Chapter 35: Open Declaration

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Nolan walked up to the three women and pretended to be surprised they were together.

"You are lucky this time," Mia said. "Mrs. Virgil watched the game and thinks you have real potential. She wants to advise you on football, media, and career opportunities."

Lisa had clearly chosen the softer version of Nolan’s plan.

Not an agent. Not a contract that could trip amateur rules. A public advisory role. A clean explanation for why she had entered his orbit.

Nolan looked at Katherine.

"What do you think?"

Katherine hesitated.

"I think... it sounds good. Why would you refuse?"

For Nolan’s future, she swallowed the discomfort.

"A career adviser?" Ford rubbed his chin and recited with theatrical seriousness. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Flea snapped his fingers.

"Rice’s mother is single. And rich. She wants you."

Thomas clapped Nolan on the shoulder and glanced, with absolutely no subtlety, at the orange fabric pulled tight across Nolan’s uniform.

"Callahan, time to use your strengths. Just do not let it affect performance."

In Thomas’s mind, this was obviously why Lisa had noticed Nolan. The boy’s talents were not confined to the field.

"Work hard," Thomas added. "If you become a name and have business resources behind you, money starts finding you."

"How do these things never happen to me?" Ford muttered.

He liked exactly Lisa’s type: mature, confident, expensive, and very much out of reach. That she had found Nolan instead felt personally unfair.

The other players made similar noises. Only Rice’s few remaining friends looked uncomfortable.

If Nolan and Lisa became anything, Rice would acquire a stepfather younger than he was.

No one wanted to be the person who told him that.

Maybe it was only business. Maybe Rice would never return. Better to see nothing, hear nothing, and survive the season.

Nolan shook his head with moral outrage.

"I am completely devoted to football. Your minds are filthy."

Everyone had seen Lisa approach Mia on her own. On the surface, Nolan had done nothing.

He had gained the substance, gained the cover, and now got to act innocent.

That was the cleanest kind of win.

After changing, Nolan did not take the team bus back. Lisa had invited Mia, Katherine, and him to dinner to celebrate the arrangement.

Outside the stadium, he found the women speaking with a man holding a notebook.

"There he is," Mia said.

The man turned.

"Nolan Callahan? I’m Jim, sports desk, Los Angeles Times. I noticed your last game through your school paper, and tonight confirmed it. Would you mind answering a few questions?"

"Coach Thomas’s friend?"

"That’s right. I’ve known him for years. When I heard a temporary quarterback had led a late comeback in his first real game, I planned to write a game story."

Jim tapped his notebook.

"Tonight changed that. The passing was impressive, but the running at the end was something else. At the high school level, that was running-back quality. I’d like to know more about your background."

He had already spoken briefly with Mia and Katherine. When he learned Nolan had barely touched organized football before this stretch, the story in his head grew larger.

A sudden star was always more interesting than a box score.

"A full interview would take hours," Lisa said before Nolan answered. "We are about to have dinner. Join us. He will be more relaxed, and your piece will feel more natural."

"Exactly," Nolan said. "Come eat."

Lisa had moved faster than him in her own field. Media was part of the game.

Jim did not resist for long.

The five of them climbed into Lisa’s stretch Lincoln.

It was not a cartoonishly long limousine, just an extended Lincoln Town Car with the original four-door shape preserved and a six-seat interior. Enough to announce money without turning the street into a parade.

On the drive, Jim began asking questions.

Nolan answered carefully. He did not expose anything he should not.

Lisa took them to a small Italian restaurant on Beverly Boulevard, east of Pan Pacific Park. It was not a celebrity palace, but the room was packed, the kitchen smelled expensive, and the owner treated Lisa as someone worth rearranging a floor plan for.

A table appeared outside.

They ordered.

Nolan ordered like a football player who had forgotten other people needed food too. Fried blossoms, lobster salad, roasted marrow with pasta, tiramisu, macaroni, steak, lasagna, pizza, octopus, sea bass. By the time the waiter finished writing, Jim’s eyebrows had climbed.

Nolan ate and answered questions at the same time.

He made sure to name the school and Thomas.

"I joined the team at a strange time," he said. "Without Coach Thomas giving me a real chance, I might never have discovered what I could do on a football field. I am also grateful to BHHS. The school’s investment in athletics gives players real support. Facilities, staff, equipment, structure. That matters."

He looked at Jim.

"Please print that part accurately."

Halfway through dinner, the chef-owner came out to ask how the food was.

After he left, Lisa explained, "He worked hotel kitchens for years and wanted his own place. I liked the food and helped him get the room open."

She said it lightly.

Jim heard the message anyway.

Nolan was not merely a high school athlete with a good arm. He already had a serious Hollywood figure near him, someone with money, restaurants, producers, agents, and press instincts in reach.

Media and stars needed each other. Better to understand a future star early.

"The school and Coach Thomas will be quoted as you said," Jim promised.

"Good." Nolan wiped his mouth and leaned back. "I have one more request."

Jim’s pen paused.

"Use the Times sports page to send a message. In the postseason, I expect BHHS to meet Santa Ana High. When we do, I will lead the Normans past the strongest football program in Southern California and put us in the CIF Southern Section title picture."

Katherine’s eyes widened.

"Nolan, that is too much."

She believed in him more than anyone, but even she understood the danger of challenging a powerhouse in print after only a handful of games.

Lisa nodded instead.

"I support it."

It was not only about whether Nolan could back the words up. The public loved a challenge. High school football did not attract attention like the NFL or college ball, but a loud new quarterback calling out a regional giant could make people look.

Jim understood that too.

It was a gamble.

Nolan had almost no reputation to lose. If he lost, he was a new player who had talked too early. If he won, the story would explode.

This was exactly the kind of gamble worth making.

He wanted Southern California’s king to notice him before he knocked the crown loose.

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