"Whispers always find ears."
By Monday morning, Eli's game had become campus legend. The kind that got worse with every retelling.
Silver discovered this at breakfast in Commons, trying to focus on her oatmeal while two guys from her economics section talked behind her.
"I heard one scout didn't even stay for the third period," the first one said, voice carrying over the din of morning conversation. "Just got up and left."
His friend laughed. "Can't blame him. Chen totally choked. My roommate was there, said it was painful to watch."
Silver's spoon stopped moving. The oatmeal suddenly tasted like paste.
Americus looked up from her phone. "Ignore them. Half these people can't even skate backward."
"They're not completely wrong though." Riley kept her voice low, glancing at the table behind them. "The scouts did leave early. I saw it myself."
"Maybe they'd seen enough," Silver said, though the words felt hollow.
