I've been spending a lot of time with Connery these past few weeks, way too much time if you ask Peyton. I've been going over to the frat house more times than I would like to admit to help Connery with Darnley's class (and also to have many video game sessions with the boys) while Connery on the other hand has been helping me train for the start of the season which is only a week away.

It's crazy how fast time has gone by, Connery is confident that I am ready for the start of the season, I on the other hand heavily disagree. I've come along way since I started training with Connery but I'm still having problems with perfecting my technique. I know that's as good as it's going to get though, I'm no Olympic protégée.

As for Macy's case, I've been helping Jared build the case alongside detective Porter but it's not looking too promising. The results of the rape kit came back, but no DNA was found. On a positive note, the rape kit showed vaginal trauma and we also had evidence of the bruises on Macy's neck and thighs, but then again without DNA, it was just another case of he said she said.

"Olivia, we don't have any hard evidence. You can't just arrest Tommy Scott, you have nothing to hold him with." Jared argues. "We don't even have probable cause, without those two it's clearly her word against his and that won't hold up in court."

"There must be something we can do, we have four other unidentified rapists on the loose." Detective Porter says in frustration. "If we don't do something about it now, you'll have another victim in your office in less than a week."

"I need a pattern at least Olivia if I can prove that he's done it before I can summon a grand jury. My instinct tells me that this is not his first time and by the way, Chancellor Scott handled Macy's report the school must be hiding something."

"I already conducted interviews with Macy's closest friends and all of the girls that were identified at the bar that night. No one talked." Olivia sighs. "We have nothing other than the evidence from the rape kit and the camera footage that shows that they left the bar together."

"But it also shows the number of drinks Macy had that night, that doesn't make her a credible witness Olivia. That will be the defense's first argument. I can't take a weak case to court and even if I could I won't."

"If I may," I interrupt. "From my experience, at least from what I've heard rape victims usually don't speak out not only because of fear but because they think they are all alone."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Jared asks.

"If we can get Macy to share her story, other victims might come forward. My best friend Peyton works at BGU's media center, she can write a report about Macy's case." I suggest and I hoped Jared didn't just throw my idea out the door. "I know it's a long shot, but seeing that we are running out of ideas, I thought that might help."

"I guess that could work," Olivia shrugs. "At this point, I'm willing to do anything."

"And I was also thinking about the fact that Macy was raped and there was no DNA. On the rape kit I get, but not even on her clothes?" I ask making Olivia and Jared think. "Macy mentioned that she went to the hospital only a few hours after it happened. Is it possible that she went back to her dorm with the thought of taking a shower and acting like it didn't happen? Maybe she changed her mind while she was on her way to take a shower."

"Great thinking Everest." Jared praises and I smile. "Did you check for DNA on all of her clothes Olivia?"

"We did, but we found nothing. Besides, when I interviewed Macy at the hospital the nurse brought back Macy's clothes and all she had were her shoes and a dress."

"That's the thing," I say. She changed her clothes. "When we interviewed Macy she described how Tommy lifted up her skirt not a dress."

"I'll go and pay Macy a visit," Olivia says as she takes out her phone from her back pocket. "Let's hope she didn't throw her clothes in the wash."

Olivia walked out of the office and I was left with a very frustrated Jared. "I apologize for my sudden outburst, I'm usually not this unprofessional."

"You don't have to apologize, Jared, I understand. We don't have a promising case, but I bet it's not your first. I've only been here a few weeks but I bet that hasn't stopped you before." I reassure Jared. I'm trying to make him see the positive side of things, but I'm thinking the same thing he is. Without any evidence, we can't have justice for Macy Kingsley.

"I'm usually the one giving pep talks to my interns Everest. I must admit, you have exceeded my expectations. You're doing an excellent job." Jared praises. Yes! "I've been doing my homework on Tommy Scott, but I can't find anything. That's very strange. Have you ever come across the guy?"

"Everyone on campus knows, pardon my very unprofessional expression, that he's an asshole especially with girls." I express. "But aside from that, I haven't heard anything. Also, I find it very strange that he was at AJ's that night. He usually doesn't make any public appearances, I don't go out much but I would know. Peyton likes to gossip about her late-night outings."

