Junior Year Box Set

“Hello, Handsome. Both Ridge and Bill went out to pick up dinner. When are you coming to LA?” Sage asked.

“End of November. I’ll be out there for two months. First shooting my new movie, and then the premiere of Star Academy which will be after the first of the year,” I told her.

Then Penny, Ridge’s high school sweetheart and the girl who tried to force me to do a threesome, stepped into view.

“David. How’ve you been?” Penny asked.

“Good, and you?”

“Not bad,” she said and then turned. “It sounds like the boys are back.”

“Ridge, Bill!” I called.

They both came in with bags in their hands. Penny and Sage took the bags and then went to the kitchen to give the guys some privacy.

“Did you hear what happened?” Bill asked.

Yesterday the news reports said that the USC football coach had been fired for being drunk one too many times. Plus, they were crushed by Washington on Saturday.

“Yeah. You play Notre Dame this week. How’s the team taking it?” I asked.

“After last week’s loss to Washington, we need to focus and turn things around against Notre Dame. It’s going to be tough, but I think we can give them a game,” Ridge said, and then smiled. “Guess who’s starting their first game?”

“Bill!” I shouted. “Man, that’s great news. You must be psyched.”

“You’re still planning on being there, aren’t you?” Bill asked.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I can’t wait to tell the guys,” I said.

“We might be able to get to your game. I’ve been invited back for Homecoming, and Ridge told the coaches he could talk you into accepting an offer from USC,” Bill said.

“They have to actually offer for that to happen. If you guys come, we’re playing Springfield. It should be a good game,” I said.

“It’s not certain that we’ll be able to come. They don’t let us wander off to watch high school games when we travel, but we’ll work on Coach and see if we can make it down,” Ridge said.

The girls called them to dinner, and we promised, at the least, to hook up at Notre Dame.

◊◊◊

Chapter 22 – Our Fearless Leader is Worthless Thursday October 15

Today I felt no residual effects from my concussion, and according to my instructions, that set me free to do everything. That was good news, because I hadn’t been able to do anything but throw on the sidelines, and I was eager to get back to playing football.

When Duke and I came downstairs, Buster and Rachel greeted us. Duke ran to the back yard. As I began to stretch, I noticed that Precious was nowhere to be seen. She was usually waiting for us. I admit I had slowly become fond of the cat from hell. I would have to ask Brit what was going on.

When we started to run, I took a deep breath; there was a feeling of crispness and the scent of fall in the air. The leaves were in full color. This was my favorite time of year. It was cool enough I could run all day. I was in my own little world when someone jabbed me in the butt. I turned to see poor Rachel about ready to collapse. I’d forgotten she was with me. I pulled out my earbuds and smiled at her.

“Sorry,” I said.

“I would have slowed down, but you have Buster,” she complained.

Duke was the better behaved of the two dogs when we ran, so we had traded. Buster seemed to mind me better, and if he did decide to act up, I was strong enough to get him back into line without him dragging me across someone’s front yard. One day last week Buster had seen a squirrel and Rachel had gone for a ride. He could be a real bull when he got it into his head.

Of course, he tended to keep an eye on me because I ran with my Bo staff and would tap his butt with it if he got distracted. I had started to feel comfortable with the Bo staff. While using it still exercised my hands, wrists, and forearms, they no longer ached after I worked with the weighted rod.

“You did very well to keep up. You’re getting better,” I said.

Rachel gave me a dirty look, so I started to run home to drop her and Buster off.

“Jerk,” she mumbled.

I grinned as I picked up the pace. Rachel was game and tried to pass me. I let her get a little ahead and then increased my speed once again. For being in middle school, she was fast. She gave me the evil eye when I flipped around and ran backward. When we got to the end of the block, Rachel put on a burst of speed. I let her beat me to our front yard. When she started to collapse, I scooped her up and made her walk it off. Buster was done, too. I grabbed Duke’s leash, and we finished our run.

◊◊◊

Yesterday, the harassment of Mike had continued. Before practice, he’d had enough, and it looked like he was going to take a swing at Wolf when Cassidy stepped in. I don’t know what she said, but they both thought better of fighting. When I walked up to the school, Mike was just getting out of his car, and we both saw the football team waiting for him. This had gotten out of hand.

“Hold up, Mike,” I called out, and he scowled at me. “Settle down. Wait here. I’ll talk to the guys and get them to back off.”