Chapter 11

David took Sadie to see her sister. Duke was happy that he didn’t have to give up shotgun as Sadie climbed into the back. The trip went well until they got to her school, and she spotted a girl standing out front.

“What’s wrong?” David asked when the smile suddenly left her face.

“That’s Hailey. She makes fun of my hair and says I’m a freak.”

“Does she do other mean stuff?”

Sadie wouldn’t look up at him but gave a slight nod.

“Come on. I’ll walk you inside,” David said to get her out of the car. He left the windows wide open so Duke wouldn’t get overheated, knowing his pup would protect the car.

He walked Sadie in and made sure she made it to her first class. He then went to the principal’s office.

The woman at the front desk recognized him.

“Oh, my,” she said as she looked up. “How may I help you?”

“I’d like to talk to whoever’s in charge.”

A minute later, he was in Principal Carla Hahn’s office, where he talked to her about Sadie being bullied. As seemed to be always the case, she had no idea there was any bullying in her school. David wanted to suggest she might want to get out of her office sometime and do her job but had another solution.

David had been summoned to Coach Merritt’s office between classes, and Rachel was sitting out front, acting as the gatekeeper.

“You can’t bring a dog in here.”

David smiled because she was the first person on campus to stand up (figuratively) and tell him that.

“He’s been here before; you were here when I brought him in with Marshall Davidson. And this is only for today. Can Duke hang out with you while I go beard the dragon?” David asked.

He didn’t wait for her answer as he walked into Coach Merritt’s office.

“Door open or closed?” David asked.

“Closed.”

David took a seat before Coach Merritt said anything.

“I wanted to talk to you about redshirting.”

“Do I get a say in this?” David asked.

“I thought Coach Clayton had this discussion with you before he left.”

“That was when he wanted me to play defense. When you came in, you said all positions were open and the best player would start. I assumed that meant I had a chance to play my freshman year. I’ll remind you that you said you’re not opposed to playing us both. In fact, you had us both at QB1 on your depth chart. And you said you were concerned about Matt’s maturity. What changed?” David asked.

“You were injured. I think it’s best for you and the team to preserve your eligibility.”

David wanted to say that Matt could easily be hurt as well but held his tongue.

“I see. So, Matt gets a full year of playing time while I ride the bench. And are you following Coach Clayton’s philosophy of the starters getting all the coaching and reps? Then, come spring, I suppose you’ll spout the same bullshit about open competition. When what you’re really saying is that Matt’s your quarterback, and you want me for when he goes to the NFL. Am I reading this right?” David asked as he started to lose his cool.

Coach Merritt looked taken aback by David’s response.

“I suppose that would be the case.”

This felt like one more f-you he’d received from all his head coaches over the years. The frustration all bubbled up.

“I’ll put all my cards on the table,” David said. “Coach Clayton was a horse’s ass with his BS about me playing defense. Add to that the slap-on-the-wrist penalties for Matt and John when they tried to end my football career and maybe my movie career as well.

“I tried to be a good teammate and go along to do what was best for the team. Then Coach Clayton messed with my promised scholarship. If I hadn’t talked to Jaxon Pettis, I don’t think he would’ve ever given me one.”

“He did that?” Coach Merritt asked.

“You can see why I’m tired of being lied to. I’d hoped for a fresh start with you as our coach. But when Ron and Gabe told me you’d decided I was redshirting without talking to me, I lost a lot of respect for you. So much so that if you’re our coach come spring, I’ll transfer,” David explained. “I imagine there are other places where I can play. And start.”

It took Coach Merritt a moment to recover from his shock. His boosters were revealing his plans to his players? He would have to speak to Gabe and Ron. But for now, he needed to get on top of this.

“What about this fall?”

That question told David that Coach Merritt didn’t give a flying monkey about him. Arguing further was pointless.

“You get to decide who plays. I’ll take any playing time I can get to show off my abilities to the next school I go to.”

