“Hey, David, are you into older women?” Kendal asked.
“Sure, why do you ask?”
“I showed my friends your casting video. A couple of them want to do naughty things with you.”
“Tell your friends I’m dating someone,” I said, and then told her why I called.
Kendal took it better than I thought she would.
AT LUNCH, THE GIRLS all wanted to know how my reading had gone. I opened my Facebook page and started the video.
“Nice butt,” Kylie said.
“Ohmygod! That’s Katrina!” Faith yelled.
All the girls squealed, catching the attention of the whole cafeteria. How they hadn’t seen the video before now was beyond me. Everyone else seemed to have seen it on my Facebook page. Their eyes got big as I stalked Bree. Then I heard a sharp intake of breath as I grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up out of her seat. I think their panties were wet by the time the director called ‘cut.’
“Send me a copy of that,” Emma ordered.
“No can do. This isn’t mine to share,” I teased her.
“It’s on his Facebook page,” Kylie clued her in.
One of the girls I’d met Saturday night, who was in the theater group, came over and asked what we were watching. When I explained that I’d read for a movie role, she got excited, and suddenly everyone who was in theater, and had our lunch period, wanted to see the video.
I was quickly finding out that potentially being in a movie was way cooler than playing football—at least in the theater group’s eyes. By the end of school, I was wishing I’d never shown the girls the video.
THE FOOTBALL TEAM THOUGHT it was an opportunity to have some fun with me. We were watching the game film from Friday night.
“Hey, Hollywood, I was open on that one,” Wolf teased me.
“Hollywood ...” Coach Hope started.
“Coach, you might want to rethink this whole ‘Hollywood’ nickname. I can turn into a diva, and I’ll get Cassidy to be my diva-in-training,” I warned him.
He thought about it for a moment and nodded. The guys dropped it, too. When we were done with our last game, we broke up into groups and watched our upcoming opponent, Springfield.
They were in the largest Class, as far as school size went, and one of the bigger schools in that Class. We were in the Class below theirs. I was with the offense and watched as their defensive line dominated their opponents. Their down four averaged six-four and 260 pounds. That was unheard of in high school ball. The only good news was that they weren’t quick-footed. It became obvious that the run game wasn’t going to work on the inside.
Coach Diamond drew up a new option play. Jim at tackle, and Wolf at tight end, would be on the strong side. Bert would line up on that side also, with me in the shotgun. Ed or Jake would be on the weak side, playing tailback.
On the snap, the tackle and tight end would double-team the defensive end. If Jim, playing tackle, had the defensive end blocked, then Wolf would slide off and pick up a linebacker. Ed would lead the play. His job was to either slow down the linebacker or block the strong-side safety. Jeff, at wideout, was charged with blocking the cornerback.
My first read was the linebacker. If Ed or Wolf wasn’t able to block him, then I’d pitch to the tailback. If the linebacker was blocked, I would look for the strong-side safety. If everyone could hold their blocks, we had them outnumbered. The only thing that should be able to stop us was either missed blocks or backside pursuit. If, as the game film indicated, they were not fleet-of-foot, we should have a good day running the ball.
Coach Diamond would work with me more on the offensive side later. He sent me to Moose and the defense. What was clear was that Springfield had all their speed on the offensive side of the ball. All they needed was a crease, and they were gone. Everyone was going to have to stay at home and take care of their assignments, or this game would be a high-scoring affair.
I SENT A TEXT TO NANCY to get an update on the whole Kentucky saga. She got onto video chat.
“I might be a movie star,” I started off.
“Okay, I’ll bite.”
I told her about Sunday. She didn’t watch the vampire show, so she wasn’t impressed. She went up about three notches in my book.
“Did you get to use your pepper spray yet?” I asked.
“No, but one of the pledges did. Some creepy guy followed her home from a party. She told him to get lost, but he kept following her. The campus police told her she was justified in using it. They’re coming to our chapter meeting this Sunday to show us how and when we can use it.”
“Wow. I’m glad she’s okay. What’s going on with Theta Chi?”
“They let three pledges go this weekend because of grades. John confessed to me that he’s somewhat nervous about his grades, even though he’s been telling me he’s okay. He may have to drop out of the fraternity and just focus on school and football.”
“Is Chuck still a pledge?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s a ‘legacy,’ so he’d have to almost kill someone to be kicked out. His father was a Theta Chi at Kentucky, and is a big donor.”
“That’s too bad. I need to tell you something: I started dating a girl this weekend.”
“You guys getting married?”
I had to laugh at that.
“No, we’re just dating. She’s a senior, so my guess is, it’ll only last through the school year. I just wanted to let you know.”
“I appreciate that, David. We’re friends, so I’m not going to freak out about you going out with someone. I do care for you, though. I wish you were here with me.”
“I wish I was, too. Thanks for being my friend.”
Wednesday October 15
RIGHT BEFORE ENGLISH, my phone rang. It was Kendal.
“Guess what?”
“You got us rooms for this weekend?”
“Oh, I did, as a matter of fact. You’ll be staying in the same hotel as Nebraska. They had a block saved for alumni and some were unable to come to the game, so they released their extra rooms. I got each family a room with two queen-size beds.”
“Great, I was starting to worry if we were going to find rooms.”
“That wasn’t why I called. We were sent over a contract for the movie. I have good news and bad news,” she told me.
“Give me the bad news.”
“You weren’t cast as Roman.”
“So, what’s the good news?”
“You were cast as Stryker. They told me that it’s a bigger role. Something we’re going to have to do is enroll you into the Screen Actors Guild. The initiation fee is $3,000. We need to do that before we can sign the contract.”
“Go for it. I suppose they get a cut of my pay now also?” I asked.
“It’s not too bad. It caps out at some point. I’ll get you the details. Something that you need to think about is your stage name. David Dawson is taken, and it has to be unique. We could do David A. Dawson, like Michael J. Fox did, to solve the problem.”
“Call my parents. They named me, after all.”
“Okay, we just need to know to get the union stuff completed. I can do it all online. Once that’s done, we can sign the contract. I’ll let you know when your membership is activated.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything more.”
TALKING TO KENDAL MADE me late for English. I hoped Moose would cut me some slack. All eyes were on me as I stepped in.
"I’m sorry, Moose, for being late and the interruption of the class."
I handed him my paper that was due today.
"You weren’t the only one late, David. But since you’re so sorry for being late, I’ll let you read your paper to the class. Why don’t you do it now, David? There’s no reason for you to sit down and get up again."
"Thank you for this opportunity, sir."