Tracy backed off and offered up a few softball questions to wrap up the interview. When it was done, they talked.
“You’re getting good at that,” she observed.
“I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“Are you starting today?” she asked.
“Not today. I’ll get to start when we go on the road next week. Coach wants to unveil me once the novelty wears off. I guess there have been more than a few requests for interviews. I told them I would only talk to you this week,” David said, both surprising her and making her very happy.
“You should probably grant access to the local media.”
“And let them step on your toes? No way,” he said.
“Thanks,” she managed before he had to go warm up for the game.
USC dropped their home opener to their alumni 3–2, and David never got off the bench.
Chapter 19
David
The first class of the day was always the roughest. Students shambled into the lecture hall like dead-eyed zombies, their senses dulled by all-night study sessions or hangovers or some combination thereof. They wore sweatpants and yesterday’s t-shirts and clutched enviro-friendly cups of almond-milk honey lattes or caffè Americano or some other such nonsense.
David had to admit that a student had to be a bit hardcore to make it to their 8 a.m. Intro to Financial Accounting class. If having to learn about debits and credits wasn’t enough to dull your enthusiasm, having it taught by Professor Scarpa would suck the remaining life out of the room.
The guy looked like an accountant. Not the slick kind you let clients see, but the type who did all the work in the back room and never saw the light of day. He was also a fast talker who never seemed to take a breath and then would blurt, ‘that will be on your test,’ before rushing on.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the professor had obviously never learned the basics of public speaking because the tone of his voice never varied. If you weren’t careful, it acted like a white noise machine, and more than one student had succumbed and fallen asleep during class.
David was glad he’d been smart enough to record Professor Scarpa’s classes. Later, when he’d been reviewing his notes, he’d fast-forwarded through his recordings until he heard, ‘that will be on your test.’ David had cut and pasted together a video of all those little gems so he would at least be prepared for the quizzes and upcoming tests.
There was one girl who had caught David’s eye, and he decided that he would sit next to her today. She wasn’t a knockout beauty, but she consistently raised her hand and asked questions. The girl was also one of the few people who paid attention like David did. He decided to sit next to her because he firmly believed in surrounding himself with motivated people.
When David sat next to her, she gave him a funny look. He could understand that because even though the hall would hold close to a hundred people, only about twenty students were present on any given day. There was plenty of room to spread out, and only classmates who were friends tended to sit right next to each other.
“Hi, I’m David.”
She gathered her stuff, intending to move. He started to put his stuff away, too.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“It looks like we’re moving,” he replied, acting confused.
“I was moving; you should stay here.”
“I heard there was a quiz today, and I needed to copy off someone,” David said as he bit the inside of his mouth.
“You can’t cheat off me,” she said indignantly.
“I play baseball. I don’t have time to learn all this stuff,” he teased.
He noticed the professor had come into the room, and the girl hadn’t left yet. She huffed her outrage and unpacked her stuff as he hid his smirk.
He almost laughed out loud when there really was a pop quiz.
When the class ended, David stopped her from leaving.
“You missed number three.”
“You copied off me,” she said, looking scandalized.
“I didn’t need to, but you might want to check your answers against mine next time. Fixed assets are capitalized. That’s because the benefit of the asset extends beyond the year of purchase, unlike other costs, which are period costs benefitting only the period incurred.”
It took her a moment, but she realized he was right.
“See you Tuesday,” was his parting remark as he went to his next class.
’I’m a spoiled prima donna,’ David thought.
Traveling with the baseball team was much different from using a private jet or flying first class. Being a walk-on rookie also meant that he was relegated to a center seat in coach. He had to chuckle at what a baby he was being because he’d actually thought about quitting somewhere over Kansas. For a moment, David hadn’t been sure if this torture was worth his chance to play ball.
Then he’d put his big-boy pants on and gave himself a mental beatdown for even thinking along those lines. He had finally made it to college and was about to play ball at that level. While it wasn’t the major leagues, it was a step on the path towards that goal.
His coach on his USA Under-18 team had taught them a valuable baseball lesson that applied to life. The coach called the concept ‘WIN’—an acronym for ‘What’s Important Now.’ His premise was that if you wanted to accomplish anything, the path to achieving your goal consisted of many moments in time.
It didn’t matter if that goal was winning a ball game or graduating from college. The coach’s point was to focus on what you could affect, which was right now. Not what had just happened or what was to come, but be in the current moment and focused on the task at hand.
His coach’s philosophy meshed nicely with what David’s uncle had taught him. Part of that was to create a set of life goals. Those goals had been David’s guiding force during his high school years and had been a critical component in getting him to this point. None of them had anything to do with thinking he was a self-entitled brat.
David took a moment to reflect on those goals and what he should be doing right now. He looked around the plane and saw his teammates doing anything from listening to music to sleeping to shooting the shit with each other. One of his goals was to get a good education. He decided to get out his textbook on Applied Business Statistics because he wasn’t happy with how he was doing in that class.
It was late when they arrived at their hotel. In addition to the flight time, they’d lost three hours due to the time difference between LA and Winston-Salem, NC. Coach Deneau gave them their room assignments—David had been paired with Andres—and announced that a late buffet had been set up so they could get something to eat.
Everyone took their bags to their rooms and then met downstairs for food. The coaches were off somewhere else, so Mason got everyone’s attention.
“There’ll be a bed check at around 10. I expect everyone to be in their room,” he said with a smile.
“Why is he smiling?” David asked Andres.
“At 11, meet me in the lobby if you want to go road-bunny hunting,” Mason said before Andres could answer.
“Road bunnies?” David asked.
“It’s exactly what you think. Like the jock bunnies back at the house, Mason’s in charge of organizing road-bunny hunts,” Andres explained.
“You all sneak out after curfew and pick up women?” David asked to clarify.
“Yep.”
“You do it on every trip?”
“About three times a season. You’re lucky he didn’t start you off on a dog hunt,” Andres said.
“Where there’s a contest to bring back the ugliest girl?” David asked incredulously.
“Mason claims it builds character. He reasons that men don’t give ugly girls the attention they deserve. He asserts that if you spend time with an unattractive girl, you’ll be surprised at how appreciative they can be. Besides, according to Mason, a fuck’s a fuck. They all feel the same if your goal is just to get off.”