Chapter 12

EVERYONE WAS EXCITED for the opening of the boys’ basketball season. The JV would play at 6:30 and the varsity at 8:00 Friday. Being a Friday and having had a game the day before, there was no practice for the girls’ team after school. It was time for a deep breath. Dennis went directly home after school, transported by Roberta, Daniella, and Natalie.

“We aren’t going to bother going to the JV game,” Natalie said. “We’ll pick you up at 7:30 and head over then. That will give you time to play with Peg and even read her a bedtime story. But try to get your mom to agree to a midnight curfew. We’ll be at a school event and we’re riding with Daniella and Roberta. They have a midnight curfew. It wouldn’t be fair to make them leave the dance early.” She winked at Dennis and he grinned.

“I’ll play that angle up,” he said. “Mom’s all about being fair to people.” They giggled and slid their hands across the seat to each other. They were very quiet the rest of the way home, perhaps thinking they could avoid being noticed by Natalie’s older sisters.

The varsity played to a spectacular loss. They avoided the mercy rule, but not by much. The strange thing was that they were elated because they hadn’t lost by as much this year as they had last year. Things were looking up.

Dennis observed the managers of both teams in action. He felt his school’s managers didn’t have it together as well as the visitors’. When they left the court at the end of the game, there were still water bottles and towels on the bench. Dennis shook his head and started toward the bench to clean up. Natalie grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

“Not your circus, not your monkeys,” she said.

“It hurts to see it left a mess,” he said. “Look, the visitors’ bench is all clean.”

“Maybe our managers will get yelled at and have to do a better job next time. If you clean it up, the coaches might assume their managers did it. And you don’t want to get into the mode of being expected to clean up their messes. It would be like us tossing our underwear and socks in the laundry bag and expecting you to wash them.” Natalie moved him toward the exit so they could get to the dance in the cafeteria.

“Someone did,” Dennis whispered.

“Really?” Natalie asked. She didn’t sound that surprised. “Well, finders keepers as they say. I guess you have a pair of panties for your collection.”

“What collection?”

“The one you just started,” Natalie laughed. They moved quickly through the hall, holding hands all the way.

“No way,” a voice said behind them. “Are you two really dating?” They turned to face Diane and Judith.

“No, we’re just pretending,” Natalie answered.

“Our parents won’t let us date until we’re sixteen,” Dennis agreed.

“Wow. Can we have a pretend date, Dennis?” Judith asked. “I’ll be an old maid before my parents let me date for real.”

“Let me tell you, sister, turning sixteen means you can date, not that there will actually be anyone who wants to date you. I’ve been sixteen for almost two months and not one date,” Diane complained.

“I bet you could date Dennis sometime,” Natalie said. “He’d have to just pretend to date you because he won’t be sixteen until February.”

“How’d you know that?” Dennis asked as he processed the rest of what she’d said.

“My birthday is exactly one month after yours,” Natalie said.

“Why would I pretend to date Diane? No offense, Diane, I like you and would love to um ... pretend to date you. But I’m pretending to date Natalie and I wouldn’t cheat on her.”

“We’re pretending to date, not to go steady,” Natalie said. “That means you can pretend to date anyone you want to. And in February, you could really date someone.” Dennis was confused about the logic for a bit, but he didn’t want to pretend to have a fight, so he didn’t say anything.

The tables were all put away and chairs lined the walls in the cafeteria. A DJ was set up on stage and was getting his playlist together. A wire ran from his laptop computer to the floor socket where access to the PA system was hidden. He had a microphone, too, and tested it to make sure he could be heard. At precisely nine o’clock, he punched a button to start his playlist.

“And, we’re starting tonight’s season opener dance with Walking in the Dark’s newest hit, Save Me,” the DJ announced. “We’ve got a virgin dance floor. Who’s going to take its cherry? Get out there and shake your booty!”

Like most high school dances, it took a while before people started moving to the floor. Then it was packed for the next two hours.

