Senior Year Box Set

While I loved-up my hound, I reflected on what had occurred the last two days after we’d won the baseball tournament. On Monday, my parents and I had flown out to LA and met with Frank Ingram and his partners, Heidi Dicar and Summer Clarkson. Caryn had joined us, along with Jack Mass.

The plan was to join our three companies together to offer wealth management solutions. I’d found that I had to go to multiple companies to get what I needed. It made sense to be able to offer everything at one stop.

Frank Ingram’s company would handle PR, Jack Mass had investments, and mine did personal management. In the end, we’d worked out a deal that worked for everyone. Important to me was that my local business concerns were separated out. These included my interest in the farms, restaurants, strip mall, and real estate company. My personal endeavors that covered making movies, voice work, and modeling I put into a separate company since it only involved me.

Once we were finished with our meeting, we’d caught a flight to Chicago and gotten home late. Mom had made me leave my bags in the laundry room. I’d looked in on the boys, and Duke had followed me to the apartment, where I’d instantly crashed. Living in a hotel is fine, but there’s nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.

The thunder seemed to have subsided.

“Come on, Duke. Let’s go run.”

I heard it start to rain.

“Maybe not,” I said as I got out of bed to start my day.

◊◊◊

While I fed the boys, I received a text from my new girlfriend. She told me to pick her up and then get Tracy and Pam. Cassidy, who was my security today, was waiting for me by the car. She wanted to drive, but I’d decided the Demon could handle a little rain, and I was going to drive today. I found myself pulling into Brook Davis’s drive. I honked the horn, looked over at Cassidy, and smiled. Usually, I wouldn’t pull such a douchebag move, but I didn’t feel like getting wet. Brook darted out, trying to dodge the raindrops, and gave me the evil eye when she found the door locked. Oops. Cassidy climbed over the seat so my girlfriend could join me in the front seat.

“Jerk,” was my morning welcome.

I decided to ignore the comment and act like nothing happened. I hadn’t done it on purpose, really! As punishment, I had to drop all the girls off at the front door before parking. I had visions of this being my life in a few years when Coby and Little David were off to school.

This getting rained on while Brook remained dry wasn’t exactly how I’d envisioned the new-girlfriend thing working when I decided that Brook was the one. Then I watched her walk into school in those silk sweatpants that barely hung on her hips. Yeah, I made the right choice.

◊◊◊

I had been very particular about which classes I was taking this year. No AP classes or anything too taxing for this boy. I’d even signed up for a shop class with the idea of an easy ‘A.’ I got in line to grab my schedule and chatted with people I hadn’t seen all summer. Today was supposed to be a half-day where you got your books and syllabus for each class.

I finally made it to the front and opened my packet. I found a student handbook with a map of the campus along with my course schedule.

 

PE – Strength and Conditioning – Coach Rector

Precalculus – Ms. Lowden

AP Chemistry – Mr. Dutton

Lunch

AP English Literature – Mrs. Hedge

Spanish 1 – Ms. Cruz

AP Economics – Mr. Quiroz

Photography – Ms. Saunders

 

I checked to make sure this really was my schedule. Where were Rocks for Jocks, Computers for Dummies, Rock Music Appreciation, and the other classes I signed up for? I spotted Ms. Jaroslav, our guidance counselor.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“My class list … I, uh … didn’t sign up for any of these,” I said.

She gave me a weak smile.

“You didn’t think your parents would allow you to slack off, did you?” she asked.

“How does my mom know what classes I sign up for?”

“She calls in and asks. She and I talked, and we agreed these would be better for getting you ready for college. If you want, you can come in, and we can discuss it,” she offered.

This day was going downhill in a hurry.

“What about this last one? Photography?” I asked as I pointed to my list.

“Your mom said you have a camera and planned to take pictures during the summer. We thought that it would appeal to your artistic side. We’ve both seen your drawings and figured you might want to try something else.”

If I didn’t think the woman had my best interests in mind, that comment might have stung. While I wasn’t at Halle’s level, I did okay drawing. I thought I was getting better.

“I take it there’s no changing this,” I tried one last time.

“We would need to see if there were any openings, but I believe all the classes you originally signed up for are full.”

◊◊◊

Each class today would only last fifteen minutes, so when the bell rang, I walked to PE. Coach Rector met us all in the locker room.

“We need to assign lockers. When you hear your name called, come up front and get your lock and locker number.”