“So how bad is the situation with Ford?” Dad asked.
“Don’t worry. They aren’t going to shoot the goose that laid the golden egg with Range Sports. As long as Devin’s happy, David can do no wrong,” Tom assured my dad. Then he changed topics. “Kendal, could you go over David’s current commitments and what we have proposed?”
“Sure. Right now, we have two shoots scheduled with Range Sports. Your first will be in England. You fly out April 20th and return on the 25th. You’ll be going to the northwestern part of England to a place called Langdale. This is in the Lake District National Park. It’s supposed to be gorgeous. Then on May 19th through 23rd you’ll be in San Francisco and Napa Valley. The fall shoot hasn’t been set yet. They’d like to squeeze in an extra shoot between Christmas and New Year’s; that would be back at the ranch. We’ve been careful to schedule around your other commitments, like football, and tried to make sure you weren’t in school. We don’t want you missing a bunch of class time like you did last semester.
“Mr. Hill has patiently been waiting for you to start the flyer ads again. He said he’d even do it this evening if you were willing.”
I felt bad. I had promised that I would start again at the beginning of February.
“I don’t have anything else going on. I could do it after this meeting if he has everything ready.”
Kendal pulled out her phone and dialed as she stepped out of the meeting.
“Ford has been getting inquiries but we’ve been holding them off. I think you need to do something to make them happy.”
“What about the shoot with Adrienne?” I asked Angel.
“That’s the weekend of March 8th.”
I pulled out my tablet to see what I could do. Baseball was coming up and I still was planning on doing some more football tournaments.
“I hate to be a prima donna, but the only time I can see doing it would be Sunday afternoons. They would need to do it close to home, too. I really can’t miss any more school.”
“If they want a full day, I’ll talk to your mom and you can do a full Sunday,” Dad offered.
“We’ll talk to Ford,” Angel said.
She looked at Tom to indicate she was done. Kendal came back in.
“Mr. Hill said he’d take David the rest of the day. I told him you have school tomorrow so he wouldn’t think he could keep you till all hours. The only problem is I have an appointment at 2:00,” Kendal said.
“I can do it. I’d like to see that side of the business. I might have to fill in in the future there, too,” Angel said.
“One last item,” Tom said, as he plugged his notepad into the big screen on the back wall. “Double-Book wants to buy the rights to all these pictures.”
Tom put up a slideshow of all the pictures we did with book covers in mind. Dad about fell out of his chair when he saw photos of me all made up. Everyone in the room tried to keep a straight face.
“Why are they coming to us?” I asked.
“Oh, wise one, who always makes me write the contracts so he owns the resale rights?” Kendal teased me.
“Oh, that would be me. So how much are they offering?”
Kendal slid the offer letter over to me. Dad read it over my shoulder. We both gasped when we saw the number.
“What does that work out to?” Dad asked.
Kendal pulled out another sheet. This showed Rigby, Thompson and Associates getting 10% off the top, me making 25% for getting it under contract, and then splitting the rest three ways between myself, Kara and Adrienne. She then slid over two sheets that showed Kara and Adrienne agreeing to let Tom work out the details.
“Why would they spend so much for these pictures?” Dad asked.
“Because they’ll use them over and over again, and Adrienne’s in them. They also think that Kara could end up being a big draw. They can Photoshop the pictures to pull out or insert people and different backgrounds,” Tom answered.
“I say do it,” I said, and Dad nodded yes.
“Okay, good meeting, now go make us all more money,” Tom said, giving me my marching orders.
Dad left for the hospital. Angel went to her office to wrap up what she needed to finish. I stood up to stretch and Tom and Kendal had me sit back down.
“Ford has made a request,” Tom started. I could tell he was uncomfortable. “They want you to have a public girlfriend.”
“If you’re this uncomfortable, this must be good,” I joked.
“Haley Durham.”
She didn’t ring a bell so I Googled her. Haley Durham was cute. She had done a sitcom as a child for eight years. She was now about my age and hadn’t done anything for the last two years. I looked up at Kendal and Tom with a confused look on my face.
“Look up Bill Durham,” Kendal offered.
Bill was her father and agent. He was your worst nightmare in terms of a father getting too involved. He demanded script changes and control of her look. There were reports of him being banned from some sets.
My life was complicated enough. I didn’t need another faux girlfriend, especially one with a father like that.
“I don’t think so.”
They both looked at each other and nodded.
“I’ll take care of it,” Tom assured me.
MR. HILL WAS HAPPY to see me. I introduced Angel to everyone. We were able to get three sessions shot before I was done. I think Mr. Hill wanted to do one more, but I was tired. Keeping animated and doing the same pose over and over again is mentally draining.
I showed Angel how to approve pictures. Anything like my eyes closed, stupid looks, or something inappropriate got deleted. Mr. Hill told her some tricks photographers try. She was happy by the time she took me home.
Chapter 16 – The Shit Truly Hit the Fan
Tuesday February 18
WHEN I ARRIVED AT SCHOOL Tuesday morning, I found Cassidy at my locker, looking worried. Since I didn’t have a girlfriend, faux or real, to worry about, I wasn’t worried.
“What’s wrong, my little ninja?” I asked.
She punched me.
“You stop calling me that. I don’t need a nickname from you.”
I held my hands up.
“Okay, okay, I’ll get Jim to come up with one.”
She punched me again. There’s just no pleasing some people.
“You have a problem,” Cassidy informed me.
“You’ll have to be a little more specific. I’m not really sure what you’re talking about.”
“Brad told Daddy that the only reason you won last Saturday was because you had the better players.”
I burst out laughing.
“What?” Cassidy whined.
“Please tell me that Brad isn’t really related to you.”
“Some days I wish. Daddy showed me his birth certificate.”
That made me laugh even harder. She actually had to check.
“I’m sorry, but is your brother brain-damaged?”
She thought about that for a moment. That got me laughing again.
“So you don’t care what he’s saying?”
“Follow me on this one. He got to pick his team from anyone at the school. He picked first. He made a point of taking all the juniors who will play as seniors next year. He’s been working out with them separately as a team-building experience. Do you follow me so far?”
“Yeah, my brother’s a douche.”
“Okay, your words, not mine. The key is he’s trying to build a team. What does it say to the rest of the team when you tell them that they’re not good enough to be on his team? Also, what does it say when his team doesn’t win?”
Her eyes got big.
“I have to go tell Daddy.”
“Cassidy, your dad already knows. What does Brad want to do about the unfair teams?”
“Brad wants to play you with a fair team. He said that if he had Mike, Jake and Ed on his team, he could beat you like a drum.”
“I’ll talk to the boys and see if they want to play Brad’s game.”
Then she gave me her best smile. That made me nervous.