The last half hour of music the DJ played was all slow-tempo songs. Natalie shooed her other friends away and held Dennis tightly as they swayed on the dance floor. Dennis lost himself in the feel of his cheek pressed against her breasts as his cock swelled painfully in his pants. He was sure Natalie must be able to feel it, but she wasn’t letting him back away. He just relaxed and stopped worrying about it. Until he came off the floor and went to get their coats. There was a dark spot on his trousers and they still bulged. He quickly got the coats and held his in front of him.

On the way home, Natalie sat right next to him instead of on the other side of the seat and held his hand all the way home. “This was our second pretend date,” she whispered to him. He nodded.

“I hope we can have another pretend date,” he said. She smiled back and then leaned in very close.

“On our third pretend date, you can pretend to kiss me,” she whispered. Then she backed up a little so she didn’t accidentally pretend to kiss him early.

Dennis squeezed her hand and jumped out of the car to run up his steps. He was fifteen minutes before curfew.

“The runt was there but he had backup,” Harry said as the boys sat around Lee’s house. “I think it was his dad. I’m sure I saw his car drive away the first time I saw him spying. That old dude is a pain in the ass. He’s called Danny at the sheriff’s office every time we even see his bastard.”

“He swings a mean baseball bat. I can’t believe I never even heard him behind me,” Lee said. “I almost had the punk. We need to figure out how to deal with him. Pa thinks we should just use a shotgun and make sure he’s dead this time.”

“Your old man’s so old-school,” Jerry laughed. “Does he ever come in from the still?”

“Why should he? Mom’s a hag. He has everything he needs out there and I bring him groceries.”

“But no electricity? No internet?” Harry asked. He didn’t understand old people.

“I’ve got an idea,” Jerry said.

“That’s dangerous,” Lee snorted.

“Yeah. In fact, deadly,” Jerry responded. “Enders still comes out for a bottle every now and then, right? Why don’t we just lace his bottle with fentanyl? He’ll take a couple of swallows and that’s all she wrote. Suicide from taking pills and high-octane alcohol. Then we can take care of the kid after the old man’s gone.”

“And it will never be associated with you getting hit,” Harry added. “We just need to lay low and not create any fuss until the time’s right. No one would have the least idea he didn’t off himself.”

“Yeah. That would work,” Lee said. “We ought to run it past Tom. We don’t dare have any blowback from Chicago.” The boys agreed.

The first home game for the Angelines was on the Thursday following Thanksgiving. Nobody expected any big deal to be made of it. The boys’ team snubbed them and said nobody was going to watch a bunch of girls play basketball unless they were all naked. That set off a riot of jokes and speculation about what it would be like to watch nude basketball. Whose boobs would be flopping and who you wouldn’t be able to tell was a girl.

Coach was calm and encouraged the girls to ignore the assholes. Of course, one of the boys ‘accidentally’ tripped Leanne Tuesday afternoon. She turned to chase him and twisted her ankle. She sat out practice that day and kept ice on her ankle. It seemed pretty solid by Wednesday when Coach examined it.

“Dennis, bring the tape,” Ardith called. He kept a couple of rolls of athletic tape in his first aid kit and had it available at every practice and every game. He’d never had to open it before. Coach Byers bought tape by the case and each team manager was responsible for keeping stocked. He grabbed a roll and went to kneel beside his coach in front of Leanne. “Have you practiced?” Coach asked.

“Yes, Coach. Peg thinks it’s funny and always wants to leave the tape on and play basketball,” Dennis said.

“Okay. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

“Leanne, please move up a row on the bleachers and put your leg out so the back of your calf rests on the next row. Usually, we’d do this at the end of a bench or table, but this will work. Now flex your foot so your toes point up.” Dennis had studied the videos and practiced taping Peg’s foot several times. He had to stop when she started complaining her ankle hurt so he’d have to tape it. She learned some things way too fast.

He wrapped the tape in a basic figure eight ankle and arch wrap, making sure it was tight and that there were no wrinkles or bulges in the layers. Coach reached over and tested her flexibility when he finished.