Chapter 2

BY THE END of Wednesday’s short track practice, most of the girls hated Dennis. The conditioning workout had been a lot tougher than the stretching exercises the basketball team had gotten used to. When they ended the practice with wind sprints—twenty times to the end of the court with a thirty second rest between them—a few of the girls had dropped out of the run and sat on the floor breathing in great long gasps. One girl had to run to the locker room for her inhaler.

“Gather up and we’ll get out of here,” Dennis called.

“Are you always going to be this hard on us?” one of the girls asked.

“No. This week is conditioning. Tomorrow we’ll be working partly on the gym floor and partly in the weight room. Friday will be the same.”

“What does this have to do with high jumping?” Lana whined.

“To excel in a sport, your whole body needs to be in good condition. You need a good oxygen supply, so you need to increase your lung capacity. You need strength in your legs to propel you over the bar. You need strength in your arms to lift you when you jump. Now, I know you’ll all be a little sore tomorrow. Just know that’s normal. I will be, too. By Friday night, your body will begin to adjust. Now hit the showers. I have to come into the locker room in exactly thirty minutes to get it ready for the visiting team to use. Please don’t dilly-dally. If you’re naked when I come in, that’s just too bad.”

“Ooh. Can we all be naked when you come in?” Leanne asked. There were a few accompanying hoots.

“Behave, girlfriend. We’re in public.”

“You can come in when I’m naked,” Debbie said. Dennis looked twice. Debbie was the school’s goth girl but looked nothing like her usual black clad self. “Scrub my back? And front?”

“Debbie! OMG! What did you do to your hair? I didn’t even recognize you.”

“I figured I needed to be a good clean-cut athlete girl for track season. You wouldn’t pay any attention to me otherwise. Like it?” She’d bleached the black out of her hair and colored it a honey blonde. She had makeup on that made it look like she wasn’t wearing makeup. Dennis had enough experience seeing the Angelines with and without their makeup to tell the difference. Her fingernails were painted fire engine red. There were some things she simply had to rebel with.

“Well, it’s nice to see you putting your all into getting ready for track. Please don’t delay your shower.”

“You lied to me,” Corrine said, snatching a towel from Dennis. “You said shot put wasn’t running.”

“You’re doing great, Corrine. I’m not trying to turn you into a runner. But I really think you have the makings for a great hurler. I want to make sure you have every advantage I can give you. Some of the weight training we do tomorrow will be focused on those pushing muscles I told you about. Don’t give up. There are hard parts, but they’ll be worth it.” He grinned at her and she grimaced back.

“You better be telling the truth,” she said. “I even spent most of my gym classes as a freshman sitting down to rest.” She went into the locker room and Dennis made a mental note to encourage the overweight girl often.

“Good job, Dennis,” Ardith said. She’d been in the gym with the team and did all the exercises the girls did. Even she had to admit it was a tough workout. She’d decided that Dennis’s method with the basketball team was a good one and the girls would be encouraged by having her do conditioning exercises as well. Usually, she had a good workout early in the morning. She’d skip that tomorrow.

“Thanks, Coach.”

“Use the male coaches’ shower room if you want to freshen up after a workout like that.”

“Um ... It’s okay?”

“Yeah. I checked with Jim and Andy. Neither are using it because neither one works out that hard with the team.” She handed him the key and a towel, then disappeared into the female coaches’ shower room.

Dennis grabbed his bag from the equipment cage and dashed into the shower room. It definitely didn’t look like it had been used recently. He rushed through his shower, dressed, and was back outside the girls’ locker room with the laundry bag when they started filing out.

“I’ll help clean up the locker room,” Natalie said. “So will Daniella and Roberta. Then we’ll drop you off at home.”

“That’s great. I think I’ve been going through girlfriend withdrawal this week.”

“Well, we don’t have time to fool around in the locker room,” Nat said. “But maybe we can make out a little on the drive home.”

“Maybe we can all come in for milk and cookies,” Daniella said. “Nat said she and Mom baked with Peg on Sunday.”

