Chapter 1

“ATTENTION STUDENTS and faculty. We have some announcements this morning and we’d like to make sure you get this information straight from the office. This is Vice Principal Andrea Morris. Some of you may have heard that Principal Conway is no longer with us. I don’t mean he died, but a serious family emergency has prompted him to resign his position here to tend to family business in Arizona. As a result, I will be the acting principal until the school board has an opportunity to launch a search for a permanent replacement. I’m certain we will have strong leadership for our school again by the start of school in the fall. This has nothing to do with the dismissal of Lori Sanders last week for failing to adequately supervise the Bartley cheer squad. The cheer squad itself has been disbanded for the remainder of this school year.”

There were gasps from many students and a few snorts from basketball players of both genders. None of the former cheerleaders were present.

“Now for some good news. Congratulations to the Bartley High School Angelines for capturing the Class 3A State Championship for girls’ basketball.”

This time, cheers rang out all over the school.

“Please try to contain yourselves. I have two more announcements to go. This afternoon, the Bartley High School Wolverines boys’ basketball varsity will meet the North Bend Shamrocks in their first game of this year’s region five championship tourney. I know you’ll all want to wish them good luck. Therefore, we will have a pep rally at two-fifteen this afternoon so you can wish them well. The fan bus will depart the school at three-thirty.”

There were a few half-hearted cheers in different classes, but nothing like the echoing yells for the Angelines.

“Finally, in celebration of the return of women’s sports to Bartley High School, we’re happy to announce the formation of a girls’ track team. Girls wishing to participate should meet in the gym at 2:30 today to get details. If you can’t make today’s meeting, please come prepared to try out after school tomorrow. Try to pick up a permission slip today from Coach Graves. I am told there are at least twenty slots open on the team and more girls can join if there is interest. Let’s hope the Angelines show as strongly in track as they have in basketball.”

There was an instant buzz as girls in every class turned to each other to find out if someone else was going to try out and for what.

“That concludes today’s announcements and we return you to your regularly scheduled classroom activities. Study hard, students. We’re only a week and a half away from spring break.”

The speakers went silent and teachers in every classroom worked to bring their classes to order again.

Natalie and Dennis had walked to school, just so they could hold hands. At the entrance to the school grounds, they’d stopped and kissed, with several carloads of kids honking at them. Once inside the grounds, they’d simply walked together without touching in order to abide by the school’s no PDA rule. Once they all gathered at their lunch table, though, the conversation was all about their weekend.

“You really did it? Oh, Natalie, I’m so happy for you,” Leanne said, giving her friend a hug.

“I’m just as happy for Dennis,” Diane sighed. “Now you’ve got experience, so you can kind of teach the rest of us.”

“I’m not saying never,” Dennis replied. “But not right away. Give Natalie and me time to adjust to being lovers.” Some of the comments had Dennis blushing as they discussed size and fit of the various parts.

“Seven condoms?” Amy exclaimed. “In one weekend? Wow! Superman is my hero.”

“Hey, congratulations on the big win Saturday. You guys sure ran away from them in the last quarter,” a somewhat stocky girl in the junior class said as she approached their table.

“Thanks, Corrine,” Roberta said. “Going to join us for track?”

“Does this body look like it could run a hundred-meter dash?” the girl laughed. “Maybe there’s a pie-eating event I could enter.”

“Not pie-eating, but there are events I bet you’d be good at,” Dennis said.

“Who are you?” Corrine asked.

“I’m the team manager,” Dennis responded. “You might want to try the shot put.”

“What’s that?”

“You stand in a seven-foot circle and throw a nine-pound metal ball as far as you can. There’s a special way of throwing it that’s called a ‘put.’ It is like pushing the ball away from your neck.” Dennis did a seated representation of pushing the ball from his neck.

“Weird. You really think I could do that?”

“If you wanted to try, I’d make sure you had the right exercises to strengthen your arms and back so you could be successful. I’m not saying an Olympic champion, but being on a team like this can be a lot of fun.”

“Huh. Maybe I’ll come to the info meeting this afternoon. You’re kind of cute in a geeky sort of way.”

“He’s our boyfriend,” the table of girls chorused.

