“I fed them two things: the first is that David’s a good guy and not interested in a DNA test. The second part is how unfair the other side is being. We’re trying to show them that Mr. Fox is an opportunist and just out for recognition and a quick buck. Cal Bell is abusing his position as a lawyer and father to force his daughter into making unsubstantiated claims. He and Mr. Fox will try anything to tarnish David in their attempt at a scorched-earth attack.
“I made a point to direct the press to social media and have them see how unhappy the citizens are that their star football player won’t be able to play because of the restraining order Cal and Mr. Fox dreamed up,” Frank said.
“I hope you’re being careful not to get Pam caught in the crossfire. She is the mother of my child, after all,” I said.
“David, she’s already involved,” Mom reminded me.
“I understand,” I admitted. “It’s just hard for me to believe that Pam would do something like this. As far as Cal and Mr. Fox go, I’m about ready to get some payback. I have to keep telling myself that someday Pam and Cal will be in my life because of the baby, whether I want them to be or not.”
We bounced ideas around for another two hours, and when we started to repeat ourselves, we called it a night. What came out of it was we needed to wait and see.
We watched the early news, and my story was the lead. Detective Kitchens continued to be noncommittal. State’s Attorney Mason had made a brief statement that only confirmed there was an ongoing investigation. Then Mr. Fox made his first appearance. It was apparent the local press was out for blood, asking who it was who decided to put the restraining order on me. He hemmed and hawed about the safety of his client. I smiled when they exploded with indignation and wanted to know if he was single-handedly planning to cause us not to win another state championship.
Ms. Dixon and Frank Ingram were both puzzled by the focus on football. I just smiled and welcomed them to a small town, and described how we only had so much to do, and football was king. I predicted that Mr. Fox would be nervous come Friday.
◊◊◊
When I got home, I found my day wasn’t over. Mom had been by the school and talked to all my teachers. She had a stack of homework and reading assignments. Someone had opened my locker for her so she could get all my books. Mom had given them all my email address so they could send me updated requests. I hoped this wouldn’t go on long enough for that to be a problem.
My next task was to wade through all my phone, text, and email messages. I made a point to call Tim, Jim, and Tracy to give them updates. I also called Zoe, Halle, and Brook to let them know I missed them like crazy. Halle told me that her mom wanted to talk to me and invited me over for dinner on Thursday night.
My last call of the night was to Flee. He had left me a message that told me he had some big news.
“I got an offer!” Flee said, and I could almost see him doing a little ‘Snoopy Dance’ of joy.
“That’s great, who’s the lucky school?”
“Northwestern! Coach Patrick came to dinner and made the offer. He told me you said they should take me over Ben,” Flee said.
Ben Luck was a good quarterback, but I thought Flee had a higher ceiling and had told that to Coach Patrick. At the time, I didn’t think he believed me, but I had gone to camps with both of them and knew if someone gave Flee a chance, he’d work his butt off to prove he belonged. You weren’t invited to Elite 11 if you weren’t among the best, and even though Flee didn’t get one of the coveted slots, he had beaten out several hundred quarterbacks to get there.
This was the perfect way to end my day.
◊◊◊
Chapter 29 – The Trick is to Keep Breathing Wednesday October 28
I woke to my cell phone ringing. I looked at the clock, and it said 6:15 a.m.
“Hello,” I croaked.
“David, it’s Bo,” said Bo Harrington, my former quarterback coach and now assistant coach for Alabama.
“You know, calling this early won’t get me to commit to Alabama.”
“I realize that, but I needed to tell you something. We received an overnight package from a lawyer—hang on, and I’ll get his name,” Bo said, and I heard papers being shuffled. “A Mr. Thomas Fox. Anyway, he sent us a picture of a young girl with a black eye and split lip, and suggested that we might want to stop recruiting someone who’s been accused of raping the young lady.”
“Fuck me!”
“I think that’s exactly what this was intended to do. I would bet that everyone recruiting you will get one of these today. I just wanted to give you a heads-up,” Bo said.
“Will this hurt me with Alabama?” I asked.
“No, but I know you and know that if you say you didn’t do it, you didn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if some schools back off until the dust settles.”
“I guess I need to get on the phone and reassure people.”
“There’s something else you need to be aware of. This came directly to me and not to our football office. All our websites, my business cards and the like all have the main office address. This had my office number on it. I decided early on to only give that out to recruits I have a good personal relationship with, and the only one I’ve done that with so far is you,” Bo said.
“Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll keep you in the loop on this mess,” I said, and then hung up.
As soon as that was done, I called Kendal.
“You need to get your boy on a leash!”
“What are you talking about?” Kendal asked.
I explained what Bo had told me. It was evident to me that Cal had accessed my recruiting list and gotten contact information.
“I don’t understand how Cal could have gotten the list. It’s stored on our division’s server, which is separate from the rest of the firm. We did that because we also store your and other customers’ photos, and I bet you know why,” Kendal said.
She referred to the time they’d given away my photos to clients and employees. I hadn’t been happy when I found out, but we worked past that. Then a horrible thought hit me.
“Kendal, are my modeling and acting contacts in the same place?” I asked.
“I need to find out. If Cal did access that server, he’ll be in a lot of trouble. What do you want us to do?” Kendal asked.
“I guess we’d better let Frank and Ms. Dixon know. It’s a good thing I don’t have school today because I’ll be busy smoothing this over.”
My next call was to Frank. He had one new piece of information to ‘brighten’ my day.
“Hollywood Central just broke the picture on their website. This just went worldwide. Get ready for a circus,” Frank said.
He promised to get me talking points for when I called people. Frank agreed it had to be me to make the calls. They would all want to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
◊◊◊
I looked at the clock and decided that I should just go run. I put my earbuds in, gathered my trusty hound, and started to pound the pavement. It was the perfect time to run. It was cool out, and everyone had just woken up. Our streets were lined with old oak trees that formed a canopy over the sidewalks and pavement. They gave the neighborhood an established feel.
Then a thought hit me: I had to stop letting this consume me. I had a date with Brook Davis to plan since I wasn’t allowed to go to the dance. I’d always been at my best with the support of my friends and teammates. I needed to find a way to spend time with them.
Then I had a revelation: not once, since this had all started, had I felt the need to talk to Tami. I was of two minds: I was glad I’d gotten to the point where I didn’t need to rely on my friend to help guide me; I was also sad because it just highlighted how bad our relationship had become. For now, I didn’t intend to try to fix our friendship. I still had a hard time believing nothing happened with her and Alan. I’d seen far too much of the way that Alan acted on recruiting trips to believe he was too innocent or naïve to have done anything other than kiss her.