The bell rings, and the students all rush to get out. “Make sure to have your papers about the history of rumors in journalism completed by next week.” Mr. Brooks said. William hadn’t begun writing his paper for class and honestly didn’t have a clue what he was going to write about. He figured he could pay someone to write it for him if it came to that.

Lunchtime was the worst time of the school day for William. He hated the smell of the greasy school food. He considered that food unfit for any human, let alone an animal, to eat. He would just sit and talk with his friends, waiting to return to class. “I think Mrs. Cusack wants me to fail, You know what he gave me for my current events project,” said Tom. They anticipate his answer. “C minus, I don’t deserve a C minus; does she know how hard I worked on that project?” “Yeah, she’s pretty harsh on grades; I couldn’t buy an A in that class,” Bobby responded. William didn’t care to listen to his friends complain about grades. He never struggled in school; he always found it “unstimulating.” “I’m going to the bathroom; I’ll be back,” William said.

William enters the stall to use the bathroom; moments later, the sound of footsteps alerts him, causing him to lift his feet out of view. He overhears their conversation, “Are you sure about that? I don’t know if I should.” A voice speaks softly. “How else do you plan to get better? I guarantee you there are hundreds of other guys at different schools doing steroids; how could you ever compare?” Another voice whispers. William looks through the crack in the stall and sees two members of the football team, Aaron and John. He is contemplating whether he should stop listening, but he finds the conversation very intriguing. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them for you; just give me the money, and you will be fine, I promise,” John says. Aaron hands him the cash. “You won’t regret this, trust me.”

William felt he had come across a gold mine. A new story for the school newspaper and first-hand research for his journalism research paper. He knew it was too good to pass up this opportunity, so he did what he did best, write.

School newspaper headline: Football star taking steroids? With a picture of Aaron plastered on the front. This started the day with constant chatter through the halls; it made it hard to think. Aaron arrived with side-eyes and gossip, as opposed to the handshakes and hugs on a normal day. Confused by the abnormal behavior, he grabs a newspaper out of a student’s hand to read the headline and immediately fills up with rage. His bright red face turns to John to question him. “Did you do this? You set me up, didn’t you?” He yells. “Swear to God, I had nothing to do with this, I swear,” John pleaded. Aaron storms off to the office of the newspaper club.

William is having a field day with the outcry, spinning in an office chair and grinning from ear to ear when the door violently opens with Aaron and his crew entering. “Where did you hear this from?” Aaron asked. “Around,” William responded. Aaron gets in Williams's face. “I want a name.” William, not intimidated by his scare tactics, responds like a smartass. “Well, I’m sorry; I’m not liable to give out that information.” “You can’t go around spreading rumors like that; that’s just bad.” He can’t think of the word he is trying to say, so William finishes his sentence, “Journalism.” “Exactly, it’s not right, and if you don’t take back what you said, I promise you it won’t end well,” Aaron says. He and his crew walk out. Aaron’s threats didn’t scare William; he wasn’t going to take the story back.

Aaron and William used to be friends in elementary school. Not best friend’s territory, more like that friend you’ll talk to at school, but never more than that. It ended in middle school. They went off in different directions; Aaron headed into sports while William focused on school. They found new groups to hang out with. Aaron was with the popular kids and was able to get any girl he wanted, while William would get pushed around and disrespected by the people Aaron hung out with. The story was more than just news; it was revenge.

William walked into school the next day with no care in the world; in fact, quite the opposite, he was excited to see the fallout from yesterday’s story. William walks into the student newspaper office, where he is confronted by members of the football team led by Aaron. “Well, I see you brought the whole crew for me,” William says. “Are you taking back the story?” Aaron asks. William pretends to think it over, but he has had his mind made up since yesterday. "Nope,” he responds. “You’ve made the worst mistake of your life,” Aaron said.

Later in the day, William has gym class, and he has a few members from the football team in his class, including Aaron. So, when it is announced that for today, they are going out to the field to play football, he knows he will be a target. He goes into the locker room to change. He takes off his school clothes and puts them in his locker. He is putting on his gym shirt when Aaron, backed by the football team, traps him in a corner. “I was suspended from football because of your little story, so I deserve some payback. Aaron takes Williams’ school clothes out of his locker and throws them to the football team. William attempts to grab them back but can’t reach them because he’s too small. They finally throw it to Aaron, where he rips up his clothes and throws them back to William. They laugh at him and walk out of the locker room.

