Change of Hart(3)

Before I could respond, I heard someone else come into the room.

“Well hello, Jason. You seem to be buddy-buddy with this lovely teacher.” She walked over to Lindsay and shook her hand. “I’m April Gill, Channel 5 News.”

Lindsay shook her hand but didn’t say a word. “Just how do you two know each other?” April asked.

Adam jumped in and started guiding April by the arm to the door. “I’m sorry, Ms. Gill, but Mr. Hart isn’t here to answer media questions today. You are welcome to get all the footage you need during the pep rally, but any request for an interview will need to go through me. Do you have my card?” Adam whipped out a business card and held it out to her.

April’s eyes narrowed as she answered Adam. “I have your number already. Thanks Adam,” she said with a chill in her voice. Then she turned and stomped away.

“What was that about?” Lindsay asked me.

I shook my head. “That,” I answered, “Is April Gill. She is a thorn in my side.”

“Why?” Lindsay asked. “Don’t tell me she’s one of the oats! “

I pulled the name tag off my shirt and began absent-mindedly playing with it. “Oh, believe me,” I started, “I do my best to stay far away from that one.”

“We’ve had a lot of problems with her,” Adam said, sitting down in the blue chair right next to mine. “She is notorious in the locker room for buddying up to some of the team. Then she turns on them once she gets some dirt she can turn into a story for the ten o’clock news.”

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. “And it keeps happening? Seriously, Jay, what kind of idiots do you work with?”

I chuckled. “Idiots that get hit in the head a lot on the field.”

We sat around, catching up on life for about thirty minutes before her principal came in to introduce herself and give us a quick rundown on how the pep rally was going to go. Lindsay led me through a door that brought us backstage.

While we waited for our cue, I got to peek through the curtains at roughly seven hundred children sitting on the floor of the cafeteria. They seemed to be equally mixed: black, white and Hispanic - with a few Asian children sprinkled in here and there. It was funny watching how they were all fidgety and couldn’t keep their hands to themselves while they were waiting for the show.

Lindsay had told me Mountain Park was forty-three percent economically disadvantaged. Meaning forty-three percent of all these kids lived in enough poverty that they got to eat lunch for free or a reduced price. That struck me as odd because it didn’t look like any of these kids were poor. They were clean. They were well behaved. They listened well, once they stopped fidgeting. Lindsay said the staff and administration worked really hard to make sure these kids understood that not having a lot of money didn’t mean they weren’t expected to always do their best. And it showed.

Seeing all of that through the curtains really cemented my respect for my friend. I always knew she was amazing. But little did I know she would make such a huge impact in her community. It made me really proud of all she had accomplished.

As Lindsay came out from behind the curtain, I positioned myself for my entrance.

“Hi, kids,” Lindsay said into the microphone. “Welcome back to school! Are you guys excited to have another fantastic year?”

“Yeah!” I heard the kids respond. Lindsay continued.

“It is very important to study hard and always try your best, because your future holds big plans for you. But you can’t get there without hard work and preparation.”

I peeked through the curtains again to see the small faces that were absorbing everything Lindsay was saying. They looked so excited and hopeful about their futures. It made me excited to get to talk to these kids. I needed to show up at more events like this.

“So today, I have a special person here to talk to you about working hard and always trying your best, no matter what. He was my very good friend in school and he’s still my very good friend! Can you please welcome Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman, Jason Hart!”

I walked out from behind the curtain and waved amid squeals and cheers as I made my way to Lindsay and the microphone. I was used to hearing people yelling for me, but it made my chest puff up even more to hear all the kids. Something about it being kids made it more exciting to me.

“You always had a way with a microphone and a crowd,” I said in Lindsay’s ear when I got to where she stood. She rolled her eyes and handed me the microphone.

I looked around at the sea of young faces.

“Hey, guys!” I started. “My name is Jason Hart and I play football for the Dallas Cowboys.”