“I can see I handled this all wrong, but the fact remains that I want you to redshirt.”

“As you wish,” David said. “Anything else?”

David didn’t wait for an answer, just got up and left. He found that Duke had won over Rachel as she was rubbing his ears.

“Come on, buddy. We have class,” David said as he left the athletic building.

Once outside, he was kicking himself for losing his cool. At least he felt more in control after his little diatribe, and he could honestly say he spoke only the truth to Coach Merritt. David was done being jerked around by USC head coaches. If only he’d done that when he was younger.

David had asked Crystal if she would help him on his mission to stop the bullying at the grade school. After lunch, Duke followed the two of them to the school like he was going to the cancer ward. Principal Hahn met them at the entrance and took them to Sadie’s class.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Principal Hahn said to the class. “But we have a special guest who asked to speak to you today.”

“Hello, everyone. I’m David A. Dawson, the actor,” David said as he walked to the front of the class. He noticed Duke walked with him and sat like he was being presented to the children.

Duke handed David his tennis ball, which had the kids giggling.

“My special guest is Duke. You see, Duke is a service dog I take to hospitals to bring joy to the patients, and he very much likes the attention he gets.”

“Can we pet him?” a girl in the front asked.

“Maybe after I’m done talking,” David suggested. “I wanted to tell you that Sadie is my very special friend. You see, she and I have a lot in common: we both have family members who have or had cancer. In my case, it was my mother, and for Sadie, it’s her lovely sister, Lisa.

“What you might not know about cancer is that the cure can feel like it’s worse than the disease. For my mother, it started with her feeling run-down and tired all the time, and then she lost her appetite. What she hid from me was the pain, which can be unbearable.

“As she got worse, I was afraid my mom might not make it. I was willing to do anything to make her feel better. Well, I’ve found a kindred spirit in Sadie. When Lisa’s treatments made her lose her hair, Sadie cut her own off so her sister would feel better because Lisa’s currently fighting for her life. It makes me sad to think that anyone would look at this lovely girl and make fun of her for her sacrifice,” David said, letting a silly grin touch his face.

“But luckily for most of you, you’ll never have to go through that. What Sadie wants to do is bring some joy to you today. She has asked Duke and me to give you all ice cream bars,” David announced as Crystal and Principal Hahn brought trays of the treats to the front of the room.

He’d made sure the food was kid- and allergy-friendly because he didn’t need any of them getting sick and their parents suing him.

“Okay, class. Come get your treats,” their teacher said.

Everyone surged forward, and David saw the huge smile on Sadie’s face as all the kids thanked her. Duke was a happy boy as he also became the center of attention. Even Hailey looked delighted.

Crystal slid up next to him and squeezed his hand.

“That might be the kindest thing I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

“I just felt bad for her.”

Sadie rushed up and gave him a hug. She whispered in his ear, “Thank you.”

Then she was off chattering with her classmates. Her being bald was suddenly quite all right.

“Come on, Duke. Let’s go so they can get back to learning,” David announced.

He chuckled when he reached the front door of the school.

“What’s so funny?” Crystal asked.

“My mom always gives me a hard time about feeding my kids sugar and leaving her with the fallout. That class will be bouncing off the walls before the end of the day.”

David wasn’t surprised when a team manager told him he was to see Coach Stackhouse before practice.

He found her talking to Alex. Galen, Alex’s security, was doing his best to blend into the woodwork.

“Are you explaining to him that his kicks might get blocked if John doesn’t do his job?” David asked.

“Bite me,” Alex said.

“I’ll see you at practice,” Amy said to dismiss Alex, then turned to David once he left. “I hear you’re in fine form today. What crawled up your butt?”

“Please. You just want to know if I’ll be a problem or not,” David said.

“We’d planned for you to host several recruits Friday, but if you don’t want to be a part of USC...”

Add that to the list of stuff that wasn’t discussed with him.

