Chapter 25

IT WAS A FORTY-FIVE-MINUTE bus ride to the Huskies for the game Friday night. Dennis and Lana had all the Angelines taped before they boarded the bus, but Dennis taped three cheerleaders on the way. Sara, Claudia, and Rae all wanted the extra support.

“It’s like a sports bra for my ankles,” Rae quipped when he was finished. She glanced around to see who was paying attention and when she was satisfied, flashed Dennis her boobs. “Close your mouth or I’ll stuff it full,” she told the shocked team manager. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her boobs. They’d all showered together at Tori’s barn after workouts. But it was the first time she’d made an effort to display herself to him.

“Behavior like that can get you in trouble,” Dennis sighed. “That said, thank you. It was a treat.”

“For me, too.”

Team A cheerleaders got the Angelines Friday night and Team B cheered the Wolverines. They all rode the bus with the Angelines, but rode back with the Wolverines. Lana agreed that she would ride back with the cheerleaders. Dennis didn’t like them splitting up, but everyone was being well-behaved this season, so he assumed they were safe and would say something to him if things changed.

As far away as the Huskies were from the Angelines, two fan buses had arrived before the start of the game and the cheerleaders were in full form with some new routines they performed for the first time. And they had something to cheer about.

The younger girls who dressed knew they would all get a chance to play. Ardith wasn’t taking a chance in the early part of the game, but when the Angelines left the first half with a lead of 36-10, it was time for the younger girls to have some fun. The Huskies scored no more in the second half than they had in the first. The final was 63-19. Natalie led the scoring with 18.

The girls stayed for the first half of the boys’ game and then headed home. The boys were carrying a healthy lead into the second half and it looked like they’d keep their perfect season record. Before the girls had all finished in the showers and dressed, the boys’ bus had arrived with them celebrating a 57-36 victory. They were getting pretty cocky.

“The big difference is that last year we were a 3A school,” Dennis told Sara as he worked on getting her tape off. “This year, we’re classed as the largest 2A team, but so far, we’ve only played two other 2A teams and the rest have been schools about half our size that are 1A.”

“Why is that?” Sara asked. “Why aren’t we playing more 2A schools and even 3A?”

“Scheduling is done automatically. Olivia could probably tell you more about how it works. It must have been a real nightmare before they had the scheduling program set up. There are 365 schools in the state, divided into five classes. They can’t have teams routinely traveling a hundred miles for games. So, they need them closer to home. Plus, there needs to be an approximately even mix between home and away games. There’s probably some algorithm that limits you to how many games you can play up in class and how many you can play down. Thing is, our schedule has more games against 1A schools than 2A schools, with only a couple of 3A games tossed in.”

“I just go out and jump up and down and yell my head off for our team, no matter who we’re playing,” Rae said, settling in front of Dennis to have her tape removed. She had already removed her shirt and skirt, but still had her uniform briefs and sports bra on. Dennis efficiently cut the tape and then spent a minute rubbing Rae’s legs and feet, ‘to get the circulation flowing again.’ She grinned at him and stripped off her bra and panties to go shower.

Lana collected all the cheerleading uniforms and Dennis did the same with the Angelines’ uniforms.

“I don’t think there will be quite as much playing around tonight,” Lana said. “My parents want to take a turn hosting the girlfriends, but they aren’t quite as free about it as your mom is.”

“And you have two siblings to be careful of,” Dennis said as they drove out to Lana’s house.

“Oh, they’ve been shipped off to friends for the night. For us, it’s ‘not in front of the parents!’ I think they’d be freaked out to see us running around naked or all trying to sleep in one bed,” Lana said.

“I hope everyone behaves.”

“We’ll do laundry tomorrow morning,” Lana said. “That’s part of why we’re at my house. Fru Elsa said it wasn’t fair to have Ms. Dottie bear the cost of washing all the uniforms after every game.”

“Oh, yeah. Um ... Maybe I should check through the bag and remove ... um ... anything that shouldn’t normally be in it.”

“Oh, look,” Lana said, as she sorted through Dennis’s laundry bag. “A frilly pink pair. I wonder who was wearing these all day. They must have been uncomfortable, as damp as they are.”

Dennis groaned.

Brenda left right after breakfast in the morning so she could get to Boone for the team bus to the Blackhawks. The crew broke up and headed to their various homes for Saturday chores soon after Dennis and Lana got the laundry started. Debbie stayed behind to help out. That mostly amounted to gossiping and giggling. But they got the laundry done and the uniforms all ironed before noon. Dennis loaded the uniforms on the rack in the back of the RAV4 and Debbie got in the front seat.

