Chapter 8: Odds and Innuendo

Fixing things was slow going. It was around a month till I achieved some sense of normalcy. Even then I wasn’t hanging around with the twins that much and most of the time I did was spent in ‘youthful indiscretions’ with Daniel; a bit of graffiti, exploring varying abandoned buildings and mines, some actual property damage at selected targets, and other dumb kid stuff.

Scott knew he was on thin ice with me and seemed to be treating Alex like the goddess she was, but I suspected that was more of fear from my response than out of any emotional growth. It was still an inevitability that he was going to hurt her and I was going to respond.

I’d gotten into a few minor squabbles after I’d sidelined Scott for the season. Some of the students weren’t happy that their best player was down. I met two players after school and off campus and that seemed to abate. I came to realize it was more about loss management as with Scott unable to play it went from losing by 14 or 21 to losing by 42 or 60 in one case.

About half the time I was around Alex I was wrapping myself in the cold, particularly since she seemed intent on telling me about how amazing Scott was. I wanted her to be happy, practically needed it ... even if it didn’t include me, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear her moon over another man.

Things were a bit awkward with Erin too. She didn’t quite get why I was so intent on us remaining friends after what would have been a stellar date, but I wasn’t willing to interfere with sibling love and wasn’t inclined to say, “I don’t want to step on your brother’s toes” in case I was wrong.

Sarah was probably my closest relationship to our ‘normal’, we still listened to Jazz on Thursdays. I still helped her grade papers. We still chatted pleasantly, but I was more hesitant to share anything about my life. Trust is a choice, but it’s one I’ve always had a harder time making than most. Once ours was damaged it would take time to rebuild them. The ‘good night’ kiss was also new. It seemed to oscillate wildly between a chaste peck on the lips (or in one case my cheek) to something more.

My punishment for Lis officially ended with homecoming. We’d had two more babysitting sessions in the interim, but I’d promised her mother to take her to homecoming and that ended up with us back at her very vacant house and well, give a 15-year-old a willing partner and no supervision and any willpower they have will quickly fade.

The other cheerleaders were a bit easier, I caved Monica pretty quick. Things weren’t quite back to normal, but another truth or dare session and things were mostly back to the status quo with us. I had become quite a bit closer to Beth though. She’d been standing in for Sarah as my sounding board.

Things with Amanda were weird. Her fiancé had leave and that seemed to increase our meetings at the school. After he left, she’d kept me at arm’s length for a week. We’d had an all-night session on a Tuesday and it was Wednesday when the next thing of note happened.

It was during Band class. My other had finally stopped suggesting setting the orange and yellow décor on fire. She was tinkering today. There were only a few games left, but she was having the marching band practice elements of the routine in the band room.

Lis had disappeared through the door to the auditorium. Scott was perched on the cabinet where the secondary percussion was kept playing a Gameboy he’d ‘borrowed’ from one of the freshmen. I made a mental note to make sure the kid got it back.

I was seated at the piano playing at an etude while reading when Amanda went into her office, “No, no, no. I’ll show you how I want it done.”

I glanced about the room mildly amused at her insistence on teaching pomegranates to dance. She came back into the main band room carrying a video tape and marched over to the Television in the corner and plugged it in.

I couldn’t resist looking to see what she was so insistent on showing. I was greeted by the band from what I presumed was the seventies. The routine was pretty blasé; concentric circles, followed by alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise spins based on instrument groups. The cameraman walked closer and circled the band and I saw my mother was among the members who were being taped. I briefly wondered if this had been copied from a reel-to-real set-up.

It was then that I heard, “Hey, Moira ... Smile, candy girl!”

The twin-beating stone in my chest went into hyperdrive and I could feel the blood pooling in my ears. My muscles tensed and froze and I forced myself to stand and head towards the auditorium. My other screeched, “Shadow, get to the dark.”

I couldn’t quite catch my breath, but on pure willpower alone I made my legs move; one foot in front of the other. I could hear the stone pounding in my blood-filled ears. My stomach started to cramp. I moved down the hallway and around. I moved into the alcove and opened the tiny door and crawled in.

