Maybe you can help me figure out a trademark pose they can put on them,” David said.
“Like lying flat on your back after you get sacked?”
“Wow. Someone is suddenly comfortable around me now.
When did you get so snarky?” David asked, approving of Amy giving him a hard time.
“I figured why not since I’ll be out of a job in a couple of months.”
“If you want, I’ll put in a good word for you when our next coach takes over.”
There was a knock on the door, and it opened. They both felt like they’d been caught when they saw it was Coach Merritt.
“I heard you were here,” he said to David. “We were watching game film and found something we can use this Saturday. I want to show it to you.”
“Duty calls,” David said to Amy. “And thanks for getting my helmet approved.”
◊◊◊
Crystal and Chloe met for lunch to discuss Chloe’s budding Internet influencer career.
“My dad hired someone to help his clients with social media. She liked your content but had three suggestions I wanted to share with you.”
“Am I going to like this?” Chloe asked.
“I think so,” Crystal assured her. “The first thing she pointed out is that you should continue to use David to help build your brand but not overdo it. You want to be seen as an expert, not riding on his coattails. She also pointed out that if David should take a hit in the media, you could get some backlash.”
“But my number of followers has almost doubled because of the videos he’s in.”
“She said to use him to get your channels off the ground, but be mindful of pushing your own content.”
“I can do that. What else?”
“Your videos are too long. The sweet spot is one to three minutes because people have short attention spans,”
Crystal said.
“But the video of us rubbing cream on David’s chest was over ten minutes long and has three times more hits than anything else I’ve put out.”
“Like all rules, there are exceptions, and rubbing anything on his chest and stomach probably fits that.”
They both chuckled.
“It’s too bad you didn’t keep filming,” Chloe said with a knowing smile.
“What’s the old saying? Keep them wanting more?”
“I guess.”
“The last topic is SEO or search engine optimization.
She explained that most people won’t scan for what they are looking for beyond the first page of their results. So, you need to understand how search engines work.
“For example, one of the search engines likes to show paid advertised results first, then the top website, followed
by selected videos. They usually group three videos together.
“Search engines use key phrases or keywords that closely match the end-user’s search request. You can use tools to show you how many times a keyword is searched for. They also give you some other suggestions that might work.
“What I was told is that just because a keyword might get a lot of hits, it doesn’t necessarily mean you want to use it. She explained that with the larger number of hits comes fierce competition. To start, you should find your niche and try to dominate that,” Crystal said.
“Once I find my keywords, what do I do with them?”
“Work them into your channel name, title, and written description of the video or pictures you post. Maybe we can get together this weekend and develop a plan,” Crystal offered.
Chloe looked relieved.
“Thanks. That keyword stuff was making my head spin.
I’m sure once I understand it, it’ll get easier.”
“Making a living at it should be motivation enough,”
Crystal said.
◊◊◊
They were back at Doreen’s coffee shop to film again.
Today, Callie’s character, Nikki, would introduce David’s character, Mick, to the rest of the main cast.
The recurring characters were a group of Gen Z’ers who recently arrived in LA and became friends when they moved into the same apartment complex. Mick’s love interest, Nikki, played by Callie Mays-Leary, was the lone local. She was a blond bombshell, tall, stacked, with enough Southern California sass to hang a man out to dry.
Before Mick had arrived, she’d spent time with a snarky pretty boy, Vic, played by Noah Sherwin. He was a Jersey
boy who worked out constantly to impress the ladies.
Two other girls were Nikki’s BFFs, Janelle and Monica.
Janelle, played by actress Nia Osborne, was a rail-thin Black girl from Atlanta. Monica was played by Miri Rosa, who was shorter than the others. Her bone-straight hair fell halfway down her back and was the color of obsidian that suited her skin tone. Monica was Hispanic and from Phoenix.
The other two guys were Forest, played by Cole Sankey, and Dexter, played by Louis Aung. Forest was a fit man of color from Chicago, while Dexter was a hipster Asian from Seattle. When they’d planned to cast David as bi, Forest had been planned to be Mick’s love interest.
“Hey, guys,” Nikki said as she walked in.
“Hey, Nikki,” they all said back as she found her seat.
They all ignored her as they talked among themselves.
“I can’t believe I’ve been here ten seconds, and you haven’t asked me about me meeting my old flame Mick,”
Nikki complained.
“Oh, yeah, right. How was it?” Monica asked.
“It was unbelievable. I’d forgotten …” Nikki faltered when she saw Vic’s unhappy face. “It was … uhm … good to see him again.”
“Was there any chemistry?” Janelle asked.
“He’ll actually be here in a minute. He’s parking the car.”
That was his cue to walk in. David gave her a smile and went to the counter to order.
“There was chemistry,” Janelle announced.
“Maybe,” Nikki said as she glanced over at a glaring Vic.
“You boned him,” Forest guessed correctly.
Nikki looked away.
“You did!” Monica exclaimed and whispered when people looked over, “Details, now!”
Mick walked up and handed Nikki a coffee.
“I take it you’re all talking about me,” Mick said.
“No. We were trying to figure out what to do tonight,”
Vic said, hopefully changing the subject.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tonight. I’m picking up my wife at the airport,” Mick said.
Everyone had a shocked look except Vic, who was grinning.
“Cut!”
‘That just put the cat into the pigeon coop. Let the drama begin,’ David thought.
Soaps were fun. He couldn’t wait for his evil, previously unknown twin to show up or get amnesia.
◊◊◊
Friday afternoon, the team all got out of class early to fly to Tucson for the game on Saturday. They would go to the stadium and get accustomed to the field once they landed.
One of the team managers told David that Arizona Stadium had an artificial surface, so he would need to wear different cleats.
Because of the high temperatures, they’d gone with an unusual top dressing and not the traditional rubber pellets.
They used cork which was supposed to keep the field cooler.
David had arranged for Crystal and Chloe to catch a flight with Gabe and his wife. Crystal had called the president of the Alpha Mu sorority at Arizona. It was the school’s annual Family Weekend, where parents and siblings could come to campus and see the students in their environment.
The Friday night before the game, the sorority was having a White Dress Gala fundraising event for Arizona’s Rural Women’s Health Network at the hotel next door to where they were staying. Crystal and Chloe wanted David and Alex to take them, and Coach Merritt had given his