Chapter 8: Bachelor Auction

Friday October 11, 2013 – Freshman Year

After the Lakeview game, I buckled down and did everything Bo Harrington wanted. If I wasn't in school or church, football consumed ninety percent of my day. If I was lucky, I found an hour a day right before bedtime for myself. I spent most of that time talking to my friends on video chat. Tracy snuck out a couple of nights and we spent the night. I loved having my apartment over the garage.

Tracy and I were becoming a team. She understood the demands on my time and she was doing a lot of little things that were a big help. One example was her Mom would make me an egg sandwich each morning that I would eat right before first bell. She was also the keeper of my schedule. Throughout the day, she would text me where and when I needed to do things.

I also put her in charge of my recruiting and social media requests. The Lakeview game had caused a media frenzy. Headlines across the country read 'David Dawson freshman quarterback for Lincoln High set a State single game passing record'. She was quoted in an AP article and even made the evening news. She was a dream as my press secretary and the media loved her. You could tell she had a real future in broadcasting. She soon had all the reporters eating out of her hand and kept them off my back as much as possible.

Recruiters started making noise too. Joe, from the University of Florida, was making a trip out to this week's game. Our State Universities started recruiting Luke, Magic, Kevin and Bill. They were selling us as a package deal and pushing me to come see their campus with the other four. I talked to Tracy about it and we agreed that it was not in my best interest because the State University wasn't a winning program, but for the other four it was a perfect fit. We agreed we would play along to help them out. Tracy created talking points where she or I mentioned our excitement at the possibility of continuing to play with our friends in college.

Tracy worked with Lily to setup all my social media sites for my recruiting. They worked with the coaching staff to put together videos of the Lakeview game and highlights of some of my plays. My Superman video had nearly eighty thousand views. It was Lily's idea that made everything have a Superman theme. My tweets and postings on Facebook had a similar theme. Anything that needed my input on she sent to Tracy.

The thing that surprised me most was that girls started to become brazen in their approach to me. Saturday night I woke up to some random girl crawling into bed with me. Luckily, she was not a serious stalker. She was in a sorority and one of their pledge tasks was to take a picture in bed with a football player. Even though it was sort of funny, my parents agreed to put a lock on the apartment and flood lights with motion sensors. When I related the story to Bo, he was in shock that we didn't have a lock on the apartment. I explained to him that in our small town the only people that had locks on doors were the ones trying to hide something.

Even though Tracy and I had formed a team there still was the issue of the non-relationship. Neither one of us mentioned our concerns but they were still there. So for the most part, things were good for Tracy and me. I was ready to take on Mount Vernon in tonight's game.

Mount Vernon rolled into town with a four game win streak and featured one of the better defenses we would see all year. They were in the race for a playoff spot and a win by either team would go a long way to locking up a place. Last week they played Eastside and won 14 to 10. That was the fewest point Eastside had scored since the California kid took over their offense. The media was making a big deal out of our weak competition last week and that everyone would find out if I was for real this week.

All the hype had caused the school to bring in temporary bleachers for each end zone. Mount Vernon was also bringing their marching band. The town had called the State Police to help with crowd control since our two deputies were not going to be enough. After the game, it was estimated that nearly ten thousand people had attended.

In the locker room before the game, I put on headphones and listened to rock music. I do that before tests and games to pump me up. Coach Engels, in his role as the new offensive coordinator, called the starting offense together.

"Okay, is everyone here?" He looked at me and I counted ten other noses so we were all there. I gave him a nod.

"I wanted to talk to everyone and give you the first play of the game. We are concerned that David is on edge early in games. Last week the only low point was the opening interception. I think we need to see the old David." I could see the guys starting to grin. "I think we need to run Student Body Right with David keeping the ball." There was a collective, "YEAH!"

Coach Engels smacked my shoulder pads. "I want you to hit someone so hard that they can hear it up in the press box!"

Coach Lambert called everyone together and we could see the rest of the team wanted in on the secret. One of the local clergy led us in a team prayer and then we were surprised when Coach Lambert didn't launch into his normal pregame speech. He just turned to Coach Engels and in his best soft southern drawl asked, "What is the first play of the game?"

