Chapter 37

David
Having slept on what had transpired the night before, David was still upset. His usual MO when he would get mad would be to, after some time, get over it and move on. Matt’s betrayal by having Crystal drive off and leave him to get an ass-kicking was too much to stomach. Especially after David had come running to save Matt.

His first instinct was to track Matt down and finish the job the Deltas had started. His best friend growing up, Tami Glade, had taught him that he should ignore his first instinct because it was always wrong. In this case, he might make an exception to that particular rule. It was probably best that the next football practice wasn’t until Monday. If he saw Matt today, it might not end well.

It wasn’t only Matt and Crystal who had him upset. Coach Clayton’s coaching methods had him playing defense, for Christ’s sake. In every fiber of his being, David knew that if he were given a fair shot to play quarterback, he would beat Matt out for the starting job.

Bill was right; it had been a mistake to come to USC. If it weren’t for his family, he would have picked up the phone and gone to Ohio State or one of several other destinations. If UCLA wasn’t such a mess, he might have considered going there.

For David, playing defense wasn’t the worst outcome. He’d actually agreed to it with the understanding that he would be given a scholarship when one became available. However, the scholarship hadn’t come through; the head football coach seemed to be deliberately withholding it.

It wasn’t really the money that upset David, though; it was the sense of betrayal. Breaking his word to him told David that USC’s head football coach couldn’t be trusted, that the man was only looking out for himself. At that point, all talk of doing what was best for the team went out the window.

Bill was an excellent example of how this made USC a toxic place to play ball. You were told that everyone had a shot at playing time. That if you did what was asked of you, put in the effort, and excelled in practice, you would be rewarded. When the coaches had their own agenda, though, it often meant that the best player didn’t get to see the field on game day.

David decided that before he ran himself in circles and tied himself into knots over all this, he should call together what he liked to call his ‘brain trust.’ His mom, dad, uncle, and grandmother were all members of his inner circle of trust. They were all people that he went to when he had big decisions to make. He could count on them to give him sound advice and not just tell him what he wanted to hear. Plus, they had more worldly experience than David had to this point. They might see something he was missing.

With that in mind, he invited them to dinner at the townhouse. He also asked Lexi because she would end up being involved in whatever happened. David then called around and got extra tickets from his fellow players so as to have enough for whoever wanted to watch him play baseball tonight.

David was doing his stats homework when there was a knock at his bedroom door.

“It’s open!” he called out.

Alex came in and sprawled out on David’s bed like he owned it.

“Get comfortable,” David quipped.

“Thanks, man,” Alex shot back.

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to give you the heads-up that I’m withdrawing from school. I’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Alex said.

“Does that mean you’ll be on the Colombian National team?”

“Looks like it. We’re one of the 32 teams that qualified. There are a couple of openings, and I just got the call that they want me to either take one or be a backup. The World Cup starts in June, so we have to get serious about preparing,” Alex explained.

“Will you be back next fall?”

“That was the deal I made with my father before he’d let me do it. I was hoping we would be roommates when I get back.”

“I’d like that,” David said, not wanting to burn any bridges yet.

If he decided to transfer, he would let Alex know as soon as possible.

“The soccer team is having a going-away party for me tonight. I was hoping you could swing by.”

“We have a night game, so it wouldn’t be until later. I also would have Lexi with me. Would that be okay?” David asked.

“To be honest, if you asked me that at the beginning of the semester, I would’ve passed. She’s made a real effort to be friends since you moved in. I would love for her to come,” Alex said.

“Okay, I’ll bring her,” David said and then had a thought. “I usually grab something to eat after a game. Is there anything you want me to bring to the party tonight?”

“Grab what you want. I wouldn’t bring any extra, though. The soccer team will move in with you if they think you have free food on hand,” Alex joked. “Besides, I suspect we’ll pass the hat and order pizza at some point. Just show up and have a drink with me.”

“Sounds good.”

Alex looked content as he left David to his studies. David was glad for him. Playing in the World Cup was a big deal for someone as young as Alex. He’d told David that the average player age was around 28. Alex would be the youngest on the Colombian squad at 18.

It just showed what a phenomenal talent he was to make their team. Colombia was considered to be an elite team in international play. David had doubts whether Alex would ever come back because the next logical step for him was to play professional soccer. It would become apparent to him that he was wasting his time playing college ball.

Precious greeted David at the back door.

“You plan to be good tonight?” he asked the cat from hell.

She jumped into his arms to get some loving. She was such a woman; you never knew what mood she would be in. He went to the roof, where he found his parents, grandmother, and Lexi being entertained by Tracy, Pam, and Cassidy.

“I told her she had to be nice tonight,” Cassidy said when she saw him with her cat in his arms.

“What did she do this time?” Dad asked.

“She peed in Seamus’s face,” David shared.

“That’s a new low,” Dad deadpanned in a way that made David smile.

His dad could be a master of understatement at times. His mom wanted the story of how it happened. When he’d finished, David’s grandmother got them to the reason they were all here.

“Did you want to talk before or after we eat?” she asked.

“Can’t we do both?” David asked.

“It’ll go faster if he knows he can’t eat until he tells us everything,” Pam advised.

Everyone stared at David. He gave them the new ‘dead eyes’ look he’d been practicing. When it had no effect, he got his phone out and called Uncle John. When his uncle answered, David put him on speaker. After everyone had gotten their hellos out of the way, David told them what was on his mind.

“I think I made a mistake coming to USC,” David said and then went quiet to let everyone absorb what he’d just said.

“Are you having trouble in your classes?” Grandma Dawson asked.

“No. It’s challenging, and I’m learning a lot,” he admitted.

“Are you not making friends?” she asked to continue her interrogation.

Cassidy barked out a laugh that had his mother interested in what that meant, but he was thankful that Mom didn’t interrupt as his grandmother had the floor.

“That’s not the problem. I like my dorm, and after a few initial bumpy missteps, it’s gone pretty well. I’ve been making friends with a lot of my classmates. Baseball is great,” David shared.

“I read in the paper that you were doing well, now that you’re starting,” Grandma Dawson said.

“Once we discarded a few bad apples, the team really started to come together. We currently lead the Pac-12,” David shared.

“So, what’s the problem?” she asked.

“Football,” David said.

It was quiet for a moment, and then Uncle John took over. He and David had a history. Uncle John had been a child psychologist before he’d become a farmer. Before high school, David had spent the summer at his uncle’s farm, and it had transformed David’s life. Whenever David had a big decision to make, he made it a point to touch base with his uncle.

“What happened to make you think USC is a mistake?”

“Last night,” David said, and then he launched into what had happened.

“How do you feel about Matt?” Uncle John asked.

David acted like his finger was a gun as he put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. His mom and dad both rolled their eyes because Uncle John’s fallback position was to revert to being a psychologist. David hated the ‘how does XYZ make you feel’ questions.

“I wish he was here right now so I could kick his butt,” David shared.

“I’m sure your feelings are valid but is that the most productive thing you could do?” Uncle John asked.

“If you want, I could help make him disappear,” Cassidy offered.

David’s mom glared at both of them when he gave Cassidy a fist bump for having his back. So, he took his uncle’s question seriously.