"Without sharing any specific details about the case, can you ask your friend about Tommy Scott? Maybe one of her friends had a hook up gone wrong like chancellor Scott likes to phrase it." Jared asks and I nod. If anyone knows something about Tommy, it's Peyton for sure. I love my best friend but she has a habit of getting into people's business.

After I finished discussing the details of Macy's case and other cases I was helping Jared out with I met up with Peyton to grab a bite at Alejandro's before I had to head to the pavilion for our first friendly meet of the season.

Coach Jennings decided it was a good idea (not) to organize a friendly meet with AGU. AGU is the rival we always end up competing within the semi-finals, they are a great competitive team but they always fall short when they compete against us. Coach also decided to make it a public event so the pavilion was going to be packed with students from our campus. And if I was being honest, I didn't feel exactly ready to compete (Connery would argue otherwise).

"Parcera, me alegra muchísimo verte por de nuevo por aca. ¿Quiubo?"

Alejandro greeted excitedly with his Colombian accent. "Vine a comer de mis enchiladas favoritas antes de mi competencia."

Alejandro exclaims. "¡Que chimba, parcera! A que hora es? Si Melissa llega y me cubre le caigo."

I smile. "Es a las siete en el natatorio. Puedes llevar a Vanessa, se que le encantara ver la competencia."

"Veremos, de todos modos en que puedo servirte?" Alejandro asks.

"Dame dos ordenes de enchiladas de pollo, una de esas ordenes que sea sin queso por favor." Alejandro nods.

"Tienes un total de diez pesos mi reina." I nod and I hand Alejandro a ten-dollar bill. " Que te las disfrutes parcera."

After a few minutes, Alejandro handed me the order and I walked over to the table where Peyton was sitting in. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Peyton smiles widely as I hand her the enchiladas. "I still can't believe you eat your enchiladas without cheese because you hate it yet you eat pizza without thinking about it twice."

"You won't understand and I won't waste my time trying to explain it to you." I smile at my best friend before taking a bite off my enchilada.

"It's not that hard to understand Ev, it's very simple actually. There's clearly something wrong with you." I glare at Peyton. "I found it surprising that you asked me to lunch given the fact that you've been hanging out with Connery every single minute of your day."

"You're being dramatic," I argue.

"If you ask Stensby he'll also vouch for that. I'm not complaining though, I'm here for it. I've been here for it since day one but considering the fact that he isn't your type. It just took me by surprise that you're hanging out with him a lot, that's all." Peyton shrugs. She has it all wrong.

"We're just friends," I tell her. "I will admit that I misjudged him."

"If you ask me, I wouldn't consider a friend someone who takes me to his safe spot, goes night swimming half-naked with me and listen to this because this is the best part. Leans in to kiss you but then backs off with no explanation what so ever and acts like it never happened." Peyton says in a dramatic tone.

"We've talked about this, we both got caught up in the moment. Besides, did you completely utterly forget the part where he had just fucked Inez a few minutes before I arrived at the house unannounced." Peyton stays silent. "I thought so."

"I promise to stay out of it for now. We both know I have the habit of getting involved in people's business, especially if it's yours so I can't promise I'll stay completely out of it." I shake my head, of course, she can't.

"I want to ask you something though," I tell Peyton and she perks her head up from her phone.

"Shoot."

"What do you know about Tommy Scott?"

Peyton's facial expression changes. She looked concerned. "Have you talked to him? Did he say something to you?"

Something didn't feel right here. Peyton usually is never this uneasy. "He hasn't but why are you so concerned if he did?"

"He's bad news Ev." Bingo.

"Why? All I've heard is that he's a total dick."

"I'm not supposed to talk about it, we're not supposed to talk about it." Peyton pauses. What does she mean by we? "Tommy took one of the girls from the sorority back to his place during rush week in our sophomore year. Her name was Emily, Emily Cohen. She was a freshman at the time. After that night, nothing was ever the same. The school ended up admitting her in a psych ward."

"In a psych ward? Why?" I ask. Something was very wrong here. Why would BGU admit a student in a psych ward?

"We had all gone out after the football game to celebrate at AJ's. Emily spent the whole night drinking, I've never seen her like that before. We went back to the house, I remember seeing Tommy there that night. After a few hours, one of the girls screamed. Emily had taken some pills, we called campus security and she started screaming like crazy. Campus security had to take her out in a straight jacket." Peyton explains.