"Quarterback keeps... , STUDENT BODY RIGHT!"

The whole locker room erupted and Coach Lambert led us out to the field. Coach Engels held me back as the rest of the team ran out and broke through a huge banner as the band played our school song. Mount Vernon was already on the field. As the crowd quieted down Coach Engels told me to join the team. The announcer came on.

"Introducing the new state single game passing record holder... DOUBLE D ... DAVIIIIID DAWSON!"

Talk about embarrassing. Football was a team sport and if I had known they were going to single me out I would never have let Coach hold me back. Of course, when I got to the sidelines I was met by Kevin who hates all forms of hot-dogging. He just grinned at me and I nodded to let him know that we wouldn't be doing that again.

I peered across the field and saw the sun start to set. The distant clouds where all tinged in oranges. There was a light breeze and the crisp autumn air made it a perfect night for football under the lights. We won the toss and elected to receive. The kickoff team muffed the return and we were on our own three yard line. The old USC play is not a good play to run in a situation like this. It was slow developing and if a team blitzed you could potentially get taken down behind the line of scrimmage.

We did not bother to huddle up. Once we were set I called, "BLUE ... SET ... HUT, HUT!"

The center almost hiked the ball over my head. I had to leap to get the ball and when I brought it in I was four yards in the end zone. Their defensive end had shed his block and was bearing down on me. I lowered my shoulder and exploded through him. The distinctive crack of pads had the crowd on its feet because I should have been brought down for a safety. Fortunately, the impact was enough to bounce the big defensive end backwards. He went to wrap me up and missed. The video of the play was hilarious. It looked like the poor kid was trying to hug himself as he fell on his ass.

Mount Vernon started the game with five defensive backs. When our linemen got into their secondary, it was over. They punched me a huge hole and I broke free. The place went nuts. I was suddenly in the zone. Hitting the defensive end and putting him on his ass was what I needed. I had only green grass in front of me when their safety made a great shoe-string tackle at their 15 yard line. The next play I threw a quick screen to Luke, he found a seam, and we were up seven nothing.

From that point on, the game was almost a repeat of last week. I settled in and we picked them apart. Working with Bo had improved my technique to go along with my arm strength. My throwing motion was not there yet but I was getting rid of the ball much faster. I only had to scramble twice all night. They learned their lesson when I broke a twenty yard run when they tried to blitz. We as a team had worked hard and added six more pass plays and three running plays. We racked up over 600 yards of offense with a little over 400 of it passing yards. Final score 49 to zip.

That was my most satisfying win. We crushed a good team that we had to beat. Fox Sports highlighted the game and when the Monday morning rankings came out we had jumped from number ten to number three in Class 5A statewide.

After the game, I went out with the team to Monical's Pizza. This was the first time I had participated in an after game get-together. Tracy's Dad had reserved half the restaurant for the team and the other half was full of fans, recruiters and media.

When I came out of the locker room, Tracy was waiting for me. When she saw me, she broke into a huge smile that made me glad she was smiling at me. "Hey Baby, what do you have me doing tonight?"

She wrapped me in her arms and gave me one of her patented mind erasing kisses. This was the life. I was sore from playing a game and now in the arms of the most amazing girl. She had her Mustang parked right by the door so we raced to get in.

"Here is the schedule for the next 24 hours. We are going to Monical's Pizza. I have arranged for a couple of the recruiters to 'bump' into you. In addition, that cute girl you like at Channel 9 is going to be there for a quick interview. Tomorrow you have seven-on-seven drills and then Pilates." I moaned when I heard about Pilates. That sadist was going to try and kill me. "In the afternoon you have the Band Fundraiser Bachelor Auction and then the party for the fundraiser Saturday night."

I gave her my best puppy dog face. "You are going to bid on me, right?"

