This went double for Jove and the other orphans, wards of The Church who didn’t have any family to report bullies to.
That day, on his daily afternoon pilgrimage to the bell tower, Jove stepped through one of the school’s back doors and right into their hands.
There were three of them. Charlie, a starting lineman, a fat second string player whose name Jove didn’t know, and a former team member that everyone at Saint Anthony’s knew, the fallen hero of the Saint Anthony Saints and former starting quarterback, Benson Cochran. Only the teachers called him Benson. To everyone else it was Bennie.
The second stringer leaned against the brick wall, a badly made smoke crumbling between his fat fingers.
Charlie grabbed Jove from behind in a bear hug, pinning his arms to his sides and hoisting
