I think she was even more excited that Lincoln had squeaked into third place, and was going as a team. The coach let me ride back on the bus when I offered to buy the first five pizzas at Monical’s, and so the bus took us there. Between parents, coaches and athletes, everyone seemed to know what the girls had done, and the place was soon packed.
I called Mom and Dad and they met us there with a clean shirt for me; I’d gotten muddy from Peggy’s hug. Peggy’s parents showed up as well and seemed to be happy. I hoped it was for more than just how well Peggy did.
I was doing my rounds, talking to everyone, when Mitch came in. He went over to Peggy and kissed her again. She didn’t seem to fight it until she saw that I was watching. Then she put a little distance between them. She looked at me and gave me a weak smile.
I had to go to my acting class. The assistant manager had a pizza ready for Greg when I needed to go. I had her add a six-pack of Diet Coke to my order and found there was no charge for either. I paid for the pizzas I’d already ordered. Mom gave me a ride to class and then went back to Monical’s to give Dad and Peggy a ride home.
WHEN I WALKED INTO class, Cheryl took the pizza and patted my cheek.
“You’re such a good boy,” she said as Terrance and Debbie looked on.
The three college students attacked the pizza with gusto. I gave them each a Diet Coke. Kate came in and had a piece. Monical’s doesn’t cut their pizza in slices, they cut them into squares. I grabbed a piece and a Diet Coke and ignored the other people as they talked about their day. My mind was racing about Peggy and Mitch. Mitch was doing everything he could to push my buttons. I think he was still pissed I’d made him back off from Cassidy over the summer.
I thought Peggy was just inexperienced. She was just discovering her sexuality, and Mitch’s attention was flattering. I’d seen it happen the same way with Luke and April. If Peggy wasn’t careful, Mitch would take advantage of her. That included taking her virginity. My dilemma was that I wasn’t the one who could talk to her about this, because she would feel I was just acting jealous. Maybe Tracy could talk to her. I excused myself so I could call her.
“I need some help,” I started.
Tracy could tell I was serious.
“Just name it,” she responded.
“Mitch is sniffing around Peggy. He made a point of kissing her in front of me twice tonight. I’m afraid she’s going to get in trouble, hanging around him.”
“Slow down and tell me everything,” she told me.
I told her the whole story, starting with Cassidy and ending with today. Tracy said she’d go over to Monical’s and talk to her. I felt a lot better. Terrance came out into the hall and indicated they were ready. I thanked Tracy and went to class.
We ran through my first scene, and then started work on the next one. Kate had told me that they’d be doing a review of the previous scenes each time and then learning a new one. I saw the logic in doing it that way. She spent more time with me on enunciation and camera-awareness this time. After a half hour, we took a break.
“I have a Halloween Dance to go to on Friday. Do you guys have any ideas?” I asked.
What was I thinking? These were theater majors; of course, they had ideas. I rejected several that would have had me prancing around in my underwear—Terrance’s words, not mine. I would have to remember that phrase. Some days that was what it felt like when I was modeling.
Cheryl called her roommate who was studying to be a costume designer and had her come over when we were done with class. She had a Star Trek Into Darkness uniform. Cheryl and her roommate were seriously into this stuff. They explained that the uniform was an exact replica of what Captain Kirk wore in the movie. I thought the shirt was ugly. Not exactly a mustard-yellow or pea-green, I would call it a sickly yellow-brown. They also had a dark gray, more formal-looking uniform.
I selected that one and tried it on. I was taller and thinner than the guy who wore it before. Cheryl’s roommate, whose name I never did learn, fixed it in twenty minutes. I looked at myself in the mirror and was impressed. Surprisingly, Cheryl gave me a hug when I left.
I CALLED MOM AND DECIDED to walk over to Greg and Angie’s to surprise them. Mom said she would meet me there. I was happy to see Kyle was still up with his little playmate, Mac. She came to me, while he acted shy. I got her wound up and he wanted to be part of the fun. I was giving them raspberries and rolling around on the floor with them when Mom walked in.
“I’ll never get him to sleep now,” Mom told Angie.
“I was hoping your big baby would get these two worn out so they’d get to sleep,” Angie confessed.
It was funny to watch the two little munchkins go from full on to full out. I helped Angie get them into their cribs. Mac’s mom was at her night class, and Mac slept over most Wednesday nights. Greg and Angie got to leave Kyle either Friday or Saturday night. I think they were getting the better end of the deal.
On the ride home, Mom reported that Tracy had chased Mitch off, and Peggy had gone home with her tonight.
Thursday October 30
ALAN AND GINA LOADED their new software on my mom’s PC in the office. I had the six DVDs I needed to review. They took a few minutes to show me how to pick the start of a play and the end. They suggested I do this with all the plays before I did anything else.
They then showed me how to tag the players and ball. All I had to do was point, click, and enter the number of the player at each position. I then let the play run. The software analyzed the play and made a graphical representation of it. I had to give the play a name on both offense and defense.
They had me do three plays. Once they saw I understood their instructions, they left to go to school. I spent all morning inputting and letting the plays run. When I was done, the software took almost twenty minutes to process everything I put in.
I went and made myself grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I wasn’t surprised when Mom came home and joined me for lunch.
After we ate, I checked and found the software was done. It had created a playbook for this week’s opponent. I found I wasn’t quite done. It had a handful of plays it didn’t know what to do with. It allowed me to review them and put them into categories. The ones it was having trouble with were busted plays. I had to call Alan to figure out where to put them. He had me categorize them as special plays.
I spent the afternoon playing with the software and watching what St. Joe did on each play. Towards the end of the afternoon, I found the reports section. This is where I figured out where I’d gone wrong and how much this could help us. It was getting close to last period, where most everyone had study hall. I knew it gave me a little over an hour before football practice started. I called Coach Hope and my development team and asked them to come to my house.
When everyone showed up, I brought them to the office.
“Coach, we’ve been working to take the forms we got when we went to Kentucky and turn them into something better. We don’t have time to go through everything with you, but I want you to see a few highlights,” I told everyone.
I let Alan, Lily, Gina and Jeff explain what they’d been working on to help Coach understand what the software could currently do. They smiled when they saw how much I’d done today. Taking the time to watch the video and do the setup was a pain. This would give them something to dig into.
I showed them the reports section which Coach Hope spent ten minutes looking over.
“I guess I’m glad this confirms most of what I’ve uncovered. I think this proves you’re onto something. I can see this could save me time if we get someone to feed the films into it. What made you so excited?” he asked me.