Chapter 11: Home Town Hero

Monday March 10, 2014 – Freshman Year

I was lifting weights before school when my phone rang. I got off the leg press, to let Wolf have his turn. I answered the phone.

"This is David."

"Morning, stud," Missy said.

"What's up?"

"I have some bad news. I can't come up this weekend."

"I was looking forward to seeing you. How come you can't make it?"

"It's a family thing. Something came up, and I have to go home. Can I call you next week, and set something up?"

"You bet."

"Great, I'll talk to you next week."

With that she hung up. Two minutes later my phone rang again. It was Tami.

"That didn't take long," I answered the phone.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Missy just called me, and bailed on this weekend."

"Really, what is going on?"

"I didn't really ask. We are talking next week to setup another weekend. I think she has some kind of family thing."

"I'm going to have to train you better."

"Probably, but you have time to get me fixed up."

"Well, this will make your day. Harper broke up with her boyfriend."

"Actually, that makes me sad. She seemed to like him."

"Well, she seems to like you, too. That is part of the problem."

"I don't think I'm the solution to this problem. She needs to get over him before I want to get into the picture. I don't want to be her rebound."

"I hear rebounds get a lot of sex," Tami teased.

"Nope, I like Harper too much. Plus I need to punish her for insulting Mr. Happy. I can't date her and punish her at the same time, " I said.

"You poor 'stupid boy', dating you would be punishment enough," Tami teased me.

"Funny girl ... Let's think this thing through. I like Missy a lot. Harper is a great gal. I don't want Missy getting mad at me, because I'm seeing Harper, too. It's just better that we are friends. I already have too many friends with benefits, anyways. I don't need to add anymore, right now."

"What about Lisa Felton?"

"What about her?"

"You just said you didn't want to add any more friends with benefits."

"I don't."

"All right smart ass. I'll do this the hard way. Do you plan on having sex with Lisa Felton?"

"Yes."

"Then you're adding to your list."

"Nope."

"I give up, what am I missing?" Tami asked.

"The friend's part is missing. Don't get me wrong, I think Lisa and I could be a friend, but this is not about anything long-term. We'll be like a roman candle: a bunch of explosions, and then nothing."

"Famous last words," she shot back at me.

"I have to go spot for Wolf. I'll call you later in the week. I need to tell you about being surrounded by twenty naked models."

"Should I get the TV in the lounge setup for that story?"

"I'll try to keep it PG13 for Harper's benefit."

"I'll tell her you said that. Bye, David."

In math, we had a pop quiz. I was glad I had paid attention to Suzanne on our study session. I would have bombed it, otherwise. Everyone who had been on the video chat had smiles on their faces as we left class.

After lunch, I had my Dance class. They were pushing to do another number at the next school dance. I told them that the last one was pushing the envelope. Maybe we should skip this one. They kept pushing me until I had an idea.

"Our first home game is Saturday. Let me ask the team to see if they would be willing to do something during the seventh inning stretch," I told them.

Next was art class and it was my week to be the model. My art teacher was nervous when I wasn't ready.

"David, aren't you going to take your turn?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot," I said as I got up. "What was it I was doing?"

"Nude," someone from the peanut gallery suggested.

I had remembered they wanted the male torso. Everyone froze when I took my shirt off and, then started to undo my pants. I stripped down to my boxers and sat on the stool. I had run around in a speedo all weekend, so this was nothing.

"How do you want me?"

"All night long," the peanut gallery announced.

"Careful what you wish for," I shot back.

I had to smirk when shy little Stacy got up and started measuring me. Funny how all the other girls thought that was a good idea. Our teacher had to step in and have them go one at a time.

When the class ended, everyone wanted to thank me for being such a good sport. Tracy had started walking me to biology recently, and stuck her head in to find me in my boxers surrounded by my art class.

"What the heck. Did someone dare you to get naked?"

"Tracy, this is art. We call it nude," I said in my snootiest voice.

"Hurry up. We get our dead pigs, today."

