“I feel powerless right now.”
By the look on his dad’s face, David could tell that he’d talked to his brother before the call, and they had set this ‘learning experience’ up. He would’ve been mad, but he could see himself and Greg doing exactly the same when their kids got older.
“I’m going to say something, but I don’t want you to take it the wrong way,” Uncle John said.
David hated ... HATED when he said stuff like that because he would take it the wrong way.
“This is all your fault.”
“What!?” Tracy blurted.
Thank God, it wasn’t just him that thought that.
“What she said,” David fired back at his uncle.
“You set this all up yourself. First of all, you let the coaches talk you into this idiotic scheme to play you on defense. If the head coach didn’t want you to play the position you won all those awards playing, he’s a fool.
“Secondly, you isolated yourself from the football team, just like you separated yourself from the student body. I understand why you thought you had to do that, but I submit that it was a mistake. At some point, you need to become comfortable with who you are and own it. You’re a born leader, and leaders don’t hide.
“Finally, you’re naïve if you think your football coach will eventually come to his senses and see that he’s made a mistake. In the real world, people aren’t like what you’re used to. They’re out for themselves, not the greater good.
“Your coach is not going to move you to the other side of the ball unless he has to,” Uncle John said.
“Does that mean I should transfer?” David asked.
“I didn’t say that, and I would be disappointed if you did. You’ve never backed down from a challenge, and I have faith you can overcome this, too.”
That took a lot of the sting out of what Uncle John had said just a moment ago. No one wanted to be told they had messed up, but this was why he had these talks with his uncle.
“What should I do to win the starting quarterback position?” David asked.
Uncle John laughed.
“I have no idea.”
A bad word slipped out. For once, David’s mother agreed with his language.
“Be honest; you have no idea either. You need to start to win your teammates over and get the lay of the land. Find people to talk to who might be of help. Most of all, be yourself. The David I know would not hide behind being a ‘team player.’ If you do, you’re letting history repeat itself,” Uncle John said.
David knew what he was talking about. Well, it could apply to two cases.
The first was when they’d gotten a new coach in high school, and he’d announced his son would be the starting quarterback. The reason he gave was that his son had played the position at his old school and knew the offense. When David looked at the USC situation, it was eerily similar.
In high school, the situation had devolved into a mess, even to the point that David’s fellow sophomores had decided to play JV ball instead of playing varsity. It had worked out, but David had no intention of letting that happen again.
The second case involved another quarterback, Mike Herndon. He’d been the starter through middle school until David had burst onto the scene freshman year. Mike’s jealousy had made them clash until Mike had gone to another school. Their dislike for each other had been the reason David had backed out of his Michigan commitment when Mike received a scholarship.
One similarity between Matt and Mike stood out to David: even when he’d helped Mike a couple of times, Mike had never even thought about saying, “thank you.” David suspected Matt was the same way. There was more to it, but that was the gist of the story.
What hurt was that David had made a couple of attempts to reconcile with Mike because they had never been at odds before that point. Looking back, that had been a mistake. David needed to learn from that and realize that Matt might not have been totally at fault, but it would be silly to think they could be friends. David had to remember that Matt would never move into an inner circle of trust and should treat him accordingly.
David’s good nature got him in trouble sometimes. He tended to trust people too much. While that was fine, for the most part, it could get him into trouble. That was one of the reasons Uncle John had taught him about the circles. It was so he could recognize more quickly the signs of someone he should be cautious with. That became even more important once he achieved fame.
“Let me think about all this. Is it okay if I call you and bounce my ideas off of you?” David asked.
“Absolutely,” Uncle John concluded.
“I hate to be a jerk, but they won’t let me eat until we wrap this up,” David said.
“Oh, one more thing...”
David hung up on his uncle, which caused his dad to shoot beer out of his nose.
“Food,” David moaned.
Chapter 38
Lexi
Every player was given two tickets to each USC baseball game. Not surprisingly, if family or friends didn’t take them, the tickets were given out to ‘jock bunnies.’ Tonight, the Alpha Mus were packing the section behind the home team’s dugout.
Lexi volunteered to lead the way and ended up farthest from the aisle, sitting next to Cassidy. Lexi knew that David had been with Pam—they had a son, after all—and was sure he’d been with Tracy. But Cassidy confused her. She didn’t act like all the other girls who fawned over him. She also had some mystical power over David that made it so he couldn’t seem to refuse her. Lexi had yet to figure what it was.
Lexi reflected back on what had transpired earlier that evening. That was the first time she’d been included in the group of David’s closest confidants. To think, just over a year ago, David had thought she was the quintessential ‘mean girl.’ It had taken Lexi a lot of work to change his perception of her. To accomplish that, she’d had to make actual changes.
After what had happened with Christian and Alex, she had resolved to become a better person. What better role model for that could there be than David? Watching how he interacted with people, even when he thought others weren’t looking, had convinced her that David really was what he appeared to be—a great guy.
Observing him tonight with his inner circle, Lexi had been taken aback by how open everyone was. There was no doubt that David had needed a good kick in the status quo, and his uncle had given him that in spades. Lexi had waited for David to blow up when his uncle had pointed out how wrong hiding himself had been. She knew why he had done it and how much thought he’d put into it. David hadn’t just made a knee-jerk decision, and she had agreed with the why.
Looking back, Lexi was surprised that he’d fooled everyone for as long as he did. It just showed what a great actor he was. But to be told that he had to grow up and face who he was seemed harsh.
Her prior role model had been her father. Her dad had worked his way up to the point where he was now one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. She knew he would never have reacted as David had. If one of her father’s underlings had been that blunt, they would be looking for work by the end of the day. David hadn’t reacted that way at all. On the contrary, he had absorbed the body blow and given serious thought to what his uncle had actually said instead of losing his cool.
Lexi had seen from Tracy and Pam’s faces that they’d expected him to erupt, as had Lexi. Tracy had even jumped to his defense. Lexi wasn’t sure why he hadn’t defended himself as well, but somehow, she knew he had taken the right approach. With the clarity of hindsight, she had come to understand that if you created an environment where people were comfortable enough to tell you hard truths, you could achieve a better outcome. Lexi suspected that most of her father’s underlings had learned to say only what he wanted to hear.