Chapter 3

After lunch, William was with the majority of the junior boys, wearing white tee-shirts and gym shorts.

Head coach Vetch frowned as he looked over the new additions to his class. A few looked like they might have the build to be proper athletes, but it didn't appear any of 'em have the proper heart. With a mental sigh he blew his whistle, "Alright boys, welcome to physical education. It's the first day of the year, so you know what that means?"

Some wag in the back said, "We get to ease into the year?"

The adult glared at the area the voice had come from, "Not quite. It means you're going through your paces to set your baseline for the rest of the year. It's basically the Presidential Fitness Exam, so count off and head to the stations."

Vetch nodded to himself as he watched the boys go through the various exercises. By and large, he'd been right on the money about who was worth keeping an eye on. However, there had been one surprise for him. Bill King had blown past the exam's benchmarks and even from across the room the coach could tell the teen wasn't even close to pushing himself. After the bell rang, he sent most of the teens, the majority of who were panting like old dogs, to the showers, but kept King. "Hey Bill," is as far as he gets before the teen holds up his hand, if not imperiously at least authoritatively.

"Coach Vetch, I respect you as an educator, but for future reference, it is William. I do not like to answer to Bill or Will and I shall not answer to Billy. I shan't ask you to address me by my surname. Is this acceptable?"

The adult had been stunned by the amount of authority coming from such a small teenager, and that had been before he'd spoken. He nodded, "At least you're up front about it. I can live with that William. Now, for my question, why haven't I heard of you before? A guy with your fitness should be a superstar in your sport of choice."

The teenager nodded, "I prefer not to tie myself down with conventional sports. I have my hobbies that keep me in peak physical condition."

"Oh, what hobbies are those?"

King frowned for a moment before he nodded to himself, "I'll make you a trade. Knowledge I possess for access I'm hoping you'll be able to grant, for myself and any associates I might have. You see I haven't found any place in this town to practice my hobby and I suspect that you're fishing for training tips to help give your athletes a leg up."

"So, you tell me what sort of training you do and in turn, I make sure you've got access to the facility when we're not using it." He grinned widely, "I like you Mr. King; you've got both balls and a deal." He held his hand out.

William wasn't surprised in the least to have his hand completely engulfed by the man's as they shook; he was just glad the coach wasn't a knuckle grinder. "I'm a ballet dancer. Ballet's where I did most of my early training and I continue because it's spectacular exercise."

"That ... could be a problem. Ballet's not the most manly of sports."

King gave the adult a lazy grin, "Maybe, but not that hard, at least if you talk to the cheer coach, get her to sign her girls up. It's a chance to check out girls in skin tight outfits, while showing off what they've got in similar outfits."

"You know I'm not supposed to appeal to their libidos, right?"

"Would you prefer I did?"

Vetch blinked, then blinked again, "You'd actually try and talk them into joining the ballet club?"

"With you backing me up, yes."

"What are you thinking?"

"You note that anyone who joins will have a leg up come next tryouts. Then if there's still a problem, I'll put forth a little challenge. Interested?"

"Completely. Where do you want to hold this meeting?"

"The track. It's a quarter mile, right?"

"Give me twenty minutes to round my guys up."

William nodded before heading out to the track field.

It took a bit under half an hour but the varsity squads of the football, baseball, and basketball teams found themselves gathered in front of an apparent pipsqueak freshie.

The quarterback said, "Hey coach, what's up?"

Vetch said, "Listen up guys, Mr. King here wants to start a ballet club here and he wants you to join, and I want you to sign up."