Now he was pissed as he turned around and saw the idiot who’d knocked him down. The guy was built like a linebacker.
“Go! Leave him!” Matt barked.
David glanced at his car and saw Crystal in the driver’s seat.
“You can’t leave him,” Milena said.
“Go now!” Matt ordered Crystal.
David stood there in shock as they pulled away. He turned on the guy who had tackled him. The look David gave must have been terrifying because the guy held his hands up and backed away.
“Fuck!” David yelled as he began his walk back to the baseball field to get his clothes.
When he got back, Milena pulled up in his car.
“I’d hoped you were here,” she said as she got out and handed him his keys. “Crystal didn’t stop until she got Matt to the emergency room. I dropped off the girls at the house.”
“You left me to get the hell beat out of me,” David calmly said.
“I called a Phi Sig I know, and he told me that you scared the crap out of the Delta who’d tackled you, and then you left,” she explained.
“You should probably warn Crystal that the next time I see Matt, I plan to do more damage than those wimpy Deltas,” David said, dead serious.
Milena’s eyes got big because she had expected him to rant and rave. This cold, calculating look scared her.
“Are you serious?”
“Right now, I am. If Matt stays away from me for a while, I’ll probably let it go,” David admitted. “He’s still a pussy, though.”
“Are you mad at me?” she asked tentatively.
“No. I heard you tell Crystal not to go. But that doesn’t mean the whole night hasn’t put me in a bad mood. Let me get a shower and change, and I’ll take you home.”
“For what it’s worth, if I’d known how this would go down tonight, I would never have asked you to help Matt,” Milena said.
David shrugged it off. He had long gotten past playing the ‘what if’ game. Its only use was to learn to not make the same mistake, but it didn’t help to dwell on it. Shit had already happened. What mattered now was how you acted after the fact.
Milena had at least come back and faced him. He noticed that Matt and Crystal were nowhere to be found. They probably had the excuse that he was in the hospital, getting treatment.
David decided right then that he was done playing nice with Matt, as well as with the bullshit of his having to play defense.
Developmental Editors: XofDallas and Bud Ugly
Line / Copy Editors: Bud Ugly, TheMikeBomb, Zom, and Old Rotorhead
Last One Through: Bud Ugly
Chapter 37
David
Having slept on what had transpired the night before, David was still upset. His usual MO when he would get mad would be to, after some time, get over it and move on. Matt’s betrayal by having Crystal drive off and leave him to get an ass-kicking was too much to stomach. Especially after David had come running to save Matt.
His first instinct was to track Matt down and finish the job the Deltas had started. His best friend growing up, Tami Glade, had taught him that he should ignore his first instinct because it was always wrong. In this case, he might make an exception to that particular rule. It was probably best that the next football practice wasn’t until Monday. If he saw Matt today, it might not end well.
It wasn’t only Matt and Crystal who had him upset. Coach Clayton’s coaching methods had him playing defense, for Christ’s sake. In every fiber of his being, David knew that if he were given a fair shot to play quarterback, he would beat Matt out for the starting job.
Bill was right; it had been a mistake to come to USC. If it weren’t for his family, he would have picked up the phone and gone to Ohio State or one of several other destinations. If UCLA wasn’t such a mess, he might have considered going there.
For David, playing defense wasn’t the worst outcome. He’d actually agreed to it with the understanding that he would be given a scholarship when one became available. However, the scholarship hadn’t come through; the head football coach seemed to be deliberately withholding it.
It wasn’t really the money that upset David, though; it was the sense of betrayal. Breaking his word to him told David that USC’s head football coach couldn’t be trusted, that the man was only looking out for himself. At that point, all talk of doing what was best for the team went out the window.
Bill was an excellent example of how this made USC a toxic place to play ball. You were told that everyone had a shot at playing time. That if you did what was asked of you, put in the effort, and excelled in practice, you would be rewarded. When the coaches had their own agenda, though, it often meant that the best player didn’t get to see the field on game day.
David decided that before he ran himself in circles and tied himself into knots over all this, he should call together what he liked to call his ‘brain trust.’ His mom, dad, uncle, and grandmother were all members of his inner circle of trust. They were all people that he went to when he had big decisions to make. He could count on them to give him sound advice and not just tell him what he wanted to hear. Plus, they had more worldly experience than David had to this point. They might see something he was missing.
With that in mind, he invited them to dinner at the townhouse. He also asked Lexi because she would end up being involved in whatever happened. David then called around and got extra tickets from his fellow players so as to have enough for whoever wanted to watch him play baseball tonight.
David was doing his stats homework when there was a knock at his bedroom door.
“It’s open!” he called out.
Alex came in and sprawled out on David’s bed like he owned it.
“Get comfortable,” David quipped.
“Thanks, man,” Alex shot back.
“What’s up?”
“I wanted to give you the heads-up that I’m withdrawing from school. I’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Alex said.
“Does that mean you’ll be on the Colombian National team?”
“Looks like it. We’re one of the 32 teams that qualified. There are a couple of openings, and I just got the call that they want me to either take one or be a backup. The World Cup starts in June, so we have to get serious about preparing,” Alex explained.
“Will you be back next fall?”
“That was the deal I made with my father before he’d let me do it. I was hoping we would be roommates when I get back.”
“I’d like that,” David said, not wanting to burn any bridges yet.
If he decided to transfer, he would let Alex know as soon as possible.
“The soccer team is having a going-away party for me tonight. I was hoping you could swing by.”
“We have a night game, so it wouldn’t be until later. I also would have Lexi with me. Would that be okay?” David asked.
“To be honest, if you asked me that at the beginning of the semester, I would’ve passed. She’s made a real effort to be friends since you moved in. I would love for her to come,” Alex said.
“Okay, I’ll bring her,” David said and then had a thought. “I usually grab something to eat after a game. Is there anything you want me to bring to the party tonight?”
“Grab what you want. I wouldn’t bring any extra, though. The soccer team will move in with you if they think you have free food on hand,” Alex joked. “Besides, I suspect we’ll pass the hat and order pizza at some point. Just show up and have a drink with me.”
“Sounds good.”
Alex looked content as he left David to his studies. David was glad for him. Playing in the World Cup was a big deal for someone as young as Alex. He’d told David that the average player age was around 28. Alex would be the youngest on the Colombian squad at 18.