I handed her my shirt and books as I slipped on my shoes. I was doing my belt when Coach Hope saw me. I just grinned as Tracy tossed me my shirt as we hurried down the hall. I was sure I would hear about it later.

At our lab tables, everyone had a metal tray with a cloth over the pig. My lab partner was a tiny girl that never talked. She had refused to cut up the frog. I had no idea what she was going to do with the pig. Then I found out. She handed the teacher a note and she got to go to study hall. Apparently cutting on pigs was against her religion.

We were reminded of safety. Knives are sharp. Don't cut yourself. No playing with the knives. Wear your goggles, and so on. We were then allowed to uncover our pig. The formaldehyde smell about knocked me down. We were shown how to make the first incision. We were supposed to put our pig on its back and cut just the skin on its stomach.

I looked up in time to see Gina stab her pig. I think if she had just cut the skin she might have been okay. These little guys had been floating in formaldehyde for who knows how long. Her critter had built up a little pressure in its tummy. When she stabbed him the juices shot out and hit her square in the face.

Gina just froze. Tracy, her lab partner, absolutely freaked out. It seemed she had gotten a drop on her blouse. Alan went over to check his girlfriend. She had stuff dripping from her hair. I lost it; I was laughing so hard. Gina looked at her concerned boyfriend and puked on him. She must have gotten some in her mouth. I have to say it was a good thing he had his goggles on. You have to really love someone to let them throw up their mystery meat from lunch on you.

I can handle just about anything. But if someone pukes around me, I have a strong gag reflex. Mr. Dutton sent Alan and Gina to the locker room to change and take showers. I had to step out in the hall to keep from adding to the problem. When the janitor showed up, he wasn't thrilled. He sprinkled that pink crap that is worse than the smell of the barf to soak it up. Tracy made me give her my shirt so she could change.

Mr. Dutton gave me a funny look.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Dutton. David does this all the time," Jeff told him.

The class seemed to agree. We went back to cutting up our pigs. When Tracy came back, she came to my table to watch. At the end of class we had to wrap up our pigs. I put Tracy and Gina's pig away for them.

We finally got to meet Coach Haskins. He was a crusty old guy that sounded like he had been a pack-a-day smoker all his life. His gravelly voice was distinctive. Coach Hope had agreed to be his assistant so that we had someone from the school working with us. We also found out that only ten of us survived Coach Hopes three days of hell.

"I want to thank Coach Hope for cleaning out the dead wood. We'll be just fine with the team we have. I understand he had you running. What was the shortest distance you ran?"

"A hundred yards," Mike answered.

"That is about equal distance from running from home to third base. One thing we are going to do is pick up extra bases. I'll not yell at you for being aggressive. The biggest problem teams will have at this time of year is the ability to make good decisions. If we're always looking to be aggressive on the base paths, it will force them to make a decision.

"Now, there is one other thing I want to make sure everyone is on board with. Does anyone have a problem with Eve playing? I want you to think about this. Other teams may give you a hard time. I know Eve is tough enough. I just want to clear the air, if any of you has an issue."

He looked around and no one was complaining.

"Now, I need to know who the team captain is."

"David," Mike said to prevent anyone from nominating him.

Everyone agreed.

"Okay, Cap, fill me out a roster sheet."

Roster:
(8)Tim Foresee – Catcher
(4)Wolf Tam – 1st Base
(2)Mike Herndon – 2nd Base / pitcher / catcher
(5)David Dawson – Shortstop / closer
(1)Kelly Holcomb – 3rd Base
(6)Bert Nelson – Right Field
(7)Eve Holiday – Center Field
(3)Jeff Rigger – Left Field
(9)Bert Nelson – Pitcher / outfield
(9)Justin Tune - Pitcher / infield

He read the list out loud and the batting order.

"Is everyone okay with that as a starting point?"

We all agreed.

He started running us through drills. Cassidy showed up for the last thirty minutes of practice. We lined up for thirty minutes of hell.

Coach Haskins looked confused. Coach Hope told him he would like this. By the time Cassidy was done with us, Coach Haskins looked bored but he was grinning at Coach Hope.

Then my dance class showed up. They all waved at me. I guess they didn't trust me to ask the team about the dance routine.

