When I came out of the shower, I found that Duke had bailed on me and gone to the house with Megan. As I walked downstairs, the gate opened, and Fritz pulled in. Part of the fence project was additional parking on the side of the garage. Fritz pulled his little Honda to the back spot.
“Breakfast is ready,” I told him as he followed me into the house.
Everyone was seated at the kitchen table. Mom brought Fritz and me each a bowl of cheese grits with sausage crumbled in it. It was something I’d brought back from Georgia, and we had it about twice a month. Little David was flirting with me and held his arms out. I lifted him out of the high chair to hold him. He was about six months old now and was starting to show his personality. He almost always seemed happy.
“What happened with Alan?” I asked.
“I took him home to his parents. He’s getting a little mouthy for my taste. His parents agreed, and he’s grounded until school is out. I told them how I took your debit card, phone, tablet, and car keys. His dad mentioned his gaming account needed to be frozen. By the time I left, he regretted challenging me,” Mom said.
“Does that mean he can’t go to Prom?” I asked.
Funny how this time last year, I would have worried about him, but now I just thought about how it affected me. Not that I was becoming self-centered—though I believe everyone is to some extent—it was just that emotionally, I had no sense of friendship for him anymore.
“That’s exactly what it means. You’ll just have to find another date for Leah,” Mom said.
Mom had met Leah Johansen in LA on set and liked her. By now, I’d half-expected Kara to bail on me. If she had, I would be more than happy to take Leah.
“I’ll put Tracy on it, though I suspect most everyone has a date by now. Believe it or not, I heard even Phil has snagged himself a date,” I said and looked at Dad.
I’d teased him that Mom must be the common denominator in Greg and me being able to attract girls because my half brother had zero skills in that department. Dad gave me a smug ‘I told you so’ look.
Dad resumed reading the paper, and when he got to the sports page, he looked up at me.
“Did you know about this?” he asked.
He had to be talking about Moose’s announcements about individual honors.
“Moose mentioned it last night after the game,” I said.
“Mentioned what?” Mom asked.
“David was named to the All-State team for baseball. He’s also on the All-Conference team. The article says that Gatorade will pick from the State Players of the Year for the twelve sports they name awards for. It goes on to says that David is on the final list for football.
“It then says the twelve National Players of the Year will be evaluated. From that, both a male and female Athlete of the Year will be selected. The article says Gatorade takes into account several factors, including exemplary character.
“Jeff Delahey seems to be having a lot of fun in the article, pointing out that you’re a straight ‘A’ student; the consensus number one prospect in the junior class as judged by the scouting services; and then listing everything you’ve done for the community. He also mentions that you were on the USA Today and Rivals All-American teams. Here’s one I didn’t know about: you’re a finalist for the Joe Montana Award as the nation’s top high school quarterback. This article looks like an open letter from Jeff to Gatorade to promote you for Athlete of the Year,” Dad said.
“When will we find out?” Megan asked.
“It says that the awards will be presented at the ESPY Awards in July. The Athlete of the Year awards will be shown on the show this year along with the Joe Montana Award. If Jeff has any say in it, you’d better book your plane tickets,” Dad said, and then read on. “The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which is ESPN’s division for high school sports. Past national winners include Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith.”
I admit, when it was announced I’d won for football, I’d looked into it to see if a junior had ever before won in football. Matt Barkley had done it in 2007. He’d gone on to win the Athlete of the Year in 2008. He played his college ball at USC and then made the Chicago Bears’ roster as a backup quarterback.
Matt was a star at USC and, after his junior year, was projected to be the number one quarterback taken in the draft. Instead, he decided to return to USC for his senior year. Preseason, USC had been rated number one but lost their opening game. In his last game, he injured his shoulder and was unable to play in USC’s bowl game. He was also unable to take part in the NFL Scouting Combine and instead took medical tests on his shoulder. Because of that, he was projected to drop out of the first round. Philadelphia picked him up in the fourth round.
