"Of course, it's not always bad," Gramps said, swigging some coffee with a nod. "You can take some pretty nice vacations with two million dollars. Educational things like the rain forest or the Galapagos Islands. Maybe Antarctica."

"How about a new pickup truck, Gramps?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine. Nothing I need."

"Well," Troy's mom said, "either way, we'll need an agent. Let's get today's game behind us, and tomorrow I'll start to set up some meetings so we can figure out who to go with. I want to try and keep your life as normal as possible, Troy. A good agent can even handle the media for us, be a buffer."

"Buffer?"

"A barrier," his mom said, "between you and the teams, you and the media, all the outside distractions. You still need to go to school, have your friends, play your football."

"Well," Troy said, "football's over for now anyway."

His mom raised an eyebrow. "Seth didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

CHAPTER TWELVE

" WE LEFT SO FAST last night," Troy's mom said. "I guess that was my fault. He wanted to tell you before he made a general announcement, so no one knows."

"Tell me what, Mom?"

"No, you'll have to wait until you see him," she said. "I know he wants to be the one to tell you."

"Mom, you can't do this."

"Nope," his mom said, making a locking motion on her lips and pretending to throw away the key.

Troy jumped up and grabbed the phone on the wall. "I'll call him."

"Don't," his mom said. "Since the game isn't until four today, he's sleeping in. You'll see him at the stadium."

"Meantime," Gramps said, rising from the table, tugging free the necktie he'd hung on the back of the chair and looping it around his head, "we got church, so get yourself changed."

"Do I have to go?" Troy asked. "I just won the championship."