Lean on Me
Copyright© 2025 by Danny January
Chapter 15
Romance Sex Story: Chapter 15 - The continuing chronicles of Jack Pierce. Autumn of 1982. The chronicles, in order are: 1. Feasting with a Silver Spoon 2. Summertime and the Livin' is Easy 3. Something Fishy Going On 4. Centerfield 5. Tourist Season 6. Lean on Me They are progressive and not meant to be stand-alone stories.
Caution: This Romance Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including mt/ft Consensual Heterosexual Fiction
Monday morning had gone well. We had a few more members of our team at our morning workout. They looked sleepy, but they were there. I did well on my physics quiz and turned in a paper for Advanced Composition that I was happy with. I’d forgotten about a test in Calculus that afternoon and moved to my old table to eat lunch and study.
I was about done when Kim and Miss Bentz sat down at my table. “Interrupting?” she asked.
“No. I was just finishing. What can I do for you, Miss Bentz?” She looked guilty.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh-oh.”
“Mrs. Augustine counted the ballots. Congratulations.”
“Whee,” I said, as unexcitedly as was possible.
“You two will be announced as the Homecoming King and Queen. Cheer up. Mr. Doolittle has volunteered the use of his car for your grand entrance.” Eric Doolittle’s dad drove his limo for me to pick Kim up on our first date.
“His limo?”
“No. He has something special. I won’t ruin the surprise, but I think it will make you smile.”
“Now I’m all curious. What do I need to do? What do we need to do?”
She slid a package across to me. “It’s traditional to dress up for the occasion. There will be photo opportunities. You’ll have the first dance after the game. That’s about it. You’ll have fun.”
“I don’t know any couple at PG that’s been photographed more than us,” I said.
“Take a chill pill, you poopoohead. It will be fun,” Kim said.
“Yeah, you poopoohead,” Miss Bentz echoed, laughing. The bell sounded, lunch was over, and I was ready for calculus. I wasn’t ready for homecoming.
My Calculus test was surprisingly easy. Computer Science was always easy. It was time to get wet. Our next meet was Tuesday with Bishop England coming to swim in our pool. I wanted to repeat my butterfly performance and try to lay down a qualifying time for the breaststroke. That was it. Anything else I did would be fun. I told Coach.
“Alright. Fly and breaststroke. How about swimming backstroke and IM as well?”
That was my goal for the day and the week. I worked on breaststroke. Coach Miller had given me the key areas to work on, and that’s what I did. With each lap, I focused on a different area. After three trips through the list, I tried to put it all together and thought I had.
“Gil! Breaststroke challenge,” I hollered when I saw him take a breath.
“You’re on, Aquaman.” Gil had the best breaststroke the previous year, and he was the man to beat on the Porter-Gaud team. If I wanted to qualify for regionals in the breaststroke, I needed to beat Gil, first.
Brian Gibbs asked if he could race us, and we welcomed him. Coach Miller called us to the start, and when we were all ready, he blew his whistle and started his watch. I had a great start and focused on being streamlined. I let the rest of my stroke take care of itself. At the first turn, I had a bit of a lead, but that was because of my start.
At the second turn, nothing had changed. I had a very slight lead, and the two of them were right there with me. Neither of them could catch me, but I couldn’t pull away, either. After two laps, the three of us touched within a half-second of each other.
Coach Miller tapped his stopwatch as though something were wrong with it, then walked down to our end of the pool. He squatted down next to us. “Gentlemen, Birch has the school record for the breaststroke. He also has a couple of regional and state titles. This is unofficial, but I do believe that the three of you just had the second, third, and fourth fastest times at Porter-Gaud. That’s probably not true. Birch probably has the six or eight fastest times, but after him ... I don’t know what to say. Mr. Gibbs, are you sure you’re a freshman?” He was beaming.
“What does that mean for us, individually?” Gil asked.
“Gil, there’s no limit on how many members of your team can qualify for regionals. If all three of you do, all three of you go.”
“Guys, let’s make that happen,” I said, and they were all in. “Hey Gil, last year, Bobby and I decided to come in first and second in IM at state. We did. How’d you like to come in second this year?”
“You’re a funny guy, Aquaman. Let’s do it.”
We spent the rest of the practice racing each other, and anyone else who wanted to race joined in. I knew Coach Miller loved practice sessions like that. When we finished practice, Coach told us what our race assignments would be for the next day. I noticed that he had Pauli Fenster listed for all the relays, and I knew why. Pauli was a good swimmer, and he’d be even better when he came back as a junior the following year. But he wasn’t fast enough to win a race. Coach Miller had him in the relays so he could beat his old school a couple of times. Coach didn’t miss much.
“Kim and I are going out to the center tonight, Coach. What do you suppose the kids will all be talking about?” I asked as we walked toward the locker room.
