“Even if I could get you in, I’m not sure I can displace whoever is living with Alejandro,” Coach Farrow said.
David got a big smile on his face.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. Both Alex and his twin sister, Natalia, live there. They live in double suites. Alex has been bragging about how nice it is that he doesn’t have a roommate. I want to surprise him and crash his perfect little setup,” David said.
“If he’s living alone, then I can get it done,” Coach Farrow said, feeling more confident.
“And you can’t tell Alex who his new roommate is. You might have to tell his father, Umberto, but he’ll go for it,” David assured him.
Coach Farrow didn’t really know what to do but nod ‘yes’ to that.
“Aren’t you even going to ask David to come to USC?” Carol asked.
“My mom sells real estate. She’s been teaching me to ask for the sale,” David said to clue him in.
“No, I get that. I was just processing all this,” Coach Farrow said and then cringed. “Sorry. Would you honor us by attending USC?”
“Absolutely,” David responded.
“You don’t know how much David wants to play defense. In high school, he would’ve never come off the field if the coaches hadn’t made him,” Rob chuckled.
“Now that I know you’re coming, clue me in as to why you don’t want to work out with the team.”
“I already have a trainer; her name is Cassidy Hope. She’s the daughter of my high school coach and is on scholarship at USC for rowing,” David explained.
“Don’t worry. Cassidy will have him in shape,” Carol added.
“But we have some of the best strength-and-conditioning people in all of college football,” Coach Farrow objected.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll meet with them periodically so that you’re confident in the training I’m getting. Let Cassidy work me out, though. She knows how to get the most out of me,” David compromised.
“Besides, she would hurt him if he didn’t let her,” his dad added.
They all laughed when Coach Farrow looked confused.
“Just wait until you meet her and see her work me out, and you’ll understand. I contend that without her, we wouldn’t have won three state championships in football and one in baseball. We were always the best-conditioned team in the state, hands down,” David assured Coach Farrow.
“Welcome to the team. Can you come to campus tomorrow? We can get your waiver signed, get you enrolled, and assign your dorm room. You’ll also need to pay for school.”
“Yeah. Let’s get this done,” David said and then raised a finger as he thought of one last concern. “By the way, I don’t want there to be an announcement that I’m coming to USC.”
“Why’s that?”
“David wants to try to be a normal college student. At some point, word will get out, and he’ll have to deal with all that. But he wants to just be a regular guy for as long as he can,” Carol explained.
“I’ll make that happen. Can you be at the football offices at around ten tomorrow?” the coach asked.
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it,” David said.
On the drive back to campus, Coach Farrow couldn’t help but think that he’d made the right call in getting David Dawson to commit. He predicted that by the end of next season, David would be their starting quarterback. In the meantime, the coach would take advantage of having someone like David play defense.
He made the prediction based on what had just happened. David hadn’t thrown a fit when he was faced with being told ‘no’ about playing the position he was most suited for. Coach Farrow had no doubt that David could learn both the offense and defense. David had exhibited a quiet confidence in himself that he’d only seen in kids that age a couple of times in his career. One of those times was Ridge Townsend, who was about to be drafted in the top five of the upcoming NFL draft.
Matt Long was still a boy, maturity-wise, compared to David. He would’ve had a meltdown if he’d been faced with David’s situation today. That told Coach Farrow that when the going got tough, Matt would more than likely focus on the problem. He’d be so wrapped up in that, that he wouldn’t be able to quickly move on to the solution. In football, developments that didn’t go your way often happened quickly. In many ways, a quarterback had to have amnesia about what had just happened so he could focus on the task at hand.
What he did know was that Coach Clayton was big on how his process worked and inflexible about it, to boot. But! He was also about winning games. Coach Clayton would ride the Matt Long experiment until it failed. Then he would be open to David taking charge. If that ever happened, Matt would probably need to transfer or pray that David was off to the NFL soon.
Matt was a typical 18- or 19-year-old, after all. He was living the dream and had been handed the keys to the football program. Like when giving your teenage son the keys to your sports car, you shouldn’t be surprised when he wraps it around a tree. That was probably the biggest reason Coach Clayton liked to wait until a player had been in the system two years before starting them at quarterback. It gave them a year to get playing ‘big man on campus’ out of their system and settle down into the job.
David had already had to grow up. Any young man with a family to look after had to face some hard truths. David also had the advantage of living in the public eye because of his acting success. From the way he talked about wanting to be just a regular student, it was apparent that David had moved past wanting to be the big man on campus.
That would allow David to focus on what mattered and not all the trappings and popularity. David wouldn’t be tempted to do anything that would get him off track.
Coach Farrow looked forward to working with him.
Chapter 4
David
There was a lot for David to do today. Coach Farrow had called to let David know he’d pulled some strings and that David was set to move into Sandoval Hall. David had to go to USC to register for classes, and he planned to swing by the dorm and see what he might need or want to bring with him.
He’d dressed down for this. David’s clothes were casual Midwestern, making him look almost like a bum compared to the LA smart set. The addition of his baseball cap and ‘birth-control’ glasses—complete with a built-in camera, black rims, and clear lenses—reinforced his low-profile look. David’s actress friend, Halle James, would be appalled at him for allowing himself to be seen in public dressed like this, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself today.
After visiting the dorm, David planned to stop in at the baseball offices to talk to the coaches. USC’s first game was only three weeks out, and he wanted to find out what it would take to walk on as soon as possible.
Last on the agenda, David wanted to pick up his car. When he’d won his Academy Award last spring, they’d given all the nominees swag bags full of goodies that ranged from skin-care items to lavish vacations. David had either donated or given away most of the stuff. One that he ultimately wound up keeping for himself was the use of a high-end car for a year.
David had contacted Drexler Motors, and they told him he could either pick something from the lot, or they would order what he wanted. He planned to use it for his car on campus, so he didn’t want anything too over-the-top. The way his luck had been going lately, it would get banged up or stolen.
When it was time to go, David went downstairs from his apartment over the garage to meet Manaia, his security and driver for today. David saw Manaia had pulled out his Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. This was one of four prototypes that Dodge had built to test the Demon’s design. When he’d first gotten it, he’d been disappointed to discover it only had a driver’s seat and no creature comforts, including no radio. Fortunately, his dad and uncle had contracted with the dealership to trick it out.