I had volunteered for this when Beth ambushed me earlier in the year. It was all part of her scheme to get Gary Baxter to ask her out. Tracy knew I was not looking forward to doing it and I made her promise to bid on me. In years past, if the bachelor's girlfriend bid on him the rest of the girls backed off. My worst nightmare was to be up on stage and no one bidding on me. Tracy was getting sick of me asking her about it. She just stuck her tongue out at me as we pulled into the parking lot.

"Wow, this place is packed. Why don't you park across the street at the bank so your car doesn't get dinged up?"

We were half way through the parking lot when Tracy stiffened. I looked where she was looking and Bill Rogers was glaring at us. We didn't slow down and made it into the restaurant before he could do anything. I knew that at some point he and I were going to have to settle this. Tracy didn't need that creep harassing her. As we got inside, I turned to her and pulled her into my arms. I could feel her shaking. I stroked the back of her head and told her everything was okay and that I loved her. When I felt her relax, I let her go, she was smiling at me, and the Tracy that I loved was back.

We entered the main dining room and 'bumped' into Joe Phips, the University of Florida head recruiter. I smiled when I saw him. "Joe, how are you doing?"

"Not bad, I was in the neighborhood and decided to take in a game. I see Bo Harrington has been a big help."

"Yes he has worked hard with the team getting them ready. Hey, have you met my right hand gal, Tracy Dole?"

"Hi Tracy, we have spoken several times on the phone." He gave me a smirk. "Do you even have a cell phone?"

I blushed. "I do, but Tracy will not let me give out its number so you can stop trying to get her to give it to you."

He put his hands up in defeat. Tracy winked at me, "I only give that number out to schools that have made offers."

Joe took it well. "Touché, if we were to make an offer how would we get it to David?"

Tracy slid her hand on Joe's arm and they went to have a private chat. Before I took a step, I was ambushed by the cute Channel 9 Sports girl. She was just out of college and covered the local sports scene. The station had launched the careers of many big-market broadcasters. She didn't introduce herself she just had the camera man hit me with the lights and shove a mic in my face.

Tracy had briefed me on how to handle this tonight. Monical's had setup an area that showed the school colors and their logo. I also wanted to get Kevin, Magic, Luke and Bill together. I wanted Tracy there so if the interview got out of hand she could step in and stop me from saying something stupid.

I ignored the reporter's question and caught Tracy's eye. She broke away from Joe and gathered the guys. I turned back to the reporter and said, "Sorry, let's get out of the way of people trying to get tables and move over there."

"David, we are on deadline. I don't have a lot of time."

I just smiled at her and started walking over to the stage. I could see she was not happy but had no choice but to follow me. I jumped on stage and the crowd quieted down so they could hear. The camera guy blinded us with his light again.

"David Dawson freshman star for Lincoln High had another stellar performance tonight. How do you feel tonight's game went?"

"It all started on the first play. Our coaching staff had a brilliant game plan and called a run. The offensive line played lights out all night. I think they only touched me a couple of time. Then these two guys lit it up." I pulled Luke and Bill forward. "Luke Herndon had another All-State performance with over a hundred yards receiving and a hundred yards rushing. Bill Callaway caught everything I threw at him. He is by far our most improved offensive player."

She interrupted me, "Some would say you are the most improved."

"No, Bill is the man. Our defense held one of the best teams in the state to no score. 'Magic' Mike Wade held their leading receiver to one catch for five yards. Kevin Goode, our defensive captain, had 10 tackles, 3 behind the line of scrimmage."

"There is a rumor that you five are trying to package yourselves to attend the State University."

"I will let Ms. Tracy Dole answer that."

Tracy came up and slid her arm around me waist. "Tonight State made scholarship offers to all five players you see up here. Coach Lambert and his staff have informed me that Mike Wade, Kevin Goode and Luke Herndon have all verbally accepted. Bill Callaway being a junior is waiting to make his decision and freshman David Dawson is strongly leaning towards State."

"Is it true that Kentucky has made David an offer?"

"Yes they have and David is very impressed with their program along with several others. The State offers have made him take notice though."

"I saw the University of Florida attended tonight's game. Have they made an offer?"

"The staff at the University of Florida got in early on David's recruitment and they are evaluating him, but as of now they have not offered."