I listened to the pounding and tried to catch my breath. I realized I’d wrapped my hands around my knees. I could see the crawlspace that led under the stage. I forced myself to my knees and crawled forward into the safety of the dark.

Eventually, my breathing regulated, and I was able to slow my heart rate. I realized I was caked with sweat. I lied down and counted; It was a video tape 1, It was a video tape 2. When I made it to 500, I went through another of the crawlspaces and came out into the other alcove. I made my way back to the band room, which was vacant, save for Amanda.

“What the fuck happened?”

“Where did everyone go?”

“Class was over an hour ago. Your little cheerleader friend said you were under the stage, so I waited.”

“Where is the tape?”

“What?”

“The video tape.”

“On my desk ... why?”

“Grab it. I want to burn it.”

“It’s school property.”

“Then say it broke in the machine. That tape can’t exist.”

“It’s what set you off?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

She gathered the tape, and we went to her duplex. I burned it in a trashcan which set off the smoke alarm.

A week later; The bet:

I’d just had my first time with Jill since the Lysistrata. It had been a giggly encounter and taken place during cheerleading practice (read in lieu of it) rather than after. It had taken me by surprise, but we’d done the work in rebuilding our friendship.

What happened after we left the alcove and back towards center stage was Stacy getting annoyed, “Can we actually practice now?”

“Sure, you wanting a turn? Been a while since you explored your bi side.”

She got angry and hissed, “Like you’d make it worthwhile anyway.”

Jill took to mimicking a spotlighted deer and Beth said, “Stacy, Don’t.”

“Made you cum ... repeatedly.”

Stacy shot back, “Only cause when we’ve fooled around Jill or another girl was involved. You know damn well you couldn’t do it on my own.”

Beth glared her down, “Stacy, you need to stop.”

Something inside me cracked. I wasn’t sure if it was because she questioned my ability, her continued denial of her own nature, or that things were just getting back to normal when she challenged me, but the I reached for the steel, “Wanna bet?”

Beth’s glare softened and turned to me at her tone. Jill whispered, “Stacy, take it back.”

Stacy doubled down, “Sure. What do you want?”

I smiled and watched Jill take a step away from me, “No more bullshit. When you lose this, no more pretending. Your game is over. You admit what you are and you agree to do anything I say till the end of the year.”

“Fine. I want money.”

“I’ve got 200 dollars in my wallet.”

“Deal.”

“Beth will hold the money.”

Beth looked sheepish which was completely out of character for her, but I dug in my backpack and handed all my cash to her. Then I followed Stacy out to her truck and we ended up back at her place.

Stacy’s house four hours later;

I could feel her convulse as I pounded into her. I stopped, “Mark it.”

“Please you don’t have to make it so embarrassing.”

But she grabbed the sharpie and added a scratch mark to her arm, “What’s the count, my ginger princess?”

“12. Fuck...”

“So, Have I won our little bet?”

I stared at her eyes and saw tears ready to form, “Yes. Please don’t tell Jill.”

“Fine. One more and I’ll fill you up. Then we can keep this a secret.”

I kissed her. Her tongue found mine.

“Maybe I should take you off birth control, keep our indiscretions a secret from Jill till you start to show, have you confess that the only thing you love more than her knocked you up. Make you my little brood mare.”

“I don’t...” She whispered between moans.

“You do ... you’re so close ... just tell me what you love most in the world and you get to have it.”

“I want ... I want your cock! Please, please let me cum.”

I started slamming into her with full force as she raised her hips to meet each thrust. When I was about to cum myself, I kissed her and reached down and touched her clit sending her into her final set of convulsions. She stared at the ceiling beyond me. Blissed out and unreachable. I pinched her cheek as I pulled out. The load I’d blasted into her joining the already tremendous wet spot on the bed. “Regardless of the bet ... you know I own you right? Any time I want you’d bend over for me and beg, because you need it that much.”