"I guess not," Hawk agreed. "It makes me wonder what I've been doing with my life."
"Right," I drawled. "Star quarterback for the Lowball Bay Humpbacks. That's quite the waste. Just think, you could have gone into computer game design."
He exhaled loudly. "What a missed opportunity. I should have known playing football wouldn't get me anywhere."
"Just everywhere," I said.
He shrugged. "It opened a door or two. I've certainly seen and done things I wouldn't otherwise have seen and done. I'vemet some amazing people. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said it's influenced every aspect of my life. I'm lucky."
"You put your success down to luck?” I asked, half-teasing.
He smiled. "No. It's been a shit-ton of hard work. That's the thing most people don't realise. Not just that though, it's about the people you surround yourself with. They've helped me to get through all the rough patches."
"Like Lori Franks?" I said softly.
"Yeah. And you," he said. "If it wasn't for you?—"
"Someone else would have tutored you," I said firmly. "Or you might have realised you needed to apply yourself a bit more."
"We already agreed high school me was a dumbass," he said with a self-deprecating smile. "I wanted to play ball. I didn't want to understand Shakespeare. He had nothing to do with my ambition, as far as I was concerned."
"The point of Shakespeare is how well he understood human nature," I reminded him.
"Yeah." Hawk gave me a regretful look. "High school me failed at that too, remember? But I have three weeks to prove I've changed. You'll see, I'm way more awesome now than I was back then."
With the memory of those words ringing in my ear, I reached for my coffee mug, but found it empty. I'd need a refill to give me a boost to get this article written.
The longer I worked, the more I wondered if I'd ever really known Hawk Florence. And what was going to happen once I did.