The cameraman turned off the lights and the crowd clapped for the guys that had gotten offers. I hugged Tracy and her big goofy smile and my mug made the front page of the Saturday paper. The headline read 'David Dawson and girlfriend Tracy Dole'. The rest of the night was a blur. At one point, I actually got to eat some pizza. I organized several guys to walk us out to Tracy's car and we saw Bill and his thugs back off. She took me home and we were done for the night.

Saturday October 12, 2013 – Freshman Year

I still could not believe I was doing the bachelor auction, but Beth was in charge and when she asked, I couldn't say no. I found myself with nineteen other 'volunteers'. I was happy to see Gary Baxter was one of the guys in the band's bachelor auction. I had helped Beth create the plan to get Gary in the auction. She could win the date with him. The clueless doofus would then see she liked him. I was not really sure what the attraction was, but he seemed like a nice guy and if Beth wanted him, I hoped she would get him.

The way the auction worked was the winning bidder would receive one date with the bachelor. The bidder was responsible for planning and paying for the date. The bachelor was responsible for being a perfect gentleman and showing the bidder a good time. In year's past, many new couples had been created this way. This gave the girls a chance to show their interest in the bachelors. Let's be honest, most of us were clueless. The girls also seemed to have an unwritten rule that if a bachelor were dating someone then their girlfriend would bid twenty-five dollars and win the bachelor. Tracy and I had agreed that she would make the minimum bid so I would fulfill my obligation.

Beth had put me in charge of recruiting football players to help and I had done pretty well. I talked Magic, Kevin, Bill and Luke from the varsity squad. From the JV squad I had asked Suzanne to get her little brother Jim. I use the term 'little', loosely, because Jim is 6'5" tall and weighed nearly 250 lbs. If he could ever get coordinated and gain some foot speed, he would make a heck of a lineman. From the freshman team Luke's little brother Mike was joined by Bert and Tim. So all told, counting me, I had gotten nine of the twenty bachelors. I'm sure these guys would have fun with this. They are all good guys and the band needed the funds so it was a win-win.

This year's auction was being held at the school auditorium. Beth, being in charge, was made the MC and one of the band members' Dad was doing the actual auctioneering. Beth made us all show up two hours early and she and the cheerleaders had us learn an opening routine complete with costumes. When I saw what the costumes were, I almost turned around and left, but Magic had called me a pussy so I sucked it up and stayed. The basketball team had loaned us warm-ups and the swim team had gotten us speedos. In practice, it was apparent that not everyone should wear a speedo.

Standing back stage, I was starting to get nervous. Luke could see me pacing and stepped in front of me to get me to stop. "I can't believe you. You are mister cool and confident on the football field, but get you in room of girls and you fall apart. You do know that Tracy is going to bid on you and end this thing for you, right?"

"I do. Thanks for the pep talk."

I sucked in a deep breath and then let it out very slowly, concentrating on calming down. Luke was right, Tracy was going to bid on me and all the other girls would step aside. It was some kind of girl code that I did not understand, but everyone had been telling me that, so I had no idea why I was nervous. It might have had something to do with Tracy and me not actually going together. She kept saying we should go slowly. This was while we fucked our brains out every chance we got. By all appearances, everyone thought we were a couple.

Tracy had never given me a reason to doubt her feelings for me. She never even looked at other guys, but in the back of my mind, something just wasn't right. Every time I had brought the subject up she had been consistent in her mission to going slow and making this relationship work for the long haul. It had nothing to do with the sex. Sex with Tracy was fantastic. I had nothing to complain about in that regard. Her friends all liked me. Her parents treated me as if I was part of the family. Since football blew up, we had made a good team, but there was something holding her back. I knew the issue was me, I don't think I fully accepted the non-relationship status.

Part of me wanted to push ahead and force the whole boyfriend girlfriend issue. I was pretty sure if I did, she would bail on me, but if I was just wasting my time with Tracy wouldn't I be better off finding someone else? Hell, my Mom even told us that we should break up and then get back together when we grew up. My mind was going in circles with no apparent solution in sight. I took another deep breath and held it in. I then slowly released it. I needed to slow down and just take this one day at a time.

