Chapter 7: Valentine's Day Dance

Sunday February 9, 2014 – Freshman Year

I woke up this morning feeling good. This was the first morning since I left the hospital that I felt 100%. I ran and was showered by eight. I went to the kitchen and could smell the vanilla coffee my mother preferred. When she saw me she gave me a weak smile.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"I am, but my stomach is upset. I think it's the medication."

"How's about I make you something bland like oatmeal or grits."

"I haven't had grits in years. I think I'd like some," Mom said.

While Mom and Dad had been gone, Angie had bought a box of instant grits. We had been eating them for a quick breakfast. I made her up a bowl in the microwave. I made myself a bowl also. We got ready and went to early church.

Angie and I made brunch when we got back. While we were doing that, Mom made cookies for my meeting.

By twelve-thirty, people started to show up. Kendal came early so that we could organize the meeting. I was surprised when Tom Dole brought Tracy. He explained that Kendal had told him what was going on and he was interested to see what we were doing. By one o'clock, everyone was there.

By everyone I mean outgoing seniors Kevin and Magic, my seven-on-seven team, Coach and Cassidy Hope, Tom and Tracy Dole, and Kendal, my best friends Jeff, Alan and Gina, plus my Mom and Dad. Counting me there were twenty people.

I sent Tami a text and we logged on to the video chat so she could listen in, live.

I had a couple of the guys help move furniture in the living room to make room enough for everyone. We had folding chairs in the garage that were brought in.

"This all started last week when Coach Hope and I had a talk about leadership," I started the meeting once everyone was seated. "He has been mentoring me, and we have chats now and then. I went to some of my go-to people, Kendal and Tami, and bounced some ideas off of them. My original talk with Coach Hope was for me to find a handful of leaders to assist with the workouts.

"I admit that my original thought was that I wanted to win the state championship, my junior and senior years in high school. Coach Hope pointed out that my goal should be to win three straight years. I thought about that. I think you would agree that we have a team bonding issue. The incoming seniors never really had a leadership role before. Magic and Kevin have filled that role for the past three years. I think that is why we are seeing some growing pains with incoming leaders."

"You mean they're a bunch of jerks," someone said in the back.

I saw Coach Hope bristle. I had been dancing around it. Kendal had coached me on how to say it in a diplomatic way. If I wanted to win these guys over I couldn't start off lying to them.

"I think the technical term is ass-hats," I said.

That got everyone laughing. Coach Hope just shook his head.

"In all seriousness, I don't know if we can get them to become team players or not," I said, pausing to let that sink in. "I'll continue to offer them help and support, because I am a team player. That doesn't mean, though, that I will let them stop me from achieving my personal goals."

"David, what is your ultimate goal?" my Dad asked.

"Dad, I'm glad you asked that," I said as I flipped through my notes.

Finding what I was looking for, I began again.

"It has evolved over the last few days. I think Lincoln High is a sleeping giant. I don't just want to see success on the football field. I want to see it in all sports. I also want to see your involvement translate into long term success. I see the key to that being education, both here at Lincoln High and beyond. I would like to see every one of you get a college education. I want to see the leadership skills that you learn here, to translate into you being leaders in your life. If that is being the best Mom or Dad you can be, then that's great. If you become a community leader, that is even better. I want you to become successful on and off the field."

"That sounds like a lot. How are we going to do that?" Jim, Suzanne's little brother, asked, looking around the room.

"You hit it right on the head Jim, when you said we. I can't make you do anything. But if we ... as a team ... decide to do this, we will succeed. So as a team-building exercise, we are going to break out into groups, and attack the various things we need to do. We will brainstorm to figure out what needs to be done. Once each group has a list, we will come together as a group and we will prioritize things. Once we do that, we will break each task into a logical plan, and assign people to do them. Finally, we will have accountability."

"Explain to them why accountability is so important," Coach Hope said.

I thought about it for a moment.