"Cap, I take it you're responsible for having all these women disrupt my time?"

"Yes, sir."

"Son, let me give you some advice. Pick one. Take her out and give her a test drive. If you have a good time, keep her. If she is a lemon, take another one out. Repeat the process until you find a keeper. Don't try and date eight women at a time."

My teammates were trying to keep a straight face.

"That is good advice, sir, but it's not like that. This is my dance class."

"Come again?"

"This is my dance class."

"I was afraid that was what you said. Now, I know I'm going to regret asking, but what is your dance class doing here?"

"I promised them that the team would help them with a dance routine during the seventh inning stretch at Saturday's game."

"You made a promise, did you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, guys and gal, your Captain has committed you to dancing. So I guess you're dancing."

The girls were getting a little bouncy at the news. I figured I would see what kind of sport Coach Haskins was.

"Ahh, coach, we need you and Coach Hope to be involved, too."

He stared at me trying to figure out what planet I was from.

"It is a team building exercise, coach," I added helpfully.

Moose and the varsity came up while we were in the middle of learning the steps to Call Me Maybe. He about had a cow when the varsity ran over and joined us. Magic likes to dance, and he told them they had to. We all had a blast. Even Coach Haskins had a smile on his face. This wasn't going to be boring!

Wednesday March 12, 2014 – Freshman Year

Today we had Coach Herndon join us. We played a simulated game. He had Bert warm up by throwing thirty pitches. Then he brought us up in our batting order. Whoever was batting, Coach Hope would take their place. Bert would get thirty pitches during his turn as pitcher. As a batter, you either got on base or you went back into the field. While Bert was pitching, Justin was taking his warm-ups.

Coach Haskins played second so that Mike could catch for warm-ups. Coach Herndon was being the umpire so he could see where the pitches were going.

Bert got rocked. Everyone got a hit off of him. Everyone was supportive of him. We all knew that pitching takes the longest to get ready. Honestly, we expected high scoring games at the start of the season. When Bert was done he went and caught Mike to help him warm-up.

Justin was our only left hander. He could throw three pitches effectively. The four seam fastball, a changeup and the curve ball. Coach Herndon wanted to limit the curve ball to save Justin's arm. He was much tougher to hit than Bert. He admitted that he had been practicing all winter and it showed.

Next up was Mike, while I went to warm-up. Mike did okay. He was a nibbler on the edges. When he was doing his thing, he was hard to hit. He made a few mistakes. Wolf took him to the park with a towering shot. While Mike was pitching, Justin showed me the grip for a changeup as he warmed me up.

Eve was up to bat when I got my turn. She was jawing about taking Cap to the park. Tim indicated he wanted a high and inside fastball. I put her in the dirt. She wasn't jawing so much after that. She dug in, and I threw my first changeup right down the middle. She saw the location and her eyes got big and she swung the bat with good speed. If it had been my fastball I would be watching her cute butt trot around the bases. She missed by a mile.

The third pitch Tim called fastball right down the center. She held back just a second and got a piece of it. My teammates were rooting for her.

"That's the way, Eve. Way to get a piece of it."

She had a little more spring in her step. Tim called the same pitch. I knew it when I threw it she was zeroed in. She hit one into the gap that she would have had a standup double. Eve pushed it and made us make a play at third. She was out, but Coach Haskins was fired up.

"Great at bat ... That is what I'm talking about. If he doesn't hit the cutoff man, she's safe."

She swatted my butt as she went to get her glove. I was glad to see her so happy. I ended up doing about as well as Mike. Justin was by far the best pitcher. Mike's dad and Justin helped me with throwing the changeup better.

Cassidy showed up with my dance class. She talked them into doing the thirty minutes of hell with us. The guys seemed to like the black leotards they were wearing. Mike and I noticed Eve always worked out behind us. We put two and two together and decided she was checking out our butts.