It was now getting close to show time and the music was pumping. Magic came bouncing back and announced, "There must be a couple hundred girls out there and they're ALL hot!"

One of the stage hands called out, "Line-up we are one minute away."

I saw Beth on the side of the stage getting her microphone hooked up. She saw me watching her and she gave me a wink. Through the curtain, you could see the house lights dim and then go out. The girls started to clap rhythmically. Beth walked out on stage and when she hit her mark they lit her with a spotlight.

"Ladies are you ready for this!" The girls were treating this like a rock concert. I was not expecting the volume they could put out. When the crowd quieted down Beth continued. "I am Beth Anderson and I will be your Master of Ceremonies tonight." There was polite applause. "I want to welcome you to the fifth annual Bachelor Auction hosted by the Marching Band. This year's proceeds will be used to offset the cost of the band going to the Orange Bowl in Miami Florida. They have been invited to the New Year's Day Parade. They will also be attending the game on January 3rd which is part of the BCS Bowl Championship Series. So ladies dig deep tonight and let's see how much money we can raise for this worthy cause."

The music started to play 'You're Sexy and You Know It'. "Now, let's meet your bachelor's!" The noise level went through the roof. The stage hands pulled back the curtain and Gary Baxter strutted out and hit his mark. "Gary Baxter!" He then headed to the right to give us room to come out. I was next. I did my best catwalk imitation. "David Dawson!" I headed to the left. Next was Magic. "'Magic' Mike Wade!" It didn't take long before we were all on stage. "Let's give a big hand to our bachelors. Without them volunteering, this event would not be possible."

Beth stepped to the side of the stage, burlesque music began, and we began our routine acting like bad Vegas show girls. It didn't matter, the girls loved it. Half way through we all took our shirts off. This was really starting to be fun. I think what kept me from being nervous was the spotlights in our faces made it so I could not see the crowd. If I had been able to see my friends, I think I would have died of embarrassment.

Beth was on my side of the line and stood next to me. "I don't know girls, I am not sure I want to spend good money on a bachelor if I haven't seen the complete package. What do you think? Should we see more?" The crowd was screaming, "Yes!"

She looked at me. "Are you ready to take it off?"

I shook my head no. "Come on girls ... encourage them to TAKE IT OFF!" The crowd started chanting, "TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!"

We started looking up and down the line and then music cued up dance music and we all ripped the break-a-way basketball warm ups off. That left us all in our speedos and we began to dance. The girls went wild. Magic was cracking me up because he kept shaking his ass at the crowd. When the song ended, we all ran off of the stage. We hurried to get dressed for the auction. Gary had drawn the short straw and had to go first. They had us dress in suits and ties.

While we dressed, the auctioneer was introduced and he went over the auction process. The house lights were brought up so they could see the crowd. Several of the band members were placed in the crowd to help the girls bid.

They had us all come out and sit in chairs on one side of the stage. Beth brought Gary up and the auction began. It quickly became apparent that the band girls all had a crush on Gary. I could see the shock on his face as the bidding hit $100. We all were shocked when it hit $300.

Suddenly Beth was panicked and next to me. "David, how much money do you have in your checking account?"

"What! Why are you asking me that?"

"I don't have enough money to bid any higher!" I could see the pleading in her eyes. Our well-crafted plan was going to go up in smoke because of a lack of funds.

I heard the auctioneer saying, "$350 going once... $350 going twice..."

"I have $500 in the bank."

Beth jumped up and shouted, "$500!"

Well shit. She was spending all my savings. Everyone turned to her and Gary got a big smile on his face. The doofus finally realized that Beth was into him. That killed the bidding and Beth had won her date. She turned and looked at me and the joy on her face was worth every penny.