"A friend of mine was telling me about the difference between being a doer and a wanter. For example, if you want to lose weight it is a hard, long task. Doing it on your own is almost impossible. That is why so many companies make a lot of money. How do they do it? They make you accountable by making you come to meetings and weighing yourself each week. They change you from a wanter into a doer. Knowing that you have to answer for your actions allows you to continue when it gets hard. You now have a reason to get up and lift instead of hitting the snooze button. People are counting on you," I said.

Everyone broke into groups and brainstormed for a couple of hours. The two people whose involvement didn't surprise me were my Dad and Tom Dole. They bounced from group to group and helped whenever they got stuck. They also helped folks get refocused. When we were in California, Dad mentioned that he and Tom had come to an understanding.

Everyone got hungry, so Mom ordered pizza. Mom had also made cookies. I tried to sneak some earlier, but she watched me like a hawk. She knew my lunch would be cookies, and more cookies, if she let me have my way!

By the end of the afternoon, we had the outlines of a plan and everyone was assigned things to do. My Dad and Tom got nominated to be our project managers, with Coach Hope taking the overall lead. Dad and Tom would also help out if things got bogged down or stuck.

A number of good ideas came out of the meeting. One was the idea of specialized training. That was why I was going to quarterback camps this summer. Why shouldn't our linemen go to lineman camp? Someone was assigned to find out the who, what, when, where and how much for all the different camps.

Another good idea came out of an accountability discussion. Everyone would be assigned a buddy. You were responsible to make sure your buddy made it to workout, study sessions, etc. They were responsible to make sure you did the same. The buddy teams were assigned to a big brother or sister. They were there, if you both messed up. My buddy was Jim and our big sister was Cassidy. I think we will both be showing up.

On the academic side, we put together study groups. We would make sure that we had someone strong to help. I somehow got assigned to help with Algebra. I teased them that I needed help with dance class. I was informed that if I was dumb enough to sign up for it, I was on my own.

I went back to my apartment and sent a text to Tami. We were soon logged into the video chat.

"Thanks for your help, today. How did your group go?" I asked.

Kendal had snatched my iPad as soon as she knew what group she was leading. They had worked on the scholarships.

"It went great. Tracy shared a lot of what she has been doing for you. That helped us a lot. I didn't know that a questionnaire has to be filled out before a school will look at you for football. She also explained that for a coach to be able to talk to you, they have to be contacted first. So she created a group list and will send either a text or email and say something like Hi, this is _____. Call me when you get a chance."

"That would make it easier for her."

"Wait, it gets better. We pulled Alan into our meeting and he told us that we could create a database that could help automate everything. Then we called Lily."

"I knew I forgot to invite someone."

"Don't worry about it. She said you could make it up to her personally."

"Yeah, right."

"Anyways, back on topic, we asked her what it would take to create websites for everyone. She said that she could use yours as a template. I guess she uses WordPress. When she wants to add a video or message she uses the blog feature and it automatically updates the site.

"She suggested that we create an overall site for Lincoln High. Each team would have a link that the coaches could update. On the side would be another link for each player with their picture. It would take you to their personal site. They would have access to update their blog. That way if they wanted to do a quick update with a video or post a blog they could."

"I can see some potential problems with that. Can you just see a sexy video on the school's website?"

"It can't happen. Their coach has to approve the post before it goes live. Not a perfect solution, but keeps bad things from happening."

"That's good. What else did you talk about?"

"Hey, Missy wants some alone time when you see her, this weekend. I told her that would not be a problem, but I wanted to check with you first," Tami said changing the subject.

"Is she dating anyone?"

"No. The Christmas Dance was just a friend thing. He is dating Jennie now, anyways."

"Are you still dating Trevor?"

"Off-and-on. It's nothing serious."

I knew she liked the guy or they wouldn't still be seeing each other. My guess was she was focused on studying.

"I would like to spend some time with Missy. Maybe we could double date on Saturday?"

