My Secret Deal 27

Jake’s POV

The blood was still on my knuckles. Somewhere between the roar of the crowd and the harsh echo of my own breathing, I had forgotten how it even started. I only remembered his words: You should’ve joined your brother. After that, everything turned red.

The principal’s office smelled like cold sweat and old furniture. The chairs were too small, the fluorescent lights too harsh, and the air was thick with a tension none of us dared to break. I sat across from Travis, each of us flanked by a principal from our schools, locked in silence, waiting.

I could still feel the rhythm of my fists colliding with his jaw vibrating through my bones. My forearms were tight. My hands ached. But none of it compared to the thing twisting in my chest.

Lily.

I hadn’t seen her after the fight. I didn’t know if she had stayed or if she had left, or if she had witnessed the worst parts of me unfold in front of a crowd. That thought terrified me more than anything else.

Principal Harlow, ours, leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk.
“Jake, tell us your side,” he said.

I didn’t look at Travis. I kept my eyes fixed on the surface of the desk and spoke as flatly and clearly as I could manage.

“No one tripped by accident,” I said. “Leo did it intentionally. Mike fell hard. I called it out. Travis stepped in. He escalated. Said something personal. I lost it.”

Principal Raynor, from Travis’s side, raised an eyebrow.
“Something personal?” he prompted.

I didn’t answer. Not that part. Not when Lily might still be out there hearing my name tangled with words like violent and unstable.

Travis scoffed from across the table.
“He lost it because I told him the truth,” he said, his voice casual, almost proud.

Principal Harlow frowned and turned to him.

“Your version?”

Travis leaned back in his chair, rubbing his bruised jaw like it was some kind of trophy.

“Jake’s obsessed with looking like a hero,” he said. “I called him out. He punched me. End of story.”

Liar.
But I stayed quiet.

I had already said my piece. My blood wasn’t clean. I wasn’t proud of how far I had gone. But I wasn’t going to twist the truth into something it wasn’t.

The door opened then, and two teachers entered the room.

“Sorry to interrupt,” one of them said. “We’ve spoken with several students. Teammates. They all confirm that Leo’s trip was intentional. They say Jake responded, but it was Travis who provoked the fight further — direct insults, personal matters.”

Principal Raynor stiffened visibly. Principal Harlow shifted his gaze back to me.

“Anything else you want to say, Jake?”

I looked up then — not at him, but at Travis — and asked, “Why’d you do it?”

Travis didn’t answer. He just stared at me, his expression unreadable.

“You could’ve just played the game,” I said. “You could’ve walked away.”

He rolled his eyes, dismissing me without a word.

“You jealous?” I asked, my voice low but cutting.

That question hit something inside him. I saw it — the way he shifted, the way his mouth tightened, even if he tried to hide it.

“You didn’t like that she picked me,” I said. “That she didn’t come crawling back to you.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he muttered under his breath.

“You brought up her past. Her pain. And then you brought up my brother,” I said, not letting him off easy.

“Like he wasn’t a quitter?” Travis sneered.

I stood up so fast that both principals jolted in their chairs. But I didn’t lunge. I didn’t move toward him.

I just looked at him.

And he knew.

“You didn’t break me,” I said quietly. “But you’re the reason I snapped.”

They gave Travis a suspension — two weeks. It was enough to miss the playoffs, enough to put a permanent crack in his golden-boy reputation.

I didn’t get off easy. I wasn’t expecting to.

I would lose my eligibility for the next match. I would have to sit down with the school counselor for mandatory sessions. And maybe, if I managed to keep my record clean after that, I could return in time for finals.

I nodded through all of it without arguing, without explaining any further.

Because the only thing I cared about wasn’t in that room.

When I stepped out of the office, still dazed and aching, I saw them immediately.

Erin, Maisy, and Willow stood outside, lined up like a wall of heartbreak.

I stopped short.

“Where is she?” I asked.

Willow’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
“She’s not okay,” she said.

“What happened?” I demanded, my voice already hollow.

“Her mom,” Erin whispered. “She grabbed her off the field and took her home.”

“No one’s heard from her,” Maisy added quietly. “She hasn’t answered any texts. Not even ours.”

My heart dropped straight to the floor.

“She saw the fight?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

They nodded.

I felt the floor tilt underneath me, like gravity was shifting just to make it harder to stand.

“Did she… did she see me lose it?” I asked, barely able to get the words out.

Willow reached out and touched my arm gently.
“She saw enough,” she said.

I ran.

Every step toward Lily’s house felt heavier than the last, like my body was trying to hold me back, like it already knew I was too late.

My legs burned with the effort. My chest ached with every breath. My hand throbbed from the fight, but none of it compared to the way my heart felt — broken and frantic and desperate.

I didn’t know what I would say when I got there.
I just knew I needed her to hear the truth.

All of it.

Even the ugly parts.

Because this time, if I lost her, I wasn’t sure I would survive it.