I had agreed to listen to Eve's new song tonight. Mike's dad gave us a ride to my house. Beth, Cindy and Suzanne were all over for dinner. They didn't look too happy to see Eve, there. I had a bad feeling I had messed up a fun surprise. Angie just gave me a sad look like I was a typical guy. Eve picked up on the vibe, and offered to go home after dinner. The three of them assured her that everything was cool.

Tonight was my turn to cook. I had been learning how to use the Crockpot and bread maker. I made a tomato based stew and honey wheat bread. I threw together a salad, and we were eating within fifteen minutes. I was happy to see Mom was able to eat the bread. It was still warm from the bread maker and she ate two pieces. Just keeping food down was a major victory.

After dinner I took Eve up to my apartment so we could have some privacy. She was really nervous.

"Now you promised that you would be honest with me."

She plugged her phone into my stereo.

"Take One. Home Town Hero," came the sound of her voice over the speakers.

She was playing her acoustic guitar and I liked the tune. Then her rich strong voice started. The song was beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. It was about unrequited love. How her Home Town Hero was needed by everyone to lead and save their football season. But he never recognized the one thing missing in his life, the girl next door.

When it was over, Eve had bared her soul to her Home Town Hero. It was one of the bravest things I have ever seen anyone do. She seemed so vulnerable sitting there waiting for a reaction from me. I got up from my chair and realized that she was right. I was missing something in my life and at that moment it dawned on me that Eve was what was missing. I opened my arms and she rushed into them.

I hadn't realized the four girls had snuck upstairs until they started clapping. They all had planned this. When I finally finished kissing Eve, they were all crying and hugging her. I went back and hit replay. I had to hear it one more time.

When the song ended, the girls sat me down to explain what was going to happen. Eve was going to be my girlfriend. I still had friends with benefits to whom I had obligations, though. Missy could also come and visit and spend time with me. They had talked to Tami to fix that up. The real reason Missy was not coming down this weekend, was because Eve asked for the weekend.

They also told me that they would all cut my balls off, if I so much as touched Lisa Felton. There had to be some reason they all reacted that way. I would have to put Tami on it.

They had also decided that I had been lax long enough in not doing my part of the bargain. They grabbed my iPad and updated my calendar with who got what night. I didn't have the heart to tell them that they just updated everyone in the Entertainment Division, plus Lily and Tracy, as to the schedule of my sexual encounters.

Tonight's winner was Beth. The girls all gave me a kiss and Angie kissed my cheek.

I heard my iPad ding. I opened it up to see Lily had added her name. I was sure that by morning Tracy would be scrounging for open dates, also.

Beth was frisky as soon as the door closed. She didn't think I was getting undressed fast enough.

"Hurry up. I have to be home before eleven."

I was taking my shoes off when she tackled me.

"What the hell?" I complained.

"You're like an old man. Get naked, already."

"I would if you would get off of me."

She giggled and ran for the bedroom. I soon followed and she tossed me a condom. I guess we were going right to the main event. I put it on and then she turned out the light. There was an unnatural glow coming from my crotch. I looked down and it was one of the glow-in-the-dark condoms. I started chuckling and swinging my dick around while making Star War light saber noises.

"Turn me to the dark side, David," Beth teased me.

I jumped onto the bed and she grabbed my cock. She led me via knee walking to the Promised Land. She was so horny, she was soaked. I guess I wasn't doing it right because she rolled me over and did all the work. We didn't last very long, but it was nice. She gave me a quick kiss and then she jumped out of bed. She was dressed and gone before I made it out of the bathroom to dispose of the condom.

Friday March 14, 2014 – Freshman Year

At lunch I got a text that Sunny Day had made it into town. She wanted to do an interview. I talked her into doing it with Eve and me. Angel had worked through Juke Records to release Home Town Hero as a single. It would be on iTunes by Tuesday. After our game on Saturday, she was flying to Nashville where they would record it with a band.

Tonight's dance was Ladies Choice. The guys were all back at the lunch table today so the girls could all talk about ... I don't know ... dresses I guess. We all gathered at another table to stay out of the way. I looked around to make sure no one else was listening.

"I got some of the pictures from my trip to Miami this morning," I said catching their attention. "Twenty three models in bikinis."