Emily had to take those pills for a reason, it wasn't some coincidence especially if Tommy had been there that night. The bastard must have done the same thing to her and I was determined to find out if he did.

"Why are you so invested in Tommy Scott anyways?" Peyton asks.

"All I can tell you without violating attorney-client privilege is that his name showed up in a case I'm working in at the firm."

.

After I met up with Peyton I immediately called Olivia to tell her what I had found out about Tommy. Luckily, just as I predicted Macy had in fact changed out of her clothes before she headed to the hospital. The lab would be running some tests to check for any DNA sample on Macy's clothes. I was confident that we would at least find something. Olivia also talked to Macy about the report and she agreed to the terms so Peyton would be interviewing Macy for the piece in a few days.

"Ev, you have to come out of the locker room sometime. Your event comes after the men's 100 meters mixed relay race." Connery says as he leans his head against the frame of the metal door.

"How about I stay in here and you go out there for moral support?" I suggest. "That sounds much better than what you're suggesting."

"You're overreacting," Connery rolls his eyes at me. "It's not like you haven't competed against AGU before."

"You're not wrong, but in the past, I have crushed them swimming backstroke." I express. "AGU has one of the best breath-stroke swimmers in the nation Connery, I'm a joke compared to Montgomery."

"If you ask me, you're selling yourself short." Connery shrugs. "I would never lie to you Ev. You're ready, you've been ready a long time ago. Now you just have to believe in yourself, believe in yourself as I do, as we all do."

That gave me a little boost of confidence and it calmed down my nerves but with the many trust issues I have, I found it hard to believe that he would never lie to me. I didn't want to hold Connery accountable to that expectation. When you hold people accountable to your own expectations heartache follows. Why? Because people's actions always end up proving why many times their words mean nothing.

I put on my BGU swimming cap on and I walked out of the locker room with Connery. The pavilion was packed, we had a full house tonight. The only sound you could hear was the sound of people cheering us on. As soon as I walked out I spotted Peyton sitting in the stands next to Stensby. They both gave me an encouraging smile and I walked over to where the rest of the team was at.

"It was about time that you came out of that locker room Everest," O'Connor says and I roll my eyes. "I thought we were going to have to drag you out of there."

"Very funny O'Connor, I just had a minor set back."

"Well, I hope you're ready," Dant adds. "You're up next."

"You got this Ev, Montgomery has been off since the meets started. You have nothing to worry about it." Regan encourages.

I took a deep breath and I took off my Nike Windrunner jacket. I was ready to head over to the starting blocks but Connery grabbed my hand and stopped me. "Don't overthink it, it's just you and the pool out there."

Connery gave me an encouraging smile and with that, I walked over to the starting blocks alongside the girls I was competing against for this meet. Once we were given the signal I got on the starting block. I mentally made sure I was in the right position. I placed my back foot on the starting block behind the line of my hips and my arms were extended in a perpendicular angle to the starting block.

My one and only focus as of right now was having a quick reaction to the signal. How fast you react to the signal and push yourself off the starting block gave you an advantage or the complete opposite. Before I knew it the sound went off and I was already in the water.

The event was a 50-meter meet which meant I had to be fast. I didn't even think about looking to the side, I just focused on the water. My fists were clenched and I kicked my legs twice for every arm stroke; making my first kick, as per usual, before the end of the arm stroke and the second when my body was fully extended before beginning my arm stroke. Just like I practiced with Connery.

All I could hear as I tilted my head upwards to get air was the sound of every person on the stands screaming and cheering. It didn't take long before I reached the end of the first 25 meters, from the corner of my eyes I could see Montgomery in lane four close to me. So I gave everything I had left in my tank for the remaining 25 meters. With every kick and arm stroke, I could see the wall closer each time and in a matter of seconds, I reached the end.

Everyone was screaming and cheering, when I looked at the board I looked at my time 19.32, first place. What? First place? I did it! "Nice meet Green." Montgomery praised.

I got out of the pool in awe, I couldn't believe it. Connery was just as excited as I was. I walked over where the team was standing and I jumped on him engulfing him in a hug. "I freaking did it!"

"I knew you could," Connery grinned. "That was a great time Ev. With a little more practice you might even tie or break my record."

"I told you I might just come after your throne." I wink.