She sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled.
‘This is going to be a great year!’
◊◊◊
It had been a busy day. Her room had been dirtier than it looked. Crystal had scrubbed every surface and then discovered her mattress had a bunch of mysterious stains on it. She hauled it down three flights of stairs and threw it in the dumpster. Her new mattress wouldn’t come until tomorrow, giving her an even better reason to go see David.
She’d showered and changed into a cute shorts-and-tank-top set that her mom had bought her. Crystal walked over to the football practice fields. Her dad had taught her that if you wanted to crash a meeting or event, you just acted like you should be there. She’d always done that when her old boyfriends were practicing or lifting weights.
She spotted David throwing passes and walked out onto the practice field.
“When will you be done?” Crystal asked.
David, his teammates, and the coaches all snapped their heads around.
“You can’t be here,” David said.
The look in his eyes was stormy and wild, like he couldn’t believe she was standing there.
“Why not? I just had a short question, which you haven’t answered,” Crystal replied, daring David to tell her not to be there.
“I’ll be done when the coaches say I am.”
“Okay. I’ll wait right here for you,” Crystal said.
She pulled out her phone to read the book that had her hooked. It was about a kid selling kittens and getting into all kinds of trouble. She was at the part where he’d ‘sold’ his sister with a funny ad and found her missing. She suspected that his sister had scammed him somehow.
“How about you go to the other field?” David suggested. “Alex is trying out to be our kicker, and I saw Chloe was with him. Maybe the two of you could catch up.”
“Thanks. That would be nice.”
“If you two are done, maybe we can get back to practice,” one of the coaches said.
David’s teammates found that amusing as David went back to throwing the ball.
◊◊◊
Crystal went to the other field and found a woman coaching Alex to kick a field goal. She introduced herself and learned the coach’s name was Amy Stackhouse. Coach Stackhouse had asked if Crystal was dating David. When she replied ‘yes,’ Amy had asked if they could have coffee later that week and then went back to coaching Alex.
“You want to do it the same way every time. Two long steps back and then two side steps so that you’re ninety degrees from the ball. That is the perfect distance for both speed and power. When you run up to kick the ball, you’ll lock your ankle and knee at the point of contact, and that will maximize height and distance.”
The coach put the field-goal tee on the football. It was a two-legged triangle with a metal pole set on top of the ball to hold it in place. Alex took his steps back and to the side to get ready. He ran up and kicked the ball, and it boomed off his foot but only got three feet off the ground.
“That wasn’t right,” Alex said.
“Sorry, my fault. Aim for the bottom third of the ball.”
Alex did it again. The ball looked like a field goal kick this time, but it went way left.
“Much better,” his coach said. “But you’re doing a soccer-style kick where you swing your leg horizontally in front of your body. Instead, swing your leg through the football and toward the center of the goalposts.”
She teed up another ball, and Alex tried it again.
“Better!”
Alex smiled because it actually went through the goalposts.
Chloe waved to get Crystal’s attention, so she joined her.
“So, you and Alex?” Crystal asked.
She nodded toward him as he kicked again.
“We got close pretty fast. Especially after we almost died,” Chloe said as their eyes met; hers were wide and scared.
“What happened?”
Chloe told her what had happened at the market and the chase back to the Sandoval compound.
“David was a hero. Did you know that he’s a pilot? He flew a bunch of women and children out of danger,” Chloe shared.
“I did know that. On our first date, David took me to San Francisco for dinner,” Crystal said and then added, “I didn’t know about his heroics, and I would think that would be on the news.”
“David’s security made us not post anything on social media.”
“Speaking of media, it looks like your mom is in the middle of it,” Crystal said.
“My parents’ lawyer told my mom that the FBI has indicted like 50 people, and of those, over 30 are parents. My dad wants to fight it because they didn’t know that the guy they contacted had bribed anyone. My mom wants to negotiate some kind of settlement because all they would probably get is a fine and community service. But Dad says they shouldn’t back down because they didn’t do anything wrong.
“I just wish it would go away. The Internet trolls have been all over my sister and me, and I had to shut down my comments sections on social media because of all the hateful things people have been saying,” Chloe said.
“Your mom might be right because the media will eventually pick someone to be the face of this scandal. If it lands on her, she may never work again.”
Chloe’s mom was Deirdre Price, who was on a long-running sitcom and played the love interest of the show’s star.
“She just got word that they’re letting her go. The same day, she received a notice that someone is suing everyone involved in the case for $500 billion, with a ‘B.’ It contends that their child had applied to several of the universities and that, with them taking slots, he’d been denied his chance to enroll.”
“A good lawyer will make that go away,” Crystal predicted.
“My parents’ guy laughed out loud when he read their filing. It was done just to get someone their fifteen minutes of fame.”
“What do you plan to do? I heard that you aren’t coming back to USC.”
Chloe shrugged.
“I don’t think I want to go to college. A friend of mine is making a living off being a social-media influencer. She’s a complete idiot and currently has like a hundred thousand followers. I think people just want to see her make a fool of herself.”
“That’s not such a bad idea. I know that social media is toxic for you right now, but you have name recognition because of the scandal. And luckily for you, your sister is the lightning rod for the bad press. If you’re looking for a rich, entitled poster child for the scandal, she is it. Is she completely clueless?” Crystal asked.
Chloe chuckled.
“More like she doesn’t give a fuck. Why else would she be on a sailboat with a bunch of old, rich guys?”
“Not a good look,” Crystal agreed and then added, “Once everything’s settled down, I would love to help you build your social media presence.”
“How can you help?” Chloe asked.
“My dad is Kendrick Knaggy of Knaggy, Anderson, and Petters, the KAP Agency. I’m going to school to eventually work as an agent.”
“They’re my mom’s agents, and she’s worried that they’ll dump her.”
“Tell your mom that they will. She should find new representation as soon as she can,” Crystal said.
Chloe nodded and then smiled.
“I would welcome the help. I just don’t have any money to pay you.”
“How about this? If I do a good job and start making bank, we can talk. For now, we can both learn how to build your followers and monetize it.”
“Deal,” Chloe said and shook Crystal’s hand.
Chloe then filled her in on David and her trip to Colombia. It sounded like an amazing place to visit.
Alex was finally done and all smiles.
“I’m USC’s new placekicker.”
Chloe jumped up and gave him a big kiss.
“We should go celebrate.”
“I could see if David wanted to come, too,” Crystal said.
Chloe laughed.
“I thought I would drag him somewhere and give my man the reward he deserves. I’m not sure David would want to join in.”