Chapter 13

THE NEXT WEEK, everything was back to normal—whatever that was. No one needed her ankle taped. There was no reason to call Dennis into the locker room with half-dressed girls. Ardith and Dennis worked the girls hard during practice, but their next game wasn’t until Thursday, the week before Christmas.

Then the girls upped the game. They decided to simply not wear T-shirts to practice in. They all showed up in the gym that Monday, dressed in their shorts and sports bras. And they faced Dennis to stretch and warm up. Dennis also stretched. Some parts more than others.

“Is this your new practice uniform?” Ardith asked the girls. She was amused. She knew exactly why the girls had chosen this, but she couldn’t really say much because they were all decent and her team in college usually practiced that way.

“We end up pulling our T-shirts off anyway when we change practice jerseys,” Natalie said. “Several of the girls wanted to try this way, so we all approved it.”

“Fine,” Ardith said. The girls were surprised she didn’t object. “We’re going to work on zone defense today. Blue and red,” she said pointing out the players for each. Dennis admitted to himself that once they had practice jerseys on the bras were out of sight and out of mind. Mostly.

Shorts were the next thing to change. Aside from the practice jerseys used to tell the teams apart, Ardith had never made a statement about what the girls wore to practice. Most had baggy mid-thigh basketball shorts, but the school gym uniform included tighter and shorter shorts. The transition was slow, but didn’t stop there.

The Olympics had shown female track and field athletes in much shorter spandex shorts with their athletic bra tops. The final week of practice leading up to the game saw all the girls in bikini cut shorts and sports bras. Dennis had to concentrate on not losing his focus on the game while he watched the butts of his teammates.

Again, Ardith didn’t say a thing about it. There were pictures of her in her office dressed much the same when she was competing in college. She did remind the girls that they all had to wear actual uniforms to their next away game. The girls just giggled. Dennis breathed a sigh of relief.

“Dennis, can you tape me before the game,” Roberta asked.

“Are you injured?” he asked. “Coach should look at it.”

“Not injured, exactly. I just feel I need some extra stability. Leanne said she felt really solid on her ankle when you taped her. I’d appreciate it. Really really.”

“Oh, um ... sure. I guess.” He made sure his kit was stocked with an adequate supply of athletic tape.

It was a shorter drive to North Fork than to their first opponent of the season and the game was being played at five instead of right after school. As a result, they had time after school to go to the locker room to do the taping. All the girls were in the locker room and were dressing to travel in their uniforms. Or undressing. Of course, they were all in their bras. Dennis started working on Roberta’s ankle, trying not to let his eyes travel up to the snug fit of her practice shorts. Of course, she wanted both ankles done which left him in contact with her smooth legs for twice the time.

“We used to tape up before every game as cheerleaders,” Brenda said. “It really helped. Do mine, too, please.”

Roberta had been difficult to concentrate on because she was tall and good looking. It seemed like her legs were twice as long as Leanne’s. Added to that, the other girls were talking and pulling on shorts and distracting him. When Brenda put her shapely leg up on the bench, it was almost too much for Dennis. When his eye traveled up her leg, he didn’t find either the uniform shorts or the practice shorts. She was wearing her panties.

The panties girls wore under a uniform weren’t particularly sexy. They were just plain white briefs. But they still hugged every curve and indentation with the thin fabric.

“Um ... Brenda ... You’re in your ... um...”

“Oh, please, Dennis. You should be used to seeing us in our bras and panties by now. Just look around.” Dennis raised his eyes to look around the locker room. All the girls had their white panties on now. Except Roberta, who was just pulling hers up. And Diane seemed to be having a problem getting her bra on correctly. He didn’t know what to do or think. Brenda took his shaking hand and placed it on her leg. “Relax and enjoy us teasing you, Manager. We’re all having fun. Right?”

“R-r-right,” Dennis answered. There was no question, though, that his eyes continually kept traveling up Brenda’s legs to the junction of her thighs before he jerked them back down to what he was doing. When he finished, Brenda pulled her shorts on and Dennis saw that all the girls were properly in their uniforms. Just in time.

“Is everyone ready to go?” Ardith said as she came into the locker room. She looked down at Dennis putting his gear away and around at the girls pulling their sweats and shooting shirts on. “Okay. Grab your coats and bags. We’ll be coming back here for showers. North Fork just doesn’t have the facility we do. Let’s hit the bus.”

Dennis gathered up his clipboards and first aid kit and joined the girls as they boarded the bus.

North Fork was, in fact, a 2A school and was much smaller than Bartley. Their gym was tiny and crowded. But when they arrived, they were surprised to find half the stands filled with Bartley supporters. There were as many there as in the home bleachers, which were simply at the other end of the bleachers. North Fork had bleachers only on one side of their court. Dennis met the scorers and gave them the starting line-up then went to lead warmups.

Once they stepped on the court, the girls were all business. They’d learned their lessons well regarding stretching and getting ready to play. Shooting practice was organized and looked good. The home team practice looked chaotic. There were often four or five balls in the air at once, as many bouncing off each other as off the basket. Dennis noticed, though, that they had two players who were deadly at their inside shots.

“Watch for numbers 13 and 23,” he told the girls. “They’re going to be a big threat inside. And they’re prime numbers. I don’t think that’s an accident.”

“Really?” Judith asked. “That means something?” Dennis just nodded, so the other girls took him at his word. Being prime numbers was just something Dennis noticed. He didn’t really think it was important but now the girls would keep their eyes peeled for the two sharpshooters.

The buzzer rang and Dennis racked the balls as Ardith called the team in for their cheer. Teams were introduced and stood facing the flag as the National Anthem was played over a loudspeaker system. Then the game was on.

Through most of the first half, the teams traded shots. Home would shoot, visitors would recover, and visitors would shoot. The accuracy of the two Dennis pointed out was, however, better than most of the shooters on Bartley’s team. They trailed by five at the half.

“Listen,” Ardith said as they huddled together. “You can do this. Focus. I want your zone defense to focus on numbers 13 and 23. Keep them from driving inside. If necessary, let one of the other players take a shot. Most of them miss. Offense, Armor sisters are going to be a key in this half. Natalie at center, Roberta and Daniella at forward. Take the three-point shots. All three of you can make those. Brenda and Leanne, take the guard positions and feed the ball to their weak side. Now get in there and score some points.”

Ardith’s talk got them moving and the game slowly began to shift. It seemed they were still trading shots, but for every two-pointer North Fork scored, Bartley scored from the three-point line. In the final minutes, Bartley pulled ahead and held the lead to the end. Their fans were wild. It was the first time in years that a Bartley team had a winning record after three games.

Back in their own locker room after a sweaty ride home, Dennis was called in to take the tape off Roberta and Brenda. Both had stripped out of everything but their bras and panties. The difference was they were both very sweaty. The fabric did more than just cling to their curves. When he managed to finish and look up. Natalie and Rosie were disappearing into the shower completely naked. While he stood looking, Amy and Judith pulled off their panties and followed the other two. Dennis was near hyperventilating and didn’t realize Brenda was still standing right in front of him. She touched his cheek and when he looked down, she very deliberately pulled off her bra.

“Brenda?”