“What I said was between Coach Merritt and me; I guess it only makes sense he would share it with you and everyone else. Do I need to worry that I’ll get asked about it the next time I’m with the boosters?” David asked. “What do you expect me to tell them? Should I lie and tell them I agree with the decision, that I think it’s best for the team?”

Amy started to say something but thought better of it. After a moment, she said, “Coach Merritt made assumptions and should have sat down with you and discussed it.”

“Look. Before this becomes a thing, tell your boss that I am at USC and will do whatever it takes for us to win and get better. When I leave, my dedication will be to my new team, be that in the NFL or a new college.”

“Your talk of transferring was serious, then?” Amy asked. “You’d really leave?”

“Coach Merritt is, unfortunately, a continuation of Coach Clayton. I won’t work with a liar. I told myself I’d give it a season and see how it all worked out. The only reason I came to USC is Oklahoma went back on their word. Now I’m seeing the same thing here.

“In the back of my mind, I counted on Coach Clayton being replaced. When it happened before fall practice, I was hopeful the situation here would get better, and I’d get a fair shake,” David said.

“Coach Merritt made a mistake. We all do at some time,” Amy said.

“We’ll see.”

“So, about the recruits?” Amy asked.

“I’ll play nice, and only positive words will come out of my mouth,” David promised.

“If you were anyone else, I would have my doubts. Thank you,” Amy said.

“Who’s on my list?”

“Steve Barber and Colt Macklin, who Bryant tells me you’ve been helping recruit. He said we’ve already made an offer to Steve. Coming with Colt is his primary receiver, Aidan Voss. Like Colt and Steve, he’s a top 100 recruit,” Amy said.

Steve was the younger brother of Jerry, better known as Bear. Bear was their freshman tackle, who was six-eight and 330 pounds, and who’d just moved up to second string at offensive tackle. Steve’s nickname was ‘Cub’ because he was only six-seven and 300 pounds. Steve was the number two tackle in this year’s recruiting class.

Colt was in the next year’s class, but he’d become the number one quarterback in all classes. He and David had become friends since David had been a guest speaker at the prestigious Elite-11 camp for quarterbacks. He’d also worked with him at the Houston Elite and USC camps.

David had followed Colt, so he knew of Aidan. He was an impressive physical specimen at six-five and 210 pounds. David couldn’t help but compare him with Damion Roth. Aidan wasn’t quite as big as Damion, though with his long legs, he had deceptive speed. And being tall, Aidan was Colt’s top target in the end zone because he could outleap any defender he faced.

David could see why the coaching staff was nervous because each of these recruits was a game-changer. They were the type of players who would start sooner rather than later.

“Thank you for entrusting me with these three. I’ll make sure they all sign with us,” he promised.

Amy gave him a long look and sighed.

“I keep underestimating you; that won’t happen again. And I hope you give Coach Merritt a chance to prove he’s on your side.”

“Something you should know is that when I get mad, it’s best to leave me alone because I cool off quickly and become more reasonable. I also believe in second chances, but not thirds and fourths like I seem to be on with head coaches here. I understand that I’m lumping Coach Merritt together with Coach Clayton, but if he just tells it to me straight, I might surprise him,” David said.

“Understood, and I agree. And thank you. Bryant keeps singing your and the other freshmen’s praises for helping with recruiting. I understand you started it all, and everyone knows what an asset you are beyond football,” Amy said.

“Bite me,” David fired back.

“What?”

“Stop buttering me up,” David explained.

“Got it,” Amy said.

“Can I go to practice now?” David asked.

“Yes, go to practice.”

David met his recruits and their families at the John McKay Center. He wore his game-day jersey and jeans and noted that Steve and Aidan had on USC gear while Colt wore his high school jersey.

“That won’t do at all. You can’t be seen on a recruiting trip not wearing the school’s colors. It’s all about making the right impression,” David chastised.

“My son spilled grape juice on his USC t-shirt,” Mrs. Macklin revealed.