Senior Year Box Set

When I hit my stride, I let the subconscious take over and began to go over what I had ahead of me. Adrienne had snaked me into doing a job for Jade today. Not that I minded, but I felt a little used. I owed Adrienne a few favors, but even then, I might have pushed back if it hadn’t been Jill’s first job.

It was a bit surprising that Adrienne would throw her into the deep end so soon, especially with a major client like that. I’d gotten my feet wet doing newspaper-insert work. I would have thought Adrienne might want to start Jill off with some training.

Then I remembered my very first gig. I got lucky, and the photographer and his wife had recognized I was new at modeling. They’d taken the time to teach me what I needed to do. I guessed that Adrienne expected I would be willing to help Jill navigate her first session. And both Adrienne and Tyler would be there too. I was sure it would all work out.

Plus, I would make some extra cash. Since this spring break trip had been paid for by selling to the deconstruction contractor in Monaco, this would just be gravy to add to the bottom line.

When I got home, I would have to make a decision on baseball. My cracked helmet served to wake me up to the dangers I faced with pitchers throwing at me. I’d almost convinced myself that the risk of getting hurt made it not worth playing anymore. In the grand scheme of things, playing a few more high school games wasn’t that important to my future.

In the back of my mind, though, something told me I would regret it if I didn’t play. Like football, there were only so many opportunities I would get to play ball with my friends. After I left for college, I would probably never be on a baseball diamond with any of them other than in a pickup game. Did I really want to pass up the opportunity to play with them before I graduated?

I also thought we stood a good chance to go deep in the state playoffs. We’d put together a team with enough pitching depth to survive the back-to-back games. Most high school teams had only one or two starters who could stand up to better teams. We had at least six if you counted Justin, Bryan, Brock, Phil, Trent, and myself, plus Bert if he was having a good day.

I would wait and see what my dad came up with before I made my final decision. He’d taken it onto himself to find a way to make sure I’d be safe playing. As of right now, it could go either way.

It irritated me a little that Brook had dumped the Cassidy issue into my lap. I didn’t have a doubt that Cassidy would flourish wherever she went if she put her mind to it. Pam and Tracy would be a good influence on her, study-wise. USC was also a better school for academics. I felt they would push her more, which would be good.

Not that Oklahoma wasn’t an excellent university, and I was sure Cassidy would do well there too. But a degree from USC would open more doors for her later in life. I used that to justify why I planned to talk to Cassidy about it.

I had to admit to wanting Cassidy to go to the same school as I did for selfish reasons. But Brook had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange this for our mutual friend. I respected Brook’s take on this and would support her. She wouldn’t be pushing this if she didn’t believe USC to be the best place for Cassidy to go.

I slipped into the corner deli and bought all the fixings for lox and bagels. I got enough for the models in the other condo, too. Of course, I realized models didn’t usually eat carbs, but I figured it was a treat they could all get behind.

◊◊◊

After my shower, I found Jill and her mom eating bagels with Tyler. Tyler must have invited them over so we could all go to Jade together.

“Did you teach them the right way to make a bagel?” I asked Tyler.

“David fancies himself a bagel snob. Is he this bossy back home?” she asked the Laciers.

Jill gave an exaggerated sigh.

“He thinks he knows everything. He has rules he makes everyone follow. Has he made you go back and change clothes before you go out?” Jill asked.

I gave her an exasperated look and turned to Tyler.

“Kids these days have no sense of style. If she wasn’t wearing Garanimals to tell her what matched, you would be shocked … shocked, I say. I was doing a community service by suggesting a few changes in her attire.”

That, and her dad would have stroked out if she’d gone out dressed as she had been. Either that or Phil would get his butt kicked protecting her. I shuddered at the visions of what might have happened.

I might have been a touch too dramatic in my delivery because even Mrs. Lacier had her eyebrows raised.

“Eat your bagel however you want,” Tyler suggested.

“Barbarians,” I mumbled.

You try to be helpful …

◊◊◊

On the ride over, I showed Jill and her mother Jade’s website. They were very Abercrombie in terms of style. For past jobs, I’d worn everything from ripped jeans and wrinkled t-shirts to swimsuits to outerwear. The difference between Jade and Abercrombie was that Abercrombie’s clothes sold for about half the price.