Chapter 36

TUESDAY WAS A JUBILANT day for the Angelines. All afternoon classes were five minutes short so they could have an afternoon pep rally for the Angelines. The girls ran onto the court in their warmups, and in an amazing show, Amy, Judith, and Diane lobbed the ball toward the basket one after the other. One after the other, Daniella, Roberta, and Natalie slam dunked the lobs. They were all right on target and the student body went wild cheering them.

When the cheerleaders got in front of the students, the cheering got organized, as the Angelines all did layups under Lana’s and Dennis’s guidance. Eventually, Principal Morris managed to get their attention and introduced the team, managers, and coaches. The team had to be cut to fifteen who would play in the regional tournament. That meant three girls were dressed and joined Lana as team managers, while Dennis joined Ardith as her Student Assistant Coach. No one was particularly surprised when Karen, Jaydyn, and Shelby were named as team managers.

“We want to take this opportunity to make a very special announcement,” Principal Morris said as she called the students to calm down. “Daniella and Roberta, please join me.” The girls came to stand on either side of the principal. “Last season, there was a lot of chaos surrounding our sports seasons, our school administration, and the rush to celebrate the Angelines’ 3A State Championship. So many of you are probably unaware that these two young women were voted to the 3A All-State team as forwards. Yesterday, I met with Roberta and Daniella Armor and head coach Kristin Kemble as these two signed Letters of Intent to continue their basketball careers at State University. They’ll be joining older sisters Zoe and Eva on the team next fall. Congratulations, Roberta and Daniella!”

The cheering was loud and long as the twins hugged Coach Graves and waved to the students.

Of course, when the assembly was over, the team had to wait for the game at 6:00. Dennis greeted the Bulldogs team when they arrived and directed them to their guest locker room. For the tournament, the visiting team used the junior high locker room with the home team in their familiar surroundings. And the Angelines were familiar. The student body didn’t realize during the pep rally that most of the girls wore nothing under their warmups. So, while Dennis and Lana taped up ankles, all the girls were running around in various stages of undress.

“We don’t want to get our uniforms and warmups all wrinkled and sweaty before game time,” Judith explained lamely. Dennis looked up at her bare boobs and estimated they might have grown a little more this year. She was never going to be as big as her sister, but that rack sat proudly on her chest as she leaned back on the bench.

“We don’t either,” Rae said, as she took Judith’s place on the bench. She, too, was topless and wore a tiny scrap of transparent fabric over her pussy. The Team B cheerleaders were on for the first game of the tournament. Rae pretended not to pay any attention to Dennis as she absently played with her nipples and occasionally stroked her pussy through the thin panties. Natalie scooted up behind Rae and reached around her to play with her breasts. Rae gasped and then settled back against Natalie’s bare chest.

“Are you auditioning?” Natalie whispered in Rae’s ears.

“Um ... Not exactly. Oh, that feels good,” Rae panted. “But I wouldn’t mind cheering from the sidelines.”

“Hmm. We’ll see. If you keep flashing your pussy at him, though, Dennis might think it’s an invitation.”

“I wouldn’t, like, scream or anything. But he wouldn’t really, would he?”

“I doubt it, but you need to know you’re playing with fire and Dennis has a very long match.”

“Oh, God.” Rae stiffened up as Dennis finished her tape and ran his fingers up the inside of her legs about half way up her thighs. Natalie thought she might have come. She jumped up and ran to her locker to begin putting on her own uniform.

“Please don’t recruit anyone else,” Dennis whispered to Natalie as he taped her ankles.

“Baby, you are a recruiting poster just sitting here. I don’t think any of the new girls want to become your girlfriend, but several would like to try you on for size,” Natalie said. “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you. Even if I have to do her myself.” They giggled and then the room started getting serious as they focused on getting ready for the game.

At five-thirty they hit the floor for warmups and were obviously a little tense. Last year they had come from nowhere with only eleven games behind them, and won the regional and state tournaments. This season, they were twenty and one and every team was out to beat them.

