Senior Year Box Set

“Come on. Eat lunch with me, and I’ll introduce you to Cassidy. Ask around, you’re in good company. She has taken down more than just you. There’s no shame in having her make you squeal like a little girl.”

“I never!”

“Maybe that was me,” I said with a big grin.

I introduced Don to everyone. Halle was telling the crew about her movie.

“Who’s your costar?” Gina asked.

“Oh, dear God! Tell me it isn’t Ryan Gosling,” I said with an expression of abject horror.

“It would serve you right,” Halle chided me. “It’s a relative newcomer, Zander Lewis.”

Gina had her phone out and Googled him.

“He’s cute.”

I wasn’t impressed. I was just a touch jealous at the moment. Of course, if you were into the whole long blond hair, blue-eyed Scandinavian look, he might appeal to you. I was sure Halle would be immune to his charms.

“I think Trip might like him,” I offered.

Halle punched me in the arm.

“Trip likes you for some reason, and you’re not his type,” Halle shot back.

I wrapped her up in a bear hug and kissed her forehead.

“You’re going to be great, and I’ll miss you,” I said, suddenly getting a little emotional.

She hugged me back and then told the others about the party. It sounded like everyone planned to be there.

◊◊◊

At football practice, Coach Mason worked with me one-on-one. He pulled Wolf, Ed, Roc, Ty, and Don to catch my balls. Coach Mason wanted to see me throw all my passes to different areas of the field. He was pleased I did as well as I did. We both knew that I wasn’t all the way there yet.

“Would you all be willing to come in before school to work on your own?” he asked.

We all looked at each other and nodded.

“Is it okay if we invite some others?” I asked.

“I can’t make anyone come in on their own time. In fact, I can’t even be there, according to Coach Hope.”

“I could video it,” I offered.

“Actually, the audio-visual boys said they needed some practice. I think we’ve got that covered,” Coach Mason said with a smile.

“Great.”

“I also want to start you looking at film. I know you’ve begun to learn the intricacies of how to evaluate your opponents, but I’ve been doing that for longer than you’ve been alive. This’ll give you a leg up when you’re in college and the pros,” Coach Mason offered.

“I would appreciate that.”

“Good. I’ve loaded Lincoln’s defense from last year into the coaching software. I imagine this is what Washington will be running against us. Watch it this weekend, and we’ll go over it on Monday,” he said, and then stretched.

We thought they would run our defense because Washington’s new coach was one of our former coaches, Coach Diamond.

“I hear we shook them up,” Coach Mason said.

“Who, the defensive coaches?”

“Yep. On the positive side, if they can figure out how to contain you, they’ll be able to handle anyone else on our schedule.”

I just nodded.

“Okay. Get out of here. I’ll review the tapes of your voluntary morning session and see you at practice,” he told us all.

We had to go back and do conditioning with Cassidy. When we were done, I felt we were moving in the right direction. I planned to learn as much as I could from Coach Mason.

◊◊◊

Chuck was our security tonight. Brook seemed to take forever to get ready, and we didn’t arrive at Our House until nine-thirty. It’s a Midwest thing; we like to be on time.

The parking lot was full, so Chuck dropped us off at Granny’s West. I took Brook up the back elevator used by the staff; all the food was cooked in the downstairs restaurant. I found Mary Dole overseeing the buffet.

“What were you thinking?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

She pointed out at the crowd. I stuck my head out, and it looked like a dance club in LA; the place was wall-to-wall people. I knew we were way over capacity. All we needed was for the Fire Marshal to show up and shut us down.

At least the band was playing, and everyone seemed to be having fun. I was just glad we didn’t have alcohol, or this could get out of hand. Then a thought struck me. I would bet the little dumbasses would sneak out to drink.

“I think we need more security in the parking lot and to watch to make sure no one’s bringing in booze,” I said.

“Taken care of. I’ve also stopped them from letting anyone new in.”

I was about to head out into the throng when Mary grabbed my arm.

“Tracy and the girls saved you two seats,” she said, pointing to two tables on the upper level closest to the band.

I sent Brook to the table while I got in line for drinks. The bartenders spotted me and motioned for me to come help them. I was put in charge of filling up pitchers for the waitresses who had gotten smart and would just take them around to the tables to fill up soft drinks.

At the band’s first break, I stepped up on stage and grabbed a microphone.