Coach Mason had told Coach Hope to have us run sprints to burn off our nervous energy before we practiced. That proved to be smart because my teammates soon forgot about the cameras and where we were. Coach Hope made us run our asses off. When we were all sucking air, he started practice.
“Fourth quarter! Huddle up!”
We weren’t given a chance to catch our breath.
“Hustle, hustle, hustle! On David!” Coach Diamond called out.
We ran to the line of scrimmage, and I began to run our hurry-up offense from the shotgun. On the bus ride over I’d sat down with both Coach Diamond and Coach Mason. They told me what they wanted in practice. My orders were to keep a crazy tempo and not to throw anything long if I threw the ball. If I did throw long, I was supposed to dump it in the dirt or throw it to one of the defenders. They wanted King High School to see that the number-one quarterback in the junior class looked like a paper tiger. Sure enough, King was sitting in the stands, watching us. I did such a good acting job that the guys were getting nervous.
“Huddle up!” I called after throwing Yuri, our linebacker, a pass that bounced off his head.
Hey, I was supposed to mess up, I might as well have some fun. Yuri didn’t appreciate it, though. If it had been Kevin from my first year, he might have stuck the ball up somewhere I didn’t even want to think about.
“Settle down. This is just a show for our friends watching in the stands. Wolf, if you go long, do you think you can drop the ball like you do in games?” I asked.
“Screw you, Dawson.”
“Okay, the next three passes are coming your way. Make me look bad. On two, BREAK!”
Once my teammates were in on it, they did just that. I think I completed like one for thirty, with eight interceptions. You could see King’s players actually laughing at us.
◊◊◊
After practice, we all put on our football jerseys and found the rooms where we were to be interviewed. ESPN wanted us to say our name, what position we played, and what year we were. They’d use that as part of the intro. We were then split up to do one-on-one interviews with the different talent from ESPN. I was surprised to be taken into a Colts’ media room where I found Tracy, Coach Hope, my parents, Ms. Dixon, Pam, and Lacy.
Coach Hope and Pam sat on each side of me. When we were seated, Tracy stood up and introduced everyone. This part would be tedious because she had to give out our bios and spell our names for the press.
“Many of you may have followed the difficulties that David Dawson went through last week. If you need to see the official record, you can obtain it on the County Circuit Court website. We also have video for those who want it. At this time, Pam Bell has asked to read a prepared statement. When she is finished, she will not take any questions,” Tracy said, and gave Pam a reassuring look.
Pam stood up and looked at the waiting reporters and camera crews nervously. But then she took a deep breath, looked down at the paper in her hand, and seemed to gather herself. She looked up at the cameras with a forthright expression.
“My name is Pam Bell, I’m a junior at Lincoln High School, and I’m seventeen. I’m speaking to you all as a result of the media circus that occurred over the last week. I asked to talk to you on my own initiative. With my mother’s consent, I’d like to try to clear the air, to get the facts public, and to dispel a lot of gossip and innuendo. And as well to express the fervent hope that you will all go away and leave us alone, now that this is all over.
“As I said, I’m a junior at Lincoln High. I’m a good friend and a classmate of David Dawson. We’re in many of the same classes together, and we also hang out together a lot.
“We have been sexual with each other in the past, and may be that way in the future, but we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend. The two of us are just good friends, with benefits. Every single time I have been involved sexually with David has been entirely voluntary on both of our parts. David has never forced me or pushed me to make love, and he has never, ever been abusive or violent with me in any way.
“As a result of this, and because we were not as careful as we should have been, I am now pregnant. David is the only one who could be the father of my baby. He has readily acknowledged this and has volunteered to help with medical expenses and to help raise the baby. Due to the strong family structure he has, we’ve agreed his family will be the baby’s primary caregivers. Regardless of what’s decided, we have both agreed we are too young to marry, and we may not ever be married to each other. No matter what, though, I plan to be thoroughly involved in raising our baby, and David is fine with that.
“Now, due to an unfortunate set of events shortly after I learned I was pregnant, there have been allegations that David raped or coerced me. There have also been accusations that he has otherwise been abusive or uncaring about the baby or me. I will tell you now that those allegations have absolutely no basis in fact and are utterly false. All those allegations have done is invite a media circus and the attempted intervention of various women’s rights groups. Those, in turn, have caused a great deal of pain for David and for me. Each of us separately, and both of us together, really would like to lay this matter to rest so that we can get on with our lives.
“I’m very appreciative of, and in general support, the work the various women’s rights groups do. For all women, girls, mothers, and families. I just want to say that their efforts are entirely unnecessary here.
“David’s work as a model and actor, and his ability to play quarterback at an elite level, automatically create a degree of interest from the media. I can understand that. Nevertheless, now that what has happened has been explained to you as plainly and clearly as I possibly can, I would also hope that you will respect our privacy. That applies to David and me, and our families—both existing and yet to be,” she said as she rubbed her tummy and smiled, to scattered laughter. “We ask that you move on from this story that, really, is over.
“Thank you very much for your time,” Pam said.
She stunned me when she bent to give me a quick kiss on the cheek and left.
Coach Hope made sure there were no questions about what she had said and got the interview focused on football. I had a newfound respect for Pam after she made her statement. I would later learn that she’d come up with the idea of making a statement on her own. She had first approached her mom and then my mom with the idea. Everyone involved in the dispute had read and signed off on the speech she had read. Ms. Dixon was very good at covering my butt, but Pam had insisted that she needed to get it on the record and do the right thing by me. Later on, Pam told me that that moment became a talisman for her. All she had to do was to remember the moment she’d faced all those reporters with her head held high. She could then hold her head up in the face of just about anything.
I’d been in touch with Frank Ingram, my PR agent, and he had sent me some talking points in case this was brought up. I knew that it would never really go away, but Pam’s statement seemed to satisfy the sports reporters, including even ESPN.
◊◊◊
For dinner, Coach gave us the option to either go out with our parents, or there would be a team outing. He said something about all he could afford was the BK Lounge, code for Burger King. I decided that I wanted something better than that, and this would give me a chance to show my appreciation to a few people.
I made a point to invite Ms. Dixon, Coach Mason, and Jim. Of course, I told Phil he could go. Jim took it upon himself to ask the offensive line to join us. Tracy stopped by to see what I was doing while I was on the phone, talking to my mom. Phil told her, and she said she’d tell all the cheerleaders. This had gotten out of hand. Of course, one of the offensive linemen told the starting skill players.