“We’ve had good weather for a couple of days. Probably that.” Funny guy.
“You know they’ll want to tell us all about the football game we all saw.”
“Probably. Enjoy it.”
“Thanks, Coach. That was a great idea, by the way.”
That night, Kim, Mel, Bobby, and I all got to hear about the football game we’d been at. The boys all wanted to see Kim and Mel do back flips and splits, and they particularly wanted to see their high kicks. I liked those as well. Kim and Mel declined their pleas. The girls wanted to know if the dreamy football players were coming back. In the middle of all that, we managed to get a little bit of homework done.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said on the way home.
“Would you rather see me do the splits, or a back flip?”
“I kind of like the high kicks, myself.”
“Uh-huh. They’re cute.”
“They’re horny.”
“Might be a little of that, too,” she said with a smile. “Do you have something to wear for Friday night?”
“Nope. Recommendations?”
“Let me think about it.”
After dropping her off at her house, I found Mom and Dane working on orchids in the greenhouse. Do any plants need more attention than orchids? I didn’t think so.
“Miss Bentz says Kim and I are shoe-ins for homecoming king and queen. What do I wear?”
“Ha. A purple robe, King Aquaman,” Dane said.
“Thanks a lot. Really. What do I wear?”
“I think most guys wear a suit. I would wait to see what Kim is wearing. You do not want to dress up fancier than Kim,” Mom advised.
“That’s sound advice, right there. I made that mistake one time.”
“Do tell,” Mom said.
“Janice fixed me up on a date with her friend.”
“Janice is your sister,” I said.
“Yes. She fixed me up on a date with her good friend. She said her friend was truly beautiful and friendly, and I would love her. I thought I would impress her. I overdressed for the occasion. Apparently, the friendly Miss Rhode Island didn’t like that.”
“Ooh. Miss Rhode Island.”
“Was she beautiful and friendly, and did you love her?” Mom asked.
“She was beautiful, but that’s about all I know. Don’t upstage your date, my fine friend.”
“Thanks for that, Dad,” I said, laughing.
“Miss Rhode Island. What was her name?”
“I don’t even remember. You could ask Janice. She was really encouraging. You wore a tux to take her to Taco Bell, you idiot,” Dane said, undoubtedly sounding exactly like his sister. “I didn’t take her to Taco Bell, by the way.”
Franklin called to let me know that kung fu was cancelled for the week. Sifu Chen had an illness in the family, and we should practice on our own. I asked him why his friend was called “The King.”
“He’s an Elvis impersonator.”
“No, really. Why is he called “The King” and don’t say he’s an Elvis impersonator. That’s silly.”
“Jack, he really is an Elvis impersonator. He’s really good at it.”
“He seems pretty stoic to be an entertainer.”
“Yup. Right until he puts his sideburns on. Then, look out.”
That was crazy. I guess you couldn’t argue with The King.
Tuesday morning, I worked on starts and turns. That was it. Just starts and turns. Coach Miller encouraged our newer guys to focus on technique so they would be fresh for our meet that afternoon.
At lunch, I asked Kim what she planned to wear on Friday night. “I’m a cheerleader, Silly. What did you think I was going to wear?” I stared at her and she stared back. Mel and Cassidy watched us stare at each other. Cassidy looked at her watch and pressed a button. I was getting pretty good at holding a poker face, but Kim was a master. When Kim asked, “How long?”
Cassidy said, “Four minutes,” and I lost it.
“Go with me to Marion’s Bridal after we work out today,” Kim said.
“Sure. White is traditional for homecoming dresses,” Cassidy said.
“Not a wedding gown. But she has formals and dresses for bridesmaids, too. I don’t know. Maybe I should just wear my cheerleading outfit.”
“And Jack can wear his Speedos. I like it,” Cassidy said, and pushed a button on her watch.
“Nice. I don’t think so. Cassidy, I’m glad you’re my friend. I’d hate to have you for an enemy,” Kim said.
“Well, if you ever turn on me, I’ve got a bunch of stuff saved up,” she said, and Mel, Kim, and I all started laughing.
“What a great line,” I said. Cassidy stared at me. “Push a button.” Cassidy laughed. Whew. I wouldn’t want her for an enemy.
We had a bleacher full of fans that Tuesday afternoon. That had been unheard of in my first year of swimming. We could thank Kim and the cheerleaders for a lot of that support. The Bishop England team was visibly surprised by all the support we had, and that was enough to make all of us smile.
Bishop England had their best people in the medley relay, and they took first and third. Gil took the two hundred free, and Allen surprised everyone by taking second. This was a great start for us. Coach Miller told me they were trying to figure out what events I would be competing in but couldn’t do it. We both thought that was funny. We stared at their bench, and I pushed a button on my watch. I wasn’t wearing a watch, but if I had been, I would have pushed a button.