She looked at me warily. She knew I didn't handle her dating well.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm sure. I know he is not your forever guy."

I felt my chest tighten. I needed to get off this chat. I made some lame excuse and logged off. I needed to get better control of myself. It was just hard to think of her with some other guy.

Friday February 14, 2014 – Freshman Year

During the week, our plan started to show signs of it working. Coach Hope talked to the different coaches of teams about our off-season conditioning program and our academic program. Our workouts were getting bigger each day.

Alan helped us put together a database of everyone involved. This was especially helpful putting together the study groups. In algebra, we had a quiz. We had only been able to meet once, but a couple of the participants said they did better than expected.

I called Sandy Range and told her about my endeavor. She said they had batch of camouflage t-shirts that the color was off. It came off with a blue tint. Since our colors were orange and blue I figured they would be perfect. I asked her if they could get a patch put on them. She told me they just needed the design.

I talked to Stacy in my art class. She had a great idea. Our mascot was a bulldog. She suggested different levels of participation; a puppy logo for the people that showed up occasionally, a dog for those that only made it to about half the time, a big dog for those that showed up three-quarters of the time, and a bad ass dog for those that showed up at least ninety-five percent of the time. The logo had Lincoln Elite under the dog.

I liked the idea because everyone that participated would get some kind of recognition. Those that did well would be recognized also. I sent the logos to Sandy and she loved them. She gave us the shirts and ate the cost of adding the logos. Alan gave us a breakdown on who fell into what category. Sandy gave us enough for the higher levels that when someone graduated to a new level we could give them a t-shirt. She assured me that they had a bunch of extra shirts with the messed up ink. She would have them pulled and saved for us.

I swore Stacy and Sandy to secrecy. I wanted to surprise everyone with the t-shirts. I also wanted to have everyone wear them to school on the same day, to create a buzz.

At lunch, the conversation was all about the Valentine's Day Dance. At our table, only April and I didn't have dates. What they didn't know was that Kara was going as my date. Adrienne and Kendal had been working overtime to let the various entertainment reporters know.

Not surprising was that April was still grounded for life. What was surprising was that she was not mad at me. Cassidy was another story. The girls had finally come to an uneasy truce. Everyone was currently speculating on why I couldn't find a date.

"You guys already asked out everyone I would want to go with," I threw out.

"Lisa Felton doesn't have a date," Alan responded.

That was very brave of our little Alan. He pulled the pin on that grenade and sat back to watch it explode. Gina shook her head at him. I sat up like I was looking for her.

"You better stop him, he will do something stupid like fly her to Vegas and marry her," Tracy warned.

"It would be wrong on so many levels. I hate to say it, Dude, but that is a bad idea," Jim said.

"The problem with Lisa is neither of us has a car. Hey, Jim, would you give us a ride? We could double," I said.

"No, Cassidy explained to me what would happen if I enabled your insanity," Jim said.

"You know what his problem is," Jeff said getting everyone's attention. "He is just too nice of a guy. Girls just don't go for the nice guys."

That got stuff thrown at him. I tried to break it up.

"Hey, hey, hey, he has a point."

Now stuff was being thrown at me.

"This from the guy that invented boob cream," April told them.

The place went silent. April hit her forehead.

"Oh, shit."

"April, dear," Kim started. "I think there is a story there that you have been holding out on us. It's not like you're dating him, and have to keep his secrets."

"I think that only applies if they're married," Jim said.

"Thanks buddy," I told him.

"Hey, no problem, I just wanted to get the facts correct," Jim explained.

"Shut up, you two," Kim told us. "Back to April. Spill it."

She looked at me and I just shrugged.

"David has been working on an experiment. He claims he has developed a cream that, when directly applied to a girl's breasts, it helps them grow."

Kim looked skeptical.

"So what is in this cream? Better yet, does it actually work?" Kim continued her interrogation.

"It's a secret formula and Tami seems to think it works," I offered.

