I snatched it out of her hands. I don’t know why they even bothered to ask me. This should be good.
Halle – Ben Doman
Zoe – Trip James
Pam – Craig Wild
Tracy – Ryan Barlow
Brook – Zak Verwood
Cassidy – John Phillips
Alan – Leah Johansen
Jim – Maria Dowe
Wolf – Sarah Spence
“Did you talk to them about this? Because I see one who’s an absolute no, and another who needs to come with a warning label.”
“Which ones?” Tracy asked.
“Craig Wild is the no. I wouldn’t allow him within 500 miles of any of you. Zak Verwood is a complete horndog. Brook can handle his come-ons, I’m sure, but just ask Halle, she can’t stand him. Personally, I like him, but he’s let his Hollywood celeb status rule his sex life, and he’s thrilled with it. I think he was with a new girl at least once a day if not two or three times. If Brook goes to the bathroom while she’s on a date with Zak, he might disappear with a waitress for a quickie.”
Halle and Ben would be okay. He was great to work with on Star Academy, and they already knew each other. Zoe had probably met Trip; after all, the cheerleaders had all been to the James’ house. I smiled at the surprise that Tracy would find if she took Ryan to bed. From what I’d seen at the Abercrombie shoot, he might have the biggest package I’d ever seen, including the porn I watched on the internet. Cassidy would be safe with my friend John. He currently had a serious girlfriend.
For the guys, I knew Alan had picked Leah because of the media coverage of The Secret Circle and the rumors that she and I’d had sex on set. I had no idea how Jim had found out about Maria, the porn-star wannabe. Halle, Brook, or Pam must have let the cat out of the bag. Finally, Wolf had picked a local girl. Sarah was a model for Ford who I’d met at Model Camp in New York. She went to school at Wesleyan.
“I want to warn you about something. Have you heard the term ‘hung like a horse’?”
Tracy rolled her eyes at me.
“Yes, David, you have a big one,” Tracy almost moaned.
“Not me … Ryan,” I shared.
“That sounds nice.”
“I bet you wouldn’t think so if you saw it. I’m not kidding. The boy is huge. He told me about the problems he has with it. Think in terms of a Coke bottle. Instead of using the neck for fun, turn it around, look at the base, and you get an idea of what I’m talking about.”
“I call bullshit,” Tracy said.
I pulled out my phone and called Tyler, Adrienne’s partner. She’d seen it with her own eyes.
“Hey, it’s David. I have a friend who wants to ask Ryan Barlow to our prom,” I said and handed the phone to Tracy.
“David says that Ryan is … uh … hung,” Tracy stammered out.
“No shit!” she exclaimed.
She hung up, and I read the look in her eyes. She planned to get Ryan here and make him show what he had to all the girls. Poor bastard.
“So, who can you get to replace Craig Wild for Pam?” Tracy asked.
“How about Aden Reich? I met him in the UK, and I heard he got the young Han Solo role I tried out for,” I suggested.
“I’ll ask her. You don’t know Blake Seaver, do you?”
“Not just no, but HELL, NO!”
“Pam thinks he’s cute,” Tracy teased.
I was starting to hate that guy. I just threw my hands up and walked away before I said something rude.
◊◊◊
At lunch, I received a call from Caryn, my business manager.
“I had an interesting call from our local television station. They’re required to show Public Service Announcements to maintain their license. They got a new manager, and he plans to shoot new commercials. He asked if you would do them. I called Frank, and he talked to them. They want to do things that are local in nature. They said they would be willing to let you do three of them to support your causes: the homeless, teen pregnancy, and support for cancer victims and their families.”
“I’d be willing to do it. Ask them to send over scripts and let everyone see them to make sure there isn’t something that’ll bite me in the butt. I don’t want to be the poster child for STI prevention.”
She laughed but said she would take care of it.
◊◊◊
At the end of lunch, I helped Wolf and several of the guys set up the picnic tables. The weather had started to warm up enough that people wanted to spend time outside. Everyone who was part of the junior class projects committee joined us outside.
“You did an amazing job with the three projects. They were all successful,” Ms. Jaroslav said. “Everyone is impressed with your work on this. If you need letters of recommendation for your college applications, let me know.”
“I hate to ask this, but when do we need to send those in?” I asked, suddenly concerned.
“You have time. You should have them completed by the end of October.”
“I’ve already sent a few in,” Brit said proudly.
“Brownnose,” I mumbled.
She tried to hit me, but I grabbed her and tickled her.
“David!” she shrieked.
“Tim is going to kick your ass,” Wolf teased.
“More likely, it’ll be her overprotective brothers,” Alan suggested.
Both were distinct possibilities.
“Cassidy will protect me,” I shot back.
“I can take care of myself,” Brit huffed and then tickled me.
She was strong. I danced away, to the amusement of everyone.
It was nice to get the class projects behind us.
◊◊◊
At baseball practice, Moose had the outfielders gather around for more coaching.
“We watched the film from the past couple of games, and we noticed a big difference in how David is getting to balls compared to the rest of you. At first, I chalked it up to his athletic ability, but Coach Haskins pointed out that it’s how you’re approaching the first step on balls hit behind you.
“Many times, the initial move towards the ball will determine your success in fielding it. David, show them how you take your position in the outfield,” Moose said.
“I square my feet up, so I can go either direction. I assume that each ball will be hit to me. That means I’m on the balls of my feet, ready to go,” I explained.
“He makes an excellent point. If you expect that the ball will be hit to you, you’re always ready,” Moose said. “Now show them what you do if the ball’s hit over your right shoulder.”
“My first step is to whichever direction I’m going,” I explained as I demonstrated.
“Notice he’s taking an almost exaggerated first step. What this does is open up his hips so he can get a better jump on the ball. If you take a half-step,” Moose said, and demonstrated, “it takes you longer to get moving in the right direction. This is called a ‘drop step.’ It also allows you to cross over hard with your trailing leg so you accelerate faster.”
“This is something I learned from my speed coach. What the initial drop step does is get my hips pointed in the right direction. If I’m going right, I drop my right foot back and then cross over to my left. It helps me get a better angle on the ball,” I explained.
“One important point is to turn and run to a spot. What I see some of you doing is looking over your shoulder and drifting almost sideways because you’re trying to watch the ball the entire way. I want you to concentrate on running to a spot. The only thing that should turn is your head as you look back to find the ball,” Moose coached.
“Something else is, don’t put your glove up too soon. Think about how you run,” I said. “You want to have both arms pumping as you sprint, not holding the glove up. You’ll get more speed that way.”