Chapter 22

David
David walked into his accounting class and didn’t see his new friend. He might have scared her off last Thursday by teasing her that he wanted to cheat off her. Professor Scarpa made his entrance. As he was about to start his lecture, the girl rushed in and sat down beside David. She handed him a coffee and gave him a weak smile.

He took that as a peace offering and turned on his video to record the class. The girl glanced over and frowned when she saw what he was doing. David imagined there had to be some rule against it, but when he thought about what he’d paid in tuition, he figured that gave him the right. Plus, he’d seen other students doing it, so he shrugged it off.

At the end of class, their quizzes were handed back. David glanced over and caught her name: Alyssa Timmons. He also noticed that she had, in fact, missed question 3, which gave him a higher score. He showed her his 100%.

When the class ended, David introduced himself.

“Thanks for the coffee. I’m David, by the way.”

“Alyssa. You get the coffee on Thursday,” she said as she got up and left.

David chuckled as she just left him sitting there without even looking back.

After classes and his workout with Ridge, David headed to baseball practice. He found Andres getting dressed.

“I saw your ex in the football locker room yesterday.”

“Was she on her knees giving head?” Andres asked.

“Bitter much?” David teased. “No, but she walked in like she owned the place. She was looking for her new man.”

“Did I tell you what she told me when she dumped me? She said I was too needy and never had time for her.”

David tried to wrap his brain around how Andres had managed to want too much of her time while not giving her enough.

“That’s the typical move girls make. They blame you so they don’t have to be responsible for their actions. She should have just told you the truth.”

“If you’re going to go on about how I wasn’t good enough...” Andres said, getting mad again.

“That’s a given,” David said, dismissing it. “Honestly, I think she’s into me. My interested-female radar was pinging like crazy.”

Andres picked up his shoe and threw it at David, who easily dodged it.

“Let’s quit talking about your lack of a love life. I have something serious I want to talk to you about,” David said, picking up Andres’ shoe and tossing it back to him.

“Like if I would be okay if you banged one out with Crystal?”

“No, like we suck as a baseball team.”

Andres gave him a weak smile.

“As a matter of fact, Coach Deneau wanted to talk to me about that. You might as well come along.”

The two of them went to the coach’s office and found Coach Deneau meeting with the rest of the coaches. He gave Andres a funny look when he saw David with him.

“Since he’s my captain-in-training, I figured he should be here. David just told me that he thought the team sucked,” Andres said.

David hadn’t realized that was what was going on. He and Andres had traded off warming the team up before practice. Being a leader came to David naturally, so he hadn’t given it a second thought until just then.

The coaches laughed at hearing David’s characterization. They were surprised when he didn’t try to soften the criticism as most players would have.

“What do you think we should do about it?” Don Hob, the associate head coach, asked David.

David decided to not sugarcoat it.

“They’re acting like they’re normal college students.”

“They are normal college students,” Coach Burris, the volunteer assistant, said.

“Bullshit,” David said. He continued when there was nothing but silence. “The university is providing them with room, board, housing, an education, and free medical. At USC, that could easily be worth over a hundred grand a year.

“They should be looking at this as a job. In the real world, if they went out and got drunk the night before a meeting, to the point it affected their performance, they would be reprimanded at a minimum. Fired, if they were repeat offenders,” David said.

That he didn’t have a scholarship hadn’t been lost on David. The football team had promised him one when one came open. To date, that hadn’t happened. Yes, he could afford to pay his own way. The issue was that he was expected to sacrifice his time and energy preparing for two sports. When spring football practice started, he wouldn’t have a moment to himself.

It was the main reason David hadn’t wanted to live in the football dorm and had decided to work out on his own. He was thankful that he’d found Ridge, so David now had a few football players he could work with to hone his skills and to help them hone theirs. Ridge made it a point to get him snaps at quarterback, running back, and receiver, as well as having him play some defense.

When the time came for spring ball, David would be ready.

“Are you saying the ones involved should be suspended?” Coach Hob asked.

“I don’t know. What are your team rules for that?” David asked.

The coaches all looked at each other as the lightbulb came on.

“I’m not trying to be a dick,” David said to soften his approach. “But I know what’s coming. If any of them have any dreams of playing Major League Baseball, they’ll want to get their act together, and they’ll also want the team to start acting like a team.”

“What’s coming?” Coach Burris asked.

“When I was in high school, we had to expand our stadium to accommodate all the fans who came to see David A. Dawson, the movie star, play ball. Then there were the scouts—both college and professional. I was projected as a late first-round to fourth-round prospect, depending on who you talked to. One of my teammates got a minor-league contract because of the exposure he received when they came to see me play,” David explained.

“This is what I warned you all about,” Coach Deneau told his staff. “David was drafted by the Twins.”

David scowled at the memory.

“I thought it was the last round,” Coach Hob said.

“Yep. I’d made it clear that I had other commitments, and everyone else respected that. I guess the Twins thought they would take a flier and see,” David shared.

“They surely couldn’t match the money you made from your movies,” Coach Hob said.

“They offered me second-round money with a short initial contract. Honestly, if I hadn’t already given my word that I’d act in those movies, I would’ve had to look at the offer seriously. The key for me was the short contract. I would have been able to test the market a year sooner than average, so I could get paid. If I was sure that baseball was what I wanted and hadn’t already made those commitments, I would’ve taken it.”

Looking back on it, David realized that when Oklahoma had pulled their stunt, he could have played winter ball. Then he could have made himself available for this year’s draft.

Coach Deneau sighed.

“We’ve been so busy with the transition that we missed setting expectations. That’s on me. I think we’ll lose the team if we come down after the fact on the ones who broke curfew,” he said while giving Andres a meaningful look.

David could see how Coach Deneau had made that mistake. When he was at his last school, everyone had known the rules, and the coach didn’t have to think about them. It was just assumed that they knew what was expected and would do it.

David glanced over at Andres, who had a sick look. David might have been in the same boat if he hadn’t learned his lesson the hard way. As soon as he stepped into a bar, there would be social media posts. If the coaches didn’t know by morning, his mother would. If he ever did decide to ‘play’ on the road, he already knew it would have to be behind closed doors, like what had happened on the Alabama trip. Of course, he had three kids to show for that little indiscretion.