Chapter 34

“IT’S NICE that our last game of the season is at home. It sucks, though, that it’s just three days before regionals start,” Dennis said, looking at the schedule. They’d picked up their lunches and were sitting at the table. “Lana, you won’t get much practice time in. We’ll be scrambling with games one after another for the next week.”

“How many games do we have to play?” she asked.

“After tonight’s season finale, we’ll play in the regional on Saturday, Wednesday, and Saturday next week, assuming we win every game. Then it’s State Tournament starting on Monday. I’ll have to figure out the dates and times, for those brackets. We need to play and win three games that week in Des Moines, in order to win the championship.”

“Let me get that straight in my head,” Natalie said. “After our last game tonight—which will be our tenth game of the season—we need to play and win six more games in two weeks?”

“Yeah. Half our season is in the last two weeks.”

“Holy cow.”

“And keep in mind,” Dennis said, “we had a short season because we got such a late start putting together a schedule. We only had ten games in our regular season. All the other schools we’ll be facing in the tourney will have played twenty to twenty-two games in regular season play.”

“I hope we get more games next year,” Judith said. “I feel like we just got started.”

“Don’t worry. Once we win the State Championship game, every school will want us on their schedule,” Dennis laughed.

“Angelines!” the girls shouted, rising up to high five each other.

“I don’t think the girls really mean to tease you,” Lana said as she sat in the locker room next to Dennis watching him tape Brenda’s ankle. Brenda had her uniform panties on but was sitting in front of him topless. She smiled at Lana’s comment. Most of the girls in the room were topless and a couple were just getting their panties on.

“Oh?” Dennis asked. He had Brenda flex her foot and then put the other one up for him.

“No. I think they’re desensitizing you,” Lana continued. “I’ll bet when you started the season you got turned on just standing outside the locker room door. Now, you sit in the locker room with most of the team running around naked and it doesn’t even faze you.”

“Um ... That isn’t quite true,” Dennis said. “Now that you called it to my attention, I’m definitely being fazed.”

“Lana has a point, though,” Brenda said. “There was a time when even seeing my sports bra would leave you speechless. Now, you hardly notice I’m naked.”

“Um ... Brenda, I can’t not notice you. You’re like right in front of me and you’re perfect,” Dennis said.

“That’s what I was thinking that might modify Lana’s theory slightly. When the girls started out, they did tease you. You and I had some nice evenings, um ... relieving that tension. But the girls aren’t really trying to tease you anymore. Most of the time. We all just feel so comfortable around you that we act like we would if there were only girls in the room. And I don’t mean only Daniella. It might have been us who were being desensitized.” Dennis finished wrapping her ankle and Brenda leaned forward to give him a little kiss. She shook her boobs in front of his face. “We still tease a little, though.” She laughed and went to finish dressing.

“Hmm. Maybe I was wrong,” Lana guessed. “I can see Brenda’s point.”

“I could see both of them,” Dennis mumbled. “Don’t be mistaken. I notice the girls. I even lust for them. I’m just getting better at controlling my response to them. I try not to stare, but I love seeing them.”

“I suppose you want to see me, too.”

“Lana, don’t even think about doing something because you think I want it,” Dennis said. “You do what makes you comfortable. That’s what Brenda was talking about. I bet even if I hadn’t been in the room last week, you would still have slipped around the corner to dress in private. It’s okay. It’s part of what we mean when we say no pressure and no coercing. You do what you do, not what everyone else does.”

“It looks like fun, but I guess I don’t want people staring at my boobs. Boys or girls. I wish they hadn’t grown so big so soon.”

“Talk to Brenda about that. She developed young and it wasn’t easy on her,” Dennis said as he finished packing his kit. “Come on. We need to go meet the scorers and give them the starting lineup.”

“You know it already?”

“Coach slipped it to me when I came in. She’s going to come in to talk to the team right about now.” True to his words, as he reached for the door, it opened and Ardith stepped in. Dennis and Lana went into the gym to meet the scorers, timekeeper, and officials. They were all cordial and welcomed Lana as a new assistant manager.

“You look good in your warmups, Lana,” Ardith said. “I’m glad Dennis got you taken care of.”

“Yes, Coach. He was really nice to get me these. I feel like a part of the team now.”

“Well, follow the warmups and learn them. By next season, I’ll expect you to take your turn at leading them.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Lana jumped up from the bench and ran onto the floor to join the team in warming up. Ardith smiled at the girl. Something told her that there was an ulterior motive to Lana wanting to become an assistant manager. She just hadn’t picked it out yet.

There wasn’t time to consider it further. The buzzer sounded and the girls came in for the last-minute pep talk. She pointed at Lana to lead the cheer, much to the amazement of the girl. Dennis leaned over to whisper to her.

“Who are we?” she squeaked.

“Angelines!” the huddle answered. Introduction of the teams was made, the national anthem played, and the starters went onto the floor for the opening of the game.