When it came time for the two hundred IM, I walked to the starting blocks with Gil. “You and me, Gil. You and me.” He gave me a thumbs up, then motioned with one finger to himself and two fingers at me. Right. Not going to happen, Gil.
We had a great race and beat their best by three seconds. That was a huge victory margin. Gil assured me that he would win the next one.
Gil took the fifty free in a good time. It was a good time, but probably not good enough to qualify for regionals. If they would have pushed him harder, he probably would have had a faster time.
Butterfly. Fifty-two-two was the time to shoot for. I wanted to beat that time so badly I could taste it. A long whistle called us to the starting blocks. I windmilled a few times and shook my arms. I intentionally did not look to see who else was in the race. I had decided beforehand that I wouldn’t check on them before or during the race. I was racing the clock.
“Take your marks.” The wonderful sensation that time had slowed came over me, and I had plenty of opportunity to take a look at the bleachers and Kim’s smiling face. She held up her thumbs, and I saw her holler something, but I couldn’t hear it. I situated my feet, reached down to grab the front. I looked up at the starter and waited. I could see his thumb above the button. I saw him press it before I heard the horn, and I was off.
I had a great, soaring start. Underwater, I used my hips to drive my tiny flippers with the best dolphin kicks I could manage. Chin down. Streamlined. Turnover. I hit the wall and executed a nearly perfect turn. Chin down. Streamlined. Turnover. My second leg wouldn’t be as fast as the first because of the start, but it was good. My second turn was as good as the first. On my final leg, I had to force myself not to look at my competitors. Second place is the first loser, I thought.
I touched hard and looked at the clock before I took a breath. I had to laugh. Pierce, fifty-two-three. I’d swum a nearly perfect race, and it was one one-hundredth of a second slower than my best. Coach was ecstatic.
I looked up at him and rolled my eyes at my time. “Aquaman, that’s a great time. It means two things. First, it means the clock was right, and second, it means you can swim that fast when you want to.” I nodded and looked at the board. I’d won by three seconds, and Trey had come in second. Definitely a good start to the meet.
We held our own in the freestyle events, neither gaining points nor losing. My next race was the backstroke. I’d taken fifth in State the year before and expected to do well again. When I touched, I knew I had. I checked the clock, and it was almost exactly the same as my qualifying time from the year before. I hadn’t been working as hard on backstroke, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that it wasn’t faster than it was.
The last race of the day was the breaststroke, and my first chance to lay down a good time. Gil wanted to compete, but Allen and I had the better times in practice. If I could turn in a good time, Gil would have a chance to do the same in the future. The coach from Bishop England was at the scorer’s table, and we had an extra minute.
I realized that I was really confident. Was I being cocky? Did I think I could decide before I raced how much I would win by? Was that what I was doing? I paced around on the deck for a minute or two before the whistle. No. I wouldn’t worry about the other lanes. Just like on the fly, I would focus on swimming my own race. I wasn’t going to race three other guys. I was going to race the clock.
In the Tour de France, they called a time trial, The Race of Truth, or the Contre-la-montre. That’s what this was. That’s what all of my races would be. Each one would be Contre-la-montre, against the clock. The clock didn’t lie. The clock had no emotion. The clock didn’t care who won or by how much. I heard the whistle and climbed up on the starting block with a bit of a new outlook.
The horn sounded, and the Contre-la-montre began. I put my focus where it belonged. The race isn’t really long enough for deep philosophical reflection, but I did realize that two strokes, radically different from each other, had many of the same keys to success. Just like the butterfly, I focused on head position, being as streamlined as possible, and maximizing my glide. Smooth is fast.
When I checked the clock, I knew I had done enough. I knew I had done enough to qualify for regionals at IM, butterfly, breaststroke, back, and fifty free.
I climbed out of the pool and told Coach I wanted to swim one, two, and five hundred free at our next meet.
“I thought you might. Do I get to pick a race?” I’d only told him of three events, and I could swim four. “Swim IM again. You know your time is good enough to qualify. Push Gil.”
“Yes, sir. I can do that.”
“It’s our meet today. They’ve challenged us to one more race.”
There’s no official five-hundred free relay, but that’s what we swam. Allen led off, followed by Trey, Gil, and then me. They started out in front, Trey held his own, and Gil nearly pulled even. I had the strange challenge of coming from behind. I hadn’t had to do that since the state championships. It was a great race, and I just managed to edge them out for us to win one more time.
They congratulated us on a good meet, then told us they would have clobbered us if we hadn’t stolen Pauli Fenster from them. They razzed him and he enjoyed it. Last year, I hadn’t liked Bishop England very much, but times and people had changed.
“Baby, if I qualified for all eight events at regionals, what should I compete in? What do you think?” I asked on our drive home.
“We’ve been over this before, haven’t we? You already have four state titles. You could try to take the other four. I think you should try to take the fifty free, five hundred free, and IM. There. That’s my input, for what it’s worth.”
