An extreme example was a friend of mine in college. His plan was to get laid by a different girl each weekend. I know people would probably guess that he was some jock that had a gift for gab. Far from it. He wasn’t disfigured or anything, but I would say most people would call him average.
When he shared his goal with me, I helped him come up with a plan. We identified several key factors that would tilt the odds in his favor. The girl needed to be unattached—you didn’t want to waste your time chatting up a girl if she had a boyfriend back home and you had no shot. At some point in the conversation, you needed to actually ask the girl to have sex with you. I was shocked when he hadn’t thought of that basic step. It explained why he never seemed to get laid. He spent his whole time talking to them and suddenly he was in the ‘friends zone.’ Finally, you couldn’t spend all night talking to just one girl. We decided that he should talk to them for no more than fifteen minutes. If they weren’t receptive, move on. We figured it was a numbers game. If you asked enough girls, there surely was one who was looking for the same thing he was.
The amazing part was ... his plan worked. Over time, he refined his approach and his success rate went up, but I think he achieved his goal of getting laid every weekend. I bet there are guys with movie-star looks and great personalities who don’t have near the success he did.
That was why when someone whines that they wish they had a boyfriend or girlfriend and don’t ... I just shake my head. If you understand that having one is up to you, then the problem is you. If you really wanted one, you could have one.
AFTER DAVID LEFT THE farm, he took what I taught him to heart. He no longer worried what his friends thought. He recognized when they were being crabs. His self-confidence, in turn, went through the roof. I taught him to find mentors, to find successful people and learn from them. When he started to play football, he listened to his coaches. When he started to model, he asked for and listened to the advice people gave him.
There was a lot of truth in the saying ‘success breeds success.’
David does have one advantage over others that he learned to exploit, and when I say ‘exploit,’ I don’t mean that in a negative way. David’s a leader. In a pack, he would be considered an Alpha Male. He’s the best kind of Alpha Male because he comes by it naturally. He usually doesn’t have to assert his male dominance, because people tend to gravitate to him.
That doesn’t mean that he won’t be assertive when he wants or needs to be. You can see it when he plays sports. Other dominant players will challenge him, and he will rise to the occasion.
When I think about how he embraced setting goals and planning for success, and add in his natural leadership, I expect great things from my nephew. I can’t wait to watch how he navigates his high school years. He has a long way to go to become an adult, and I’m sure he’ll fail at times. Some of those failures will be spectacular if I know him. But each failure will also be something he uses to improve himself and his situation.
Chapter 1 – Steroids
Tuesday September 2
As I pulled into the school parking lot, I had a faint smile on my face as I remembered my first day of high school last year. Greg had given Tami and me a ride, even though I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me. We’d a falling-out the previous spring over my drug and alcohol use. Greg made it a point to give me a speech on how I wasn’t supposed to embarrass him. When we reached the school, he kissed Cindy Lewis, one of the hottest girls at Lincoln High, in the parking lot.
It had been the beginning of a wild year. As I looked around, none of the three people who had kicked off last year were around. I missed them all, but that wasn’t going to slow me down. I had big plans for this year. The first was to win a State Championship for Lincoln High. I wasn’t sure how I would accomplish that since I was playing on the JV team, but I would make it happen somehow.
As I walked up to the front door, I found the freshman cheerleaders trying to figure things out. I decided I would help them.
“Ladies, are you ready for your first day of high school?” I asked.
Standing before me were Emma, Piper, Kylie and Faith. Emma and Piper were fraternal twins. Emma was the tallest of the group at five-ten and had long, straight brown hair. Her sister, Piper, was a couple of inches shorter and was a blond. Kylie was the shortest of the group with curly blond hair and a perky personality. Faith was the most reserved. Her alabaster skin contrasted nicely with her raven-black hair. They all gave me big smiles when I talked to them. Three more girls walked up and looked at me hopefully. I guessed they were also cheerleaders. Kylie, being the most outgoing one, spoke for the group.
“Yes, we’re excited to get the year started. We didn’t realize you’d be the welcoming committee,” she teased me.
“I do what I can,” I told her. “I know Emma, Piper and Faith. Who are your cute friends?” I asked.
“Carmela and Gabriella are cousins, and this is Ann. They’ll all be on the squad this year,” Kylie said.
Carmela and Gabriella could have been twins. They were Hispanic, and about Kylie’s height, with black hair. Ann was a strawberry blond who had braces. The three new girls were rail-thin. I shook all their hands and welcomed them to Lincoln High.
We walked into chaos as everyone was excited to be back to school. I escorted the girls to where the freshman lockers were and looked at all their schedules so I could point them to their first class. The bell rang, and I wished them luck.
MY FIRST CLASS WAS PE. I’d signed up for fitness and conditioning because it was a required class if you were playing football. I had Coach Diamond as my teacher. I’d skipped working out this morning, so I needed to work hard during PE. Wolf was in the class with me, and he and I did our workout together. Wolf was one of my best friends on the football team. He played tight end and was six-five and 235 pounds. For his size, he was deceptively quick. When we were done lifting, we did our speed workout. I’d been sharing with the JV guys what I’d learned over the summer.
I was proud of my guys. They were excelling at practice, both with conditioning and strength. I could see the spring and summer workouts had paid off. There were some guys who hadn’t been part of our workouts who were in the class, and they were struggling. I suspected the other teams on our schedule were also struggling right now. Being in such good shape was going to give us a leg up.
My next class was Geometry I with Coach Stevens, who was in charge of the freshman team and special teams for varsity. Our first class was a preview of what we’d be doing for the year. I then had American History II with Mr. Henley. He was as boring as ever. I’d get a lot of studying done in this class. Fourth period was English II. I had Moose, our defensive coordinator, as my teacher. After that, I had lunch.
This year my schedule had a slight hitch. I was assigned second lunch, while all my friends had first. I arrived early and found the freshman cheerleaders all had second lunch, so not all was lost. They saw me sitting alone, and I soon had seven freshman girls sitting around me. It was amusing to see all the other freshman girls looking at them funny. I remembered last year when I’d asked Tina out. All her freshman friends were envious that she was going on a date the first week of school.
Kylie might be the most outgoing one, but I soon found out Emma was their leader. The girls were on a mission ... I should have run when I had the chance!
“Soooo, David, why are all the other cheerleaders mad at you?” Emma asked.
I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. Tracy hadn’t clued in the cheerleaders that I wasn’t really dating Lisa Felton. There had been some ugly rumors about her giving blowjobs to a lot of guys at a party. I was starting to doubt those rumors since the source seemed to be Bill Rogers and his stoner friends. Bill was currently serving time for what he did to Tracy. I wouldn’t put it past him to have drugged Lisa so he could try to take advantage of her. I could also imagine them making it all up. They wouldn’t be the first group of boys to make stuff up about a girl just so they could feel like big men. I couldn’t fathom a teenager would eagerly be doing what the rumor said she’d done.