When the teams were introduced and stood to face the flag, the announcer surprised them all.

“Please stand and join in the singing of our National Anthem, led by local singer Margaret Enders.” Peg’s clear voice rang out in the gymnasium as people joined in singing the anthem. Then it was time to play ball.

In their previous meeting this season, the Angelines had rolled over the Bulldogs from the opening buzzer. The Bulldogs were at this tournament to show how much they’d improved. At the end of the first quarter, the Angelines led by just one point, 10-9. In the second quarter, it looked like the Angelines found the clutch and shifted into high gear. They outscored the Bulldogs by nineteen and ended the half leading 32-12.

True to her word, Ardith made sure every girl on the team got playing time, but they still outpaced the Bulldogs for a 62-28 victory. Forty-three of their points came from the deadly combination of the Armor sisters.

Dennis and Lana removed tape in the locker room and collected everyone’s uniforms and game underwear in the laundry bags as the girls all stopped for a naked hug and kiss. He was surprised to find Jaydyn, Karen, and Shelby naked in line for kisses, too.

“We’re still on the team,” Jaydyn said brightly. “This is like lettering!” Dennis just laughed and made sure he gave each of them a nice squeeze when they kissed.

“Are you doing okay, honey?” Dennis asked as he drove Lana home after the game.

“Everything’s changed,” she sighed.

“What? What’s changed?”

“I turned sixteen and now you’re seventeen. It’s all different.”

“I don’t understand, sweetheart. Tell me what’s different,” he said. Usually, he was pretty good at reading and understanding his girlfriends, he thought. But he was drawing a complete blank now.

“When I was fourteen and started with those awful cheerleaders, I kept telling myself I could get them to delay making me give up my cherry by telling them I’d promised I wouldn’t do it until I was sixteen. That seemed to get me past the danger point of basketball season and next year would be another year,” Lana said as Dennis pulled to a stop between her house and the barn. It was in a less direct line of sight from the living room, so unless her mom was looking out the kitchen window, they were mostly unobserved.

“I’m glad we put an end to that,” Dennis said fervently. “You don’t have to worry about anyone forcing you to give up your virginity.”

“That’s just it. Even after I joined the Angelines and you were all so good to me, I kept congratulating myself and saying, ‘I’ll still be a virgin when I’m sixteen.’ Even this summer, when we ... um ... experimented a little in the field, I kept telling myself not to do anything else until I was sixteen. It seemed so far away. And now, all of a sudden, I’m sixteen. There’s no excuse for me not to make love to you. Our parents—none of them were still virgins by the time they were seventeen. Your mom had Peg when she was seventeen. My mom would have had me if she hadn’t had to go back to Sweden. And here I am: Sixteen and still a virgin with no earthly reason not to just give it up and make love to you.”

Before Dennis could answer, Lana was leaning over the console, kissing him fervently. Dennis’s hand was on her breast, though holding it through her winter coat didn’t have quite the same charge as holding it naked in his hands. Naked. Lana was pulling at her coat and clothes. Dennis pulled back.

“Wait. Wait a minute. Honey, wait.”

“What? I’m sixteen. I’m ready. Like Natalie was.”

“Honey, our age isn’t a magic number that says we have to do something because that’s how old we are,” Dennis sighed. “And I’d never do something like that with you in the back seat of the car. Honey, you are special to me and I’d want our first time to be as special as you are.”

“But I should do this!”

“Lana, that tells me more than anything that you aren’t really ready. When we make love—and believe me, I am going to love making love to you—it won’t be something you do because you should. It will be what we do because we’re so deeply in love and have taken such good care of each other that we just naturally find ourselves making love. And it will be as special as our relationship is.”

“Really? You really won’t get tired of waiting for me? You won’t stop loving me because I won’t make love?”

“My sweet, sweet girlfriend, my love for you goes way beyond anything we can do together to consummate it. I love you and I will never stop.”

“Can we just kiss and make out some more then?” she asked. What could he say?