“Fifty because whoever wins that is the fastest, five hundred means you have endurance, and IM means you’re well-rounded.”
“That’s the way I see it.”
“I wonder if I could swim all eight events at our next meet.”
“I thought four was the limit.”
“It is. But if I could swim four, officially, and the other four unofficially, that would really be helpful.”
“That sounds like a great idea. Why wouldn’t they let you do that?”
“I’d be a distraction to other swimmers. Maybe Gil and Allen, maybe Aaron, would swim events against me. You could be our timer.”
“Just say ‘when’ Aquaman.”
We joined Mom for a brief but good pull workout. When we first started over a year ago, we were motivated to make every workout a maximum effort. Over time, we’d become satisfied with having good workouts. That meant a solid effort with good form, and working at least one set to failure per body part. It seemed like a good compromise on days we wanted to shorten it up a bit.
Kim went inside to shower and change. So did I, but in a different bathroom, because Mom doesn’t care if we waste water. I told her our plans, and we decided to eat out. She was happy to serve Dane leftovers. Uncultured Yankees like him didn’t seem to mind.
We drove to Marion’s Bridal, where Katie was happy to see us. When we told her what we were looking for, she walked us back to a rack of dresses.
“These are all bridesmaid dresses that went unclaimed. These with the green tags will fit you. Purple might, too, with a bit of alteration. I bet you can find something you’d like. What about you, young man?”
“I would probably need one of those with a yellow tag,” I said, pointing to larger dresses farther down the rack.
“Funny guy. I’ll let you look, Kimmie. Come with me, sweetheart. We have some tuxes next door that I bet would fit you just fine.”
I followed her through a door to a connecting shop. She showed me two different racks of tuxedos. “A tux is a suit. However, a tux will have satin detailing, especially on the lapel and sometimes a stripe down the leg. With a tux, you’d want a shirt with a bit more frill and a bow tie. A cummerbund is pretty common, too. Oh, and you never wear a belt with a tuxedo.”
“How do you hold your pants up?”
“Suspenders, of course. Everything on these racks was either ordered and never claimed or a one-time rental that’s been drycleaned. The shirts on that rack are all new.”
“These seem to be about the same price as a suit.”
“These are, maybe a little more. They can get expensive, though. Lapel sizes seem to change over time. If you want it to last, don’t pick one out that has extremely wide or narrow lapels.”
I pulled one off the rack and looked at it. “This looks good to me,” I said.
“It should. That’s the most expensive tuxedo on the rack, and you won’t be able to wear it very often. It has tails, sweetheart. A tailcoat tuxedo is only worn for the most formal events. They would call it a white tie affair.”
“No tailcoat, then.” She shook her head. Hmmm. “How about this one?”
She helped me find a great tux, and all it needed was for the pants to be hemmed. I had my hands full when we went next door. I placed all my goodies on the counter and went to check on Kim.
“This or this?” she asked, holding up two different dresses.
“I’d like to see you in that red one. Wow.”
“That is a red lace goddess dress,” Katie said.
“The title is perfect. Try it.”
Katie pointed her toward the fitting room. Kim knew where it was. While Kim was getting dressed, Katie told me when I would want to wear a black bow tie and when I would want to wear a white one. “You’re going to be king. You can wear what you want. If I were you, I’d wear a red bow tie.” I got one of each. Why not?
I was standing on a platform while Katie chalk-marked my pants for alteration when Kim came out. “Oh, my,” Katie said, and that about summed it up.
“We’ll take two,” I said.
“You like?”
“You’re stunning, Baby. Just, stunning. Wait. What’s after stunning? You’re breathtaking, Baby.” She gave me a brilliant white smile with her amazing, deep dimples.
“I bet you’d want me to wear my cheerleader red lipstick, too, wouldn’t you?” I was speechless. I nodded.
Kim checked herself out in the mirror, then went to change back. “She’s stunning, Jack. She’s absolutely stunning.”
“You don’t have to convince me.”
“Wipe your chin, Honey. You’ve been drooling.” I wiped my chin, and she laughed.
Katie had an alteration to make to Kim’s dress, and she needed to hem my slacks. We left those, but I took my shirt, ties, and the rest and drove us home. “I didn’t want to be homecoming king, but you know what, it’s kind of fun to get all dressed up. It will be really fun to have you on my arm. I don’t like to be the center of attention, but with you on my arm, every guy there will be incredibly jealous, and no one will be looking at me, anyway.”
“Oh, good. I didn’t want this to be something you suffered through for my sake.”
“No, no. And, Baby, you look amazing. You always look good, but that dress is something else.”
“Yes, it is. And now, I have to calm down and do accounting and history homework.”
“We haven’t eaten. Want to stop somewhere? I completely forgot. Baby, you could make a man forget his name.”