It was a good game. Almost as good as the game at Temple had started out to be. Through the first quarter the score seesawed back and forth. In the second quarter, Bartley opened up a small lead and was able to hold it until near the end of the half when the Jamestown Wildcats managed to tie the game at the buzzer.

The girls all stripped off their jerseys as soon as they were in the locker room and started waving them around to dry some of the sweat from them. Dennis went through the locker room handing out bottles of water and giving words of encouragement as Lana watched. Occasionally, he paused long enough to rub a girl’s shoulders or to examine her ankle. He pulled out his kit and had Daniella sit on the bench as he taped her right ankle.

“I don’t think it’s bad, but you definitely stressed it a bit on that one jump. We’ll be sure to ice it after the game,” he said.

“You take such good care of us, Dennis,” she said. “Thank you, boyfriend.”

They headed out to the gym again and the second half began. That was where the difference began to show. The Wildcats were slowing down. The Angelines’ conditioning left them ready to run some more. They continued their run-and-gun style of play and soon pulled away from the Wildcats. They won the game by ten, 61-51.

Dennis began working on Brenda’s tape immediately when the girls got back to the locker room after the game. They were noisy and celebrating and were all shocked to silence when Coach blew her whistle. Dennis quickly looked around and saw that clothing had already started flying. Amy was standing naked in the doorway of the shower room. Coach never said a word about it.

“Just a couple of notes for you,” Ardith said. She specifically ignored the state of undress the girls were in. If they were comfortable, she wasn’t going to say a word about it. “First off, I heard from the IGHSAU today. The complaint against the ref last week was registered and the committee found in favor of us. They sent a disciplinary letter to the ref.”

“Woohoo!” the girls cheered.

“They also reminded us that proper sportsmanship and behavior on the court would have been to take the shots, finish the game, and then file the complaint, not to protest it and refuse to play until there was an apology. Note that, girls. We take what comes during a game and file protests afterward. Now there was one other bit of news that came with that. Temple graciously conceded the game to us stating that it was definitely out of their reach to win. Any of you who exchanged numbers with them last week should give them a call and thank them for their great sportsmanship and support.” The girls clapped and Dennis noticed a couple more bras had come off, including Brenda’s, right in front of him.

“The last bit of news is our playing schedule. We will be playing at one o’clock Saturday afternoon. That means be here at eleven to get into uniforms and get taped up. We will travel there and back in uniform. Make sure you have a good coat you can wear over the top. I’m told a typical winter cold front is headed our way.”

“Where do we play, Coach?” Natalie asked.

“As luck would have it, we’ll be facing the same team you just played on their home court. And believe me, they will be very motivated to get a little payback in front of their hometown fans. It’s about forty minutes over to Jamestown, so there won’t be time to be fooling around. We will be in visitors’ uniforms. Got that, Dennis?”

“Got it. We’re ready.”

“Good. Now get your showers and get out of here. Tomorrow’s another school day.”

“It’s so cool that Coach didn’t bat an eye about the nudity in the locker room,” Lana said as they rode home. Roberta was driving with Daniella in the passenger seat. Dennis had been moved to the center of the back with Lana on one side and Natalie on the other. Natalie, of course, was holding Dennis’s hand.

“She’s seen it before,” Daniella said. “She’s cool as long as everyone is comfortable. We operate by the same rules as at Dennis’s house. No means no. No pressure and no coercion.”

“You really all go over to Dennis’s house?” Lana asked.

“Sometimes all of us and sometimes just a few. You know Dennis’s dad is in the hospital and we try to help out a little if we can,” Natalie explained.

“Natalie’s a good cook,” Dennis added.

“That’s my one saving grace in my mother’s eyes. I’m the fifth girl, but at least I can cook.”

“I don’t know if my dad would go for that. I bet he wouldn’t let me stay overnight, even if I got to go over after practice,” Lana sighed.

“No pressure, Lana,” Dennis said, reaching out to pat her hand. He pulled his back right away when she looked at him.

Lana’s house was about two miles out in the country south of town, just half a mile from where Dennis had lived when his dad was farming. He didn’t really remember the Browns that well. They weren’t in the same grade and only rode the same bus for a year before the Enders family moved into town. When they got out to the farm, all five kids piled out of the car to walk Lana to her door. Lana opened the door and called to her parents.

“Mom? I’m home. Can my friends come in for a minute?”

Elsa Brown was shocked. Not one of the cheerleaders had come home with Lana and here were three girls and a boy with her.

“Hello, Mrs. Brown,” Natalie said. Randolph walked in from the kitchen as well. “Mr. Brown. We wanted to thank you both for allowing Lana to join the Angelines as our assistant manager. And we wanted to assure you that we’ll all look out for her. She’s the fourth freshman on our team and we who are a little older try to make sure they are always made a part of the team and that we’re all safe.”