Chapter 32

Thursday was a day like any other and I was starting to really appreciate having the normalcy of a routine. My courses were going well. I was talking to Tricia three or four times a day as our classes allowed and I wasn’t getting hard stares in the hallway. Later on, I’d remember this time fondly. It wasn’t destined to last.

At lunch I told the girls about the coach meeting us at my place. We had enough cars between Gina, Lana and Jessie that we could all squeeze in for the ride to my place.

They were thrilled at that news and then I excused myself to call the gyms about pricing and availability. The first one seemed ideal, but the price seemed high. The second had a good price, but they weren’t sure their facilities were what we’d need when I explained the rental purpose, explaining that some of the safety mats we’d want would be in short supply. I called back the first place and arranged to pay for the first seven months if they could give us the gym from 3:30 to 6:00 on Mondays and Thursdays. They promised that was doable and I told them I’d be by tomorrow with the amount they’d quoted me for the full gym for that time.

When I returned to the cafeteria, they squealed with delight and I was buried in hugs from excited girls before I had to go to meet Tricia to walk her to lunch before my class started.

She grinned at me and I told her that we were going to be meeting a coach after school to get everything ironed out. She told me she was glad that it was working out and she kissed me softly. “Cheryl would like you to come visit her for dinner tomorrow,” she told me. “She wants to tell you what she decided.”

“I won’t ask you for a hint, but how do you feel about her decision?” I asked.

“I think she made the right choice,” she said. “I think you’ll agree when she talks to you and tells you why.”

I nodded and then I had to run to class.

At the end of the day, we piled into the cars and I cheated to get Tricia a ride home, sitting on my lap while I kissed her neck and ear lightly, making her squirm.

We went right home and she walked from there, but she was only a few blocks away.

We all piled into the house and I brought up the uniform site to display our uniforms and then brought up the rest of our planning.

We were just going over the gym information when there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it and found a woman in her early to mid forties standing there looking at me curiously. “Hi,” I said. “Tina Wall?”

“Yes,” she said. “You’re Mr. Russell?” She seemed surprised. “I thought ... Never mind,” she shook her head and offered me her hand. “It’s good to meet you.”

I smiled and shook her hand, inviting her in. I introduced her to the girls and we all sat down to talk about what we were looking for and what I needed outside the cheer work.

“Yes, Hanna mentioned you were in training for an event that would need you to be more acrobatic than you are now,” she said with a slight smile. “She didn’t say what it was specifically, but that you’d want to be flashy for a crowd.”

I explained the skills test I was coming up to and why I wanted to be more agile. She nodded and seemed interested. “I think I can help you with both the gymnastics and the cheerleading. If you’re agreeable, I’d bring my daughter to help out. She’s in training right now and could use the extra gym time. She’d be willing to help out in exchange for some time to work on her routines.”

We were all okay with that and I asked what she’d charge us for coaching until the end of June.

She thought about it and told me that she’d be able to do it for $12,000 for the full season and stressed that it was a fair price for a devoted coach and an assistant.

I didn’t haggle with her. I thought she made a good point and had a lot to offer. I asked her how she preferred to be paid and we worked out a payment schedule. I wrote her a check for the first installment and we shook hands. I told her where we’d be practicing and that I’d already booked the facility for Mondays and Thursdays.

“If we need more gym time closer to competition season, we’ll work out an arrangement for that, but I think we’ll be pretty thrilled to have you two days a week.”

She told us she looked forward to working with us and we all shook hands before we showed her out. She said she’d register our club officially with the correct athletic associations.

The girls were giddy and I ordered enough food to feed twice as many people while we planned it out. Once we beat that topic to death, the topic of the shit-list came up. They’d put together the list between all of them of who’d been there that night. I scanned the list and didn’t see any names the world should be sad to see removed. There were a few I’d considered friends before, but most of them had been on Lana and Beck’s lists, so they didn’t surprise me.

“Personally, if they found it impossible to get a date until they move away to college, I think that’s fitting. Of course, if someone hit each of them in the balls with a five-pound hammer, I’d be okay with it too.” That got a lot of appreciative murmurs.

“I heard Vance is out,” Jessie said. “He’s not back in school yet, but I heard one of the guys in my homeroom say that they saw him outside his house yesterday. Rumor is that he’ll be back in school on Monday.”

I smiled. “Who wants to take bets on how long before he comes after me?” I asked, chuckling.

“If he’s back on Monday,” Lana mused, “I’d say he’ll be expelled before the end of the day.”

They laughed and agreed about that. “Do us a favor and curb-stomp his balls when he hits the ground this time?” Jessie asked.

“You’re betting on me to put him down?” I asked with a grin.

“I am,” Lana said. “I’ve seen you in your kung fu class. You break boards. A few of his bones shouldn’t be tough.”

