Junior Year Box Set

Today was Halle’s turn to arrange lunch, and I smiled when I saw Fritz bring in our meal. At least he no longer had the knot in the middle of his forehead. Halle’s cook had made panini sandwiches with prosciutto, brie, and roasted red peppers; an antipasti tray; and individual Caesar salads. If this were what we got when Halle was in charge of lunch, she would find it was her turn every day!

“Halle, this is great,” I said as I stuffed my face.

“If you like this, wait till you come to LA. Our cook there is out of this world.”

I was starting to get excited about my trip to LA.

“I need to talk to your mom,” I said.

“You mean you want to hit on her,” she teased.

“She seems to be immune to my charms,” I said and kissed her forehead. “Saul Gessler, my agent, is sending me some scripts to read. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“You want to come over for dinner?” she asked.

“Can I bring a girl?” I asked.

After dodging her punch, I smiled.

“I have a new manager, and I want your mom to meet her. Caryn’s new to the business, so I thought she could learn while I do. Do you think that would be okay?” I asked.

Halle stuck her tongue out at me. I took that as a ‘yes.’

◊◊◊

When I arrived home, Caryn and my parents were sitting at the kitchen table. My mom gave me a bit of a glare, and I wondered why.

“Did you forget to tell us that you hired Caryn and that she was staying with us?” Mom asked.

I knew where Mom kept her stash of Oreos, so I opened the cabinet over the refrigerator and pulled them out. I saw Dad note where they were. It was a new bag, so I opened it up, put them in the center of the table, and smiled at Caryn.

“They haven’t been giving you a hard time, have they?” I asked.

“No, but after talking to Kendal today, I might have to reconsider working for you. And what the heck is this phone that keeps ringing?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s the recruiting phone. I thought someone else had it,” I said.

I thought I’d given it to Lily, and wondered how Kendal got it back.

“Someone called Tracy gave it to Kendal’s boss, and Kendal gave it to me. She thought it was funny. Bo Harrington said you have to call him back today. He said it’s important,” Caryn said.

Dad stepped into the living room and came back with a huge box. I looked at the return label, and it said it was from Saul. It looked like someone had killed a forest to print off the scripts he sent me. I pulled out my phone and dialed.

“What the heck did you send me?” I asked.

“Scripts. There’s a list on the top of the ones I want you to read first. Chubby Feldman wants to know what you think of his next movie. Move that one to the top. Get cracking. I need answers on these soon, like tomorrow,” Saul said.

“Saul, I have school and then a football game on Saturday. I also have to take finals in a week. How am I supposed to read all this?” I asked.

“I don’t care. Figure it out,” Saul said and hung up on me.

I looked at my parents and Caryn and grinned. I would wait to talk them into helping me. The recruiting phone rang, and Caryn gave it an evil look and tossed it to me. Caller ID said it was Bo Harrington.

“Hey, Bo. What did you need?” I asked.

“I just wanted to let you know that we confirmed Todd’s scholarship, and he accepted. His doctor’s report looks good.”

“That’s great news. Thanks for whatever help you provided to make that happen.”

“I have some other news for you. We’ve been given a preview of some of the football awards for high school. None of this final, but it looks like you’ll win the Gatorade State Player of the Year for football. Each state and the District of Columbia is awarded a State Player award in twelve different sports, with football being one of them. From that, they’ll name twelve National Players of the Year, and finally the Male and Female Athlete of the Year.

“Rivals has put you on their short list for either first- or second-team Junior All-American. They also have a Junior Player of the Year. Finally, USA Today has short-listed you to be on their All-American team. You’re one of only two juniors being considered,” Bo said.

“Wow. Those are some big honors. What do I have to do to lock the awards up?” I asked.

“Just win. If you run the table, I’m told you’re a lock. It doesn’t hurt that Coach Wilson is on both the USA Today and Rivals selection committees,” Bo shared.

Coach Wilson was the head coach for Alabama. I was sure that was how Bo found out about the awards.

“Bo, I won’t let you down.”

“It may help if you just gave me a verbal commitment today. That might just tip the scales in your favor.”

“Lock up Wolf, Tim, and Ty, and you have a deal,” I teased.

“I leave you with Coach Mason, and you become a diva. Next, you’ll be demanding that Alan be your offensive coordinator and your brother head trainer.”

“Come on, Bo. You know it’ll take all that and more. What else you got?” I asked.

Bo just laughed at me.

“I can’t wait until I talk to Coach Wilson. He’ll have a coronary when he hears all your demands.”