Senior Year Box Set

“I’m well aware of that. I’m also aware that your starting quarterback will be a senior next year, and I know that you’re not opposed to starting a freshman at that position.”

“If he’s the right freshman,” Coach Lunt jumped into the conversation.

Coach Casey raised an eyebrow.

“I would think the number-one quarterback might be good enough,” Dad inserted.

Coach Lunt held up his hands.

“Sorry, we just make it a habit not to promise playing time. I hope you understand that if you are the best for the job, it’ll be yours,” he said for the save.

“Since John stepped in it, I might as well address another issue. We’re not prepared to offer either Wolf Tams or Tim Foresee at this time,” Coach Casey said and paused to see my reaction.

When I didn’t show any, he continued.

“Before you get upset, let me explain. We have a couple of recruits rated higher that have verbaled. While I’d like to offer Wolf, I simply don’t have the room. With Tim, it’s that he’s a three-star recruit. He would be a project and, not to sound arrogant, we don’t need to recruit projects.”

While I appreciated that Coach Casey was honest with me, I wasn’t happy. I took a moment and worked through what he’d just told me. I realized that if I wanted to go to Ohio State or Alabama, I might have to go alone. Suddenly, I felt terrible that I’d brought them here and set them up like this.

“What do you plan to tell them?” I asked.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to tell them we’re interested, but we want to continue to evaluate them. Heck, who knows, we might even end up signing them.”

“Thanks. I guess we should have talked about this before showing up with them.”

“No, but you do need to decide if you’re okay if they don’t get offers from us. I don’t want to promise you something I can’t deliver,” Coach Casey explained.

Once that was out of the way, we had a productive conversation. He showed me film of them playing and how he thought I would fit in. He then talked in terms of getting me positioned for the NFL. From what I saw, I was a perfect fit for their offense. The only negative was he told me that I would absolutely never see the field on defense. By the time we were done, I had a much better respect for Coach Casey. I got the feeling he would always tell it to me straight, even if I didn’t want to hear it.

◊◊◊

We were the first ones out of the meeting, so we started toward the coffee shop where the girls had agreed to meet us. As we were walking, my phone made a weird noise. I’d set my phone up with custom sounds and ringtones several months ago, and this wasn’t one of them. I checked, and the screen showed there was a new text from Oliver. Who the heck was Oliver? I tried to log in, and my PIN didn’t work. I quickly put two and two together, and the light bulb lit up: this was Brook’s phone.

“Hey, I accidentally picked up Brook’s phone and need to make a call. What’s her PIN?” I asked Cassidy.

“Oh seven oh four.”

I smiled because that was my birthday. I punched it in so I could read what Oliver had to say.

‘When and where are we meeting?

’

Interesting! My girlfriend planned to meet someone named Oliver. The only way the message had his name was if she’d added it to her contacts. Otherwise, it would have just shown a phone number.

‘Free now. At athletic offices. Text me when you get here’

‘BRT’

It took me a second to figure out he’d said he would ‘Be Right There.’ I led the way to the entrance. Cassidy and Dad looked at me curiously when I just stood in the middle of the lobby and didn’t head towards the door. I stared at Cassidy until I saw her cringe. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets. I turned and noticed a student with a backpack was looking around for someone.

“Sheeit,” Cassidy hissed when I made a beeline for him.

“Oliver?” I asked.

He looked up at me and blinked. I sometimes had people realize I was someone they should recognize when they first met me. Then it dawned on him who I was.

“You’re David A. Dawson. I loved you in The Secret Circle.”

I was a little surprised because it was usually football or Star Academy that got me recognized. Oliver then seemed very confused.

“How did you know my name?” he asked, and then he noticed Cassidy. “Hey. Good to see you. I was actually meeting your friend Brook.”

Thankfully, Dad had guessed that something was up and grabbed Cassidy’s arm and pulled her out the front door. I figured I only had a few minutes before Brook found I was talking to Oliver. I plowed on, not wanting him to get any more suspicious.

“Brook should be here shortly,” I said to draw his attention back to me.

“You know her, too?” he asked, looking concerned.

“Don’t worry, we’re just friends. So, did the two of you hook up last night?” I asked, taking a shot in the dark.

“I wish. But at least I got her number. I was hoping to grab a coffee or something so I could get to know her better.”