“Oh, were you and Lana fooling around on the way out here last night?” Debbie asked, holding up the pink panties that were on the seat.

“No! Lana dug those out of the uniform bag, so they wouldn’t be in the bag when we did laundry this morning.”

“Hmm. I’m no expert, but I’ve been wearing girls’ underwear for sixteen years now. I’d say these were the panties of a freshman. Yeah. A petite freshman. These would never fit around my big ass.”

“Are you fishing for a compliment? You know your ass isn’t big!”

“Oh, it’s not out of proportion, but I’m 5’10”. No one calls me petite! Of course, these could belong to a cheerleader. They’re all smaller. I’ve never seen Sara wear anything like this. Hmm. I wonder what petite blonde cheerleader might toss her panties in the laundry bag,” Debbie teased.

“You’re evil,” Dennis laughed. “I’m not going to try to guess who they belonged to. I’m just taking them to add to my absurd collection.”

Dennis, Amy, and Judith went into Boone early in the evening to pick up Brenda when the Bears’ team bus returned. The game had been blacked out for some reason, probably because the Blackhawks were a bigger school and had their own broadcast contract.

The Bears had done well in the first half, but were unable to fend off the Blackhawks’ second half rally. They lost the game 71-73.

The crew was all in church at Trinity early Sunday morning. They’d learned from the previous week that the church was filling rapidly during this holiday season and if they wanted to sit together to hear Peg sing, they needed to get there early. Unfortunately, many others had also realized they needed to be early. Fifteen minutes before the service was to start, the little church was filled and people were standing in the back and side aisles.

As with any group gathered before something is planned to start, conversations were being held all over the sanctuary. Some people were standing to shake hands with others and greet them. Others were reliving events from the previous evening or the past week.

“I’ve never seen so many people in church,” Rosie said to Dennis. On his other side, Brenda and Amy were sitting. Even as early as they’d been, the crew was in three pews and many of the other team members were scattered in the congregation.

“Next week, we’ll have to meet outside,” Dennis said. “There’s such an air of expectation. We can all say people are here for the church service, but I think they are here because of my sister.”

“I’m sure Pastor Donnelly is happy to have them here, no matter why they came,” Brenda suggested.

Everyone was expecting the typical prelude to be played that would indicate it was time to settle into their worship space, but no music cued them. It was natural, therefore, that people continued their conversations, not hearing the soft vocal tones issuing from the back of the church. In fact, Peg was nearly halfway down the center aisle before everyone tuned in to understand the service had begun.

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” The music was simple and the same phrase was repeated as she walked slowly toward the front of the church. Unlike the usual music selected from the Lutheran Hymnal, this was music from a Broadway musical, Godspell. As the congregation hushed, another voice joined Peg’s from the choir loft. Then another from the back of the church and another from the side aisle. Soon, the entire choir, unnoticed as they stood among the churchgoers in the aisles, had joined the repeated chant as they moved to the front of the church. In just two minutes, the entire congregation had joined in the music. And over them all, Peg’s voice rose in a descant that brought the room once again to silence.

The service had begun wherever people had been, in the midst of what they were saying, interrupting their lives, and bringing them together.

Monday morning found Dennis and Brenda deep in the final exam for their Introduction to Physical Education course. They had correctly identified the two major questions that would be on the final. 1. Describe the twelve (12) applied sciences of physical education and sports; 2. Identify four characteristics of the profession of physical education. Nonetheless, they barely had time to complete the exam before they had to turn it in. They saw a classmate still writing in the exam book as he walked to the front of the class to turn it in.

“At least we only have the paper for English Comp and no exam,” Dennis sighed.

“Speak for yourself. You only have the paper. I still have exams in Health, Statistics, and Sociology. At least we don’t have a game until Friday.”

“The girls are on tomorrow night against the Warhawks. And Friday we’ve got a game against the Cardinals, so we won’t be able to see your game,” Dennis complained.

“You wouldn’t have been able to anyway,” Brenda said. “They scheduled the Blue Devils on the day after finals so we’ll have all day to travel down there. And the game isn’t until 6:00, so we have a hotel in Kansas City for the night and will travel back on Saturday.”

“And here we complain about schools that are more than an hour away. You really travel a long way for games.”

“That’s college life for ya. I’ve got to scoot. The Sociology exam is this afternoon and I’m meeting some classmates for a review session,” Brenda said.

“Take care, love. I know you’ll do well.” They kissed and Dennis headed back to Bartley for his classes.

“Why the long sad face, Amy?” Dennis asked as he taped her up for the game Tuesday night.

“My Bae is lonely and stressed out,” Amy said. “College is so hard.”