They got the room straightened, the shower squeegeed out and the floor mopped. Dennis figured when the whole room smelled like janitor disinfectant that it was clean enough for the visiting team. The four left.

The ride home was scarcely long enough for his make-out session with Natalie to get their clothes messed up. Dot welcomed them in and Peg joined them for milk and cookies, bragging about how she and her sister had made them. Natalie grinned.

“Um ... Dennis?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Ooh! That gives me shivers down my spine. Um ... Would you like to go out Saturday night? I mean on a date? With me?”

“Sure! What’s going on?”

“Well, we’re both sixteen now and I figured we could stop pretend dating and go on a for real date. Maybe into Ames to see a movie.”

“Wow! That would be great! Anything with you.”

“Yeah, we’ll do that, too.”

The boys’ basketball team lived up to expectations and lost the regional semifinal. But the school still seemed upbeat as it was the first time in years they’d made it to the second game. Saturday, the school would host the class 2A regional final. The final was never held in the home gym of a school playing in it. It would be played at two o’clock in the afternoon and all basketball players from Bartley were encouraged to act as guides, ticket takers, concession sellers, and generally as hosts. The varsity team managers would take care of providing balls and running errands for the teams.

They all wore their basketball warmups to distinguish them and welcomed the teams to Bartley High School. Dennis was given the responsibility of greeting officials and scorers and seeing that they had anything they needed. He was able to demonstrate the scoring console to the timekeeper who had some questions because Bartley’s system was pretty old and still used a buzzer instead of an airhorn. He met Natalie and sat with her through the first half to watch the game. At halftime, they carried out their responsibilities, which were mostly directing fans to restrooms and the door out if they wanted to smoke. Then, instead of returning to the game, Natalie led Dennis back to the equipment locker. They settled onto a stack of tumbling mats for some serious making out. Dennis discovered Natalie had nothing on under her warmups and the tear-away seams allowed great access.

They didn’t fuck. Neither had thought to bring condoms. But they both got off orally before they had to return to the court for the end of the game to direct traffic and put away the timer and scoreboard controls.

It was a different experience to ride in the front seat with Natalie as she drove her sisters home. The twins demanded goodnight kisses from both Nat and Dennis before they’d let them continue on their way.

“Um ... you taste like my sister,” Daniella said. “Were you two fooling around during the game?”

“Sort of,” Natalie said innocently as she kissed Roberta.

“I will never forget the flavor of a man’s come in a girl’s kiss,” Roberta said. “Are you sure you don’t want a little company tonight? We could make it a three-way date.”

“No!” both Natalie and Dennis replied. All four started laughing and the twins went to the door to wave as Dennis and Natalie pulled away from the curb.

The movie was fun and they actually watched most of it instead of making out all the way through. Even more fun, though, was simply walking through the mall holding hands and not being concerned if anyone saw them or if they were considered too young to date. Technically, of course, she was not supposed to have non-family passengers in her car with her. But she would just be careful.

“Let’s go parking,” she whispered when they got into the car to go home.

“You know I’d go anywhere with you,” he answered. She drove away from the mall and onto the country roads that would take them back to Bartley. They watched carefully for a possible place and turned down a lane that looked likely. They hadn’t seen anything for a while, so Natalie just stopped the car and put it in park.

“We’re parked,” she giggled. She leaned over the console to kiss him and they tangled for a while, fondling and groping each other. “Back seat,” she said.

They both piled out of the car and got into the back seat. In moments, they were hot and heavy and clothing was slipping off their bodies. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to try to make love and they were both glad it wasn’t their first time. For this time, though, it would be fine. Natalie was up against the door with one foot on the floor and one on the back of the seat. Dennis lined up over her and sank into her warm wetness with a sigh. Natalie’s moan matched his. She began rocking her hips and he slid back and forth in her welcoming channel. They kissed and tried not to knock their heads into the door, but the important part to both of them was the incredible sensations of being joined together. Both were panting when Dennis couldn’t hold back any longer and exploded inside her. That feeling was so intense that it brought Natalie the rest of the way with him and they moaned and cried into each other’s kiss.