I heard, "What!"

Gina was on the phone. My guess would be with Tami. She suddenly burst out laughing.

"The secret ingredient is essence of David," Gina shared.

Half the table cracked up. The other half looked confused.

"What is the secret ingredient?" Alan asked.

"I think I need to leave now," I said as I started to get up.

"Sit," Cassidy ordered.

I sat. I think it was a knee-jerk reaction to what Tami would have said. Cassidy hadn't earned that level of respect yet.

Gina leaned over and told him.

"Oh, that's gross," Alan said.

"I still don't get it," Cassidy said.

I made a hand motion to give her the idea. She turned almost purple which caused all of us to laugh.

"You better tell the rest of it before the rumors get started," Gina warned me.

I took a deep breath.

"I was sitting around one day and it occurred to me that girls that had been exposed to ... anyways ... their breast seemed to grow over time."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with them going through puberty would it?" Tracy asked.

"Hey, don't bury me in details. I have a pretty good idea that sex with me causes girls to get better looking."

That got me some jeers.

"I can see that there could be some doubters. So I asked the girls at Wesleyan if they would be test subjects in my scientific research. You would be surprised how many volunteered when they heard the procedure. So I'm just trying to give some back here at dear old Lincoln High."

"So are you going to setup a test group here?" Mona asked.

"Hmmm, I think something could be arranged," I said as I leered at Mona.

"Get the fire hose. He just went off the deep end and he'll pull down half the female population if we don't get him cooled off," warned Gina.

I gave my best evil scientist laugh as I rubbed my hands together. The bell rang so we all got up to leave. Mona gave me a hip check on my way out of the lunch room. I needed to set up another session with my new patient.

I came home to find Angie in my room laying out an outfit for tonight. I give up. They have been brainwashed to believe that I cannot even get dressed by myself. She was trying ties and not having any luck. I dug through the bags of stuff sent home from New York. I found the latest ties from Armani. I handed them to her.

"Wow, you have been holding out on me. I thought you had zero fashion sense."

"That's still true; I just know these are the new ones."

"Kara called. She will pick you up at six o'clock. She said to tell you to make reservations for dinner. I took care of that. I figured she wanted to go to somewhere nicer than Monical's."

"So where am I taking her?"

"The Dunn's Country Club," she told me.

"So you're telling me you got reservations at a member's only place."

"Well, maybe Tom got you reservations," Angie admitted.

I sat on the bed.

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Because it's obvious that Kara is your friend and she needs the publicity for her modeling career?"

"You take all the fun out of whining," I said and then perked up. "I do get to go to Wesleyan tomorrow. Did Greg get me more condoms? It was his turn to buy."

"Actually, I got them. I didn't know they made glow in the dark ones."

"What? Where did you go buy them?"

"I got them at the drug store over on First Avenue. They have a better selection."

I just shrugged, filing the information away. Angie went back to the house to make dinner. I got dressed and went down to see what she was making. She fed me some fruit salad while I waited on the limo to show up. Mom was hanging with Kyle. I refused to hold him because he had just been fed. No way was I going to change clothes.

It was good to see Kara again. The plan was that we would spend the night at my place and then she would spend the weekend with her family. Then Sunday night, she was off to LA to do an ad. She looked great as always. She was rocking a red dress with matching heels by Christian Louboutin. I couldn't pronounce his name, but women loved his shoes.

When we walked into the country club, I felt really out of place. We were the youngest couple by at least twenty years. When we were seated I looked at the menu.

"Oh, look, there's a kid's menu."

By now she was used to my humor and just ignored me.

"Have you talked to the twins?" she asked.

"No, but I did talk to Tyler. They are doing fine. I also heard that Chuck is not being charged. So I guess it was a scare, but everyone is going to be okay."

Then she floored me.

"David, do you think we have a future?"