I nodded. “I sincerely hope he’s learned his lesson, but I doubt it. Starting tomorrow, I want everyone to watch out for each other. Keep an eye out and if you see Vance harassing a girl or following one, record it. If he touches one, call me even if I’m in class and I’ll be there. If I get expelled, it really doesn’t mean a lot, but I’ll make sure he never walks again if he puts hands on any of you again.”

They nodded and I felt like a few of them were genuinely upset about this news. I frowned and thought that I needed to figure out something else I could do to help these girls.

“Tomorrow I’m gonna go looking to see if I can find a local supplier who can get us enough pepper spray to get each of you girls a can to carry with you in case you get cornered. I don’t want any of you defenseless and waiting on someone to rescue you. I want you to have the ability to protect yourselves.”

They seemed a little more relaxed when I told them that and the food arrived shortly after that. I was paying for it and handing it off to the girls to take to the kitchen to unpack when I saw Hanna’s jeep pull up. I grinned and held the door open for her as the delivery guy was getting back in his car. She kissed me passionately and hung up her coat before she realized we were being watched.

“Uh...” she said uncomfortably as she saw the roomful of cheerleaders gaping at her and me. “Matt?”

I snickered a little and bailed her out. “Hanna, this is the cheerleading team that used to cheer for the high school. We just met with Tina a little while ago. She seemed confused by my age as much as they’re shocked by yours. I’m sure she’ll have questions for you the next time she sees you. Girls, this is Hanna. She’s my personal trainer, fitness coach, girlfriend and the most athletic person I know.”

“Hi Hanna,” Lana said brightly, coming to hug her briefly. “Nice to see you again.”

“Hi, Lana,” she said, still not certain what to make of the other girls. That lasted less than a minute.

“You really taught Matt that stretch he does?”

“That stretch is extreme! Is it really for ballet? Where did you learn it?”

She answered questions while we all ate, gathered around the table and the counters since there just wasn’t room for 19 people to all sit at the table at once.

The whole team questioned Hanna about how she met me and what we were going to be doing later. There was a lot of giggling and I finally stepped in to rescue her. “Okay, girls,” I said. “Leave the poor woman alone. She’s a little nervous about this many questions all at once. She hasn’t even had a chance to figure out who’s who here.”

They pouted, but they were all having fun, mostly at my expense, but in her direction.

“I wish I hadn’t asked Emma and Zoe for a little time alone,” she said, feeling a little overwhelmed. “They would have taken some attention away.”

“But tonight, you wanted some attention,” I pointed out to more giggles from the girls.

When we finally kicked them all out, they each hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. They also gave Hanna hugs on the way out and asked her to keep stretching me out like that.

I closed the door behind them and chuckled. “Filthy-minded creatures!” I declared with a grin. “God bless their perverted hearts.”

Hanna laughed and we shared a deep, satisfying kiss that left us both breathless. We cleaned up dinner, put the leftovers in the fridge and headed downstairs. She wanted to stretch me out completely and I obligingly stripped for her to do it.

I groaned as she pushed me harder than she had before and I could already feel pain in my muscles. “This ... is ... pay ... back ... for ... the ... team...” I accused her between desperate gasps as she pushed me to the point of distress and then held it until I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk tomorrow.

When we were done, she went out to her jeep for the bags of ice that she’d picked up from the fitness center. It was in the mid 20’s all day so there was no chance they’d thaw in the back of the jeep. She filled the tub upstairs and half-carried me up to the tub.

“You okay?” she asked, starting to worry when I collapsed into the tub almost boneless.

“I dunno,” I admitted seriously. “That was pretty deep.” I was feeling like a couple of my joints were hyper-extended and several muscles felt like there might be minor tearing.

I endured the bath and four more like it before she took me to bed. She was looking at me with some concern as she rubbed me down carefully, her fingers trying to ease the discomfort in my limbs. “I’m sorry, Master,” she said, contritely. “I didn’t want to injure you. I was only trying to get you into complete shape for when you meet my sister. I guess I wanted you to exceed her in every possible way.”

“I’m not dead yet,” I pointed out lightly. “The first time you did this, I thought I was gonna die before you were done. You’ll have to keep me limber tomorrow and then be back after work to make sure I’m not suffering.”

“Go to the hospital if you’re in pain tomorrow!” she said, stricken by the thought that I might not.

“To sit in emergency for hours and be told to go home, rest, take ibuprofen and don’t overdo it again?” I asked dryly. “I’ll take the ibuprofen and wait for you. You’re the expert.”