"No way," Ed said.

I put the iPad on its stand and started the slide-show. Kendal had added some tropical music I had forgotten about. I quickly turned it down. The first one was a group shot of all the models. Adrienne and I were in the center. The twins were on their knees in front of us.

"Holy cow! That's Adrienne!" Jeff said. "I thought you were just teasing us."

"I've heard rumors that the dressing rooms are open. Did you see Adrienne naked?" Wolf asked.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked him.

"I saw it on one of those Making of a Victoria's Secret shows. So is it like that?" he pushed.

I guess my blush gave it away. The guys were throwing stuff at me. I knew it was too good to be true.

"Who did David see naked?" Gina asked.

The girls had come over from their table. The bunch of pussies all went mute like they had been caught doing something. I guess I better enlighten the guys that if you act guilty, you are guilty. I restarted the slide-show and turned up the music.

"All of them," I answered with a big grin.

"You got some splainin to do," Tracy said in her best I Love Lucy Ricky Ricardo voice.

"It is like Wolf said. When you go to a photo shoot, they have a dressing and makeup area. Most of the time there isn't much privacy. Models are used to showing their bodies, so it's really not a big deal to change clothes. Plus, they all thought I was gay, at first."

Everyone looked at me waiting for me to explain that last statement.

"More splainin, gringo," Tracy said.

I was wondering who made her the spokesman for the group. I think we also needed to look into our Spanish classes at Lincoln High. Tracy was not getting the kind of education she deserved.

"This tan is not exactly normal. I had to strip off and get spray tanned. So I was naked in front of them parading around without getting hard."

"I call bullshit. I know you get hard when you just bump into something," Tracy said.

Everyone at the table was nodding. Thanks, guys.

I gave Tracy a patient look.

"Do I really need to explain how a guy keeps from having a hard on?"

Tracy went beet red. Gina looked confused.

"I don't get it," Gina said.

"Obviously," I said without thinking.

I got hit from behind with a napkin.

"Shut up!" Alan threatened me.

I turned back to him, and winked as I said,

"Sorry, dude, I couldn't help it."

"So what gave you away," Lily asked.

I was going to have to fire her. What am I talking about, she works for free.

"What?" I said to stall.

"You said 'at first they thought I was gay.' Something had to happen for them to realize that you were straight."

I took a deep breath. Eve's eyes were dancing, so I knew she was amused and not pissed off.

"Okay, can we all agree that Adrienne is smoking hot?" I asked to see the guy's head bobbing in agreement. "Ever since I could ... ah ... she has been one of my fantasies. I think I have every Victoria Secret and Sports Illustrated she was in. So when she walked over to get her tan evened out, she got a reaction out of me."

"What do you mean?" Gina asked.

I was starting to believe she was just playing dumb.

"Like that," I said pointing to Wolf's obvious bulge.

Every other guy at the table was sporting wood, and I'm the dumb-ass that points out the guy that is a few inches taller and forty pounds heavier. When I heard him growl, I thought of something to calm him down.

"Hey, careful! I wouldn't want you to trip over that."

That got him laughing. Thankfully his new girlfriend sat on his lap to help hide it. I'm sure that didn't help him with his problem.

Angel showed up at baseball practice. She was giving Eve and me a ride to the hotel where the interview was going to be held. Then we were going to eat dinner at the hotel. We would change for the dance there.

Coach Haskins was running my ass ragged. I had messed up a double play at the start of practice. His bat still had some pop to it. Years of muscle memory and strong wrists allowed him to smash screaming grounders and line drives my way. He would barely give me time to get set when another one came flying my way. It got to the point where I was just reacting. Shortly after that, was when he stopped.

"Do you feel the difference? You're too smart for your own good. Just react to the ball. The last ten were your best by far!"

He then sent me to Coach Herndon to pitch. They were working with us to slowly build our endurance pitching. I was in great shape and had thrown the football quite a bit during seven-on-seven season. There was a big difference between pitching and throwing the football. There was much more pressure on your shoulder and elbow. My problem wasn't really arm strength. It was more technique. Coach Herndon was trying to get us ready to pitch as quickly as possible without anyone getting injured.

