“That girl was crazy to cheat on you,” Matt said without thinking, and then he glared at David again. “But you’re dating, right?”
“Only for appearance’s sake. We both have zero interest in dealing with a new relationship right now. It made sense to be each other’s plus-one and the like,” David said.
“By ‘the like,’ do you mean sleeping with each other?” Matt asked.
David shook his head.
“That is none of your damned business, and you know it.”
Matt thought about it and nodded.
“All better now?” Amy asked.
“Aren’t you going to ask us how we’re feeling?” David quipped.
“I told you he was a dick,” Amy said to Jason as she sat back down.
“My friends simply say that I’m a ‘stupid boy.’”
“You are,” Matt couldn’t help himself from saying.
“I take it this meeting is to name the starter,” David said. “I’m ready to go today, Coach.”
“Who’s running this team?” Amy asked.
“Me, of course. Do you have any problems that Coach Merritt can’t seem to handle?” David joked.
“I need a placekicker. I don’t suppose you know any?”
David thought for a moment and then smiled.
“I do, actually. Would a former World Cup player fit the bill?”
“You know a USC student who’s a former professional soccer player?” Amy asked.
“My roommate, Alex Sandoval. He happens to be in LA right now, if you want to try him out,” David said.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Jason said.
“Has he ever kicked a football?” Amy asked, still not sold.
David gave her a ‘not my problem’ look that only teenage boys can pull off. Even Matt had a hint of a grin on his face when Amy didn’t look amused.
“If you were in the NFL, I would be accepting trades for cleaning supplies in exchange for you about now.”
“If I were in the NFL, the fans would love me too much for you to get away with that.”
Matt let a chuckle escape, which had Amy turning on him.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Wow! You’re going to make a great coach,” Jason said. “She was worried about being able to yell at players.”
Both boys laughed, and even Amy saw the humor in it.
“Let’s get this back on track,” Jason said. “I wanted to tell you both that we liked what we saw today. I suspect as camp goes on, you’ll each shine in areas that aren’t the strength of the other. I’m not opposed to playing you both until there’s a clear winner.”
“Can you lift my suspension for the first game?” Matt asked.
“That, I’m not going to do. I’ll never condone attacking a fellow teammate. When stuff like that happens, there have to be consequences, or people think they can get away with it. Am I clear?”
Matt nodded.
“Do I have to stay in the dorm? My roommate is a total slut,” David tried.
Amy laughed, causing Jason to give her a puzzled look.
“Hey, at least they’re comfortable enough to ask. You just have to get brave and tell them, ‘no,’” she said to explain herself.
“Absolutely; everyone stays in the dorm. If you moved elsewhere, and word got out, then all those idiots would be running around after hours getting into God knows what. I don’t need to deal with the weekly police blotters in the press if I let that happen,” Jason said.
“How about …” Matt began.
“You both get out of my office,” Jason finished.
David and Matt stood, and David turned to his counterpart with his hand held out.
“Let’s make a fresh start. We both know that we’ll fight to be the starter, but the rest of the team suffers when we let it get out of hand. Let’s agree that we will let our actions stand for who deserves to start. Not other stuff.”
Matt shook David’s hand, and the two of them left.
“What do you think?” Jason asked Amy.
“I think my opinion has changed some. Matt comes across as immature compared to David.”
“But David said some dick things,” Jason pushed back.
“He did, but he’s smart enough that he knew what he was doing. David was pushing Matt’s buttons to put him off-balance. But he had enough compassion that once he knew that Matt thought he’d stolen his girlfriend, he explained what happened. He also didn’t gloat that she was in his bed. You could tell Matt really still has unresolved feelings for her. My guess is Matt fucked up and now realizes it,” Amy said.
“You got all that from what they said?”
“And more. By the end of the year, one of them will transfer,” she predicted.
“Which one?”
“It could be either one, but my money’s on David. He’ll look at it and figure out what’s in his best interest. Splitting time at QB1 won’t get him to the NFL unless we’re winning a lot of games. Otherwise, the NFL scouts will question why he can’t beat out Matt. They would never consider that they are two of the best quarterbacks in college football.”
“Do you think I should name one the starter and cut my losses?” Jason asked.
“No. Let it play out, but be prepared for having to decide at year-end.”
He sighed.
“You’re right. I’m not going to name a starter after only one practice. Maybe the competition will make them both better.”
“Maybe,” Amy said.
She left to go call the soccer player David suggested. Jason had practice film to look at with his coaches. It was going to be a late night.
◊◊◊
Chapter 57
Crystal
In her opinion, she’d been home long enough. Even though her mom had been great, Crystal was finally at the point where she wanted to cut the apron strings. She much preferred living on her own. Crystal didn’t feel the need for her mom to take care of her anymore. Plus, she wanted to open the sorority house.
She would be president this fall and planned to tackle a list of maintenance items before the other girls got back. It would be much easier for the workers if the girls weren’t running around and getting in the way. Or at least that was the excuse she’d given her mom.
While at home, her dad had summoned her. Not surprisingly, he wanted to talk about David instead of catching up with his daughter. He wanted his daughter’s thoughts on how David would react. Not that her dad would change his plans; he simply was looking for insight on how to manage David. With what her dad had told her, it gave her the perfect excuse to do what she really had come back to school for: to see David with the added benefit of warning him.
She walked in the front door of the sorority and noticed it smelled musty from being closed up all summer. In the past, they’d left the house open during the summer months. The problem was that with no one to supervise, the handful of women living there let the place become a filthy mess.
She made a mental note to hire cleaners to come in and give the whole house a good once-over. Crystal went up the stairs to the third floor, where her room was. She’d grabbed one of the coveted singles for the coming year. It was either that or a much larger triple, but she was glad she hadn’t gone that route.
The singles were small, but Crystal didn’t want the hassle of having a roommate to sleep with. Even though house rules prohibited guys from sleeping over, it happened. With roommates, it could be awkward. More times than not, one of their roommates would ‘accidentally’ open the door to catch the amorous couple in the act. Sorority girls were more incorrigible than guys sometimes.
Crystal looked around the room and debated whether to paint or not but decided against it since she wanted to move in. She didn’t want to bunk in another room while the paint dried. The few marks on the walls could be covered up by posters.