She opened a drawer and pulled his file out. Dr. Carter opened another drawer for her reading glasses so she could quickly review his information. The good doctor seemed to like everything in its place, giving him a glimpse into her personality.
David knew he didn’t fit her idea of an athlete and his academic aspirations. He worried she might be unable to think outside the box she tried to put everyone into.
“Normally, I would advise against such an aggressive approach because of the time you spend with baseball and football.”
“I plan to drop baseball this spring to focus on football, if that helps.”
Dr. Carter’s eyebrows came together, and she sighed. He knew she would become his ally or obstacle in the next moment.
“You might be the exception to the rule because I see you’re a straight ‘A’ student who has proven you can handle the load and play ball. I took the liberty of putting together a schedule for you for the next few years.
“The courses with asterisks are electives that you can swap out and put another in, but I wanted to see how we could manage it,” Dr. Carter said as she handed David a sheet of paper.
It showed that he was academically a sophomore when he stepped onto campus because of all the AP classes he’d taken in high school. David hated to admit it, but his mom’s changing his schedule back then was now paying off.
Last spring and summer gave him enough credits that he was now a junior. This coming summer would start his senior year, and the following spring, he would begin his MBA. Dr. Carter had created a plan that would allow him to get his MBA in three semesters. She was definitely on Team David.
“If you plan to become a lawyer, you’ll need to take the LSAT at the start of your MBA or during that summer. I suggest spring because you’ll want plenty of time to apply to law school,” Dr. Carter advised.
If he went the NFL route, he could quit school and use the spring to prepare for the draft. This plan gave him a lot of options.
“Can I decide on the electives later?” David asked.
“Yes, that’s why they call them electives,” Dr. Carter said, surprising him with her sarcastic humor.
From her reaction, he amused her. He rolled his eyes because he realized he’d said something stupid.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” Dr. Carter said.
She didn’t mean it from her look, which made him like her more.
“No. That was on me, and I deserved it.”
“We can also pull back if it all becomes too much. Just come see me, and we can rework your schedule as needed.”
“I like the flexibility, and this gives me options until I figure out what I want to do when I grow up,” David said with a half-smirk.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ to the aggressive schedule,” Dr.
Carter said to get them back to business.
“And the electives are fine for now. So, just plan on registering me for these classes,” David said.
One of the benefits of using Dr. Carter and her staff was that they could use the clout of the athletic department to get him preferential placement in classes that fill up quickly. That became important when you needed to take prerequisite classes for one down the road. If the early class filled up, it could cause a domino effect, meaning you had to take an additional semester.
David didn’t feel at all guilty that he would get that help; it was the least USC could do to ‘compensate’ him for making them millions of dollars in football revenue. When NIL became a reality, and he could earn an income playing college ball, he might feel differently.
◊◊◊
Because Bec was filming this week and the main storyline was the relationship David’s character had with his three women, he had to film daily. So, instead of his after-practice game film session, he had to run to one of the studio rooms to film with Bec and Callie.
Waiting for him was their production assistant, Moira.
When he got close, she shoved a stack of papers into his hands.
“There’s been a change to the script.”
“Okay,” David said hesitantly because this looked like a lot of changes.
“Did you know that Bec did musical theater?”
“Wut … what?” David asked as his mind caught up to what that meant.
Then it hit him. “No!”
That was when he saw the camerawoman filming his reaction. He looked right into it and said, “Adrienne, you are so dead.”
“I can’t wait until she gets here. She said you’d do it, or the payback will be worse,” Moira revealed.
He had no doubt it would be.
“I can do this,” David decided. “Lead the way.”
◊◊◊
“Okay. In this scene, Callie’s character, Nikki, is having a hard time wrapping her mind around Mick’s lifestyle. Mick and Kirsten are talking her off the ledge, so to speak, and do it with a song,” Abigail said to set the scene.
They were in one of the university’s music rooms, which had a baby grand piano. David had just learned that one of Bec’s hidden talents was that she could play it.
Word had gotten out about them singing, and everyone working on the soap was there to witness David’s humiliation. He’d been let in on the studio wanting to have someone film the scene on their phone, so the video could be leaked before the episode ran. It was a ploy to boost ratings.
“Places, everyone!” Abigail called out.
Each filming unit let her know they were ready.
“Action!”
“I know my having a wife and a girlfriend is a lot to take in, but we have history. Before I joined the military and had to leave, you were my girl. That means something to me.
You mean something to me. If I didn’t try to be with you and do everything I could to make that happen, I could never live with myself,” Mick said intently.
Nikki had been looking down until the end. When she looked up, there was hurt and longing in her eyes.
Kirsten began to play the piano.
They’d picked a song he would never have thought of. It was an old one called Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It had been an upbeat ‘girl’ anthem back in his grandmother’s time. Bec had arranged it to be more somber for the occasion.
The song itself had great lyrics. It begins with a girl coming home late at night and is confronted by her mother,
who asks what she plans to do with her life. Mick softly sang with as much emotion as he could that girls just wanted to have fun.
On the second chorus, Kirsten’s sweet voice joined his as Mick sang to Nikki. Mick could see that the song must have struck something deep inside Nikki because her eyes teared up with genuine emotion. He guessed that because this song was a conversation between mother and daughter, it had to do with that.
The mother warns her daughter that she must grow up, while the girl just wants to have fun. The song’s second part has her mother warning her about boys and not letting them overshadow her daughter. Nikki looked like she wasn’t playing a part anymore. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there, so Mick reached out and caught her hand.
He looked deep into her eyes and smiled as he reminded her that girls just wanted to have fun. Kirsten joined him again as they finished the song.
In the end, Nikki had a line, but she looked too choked up.
“Come here, Baby,” Mick said as he took her into his arms. Nikki sobbed into his chest. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
“And … Cut!”
David guided Callie off the set and took her to their temporary dressing room.