She nodded, but I could tell that she was hoping I wouldn’t be in pain tomorrow. So was I. We cuddled up and I could tell she wanted more, but I was just wrecked from what she’d put me through. In the end, I talked her into a sixty-nine with her on top while I ate her rotten. I loved her body. Her clit was even bigger than Beck’s and just as sensitive. It wasn’t the hard fucking that she’d been hoping for, but neither of us were unhappy when we went to bed that night.

In the morning, I felt like I’d been in a car accident, but Hanna dutifully massaged my whole body and promised to do the same again tonight as soon as work was over. She reluctantly repeated last night’s stretch with me to keep everything from tightening up too much, but she was far more gentle about it this time. It was a hell of a way to start Friday off.

We showered and dressed and she carried my backpack next door to have breakfast with the rest of the family. I groaned as I stepped over the picket fence, wondering why we had put off installing that gate we’d talked about.

She looked stricken by how much difficulty I was having, but I was determined to get through it. There was a lot of teasing at breakfast and Patty was the worst.

“Did you record what you did to him?” she asked Hanna curiously toward the end of the meal. “None of the rest of us can make him suffer into the next day.”

“It wasn’t anything like that,” Hanna said, surprised. “Really! I just pushed him too hard.”

“Then shouldn’t YOU have trouble walking too?” Beck laughed.

Fortunately that made Hanna laugh, taking her by surprise. “No, I stretched him out too hard. I’m trying to get him ready for all the gymnastics work.”

“Worse than what he was doing before?” Lana asked, surprised.

“Yeah. I got to Level 2 last night,” I said lightly. “How many more steps are there to this?”

“For what I can do?” Hanna asked. “Probably two or three more. Then you’d need a devoted flexibility coach.”

We talked for another few minutes and then separated for our day. At lunch, I made a call out in the hall for a limo for tomorrow night since neither of us could drive. I gave them the times and made arrangements to stop by the office that afternoon. I returned to the table and asked Lana for help with errands after school.

“I’ll do it!” Gina piped up before she could answer, surprising me, but Lana winked at me and smiled.

“That sounds great, Gina. Thanks.” I told her I had five stops I had to make before I needed to be at Cheryl’s since I’d been invited to dinner to talk to her.

She nodded and asked where we were going. I told her that a couple of the stops were a surprise, but the gym was first.

I suddenly remembered that I had a conflict in my plans for the day and had to excuse myself. I called Hanna at work and told her I had to talk to one of the girls that had been hurt at the party. I asked if 7:30 was okay and she said that it was fine. She told me that Emma and Zoe were in the gym, so she’d tell them the same. I thanked her and just had time to breathe a sigh of relief before running off to talk to Tricia.

“Hey!” I said brightly. “I forgot to ask what color your dress is,” I told her. “I need to know what sort of corsage to get you to match it.”

“No you don’t,” she said lightly, kissing me sweetly. “It’s already in the fridge at home. We picked it up last night. You need to wear a red tie though.”

I laughed. “So that’s how it is?” Okay. I’ll pick you up at 6:30 for dinner before the dance. What time do you need to be home?”

“I’m allowed out until 2, same as last time. Who’s driving us?” she asked curiously.

“That’s MY surprise,” I told her with a cryptic smile.

“What did you do?” she asked, her nose crinkling like it did when she was suspicious.

“Fell in love with you,” I told her with a grin and another kiss. “By the way, tell Cheryl I’ll be there and text me what time. I’ve got some errands after school, but they shouldn’t take too long.”

“I asked her yesterday. She said 5:30 is when dinner usually is. If you’re there early, she’ll talk to you before dinner. If not, then after.”

“Sounds good. Tell her we’re all behind her.” I gave her a hug and told her I loved her again and then I was off to class.

Afterwards, Gina found me at my locker and we took off. “What’s our first stop?” she asked brightly.

“The gym,” I told her. “I promised them cash today and I’ve been nervous walking around with it all day, so the sooner I can get rid of it, the better.”

“How much is it?” she asked as we got in the car and she started it.

“Not as much as it would have been if we’d started in September. It comes out to $24,000 for the rest of the season. We have the gym from 3:30 ‘til 6 every Monday and Thursday until June 30th. That’s really not terrible considering they have everything we need.”

“Are you shitting me?!!?” she blurted. “You’ve been carrying that much money all day?!!? At lunch?”

I nodded and pulled out the three bricks I’d pulled out this morning. “It was sitting in the bottom of my backpack next to you while I went outside to make calls.”

“Holy shit! I’ve never even SEEN that much money before. I mean I know you’re rich, but to SEE it like that? Oh my God! Put it away before I crash the car.”

I chuckled and nodded, slipping it back into my backpack as we headed to the gym. We were shown into the finance office at the gym and asked if there was an adult with us.

“Not today,” I said. “I’m team treasurer and she’s team captain. Our coach will be with us for every practice, starting Monday.