The Secret (Boston's Best 1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Matt

St Joseph's School For Boys is the biggest dickhead factory in the state.

And Cole Griffens is the biggest dick of heads to ever walk the earth.

When coach put up the roster for who was going to be playing and who we were up against I won't lie I did a little happy dance.

Captain- Matthew Brown (BPA). Cole Griffens (SJSFB)

Sub-Captain- Alex Walker (BPA). Jack Miller (SJSFB)

Quarterback;

Matthew Brown #13 (BPA). Cole Griffens #10 (SJSFB)

Offensive Linemen;

Left Tackle- Alex Walker #69 (BPA). Mickey Micheals #63 (SJSFB)

Left Guard- Murphy Johnson #61 (BPA). Peter LIttle #73 (SJSFB)

Center- Darius James #53 (BPA). Noel De León #71 (SJSFB)

Right Guard- Michael McVoy #78 (BPA). Dylan Bails #73 (SJSFB)

Right Tackle- Martin Rhodes #65 (BPA). Calvin Ighori #66 (SJSFB)

Tight End;
Corey Dalton #82 (BPA). Jack Miller #80 (SJSFB)

Wide Receiver;
Wideout- JP Rooney #85 (BPA). Conan Holt #11 (SJSFB)

Slot Reciever- Joseph Coleman #17 (BPA). Taylor Styles #89 (SJSFB)

Running Back;
Halfback- Felix Rodriguez #30 (BPA). Aiyden Achebe #37 (SJSFB)

Fullback- Jaxson Miller #27 (BPA). Leon Mass #22 (SJSFB)

Cole and his little posse –Jack Miller, Aiyden Achebe, and Noel De León, are the 'golden boys' of St Joseph's.

Which is ridiculous if I do say so myself, as their fucking golden king raped a girl –Lilly Suma, a student and friend here.

Cole and I used to be chill, kind of friends, like we'd hang out sometimes.

So, last summer at a party where they both told me that they were looking for someone for something serious, I thought 'Hey let's set up two nice cool people.'

What I didn't expect to happen was that by the end of the summer, Cole would rape Lilly.

He got away with it. Obviously.They always get away with it.

And it wasn't even like she waited a few months to speak up.

She went home, told her parents, gave her statement at the police station, and had a positive rape test.

If it was anyone else something might have actually happened, but c'mon this is Cole Griffens son of multi-millionaire Ben Griffens.

He got to walk away scott free and it wiped from his record like it never happened and Lilly got to be permanently traumatised with zero repercussions for what happened to her.

It was too painful for her to be around everything here but her family doesn't have a lot of money –she was on scholarship here, and I felt partially responsible for what happened so my parents and I organised an anonymous fundraiser where the donation minimum was $100 and we gave them $10,000 too.

They happily live in North Carolina now.

I still often talk to Lilly, she has a boyfriend who treats her right and great friends and she's trying to put the past behind her.

She is a good friend of mine.

So, everytime I see Cole's ugly, smug, disgusting face, all I want to do is pound him. Which I happily did and I can see the broken nose and the nasty black eye under his helmet.

We have 17 seconds left on the clock and the score is tight, 50–48 to us. So, technically we're winning but if they even get a field goal then they win.

"Brown!" Cole shouts at me.

I ignore him but he continues anyway. "Just wondering, how's Lil doing these days? I was thinking of calling her?"

The fucker. "You don't get to say her name or speak to her or even think about her. You fucking piece of shit, do you understand me?"

He smirks, "Nah. I don't think I do. Although Lilly is pretty damaged goods by now, maybe I'll make a move on Brooke. She looks so hot over there in that little skirt showing off her ass like the nice little slut she is."

"I'd shut your mouth if I was you, Griffens. Unless you want a repeat of what happened over the weekend."

"Speaking of last weekend, forget about Brooke. How about that feisty ginger girl you were protecting from little old me. She up for grabs or have you pissed on your territory for her too?"

"Don't talk about, Maddie. Ever. She can protect herself but she doesn't need to."

"That a threat?"

"Boys!" The ref shouts. "Quit it!"

...5...4...3...2...1...

5 things I can see –Darius, Felix, Alex, Coach Aldine, the cheerleaders.

4 things I can feel –the helmet on my head, the stones in my cleats, the grass in my hands, the blood from where I bit my lip.

3 things I can hear –my teammates, the crowd shouting, the ref talking.

2 things I can smell –the freshly cut grass, the sweat coming off us all.

1 thing I can taste –victory.

"Hike!" I shout.

I don't remember anything in the next 17 seconds. Not Alex tackling Cole or JP throwing the ball to me or running down the whole field and scoring a touchdown.

My teammates then have me on their shoulder within seconds cheering me on.

I see the St Joseph's boys walking off the field and I grin.

The cheerleaders reach us first and then the whole field is flooded with students celebrating.

Usually an off-season game isn't this hyped but because it was St Joseph's and we won, it's insane.

I spot Maddie, Evelyn and Nick talking off to the side of the big crowd and I'm about to walk over to her when I see Penelope and Alex go over and give her a hug.

Alex lifts her off the ground a bit and says something as he ruffles her hair that makes her head fall back in laughter.

When he puts her down her back is to me which is when I see the jersey she's wearing.

It's one of the school football jerseys, sorry not one of them, Alex's one. With very clear writing on the back saying –Walker 69.

Huh.

Are they...?

No, hardly not.

Alex would have told me. He can't keep his mouth shut when it comes to girls.

But then why is she wearing his...No, Matt, stop thinking about it, it's fine, it's nothing.

I try my best to not think of it, really I do but for the rest of the night all I do is rethink every interaction of theirs that I've seen.

I've officially gone insane.