Towards the middle of the auction, things got interesting. Suzanne's brother was being auctioned off but there was no bidding. I was starting to feel bad for the guy when finally an opening bid of $25 dollars was made. I suddenly realized it was Suzanne. I now officially felt sorry for my friend. She had to bid on her brother. I could tell he knew who had bid also. He was putting on a brave front, but I could see this was killing him. Then I heard a bid of $250. Everyone gasped. After the opening bidding for Gary, only one other guy had reached the $250 mark. We were talking high school here. None of us had a ton of cash.

I then saw who had bid, Tracy. I think every person in the theater's head snapped to look at me to see how I would react. I suddenly felt physically ill. I jumped up and ran off the stage sure that I was going to vomit in front of the crowd. It took me a few minutes to calm down. I was supposed to be next but they skipped over me. I was taking deep breaths when Beth came back to check on me.

"I'm okay. It just caught me off guard. I am sure she did it so that Suzanne and Jim wouldn't be embarrassed. That was a good thing she did."

Beth looked at me and we both knew I was full of shit. I needed to get it together and put on a happy face for Beth and her charity. I allowed her to guide me back to my seat. I was glad they took pity on me and had me go next. I wanted this day to end.

I got up, found Tracy in the crowd, and smiled at her. She gave me a half smile and then the bidding began, or for me, didn't. I thought Jim had it bad. Everyone was sitting on their hands. I looked at Tracy and she gave me a little shake of her head to indicate that she was not bidding on me. The only thing I could think of that kept me from bursting into tears was she had run out of money.

The crowd was starting to get restless. Beth walked out to Tracy and I could see them talking. I then heard Tracy say, "I am not bidding on him!"

Beth turned to me, I took another deep breath, this time I found my center, and I felt the weight of the world fall off my shoulders. I mentally did my little prayer. 'I can only control what I can control.' I pushed all my feelings into a little box and hid it deep inside of me. At least now, I knew, it was the doubt that had been eating me up. I surprised everyone when I smiled, and they could tell it was not a forced smile, but a genuine smile.

I walked up to the auctioneer and took his mic. "You heard her ladies. I just got dumped in the most public way possible. There is no doubt I am a free man. Please don't be mad at Tracy. I'm not. I honestly hope she will be my friend. I think she and I make better friends than we do a couple."

I could see her cover her mouth and start crying. That honestly was not my plan.

"Tracy honey, please don't cry. I'm not trying to be a jerk. I really do care about you and only want what is best for you."

Well that did not seem to help, and now I had several girls crying. Then Luke saved me. He came up and grabbed the mic. "All the guys pooled our money and we have $278 we would like to bid for a guy's night out with a great friend we all look up to."

Then from the middle of the crowd, I heard a bid, "$300!" Everyone turned to see Cindy Lewis grinning at me. She was going to get so lucky. I was going to be the biggest slut and be her boy toy on our date. I surprised everyone when I jumped off stage. Cindy was about six rows back. I didn't want to wait to go around so I stepped up on the arm of the first row chair and then the back. I stepped on the back of the next row chair and so on until I reached Cindy. I have no idea how I didn't kill myself balancing from row to row.

Cindy had a happy smile and her eyes were moist with emotion. "I think you are happy to see me," she said.

I didn't answer her. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. I was so happy that Cindy had picked me. I knew this was not going to be a forever thing. Cindy was going off to college next fall, but this could be a for-right-now thing. With Cindy, I had no doubts. I had wanted her from the first day of school. I knew she liked me and I liked her. With Cindy, I realized I didn't need any labels. The difference is that there is no doubt in my mind.

When our kiss broke, I realized the place was quiet. I opened my eyes and I saw a sea of happy girls watching us. They all seemed to want what we had. Then someone started clapping and soon everyone was joining in. We both blushed, she grabbed my hand, and we worked our way to the aisle.

I looked around and saw that Tracy had left. It made me sad she felt she had to end things this way. If she had just spent the time to talk to me, things would have been much better. I would have set her free. I wish I knew why she felt she had the need to hurt me. It wasn't as if we were actually dating. I had followed her lead and not asked for more than she was willing to give. My concern was that by doing something this extreme there must be something really wrong. I needed to call her Mom and Dad and talk to them. I didn't want to see her going off the deep end and end up hurting herself.