Junior Year Box Set

“I realize that, but I needed to tell you something. We received an overnight package from a lawyer—hang on, and I’ll get his name,” Bo said, and I heard papers being shuffled. “A Mr. Thomas Fox. Anyway, he sent us a picture of a young girl with a black eye and split lip, and suggested that we might want to stop recruiting someone who’s been accused of raping the young lady.”

“Fuck me!”

“I think that’s exactly what this was intended to do. I would bet that everyone recruiting you will get one of these today. I just wanted to give you a heads-up,” Bo said.

“Will this hurt me with Alabama?” I asked.

“No, but I know you and know that if you say you didn’t do it, you didn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if some schools back off until the dust settles.”

“I guess I need to get on the phone and reassure people.”

“There’s something else you need to be aware of. This came directly to me and not to our football office. All our websites, my business cards and the like all have the main office address. This had my office number on it. I decided early on to only give that out to recruits I have a good personal relationship with, and the only one I’ve done that with so far is you,” Bo said.

“Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll keep you in the loop on this mess,” I said, and then hung up.

As soon as that was done, I called Kendal.

“You need to get your boy on a leash!”

“What are you talking about?” Kendal asked.

I explained what Bo had told me. It was evident to me that Cal had accessed my recruiting list and gotten contact information.

“I don’t understand how Cal could have gotten the list. It’s stored on our division’s server, which is separate from the rest of the firm. We did that because we also store your and other customers’ photos, and I bet you know why,” Kendal said.

She referred to the time they’d given away my photos to clients and employees. I hadn’t been happy when I found out, but we worked past that. Then a horrible thought hit me.

“Kendal, are my modeling and acting contacts in the same place?” I asked.

“I need to find out. If Cal did access that server, he’ll be in a lot of trouble. What do you want us to do?” Kendal asked.

“I guess we’d better let Frank and Ms. Dixon know. It’s a good thing I don’t have school today because I’ll be busy smoothing this over.”

My next call was to Frank. He had one new piece of information to ‘brighten’ my day.

“Hollywood Central just broke the picture on their website. This just went worldwide. Get ready for a circus,” Frank said.

He promised to get me talking points for when I called people. Frank agreed it had to be me to make the calls. They would all want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.

◊◊◊

I looked at the clock and decided that I should just go run. I put my earbuds in, gathered my trusty hound, and started to pound the pavement. It was the perfect time to run. It was cool out, and everyone had just woken up. Our streets were lined with old oak trees that formed a canopy over the sidewalks and pavement. They gave the neighborhood an established feel.

Then a thought hit me: I had to stop letting this consume me. I had a date with Brook Davis to plan since I wasn’t allowed to go to the dance. I’d always been at my best with the support of my friends and teammates. I needed to find a way to spend time with them.

Then I had a revelation: not once, since this had all started, had I felt the need to talk to Tami. I was of two minds: I was glad I’d gotten to the point where I didn’t need to rely on my friend to help guide me; I was also sad because it just highlighted how bad our relationship had become. For now, I didn’t intend to try to fix our friendship. I still had a hard time believing nothing happened with her and Alan. I’d seen far too much of the way that Alan acted on recruiting trips to believe he was too innocent or naïve to have done anything other than kiss her.

I shook my head to keep from getting angry again. It was better to let some time, maybe a lot of time, go by so that my emotions wouldn’t feel quite so raw. I wondered if there really would be a someday.

Then I thought about what Cal had done to me. My Christian charity had worn thin. I simply could not find any forgiveness in my heart for him right now. The sad part was I had rather liked him. I really liked his daughter. If it hadn’t been for her, I probably would have gotten in my car and dragged both Cal and Mr. Fox into a dark alley by now. I just couldn’t fathom how anyone would be so vindictive towards the father of their grandbaby. The only answers I came up with did not put Cal in a good light.