I put my menu down. I thought about my feelings for Kara. If she was not always on the road we would be going out. I would never have gotten back together with Tracy if she would have come home earlier. We were a good fit in many ways. If Tami and I didn't work out, Kara would be at the top of my list of long-term relationships.

The truth was that she was committed to her modeling. She had a short window in which to make money in that unforgiving business. Adrienne was the exception, not the rule. She was 28 and a living legend. Most models were done by the time they were in their early 20's.

"Kara, the one thing I know is that I care for you deeply. If your schedule wasn't so crazy, I would be camped out on your doorstep wanting to date you. So don't ever think that I don't want you. Does that translate into us getting together? I honestly don't know. I hope so, but we have a lot of growing up to do before that ever happens, though."

She gave me a tight smile.

"You know, that is probably the most I'm going to get out of you right now. I just wish we had more time together."

"I know, but it seems like we only see each other every couple of months. It wouldn't be fair to either of us if we tried to start something serious, unless there is something you're not telling me."

"Like what?"

"Like you are going to be around for more than a day or two at a time?"

She gave me a tight smile confirming that she was not planning on being around. The waiter came before we became too melancholy. I thought about getting something Italian, but I didn't want to get sauce on my suit. I went with the old standby of a rib eye and baked potato. Kara had some chicken dish with steamed vegetables.

Over dinner the conversation lightened up. We just enjoyed each other's company. When the check came, I had to sign for it to put it on Tom's account. Kendal told me to do this because Tom had a minimum monthly tab he had to pay whether he went to the club or not. He had not been making the monthly minimum since he opened the new division. In the future, I was not sure I would want to bring a date here. I might bring my parents though.

When we left, we prepared ourselves for the press. Kara's dress was knee length so she decided to get out first. I had to laugh when we pulled up and there were a line of minivans dropping off kids. We kind of stood out. There were only a handful of paparazzi. I had to laugh again when I saw the kid from TMZ. They must hire high school dropouts, give them a video camera, and tell them to go to the airport. This guy looked like he had been on a three day bender.

We did a quick five minute interview and then hurried inside. It was cold out. I knew that Gina was saving us seats. What good is a little sister if she can't do that? She and Alan were the only two in the know that Kara was my date. When I walked up to the table, everyone felt like they had to give me shit.

"I should have known. David Dawson without a date to the Valentine Dance was never going to happen," Cassidy said while smiling at me.

"Cassidy Hope, I would like you to meet Kara Tasman. Besides being Gina's sister, she is also a good friend and someone I model with."

There were a few more comments, but I just smiled and looked at my date. Let them be jealous. The band was taking their first break.

"Hold that thought. I have to go do something."

Kara arched her eyebrows. I think Gina had been giving her lessons. I went up to stage and got a mic. I tried to talk into it and there was nothing. I tapped it a couple of times and the thing was dead. One of the audio visual guys came out with a sheepish grin on his face. He pointed out the on switch. I just laughed. I guess that is one of those things you learn with experience.

"Hello, Lincoln High," I said over the speakers.

"Hello," I got back from the crowd.

"You are going to have to do better than that! Hello, Lincoln High!"

"HELLO!"

"That's better. Now you are all going to help me with some extra credit. I'm going to need some help. Are there any single ladies in the house?"

No one raised their hand. I think they were nervous about what I was up to.

"If I don't get any volunteers, I'm just going to volunteer some girls."

Still no one. Apparently, we had some serious trust issues.

I walked around the edge of the dance floor as a spot light followed me. I pulled a couple of girls on the left side and had them go stand in the middle of the floor. I then went to the right and pulled out some more.

"Is Mona Wingman here?"

She waved at me.

"This song is dedicated to you," I said as I handed the mic back to someone on the stage.

The music started. It was Joe Cocker's version of 'You Can Leave Your Hat On'. I had talked my dance class into putting together something and this song was stuck in my head. Go figure. When the lights came up, everyone realized that the girls all had on little black dresses with a jacket and matching hat. My job was basically to feature each of them while they did a sexy little dance around me. In the end, they all threw their hats at me and the lights went down. We got a nice round of applause and I headed back to Kara.

