Chapter Twelve
Serena
I am always shocked by the number of students in my Physics at the Movies class. I never thought it would grow into the hugely popular class it has become. All the science majors insist in taking the class even though it’s a not a requirement, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised over the last few years at the number of non-science majors who take the class and report that they genuinely enjoyed what they got out of it. A few have even changed majors, and I love taking those students under my wing to help nurture their newfound love of science.
“Let’s continue our discussion of action scenes that would never work out in real life the way they do in Hollywood. This clip is from the Vin Diesel movie XXX. Let’s watch as Mr. Diesel snowboards his way out of an avalanche.”
Using a remote in my hand, I trigger the clip to begin playing at the front of the room. In it, Vin Diesel's character, Xander Cage, roars down the side of a mountain on a snowboard wearing your average run of the mill snow jacket and pants, no helmet or goggles, somehow defying all the odds to outrun the avalanche. When the clip finishes, I turn to the class.
“The fastest recorded run down a mountain on a snowboard is one hundred twenty-five miles per hour, but for the average person, they are likely topping out at around fifty miles per hour. However, we’ll give Xander Cage some leeway and clock him around eighty miles per hour since he’s supposed to be such a badass. The average avalanche falls somewhere between 130 to 200 miles per hour. Xander Cage has about a 32 feet head start on the avalanche. So, we’re assuming he’s traveling at about eighty miles per hour and that our avalanche is going at its slowest one hundred thirty miles per hour. How quickly is that head start equalized?”
There is a flurry of activity as the students work out the problem and hands start to shoot up across the room. I call on a girl in the middle of the classroom. “The snowboard and the avalanche would be equal in about half a second, Dr. Jacobs.”
“And what next?” I question.
“The avalanche would presumably envelop the snowboarder after that,” she replies.
“Very good,” I nod. “Now, would anyone like to see if they can outrun an avalanche tomorrow?”
There is a smattering of giggles through the room that quickly turn to whispers as the students, one by one, start to turn their attention toward one side of the room, looking at one another with excitement. I follow their gazes to the side entrance door and am shocked at the sight before me.
Cade Thomas.
My breath catches and my heart pounds hard in my chest. It’s been nearly three years, but I recognize him instantly. Now that I know who he is, he’s impossible to miss. His presence is all over town.
“Dude!” one of my seniors yells out. “You’re Cade Thomas, the Condors quarterback.”
People begin standing to move closer to him, pens and paper held out toward him, cameras flashing as the students try to take selfies with him.
I didn't know who he was until a couple of months after our encounter. Watching the news that night, his face was everywhere talking about his retirement. Even now, it’s impossible to miss him on the cover of gossip magazines week in and week out.
And while I am sure he enjoys the attention, I would like control of my class.
I whistle loudly, catching everyone off guard. “Mr. Thomas will be happy to sign autographs and take selfies with you, but only if you can control yourselves for the rest of my class. Is that alright with you, Mr. Thomas?”
He smiles with amusement. “Of course, Dr. Jacobs.”
I nod as Cade moves down the steps, finding a spot on the front row. “Since Mr. Thomas is here, and I know you are all far more interested in him than what we were discussing before, let’s switch gears to football. Now, any object thrown into the air follows the same basic trail. It travels up, gravity slows it down until it stops at its peak height, and then the ball comes down. What happens next?”
I feel Cade’s eyes on me as I call on a boy in the back of the room to answer. “Gravity accelerates the ball until it is caught or hits the ground.”
“And this principle is called?” I ask.
“Projectile momentum,” the boy answers.
“Very good. Now, when a punter kicks a ball, there are three factors he can control. What are they?”
I pick a different student to answer. “Velocity, angle, and rotation.”
“Excellent. He controls the speed at which the ball leaves his foot, the angle of the kick, and the rotation of the football. Now, why is the rotation of the ball important?”
I point at a student in the front. “The rotation of the ball will influence how the ball slows in flight because it will be affected by air drag.”
“Yes,” I agree. “A spiraling kick will have less air drag, and will not slow down as much and therefore, will stay in the air longer and go farther than an end over end kick. Now, what about the velocity and angle of the ball?”
Another student chimes in when I point to her. “The ball is moving at a given velocity of speed plus the angel of direction, depending on the force of the kick. The ball will move in two directions, horizontally and vertically, and how fast the ball goes in each direction depends on the angle of the kick.”
“Correct,” I smile at her. “If the ball is kicked at a steep angle, then it will go high, have a long hang time, but travel a short distance. It has more velocity in the vertical direction. If you want more velocity in a horizontal direction, the punter would need to kick at a shallow angle; it won’t go very high, but it will go a farther distance. The punter has quite a few decisions to make in a short period of time, doesn’t he?”
I move forward in the same vein as we talk further about the hang time and peak height calculations a punter might face before discussing the additional hurdles the kicker faces as he has the more difficult job since the ball usually reaches peak height before the football reaches the uprights.
I dismiss class forty minutes after Cade had walked in, and he is immediately swarmed by students. I collect my things and watch as he graciously talks to every student and signs everything waved in his face, smiling for selfie after selfie. I slip out a door at the front of the room instead of using the one at the side of the lecture room. It means I have to take a slightly longer route to my office, but I don’t mind.
I have no idea what Cade Thomas is doing in my classroom, and I’m not sure I care to know. If the rumor mill is to be believed, he broke up with his girlfriend last week for the millionth time, and if his pattern holds, he’s looking for any warm body to keep him company until he inevitably ends up back with Josephine. It’s a pattern the world has seen repeated time and again over the past four years. It’s a pattern I followed myself for a while, having put together the pieces after finding out who he really was.
I’m not interested in old patterns though. My life is so much different today than it was that night, and being someone’s quick fling has no appeal to me. If Cade Thomas is here looking for a quick roll in the hay, then he’s come to the wrong girl.
Before I can reach my office, I see Benjamin sprinting toward me.
“Serena, is it true? Cade Thomas was in your class? The Cade Thomas?”
“Yes, he showed up; he’s probably still there, in fact. He was signing autographs and taking pictures when I left. I’m sure if you hurry, you can catch him.” I walk away before he can say anything else and hurry the rest of the way to my office, closing the door behind me.
Leaning back against the closed door, I let out a huge sigh at successfully avoiding Cade. My eyes fall on a framed photo on my desk, and I smile, but my heart pangs just a little, too.