The boy sat alone on a wooden bench.
He was struggling to pull his sweatpants over his right leg.
Brian stopped.
Cody's shorts had ridden up.
His thigh was covered in bruises.
Not one bruise.
Dozens.
Purple.
Black.
Yellow.
Some were old.
Others were fresh.
Brian's eyes moved higher.
Cody's ribs were covered too.
Then Brian saw the mark in the center of his thigh.
A perfect tread pattern.
A steel-toed boot.
Brian felt something inside him go cold.
“Good God.”
Cody immediately pulled down his clothes.
“Coach—”
“Who did this?”
“I fell.”
“You didn't fall onto a steel-toed boot.”
Cody's eyes filled with tears.
Brian knelt in front of him.
“Was it Trent?”
Cody shook his head.
“Weston?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Cody covered his face.
“They said they'd kill me.”
Brian felt his anger rise.
“Who?”
“Trent and Weston.”
The words came out in a whisper.
“They've been doing it for weeks.”
Brian sat beside him.
“Tell me everything.”
Cody hesitated.
Then the truth spilled out.
They had started with insults.
Then stolen lunches.
Then money.
When Cody stopped having money to give them, they invented an interest system.
Every missed payment meant another beating.
They locked him in the boiler room after seventh period.
Sometimes for twenty minutes.
Sometimes for an hour.
They had kicked him.
Punched him.
And three days earlier, Weston had used a steel-toed boot.
“Why didn't you tell someone?”
Cody laughed bitterly.
“Who?”
Brian didn't answer.
“Principal Wallace won't help.”
“Why?”
“Because Trent's dad pays for half the school.”
Brian's jaw tightened.
“That's not true.”
“It is.”
Cody wiped his eyes.
“Last year Trent broke another kid's nose. Wallace called it an accident.”
Brian knew about that incident.
Everyone did.
It had disappeared almost overnight.
“What about your parents?”
Cody stared at the floor.
“My mom left when I was six.”
“And your dad?”
“Prison.”
Brian's heart sank.
“Who do you live with?”
“Foster placement.”
“Does she know?”
Cody shook his head.
“She has five other kids. She doesn't care.”
Brian looked at the bruised boy beside him.
For fifteen years, Cody had been surviving without anyone.
But Brian wasn't going to let him survive this alone.
“Get dressed,” he said.
“Where are we going?”
“My office.”
Cody looked frightened.
“What are you going to do?”
Brian stood.
“I'm going to find you someone who will listen.”
The Name at the Bottom
Brian walked into the administrative office with purpose.
The secretary looked up.
“Coach?”
“Where are the freshman emergency contacts?”
“Why?”
“Now.”
She hesitated.
Brian opened the filing cabinet himself.
He searched alphabetically.
Sullivan.
Cody.
He pulled out the file.
Mother: None.
Father: None.
Guardian: Brenda Higgins.
Brian noticed several missed calls beside her name.
Then he saw another section.
Alternative Emergency Contact.
He read the line twice.
Brother: Jackson Sullivan.
Brian frowned.
He had never heard Cody mention a brother.