On the field, teams are being picked for the football game, and naturally, William is picked last on the team opposite Aaron. Throughout the game, William doesn’t see the ball; he’s just there as a spot filler, getting some cardio done. On one possession, the ball is fumbled, and William grabs it. He’s just excited to get his hands on the ball. His team yells at him to run. He starts running as fast as he can, with no awareness of the field, just running in a straight line, when, from the side, he gets knocked off his feet into the air. William was hit so abruptly that he couldn’t process what was going on until he hit the ground, and the wind knocked him out. Some students laughed, and some cowered; all he knew was that this was an embarrassing situation to be in.

If he were to tell a staff member about their actions, it would just make him seem like a coward, so knowing that this was only the beginning, he figured he needed to come twice as hard if he was ever going to get any respect.

Since he was a teacher's assistant and sometimes had a chance to see the grade book, he decided to do some subtraction on Aaron’s grades. Just enough that he can’t make it back onto the football team. William wanted to hit Aaron where it hurt. He loved football, so he wanted to take that away from him and make him feel the pain he had felt for years.

Aaron was called to the guidance counselor's office concerning his grades. This was unusual for him, as he always made sure to keep his grades up just enough to keep playing football. “Looking at your grades now, I am sorry to inform you that they are not high enough to stay on the football team,” the guidance counselor says. Aaron nervously laughs, “That can’t be right; last time I checked, they were good.” He looks at the computer screen to see C’s and D’s. It clicks for him. He knows William did this to set him up. “I’ll handle this; it’s just one big mistake,” Aaron says.

Later that day, Aaron confronts William at his locker. “I know what you did, you little snake,” Aaron said. William tries to play coy and brush it off: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Don’t play dumb; now you changed my grades, so I can’t play football anymore.” William shakes his head. “I would never do such a thing.” Anger builds up in Aaron, looking at William’s dumbfounded face, and he lets it out by punching him.

The surrounding crowd begins circling the two, hooting and hollering like animals watching the two fight. William doesn’t get much offense but manages to defend himself from getting pummeled. Teachers rush to break it up, and they drag them both to the principal’s office.

They are both brought to the principal’s office and scolded for their behavior. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves; you two are better than this,” the principal says. “Consider this is a first-time infraction for the both of you; I will not be as harsh as usual, one-week suspension.” Their parents pick them up and drive them home.

After all the recklessness and attempts to defame one another, William felt like he had gained nothing. He didn’t feel happier or relieved, and sure as hell, he wasn’t any more popular. He had felt as if all of this was one great waste of time and effort. He had days to think over what he had done, as his mother wouldn’t allow him to leave the house. It was him and his thoughts for a week.

Aaron’s parents weren’t as harsh on him as William’s. He was forced to apologize to him, so his mother drove him over to William’s house to give a face-to-face apology. Aaron knocks on the door to be greeted by William’s mother. “I came over to apologize to William,” Aaron says softly. “He’s in his room,” she responds, pointing to his door. Aaron knocks on the door, and William nearly jumps at his presence. “I wanted to apologize to you. It's insane how things just got out of hand,” Aaron says. William invites him into his room, filled with posters of early 2000s rock bands and the stench of potato chips.

Aaron sits down in a chair, and William sits on his bed. “It is ridiculous how I’ve acted in the past couple of days; I’ve never been like this my entire life,” Aaron says. “Either way, I feel horrible for putting that story out there. I felt... I felt like I wanted to see you fail,” William responds. “Why?” Aaron asks. “I felt like you just left me behind, abandoned me.” William contains his tears. “I know and I feel bad; we used to be friends; now look at us acting like idiots." “You know we had some good times; remember bringing our action figures to school, and we would fight with them?” Aaron and William laugh at the memory. “We have to hang out again; let this be water under the bridge,” Aaron says. “I’d like that a lot,” William responds. They hug and shake hands with a sense of relief and the rebuilding of a friendship.