Corrine started a steady stream of kids who came by the table to congratulate the team and talk about track. The girls did their best to talk everyone into coming to the meeting that afternoon.

“Agent Brisco, it’s Amy from Bartley. You remember?”

“I sure do. The information you gave us helped us round up twenty traffickers and nearly forty kidnapped kids. Do you have new information for me?”

“Yes, sir. I was forced to visit my brother in the hospital yesterday. My parents want to bring him home, but so far, the hospital has insisted he be placed in a nursing home for rehab. But I overheard them talking about getting the lawyer who got my brother out on bail to get them to take him home instead of rehab,” Amy said. She was talking fast because she’d only paused to call after the pep rally and before the meeting in the gym.

“That doesn’t sound good. That lawyer is pulling out every trick in the book.”

“Yes, sir. What I found out was that the lawyer is being paid by Tom Perkins. He’s Sheriff Perkins’ son.”

“I wondered where the money was coming from.”

“Tom Perkins is at school in Ames, but he dates a senior at my school. We saw them one night and they chased us. The Gang of Three were in the backseat of the car. And when I talked to my brother, he claimed he still had friends who would get me so they could rape me in front of him. I’ll bet he meant Tom,” Amy finished.

“I’ll get some more information and call you, Amy.”

“I have to run. ‘Bye.”

Ardith was amazed at the turnout of nearly thirty girls for the track organizing meeting. Dennis hurriedly passed out the permission and medical forms so the girls could participate. He had to run back to the coach’s office in order to print more forms.

“Wow! You all know this is the formation meeting for a girls’ track team and not a baking club, right?” There were a few hisses and boos. Good. Girls with some spunk. “Okay, let’s start right in with what the opportunity is. The Angelines suggested that they’d like to run track to keep in shape for basketball. When I heard the suggestion, I thought it was crazy because the season officially started a week ago with first practice. But I talked to Coach Byers, our athletic director, and he told me we weren’t as far behind as I thought. As you all know, the basketball team just left for regional competition and many of them who compete in track and field won’t be able to start practicing until they are eliminated from competition.”

“That won’t be long,” snickered one of the girls up front.

“Who knows? Miracles can happen,” Ardith said. “The big thing I found out, though, is that track and field is considered a co-educational sport. That means the boys and girls practice at the same time and most of the meets are combined boys and girls.”

“We have to compete against the boys?”

“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s just that we compete at the same time, but you will only compete against the girls from the other school or schools,” Ardith explained. “It also means that nearly everything we need in the way of equipment is already in the sports locker for use with the boys. We don’t need to go out and buy hurdles and jumping pits and starting blocks. We just have to take turns using them.”

“Cool! When do we start practice?” Brenda yelled.

“Tomorrow, but there are a couple more notes today, first. Since it is a co-educational team, I’ll officially be the girls’ coach but the head track coach is Coach Andy Anderson and all the coaches will be working with both boys and girls. Coach Andy, which is what he prefers, was also coach of the JV basketball team this year. Their season ended a week ago, in time for those who wanted to start the track training last Monday. I’ve asked Coach Andy to say a few words as well.”

The tall and lanky Coach Andy came out from beside the bleachers. The girls politely applauded, though some seemed more enthusiastic than others. Andy was definitely in the running for ‘dreamboat teacher of the year’ in some girls’ minds.

“Hey! Welcome, Angelines,” Andy started. There were cheers and a lot of girls patting the backs of the team members. “And yes, we’re keeping the name for the girls’ track and field team,” he continued. “I want to go through a little organizational stuff. We coaches kind of rotate around during the school year. I’m the head coach for track and Coach Byers and Coach Graves are both assistant coaches. We’ll be accompanied in practices by Coach Wilson and his junior high team. Yes, that means a lot of people will be out on our field. So, we coaches will be splitting up some of our responsibilities to keep practices moving and make sure no one is waiting forever. I’m into long runs and hurdles. Those will be my area of specialty. Coach Graves, on the other hand, will be working with you on sprints—that’s runs up to 400 meters—and we’ll work together on relays. Coach Byers—if you’ve all met him, you might have wondered how someone so beefy got into basketball—will focus on strength competition. That means shot put and discus. That leaves Coach Wilson. Believe me, that guy is a jumper. He’ll be coaching you on high jump and long jump.”