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Chapter 22 – I Might Be A Slut Monday July 11
I tried to talk Mom and Dad into letting me drive my car to Houston. I figured if I drove at the speed limit, it would only take me 14 hours, so I could probably get there in 10. They were so unfair sometimes.
I had a talk with my parents about people coming to Houston. It was decided that if I made the team, they would all come to Monterrey, Mexico instead. Mom said that Caryn had already looked into it, and people had been calling to put their names on the list. It might end up being cheaper to charter a flight and fly from here than it would to get airline tickets for everyone.
Moose, Coach Haskins, and Coach Herndon decided not to go either. Moose explained that he was confident in the coaching I was getting, so they wouldn’t add much. The biggest contribution they had made was to scout the other teams for us. This would be head-to-head, so I would see the other team play every day. I left the offer open for Mexico, and he told me they would think about it.
I was getting Fritz as my security person. Paul would rotate back to LA for a while.
Camp opened in Houston tomorrow. The plan was to fly in today and get a good night’s sleep. Bo Harrington was in Houston tonight, so I planned to go out to dinner with him and his new wife. He’d married the woman I introduced him to at Elite Camp. Bo had been shocked when I told him I’d gotten us dates, and that it was with a mother-daughter tandem. It turned out I couldn’t stand the daughter, but he’d hit it off with the mom. They’d gotten married while I was in Cuba, or I would’ve been there.
I heard a knock at the back door and walked over to let Fritz in.
“Hey, stranger,” I said as I hugged him.
We hadn’t really gotten to talk since the Orlando terror attack. He’d gone back to LA to take care of Rita, Trip, and Halle. He’d also lost a friend who he’d just hired. Paul said Fritz had needed some time to get his head back in the game. I was glad to see him.
“Paul said you have pictures from your fishing trip,” Fritz said.
He apparently wasn’t ready to talk about Orlando and the aftermath, so I got my tablet out and showed him the pictures. I told him that Paul had been the key to our success as his family had taken similar trips when he was growing up. I also had some pictures of the wildlife we’d seen. One day there had been a moose swimming across the lake. We’d also spotted a couple of black bears another day.
Dad filled him in on all the pranks. I think Fritz was jealous when he heard about the mojitos and Cuban cigars. He could’ve used a week in Canada as much as I had, and I’d needed it.
I convinced Fritz that we should take the Demon to the airport. Dad rode with us so he could drive it back home. There was no way I would leave it in an airport parking garage while we were gone.
“We’ll see you in LA” was Dad’s parting comment.
ESPN was having their annual awards show Saturday. I was one of six athletes up for the Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year. I’d already been named as one of their twelve National Players of the Year. They named one of each in six male and six female sports. My category was football. I was also up for the Joe Montana Award for the best high school quarterback.
ESPN had given me five tickets to the show, and I’d given two to my parents and one to Greg. I’d also invited Halle to be my date. I wanted my family to be there because this was a big deal. In the past, some Hall of Fame-type athletes had been named as the Male Athlete of the Year. Frank, my PR person, loved it and planned a campaign to promote my achievements that would go out if I won.
I made sure he’d run it by Mr. Morris before he finalized it. I didn’t want any more trouble with the NCAA than I absolutely had to have.
The studios wanted Halle and me to be seen together, but we’d avoided that until now. Paul Andon, the executive who had signed me for the two Star Academy sequels, wanted me to be out front, now that Craig was no longer with us. Halle had been in both Star Academy and The Secret Circle. Paul desired for us to be seen together more often. That was why Halle had shown up at the Under-18 baseball Gold Medal Game to sing the national anthem.
My thought was that if Halle was okay with it, I would be more than happy to be seen with her.
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On the three-hour flight to Houston, Fritz finally opened up.
“Trip had microsurgery on his shoulder to repair the nerve damage. He has about 95% of his motion back, and they expect he’ll get more with therapy. The doctors said that if the bullet had been just a little higher, it would have destroyed the nerve bundle, and he might not have any use of his arm.
“Of course, Rita has been a mess. I think if it hadn’t been for the movie’s launch, she would have fallen into depression. She threw herself into her work, and it helped her keep her mind off almost losing her son.
“Halle has been a trouper. She has stepped up and helped both Trip and her mother. I’m not sure if she’s happy in LA, though. She misses her friends,” Fritz said.
“I thought Halle had lots of friends there. I remember she took me to a party on one of the first nights we were there.”
“What did you think of them?”
“That they thought they were in an episode of 90210. They were a bunch of posers.”
“And you wonder why she would rather be back here?” he asked with a tight smile.
“I guess.”
“I realize Halle loves LA and the movie business, but she likes going to school at Lincoln High. There isn’t the gamesmanship and the one-upmanship she had to contend with at her old high school. I do know she’s excited about seeing you on Saturday.”
“How are you doing?” I asked.
I could see Fritz was struggling. He finally gave me a sad look.
“I’ve been lucky. I’ve never lost anyone until the attack on Pulse. And I’ve never had a primary injured before,” he said, and then blushed. “You don’t count. You tried to get eaten by sharks and faced off a gang.”
“No, I get it. If you do your job right, it’s boring. I hope, for my family’s sake, that it stays that way. Your guy died doing his job. He made sure Trip was safe and called for help.”
“I just wish he’d been carrying. It might not have mattered, facing an assault rifle, but I’ll never have my team protecting someone again without at least access to a gun. It was a hard lesson to learn, and frankly, I knew better. I blame myself for not having him armed. We’re also going to start wearing vests.”
“You realize it wasn’t your fault. Trip and Craig just by happenstance found themselves in the middle of all that. There was no way to predict they would be facing someone bent on gunning down a dance club.”
“It only takes once,” Fritz said.
He had me there. I agreed that he needed to reevaluate his security measures. I would suggest a review anytime something went wrong; take a step back and look at what happened. This was a lesson I needed to learn.
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We arrived at the Houston airport, gathered our bags, and found a man with a sign with my last name on it. He led us to the curb where a Bentley Continental Flying Spur was waiting.
“Get in the back,” Fritz ordered.
Fritz signed the man’s tablet and then loaded our bags into the back. I guess he was making other changes in how he handled security and driving duties for me. This car rivaled any I’d ever been in for luxury. I’d found the seat massager and was playing with the different settings when Fritz finally finished loading.
“I take it I don’t get to drive.”
Fritz just ignored me as he put the address for the hotel into the GPS. The team was staying at the Hampton Inn because we could walk to Minute Maid Park if need be. Fritz had arranged to have me in the same room I’d been assigned for the tryouts, so I wouldn’t need to change tomorrow. He’d booked the adjoining room, which had a pass-through door, for security reasons.