Junior Year Box Set

Ben and Flee weren’t aware that I already had an offer from Northwestern and that Jim and I had worked out for Stanford while they were on the campus tour.

“We met with Stanford. David got an offer, but they wanted to wait to make me one,” Jim said.

I was glad Alan wasn’t here. He would have grilled Jim as to why he wasn’t offered and embarrassed him.

“I didn’t think the visiting team would meet with a recruit at an away game,” Flee said.

“Recruiting never stops. I talked to a coach at Missouri while we waited,” Ben said.

Ben was from Springfield, Missouri, and the state’s university was after him to go there. Flee, on the other hand, was still not getting any significant interest because of his size. He’d done well at the Ohio State and Alabama camps. They politely passed because they could pick from the best and didn’t need to take a chance. I felt Northwestern would be a good fit for him. They were in a power conference, and he could showcase his abilities.

I almost wished that Flee had come another weekend than this one. I didn’t need the Northwestern staff comparing me to him. Not that I thought I was that much better than Flee, but I was more the prototypical quarterback that colleges wanted. I knew that if they gave him a chance, they would be happy when he was at the helm of their offense his junior and senior years.

“How did you like the campus?” I asked, to change the subject.

“It’s okay,” Tim said, without much enthusiasm.

“Sounds like you didn’t like it,” I said.

“That’s not it, really. I just didn’t feel like I’d fit in,” Tim said. “They were a little snobbish, is the best I can explain it. When we told them where we were from, they looked at us as if we were a bunch of backwater hicks. Then this girl made a comment that Northwestern grads ran businesses while everyone else served them their fries. I liked the football players, but the students all seemed to think they were better than us.”

I was a little surprised they had run into that here. I’d experienced it when I was in New York, but Chicago people always seemed much more open and accepting. Maybe it was that they were just more polite and hadn’t expressed their true feelings. A New Yorker wouldn’t think twice about telling you to f-off, while you would have to upset someone from Chicago before they’d tell you where to get off.

“I didn’t get that feeling at all,” Flee said.

“Says the big-city boy,” Ben said. “I got the same vibe. It wasn’t everyone, though.”

“It is different here,” Jim said as he waved his hand to indicate our surroundings.

When we got to the restaurant, the offensive and defensive recruits split up. I ended up eating only one slice of pizza, sticking to wings and salad instead for the most part. I was afraid if I ate much of their pizza, I wouldn’t be able to stop before I weighed 300 pounds. You had to eat it with a fork, it was so thick.

After we ate, we broke up into even smaller groups. Gus got the other quarterbacks together, and we went to a party at his apartment. I reminded my teammates to go easy tonight because they had to work out for Northwestern in the morning. Gus lived in a ten-story complex, and I realized this really wasn’t back home when we took the elevator to the eighth floor. We walked into the apartment and were the only ones there.

“You guys want a beer?” Gus asked.

“No thanks,” I said, and Flee and Ben followed my lead.

Of course, that didn’t stop Gus from having one. He turned on his stereo to a top-forty station so we would have some background noise and then proceeded to sell us on Northwestern. I felt like I’d been tricked into going to an Amway presentation. I guess I was expecting something more in line with the party from last year where I got blind drunk and ended up getting laid. If I got laid at this ‘party,’ I would go straight home and check myself into the mental health facility Tracy frequented. I finally had had enough.

“Can I ask a question?”

“Sure, David, that’s what I’m here for,” Gus said.

“Is this your first time being in charge of recruits?”

He blushed and, before he got defensive, I jumped back in.

“I bet you were told to sell us on Northwestern and to keep us out of trouble.”

He mumbled something that I assumed was confirmation.

“While this has been fun, I was hoping for something a little more entertaining. Like something where there are girls,” I suggested.

To his credit, Gus recovered quickly and took us to an actual party. I looked around and saw a girl holding court with about eight guys. I smiled when I recognized her. It was Chris, the girl who’d kidnapped me last year. She had arranged for her girlfriends to have their way with the guys I had brought with me. I would bet she had the group that surrounded her all panting after her. Chris was a major tease. I decided to ruin their fun and capture her for myself.

“I’m going in,” I told the other quarterbacks.

“What?” Gus asked.