"You are such a goof. How did they talk you into that?"

"I actually talked them into it. I'm taking a dance class and our teacher told us she would give us extra credit if we did a live performance."

"So you can dance?"

"You saw me in New York. I can hold my own."

By then, the music had started so I took her out on the dance floor and showed her some of my moves. Once she had seen my repertoire, she taught me some new stuff. I was glad to see that Alan and Jeff joined us on the dance floor with their dates. I guess my little talk at the last dance had sunk in. I went over and pulled Jim and Cassidy out. He tried to bolt, but I told him I wouldn't embarrass him. I showed him how to shuffle back and forth and give his arms a little movement.

"See, you're dancing. So get over your fear and have fun with your date."

"I'll get even, you just wait," Jim threatened.

I waved over the dance class girls that did not have dates. They were teaching Kara some steps. I had to smile when I saw her having fun. I knew she missed things like this. I knew I would if I was doing modeling full-time. We ended up staying to the very end because she was having fun just being one of the gang.

I even got some of the other guys to brave the dance floor. I think the threat of me dancing with their dates had a little to do with it. I got to dance with Suzanne, Cindy and Beth. I even managed to dance with Mona. She gave me a hard time about using our song as a class project. I noticed that her date was not paying any attention to her.

"Date not going well?"

"Not really, he is more interested in talking to his buddies than me. I think this is our last date."

"That's too bad."

"What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"I'm off to visit my best friend. I won't be back 'till Sunday night."

"Call me when you get back."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes, really, I want to see you."

"Oh, dear! I think you're hitting on me and your boyfriend is right over there."

"Shut up."

I did and she kissed me.

"Miss Mona, you are going to be the death of me."

"So are you going to call me Sunday?"

"Why would I call you Sunday? Your name is Mona."

"So are you going to call me, Sunday?"

"Without a doubt."

The song ended and she went back to her date. He looked pissed but she just ignored him. She was right: You snooze, you lose.

I had to chuckle when I saw who Kelly Goudy's date was. It was Kelly Holcomb. I could see the jokes now about Kelly and Kelly dating. They looked like they were hitting it off.

The limo dropped us off at my house. Kara had a small overnight bag that I carried into the kitchen. I found my Mom and Dad in the kitchen drinking coffee and eating cheese cake. Mrs. A knew it was my Mom's favorite so she had dropped one off. We were looking for anything that Mom would eat. She seemed to still be able to stomach it.

Mom got up and gave Kara a hug. She sat down with my parents as I got us a couple of slices.

"How are you feeling?" Kara asked my Mom.

"Not great. The biggest problem is I feel queasy all the time. I have to force myself to eat and then pray it stays down. They have given me some medication that seems to help some. I have been getting stronger since I got back," Mom said.

She looked at Dad and he nodded.

"David, the cancer has not gone away. I got the blood work back today. We have talked to the doctors here and in California. They feel we need to be aggressive and start chemo again."

"When do you start?" I asked.

"Monday," Dad said.

In many ways, the treatment was worse than the disease. It would be a hard few weeks for my Mom. Hearing that they needed to be aggressive scared me. I suspected that my parents were not telling me everything, but I was not going to ask in front of Kara.

After we got done eating, Mom and Dad went to bed. Kara and I went up to my apartment over the garage. Talking about Mom's cancer was a mood killer. We simply went to bed. I was glad Kara was there to hold me.

Saturday February 15, 2014 – Freshman Year

I woke up with a start realizing I had not set my alarm. I looked at the clock and saw I had to be at the bus station in twenty minutes. I put on some clothes and darted to the door. Kara was still there. I remembered her telling me that she couldn't spend the night if she was staying at home. I hoped she didn't get into trouble. I came thundering into the kitchen.