Angel took us to Eve's house to change for the interview. When I opened my bag, I couldn't believe it.

"Are you kidding me?" I yelled out of the bedroom door at Eve.

"Settle down. It's just for the interview. You get to wear your model clothes for dinner and the dance," Eve yelled back at me.

She was having me dress up like a cowboy again. I understand that her record is going to be country, but that doesn't mean I have to be wearing it. Then I froze. Did she say model clothes?

I went back to my bag and pulled out what was packed and it wasn't so bad. There was a blue t-shirt by Shanghai Tang that had twin gold dragons. It sounds goofy, but it was really cool. There was a pair of jeans that were actually great. Adriano Goldschmied, AG, jeans has what they call AG-ed jeans. They are jeans that are high end second hand clothes. I had gotten the Tambourine AG-ed '15Year' pair. I also had a pair of boots that looked like stylized army boots. They were black with black laces. The thing that made them unique is that they had a big silver zipper on the side. The designer in New York said his friend handmade each set of boots, and they are all unique. You stuffed the jeans into the boot top which came up about three inches over the ankle. You zipped the boots three quarters of the way up. They were very comfortable. Angie got a gold star on this one.

I came down in my cowboy gear complete with the Range Sports cowboy hat. Angel hooked her thumbs in the side of her jeans.

"Howdy, partner," she said with her best cowboy accent.

It wasn't very good. I just tipped my hat at her.

"Evenin', ma'am."

"Will you two cut it out? We're late," Eve said as she bound down the steps.

I thought we were home free until I heard her dad.

"Reach for the sky, you varmints. Your Ma says she wants pictures," Pops Holliday informed us.

I was glad everyone was enjoying themselves. I figured they would have us head out to the barn to get the right setting. I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut about that idea. Her mom took the pictures in the living room. Finally we were ready to go.

When we got into the car, Angel handed us our talking points for the interview. I looked at mine and was done fairly quickly. Eve seemed to be memorizing them. This was not going to go well. Interviews go much better if you loosely follow the script they give you. It has to be in your own words. If you tried to recite it back to them verbatim, it comes across awkward. I needed to make sure Eve knew this.

"What are you doing?" I asked Eve.

"Learning my lines. Now leave me alone."

"Do you realize I have done a few of these?"

"Yes, you'll be great. I just need to learn these so I get them right."

"They're called talking points. They are not called talking scripts. They're intended to give you ideas of how to respond to questions. They aren't scripts you are supposed to memorize."

"How come?" Angel asked.

"How come what?" I asked her.

"How come you don't just memorize them?"

"Because you would sound like whoever wrote them. It doesn't sound natural," I said as I grabbed the sheet from Eve. I read the first line. "David inspired me with his heroics on the football field. He is a role model for so many in the community that it was just natural that I chose him."

"That sounds pretty good," Angel said.

"Eve, when was the last time you said I was a heroic role model in the community?"

She had to think about it. She still wasn't getting it.

"Take the word community. When you talk about where we live what do you say?"

"I guess I would say our town or our small town."

"Good. That sounds like you. Now think about the rest. Heroic role model sounds like I need to get my Super Man outfit out. I know I'm pretty special, but do you want me walking around telling everyone how heroic I am?"

That got her laughing.

"Okay, I got it. I'm just supposed to use it as a guide."

"I guess you learn something every day," Angel said.

"If you really want to learn this stuff, talk to Tom's daughter Tracy. She made me look good a number of times, and that is no easy feat, let me tell you."

I then needed to explain what the interview was going to be like.

"Sunny's job is to get you to say something you'll regret. She is trying to get a story. Our job is to promote your song's release on iTunes. If she asks you a question you don't want to answer, ask her to repeat it. This is taped. If you are completely unsure, stop and think about it. They will cut that part out."

"But won't she look like an idiot?" Angel asked.

"Not a chance, Sunny will edit it down to a few sound bites. Believe me; they don't want to air you staring at her. She will do a ten minute interview to get ninety seconds of tape that actually is shown."