Chapter 23

“THIS IS IT, GUYS,” Coach Neil said when his team was dressed and in the locker room. The quarterfinals were played at the Terriers, so both teams were in unfamiliar territory, though the Wolverines had been drawn to be the home team and would wear their white uniforms. “You all have your eye on the Terriers to get back what we lost in the last game of the regular season. But our sisters, the Angelines, have a saying and I want you to take it to heart. This game—tonight—is the championship game. We either win or we lose. We have a 0-0 record tonight. Everything that came before was practice. Everything that comes after this is a dream. All that counts is this game tonight. Now, what are we going to do?”

“Beat ‘em!”

“How are we going to do it?”

“Run, run, run!”

“Who are we?”

“Wolverines!”

“Get out there on the court and get warmed up. We have a championship to win.”

Most of the Angelines rode the fan bus to the Terriers, about forty-five minutes away. Dennis and his girlfriends drove. The Wolverines would play the 6:30 game and they didn’t want to be stuck at the gym for the 8:00 game as well. They were surprised when Tori asked to ride with them.

“Sure. You’re okay with being out with Dennis?” Natalie asked.

“You’ve got to be kidding. We all know Dennis would never take advantage of me. I just want to get back here so I can meet the team bus when it gets back,” Tori laughed.

“Just make sure you don’t stay out late. We’ve got a big game tomorrow ourselves,” Amy said.

“Yeah. I promise I’ll be good. Brandon and I already talked about how important it was to get rest before games. We didn’t even do anything last night. I explained the rules to him and he was cool with it. No means no. Never without protection. Not in front of the children or parents.”

“That’s cool,” Lana said. “I liked him before, but your assessment just moved him up a notch in my respect for him.”

“Yeah, you know, there are things that I didn’t realize or maybe take seriously when we were all going together. It was easy to say no means no, because who wouldn’t want to have sex with me when I wanted it? And I didn’t get it often enough to even consider saying no. But I realized that it’s kind of two-edged. Not only can we say no and have it respected by the other person, but we don’t just automatically say no for no reason at all. I think we get so used to turning boys down in school that it’s just an automatic response. And most of the time, we expect them to try to convince us. Well, thank you guys for always respecting me, even when I was a wanton slut. It’s been a good lesson for me.”

“You’re welcome to go with us anytime, Tori,” Dennis said. “I’m happy you’ve found someone and I hope he’s everything you imagine he should be.”

“That’s asking a lot,” Tori said. “But the way things are stacking up, he could be. He could be.”

They got to the gym and showed their tickets. All tickets were reserved and paid for online. They were delivered to each person’s phone. They’d discovered that when they went to the game between the Roadrunners and the Tigerhawks. It wasn’t difficult to get in, but they had to stop in the parking lot and get their tickets on their phones before they could enter.

The gym was about three-quarters full. A lot of fans would be coming in only for the second game and a lot of fans from the first game would be leaving. The cheerleaders welcomed them when they arrived and organized a student cheer block. It wasn’t long before the noise was going up in volume.

They cheered each of the players as they came out for warmups, the cheerleaders coordinating a cheer for each one. “Donnie, Donnie, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, then Dave can. Dave, Dave, he’s our man. If he can’t do it Brandon can!”

Of course, Tori joined in extra loud declaring, “Brandon, Brandon, he’s MY man!”

Opening ceremonies concluded and the game got underway.

The start of the game was a bit ragged for the Wolverines as the Chargers hit two three-pointers before the Wolverines drove for a layup and scored. That point also set much of the way the game would go as the Chargers had no discipline under the basket and gave away points on free throws. Donnie made both the layup and the free throw for three points.

The Wolverines’ ability to control the rebounds was what kept them in the game and they trailed by only one at the end of the first quarter. The Chargers soon discovered they were not getting points from inside and were shooting from outside the three-point arc most of the time. Fortunately, they only converted about one out of three and the Wolverines always got the rebounds. Dave Overman had put on a couple of inches in height this year and was snatching rebounds at both ends of the court. He was racking up points, as well. At the end of the half, the score was tied, 30-30.

The cheerleaders kept the students and fans enthused during the halftime and somehow, Coach Neil lit a fire under his team at the break. They outscored the Chargers 18-13 in the third quarter and 17-14 in the final for a game-winning score of 65-57. The Bartley fans were jubilant as it was the first time in many years that the Wolverines had advanced to the regional semifinals.

Dennis and the girls joined the caravan following the team bus home. They were all excited and joined the crowd of fans to cheer the returning team. That was where Coach Neil spotted him.

“Dennis. I hate to impose on you, but could you take a look at something for me? I know you need to get your team home.”

“No problem, Coach,” Dennis said. He tossed his keys to Natalie and asked her to get their girlfriends home. Then he joined the coach as they headed to the sports therapy room.

Donnie was sitting on one of the tables, wrapped in a towel with Chris standing nearby, holding his hand.

“What’s up, man?” Dennis asked.

“That last foul,” Donnie said. “I almost think that guy was trying to take me out. I don’t even know who it was.”

“It looked pretty brutal, but you went straight to the foul line and sank two,” Dennis said.

“I didn’t feel it until after the buzzer. Now I can hardly walk. Coach says I’ve got a back spasm.”

“Dennis, I know you took the therapy and massage course last term. Could you work on Donnie a bit?” Coach Neil asked.

“Sure, Coach. On your stomach, Donnie. Let’s see how bad it is.”

Dennis wondered that the Coach wasn’t taking care of this himself. He was sure Neil was even better trained than he was. And to have Chris in the room at the same time seemed odd. She and Donnie were engaged, but having a girlfriend present for a treatment was unusual. He went straight to work and found the places where Donnie’s back was spasming. He worked on the massage for over an hour and it began to loosen up.

“Take it easy getting up,” Dennis said. “Tomorrow morning get in here for an ice bath and then a hot tub. Try to lie as flat as possible when you sleep tonight.”

“Thanks, Coach,” Donnie said. “It feels a lot better, but I can tell it’s iffy. I’ll be here first thing in the morning.” He went off slowly to get dressed and go home. Chris, of course, couldn’t follow him.

“I’ll make sure he rests and doesn’t get too active,” she said. “I already told him no fun stuff tonight. I might get to play tomorrow!”

“You might indeed, Chris. It’s been a pleasure having you on the team.”

Neil waved Dennis into the office before he went home.

“I can see you’re asking why I didn’t do all that myself,” he said.

“Yeah. And why Chris was in there during a treatment,” Dennis added. Of course, while he was actually working on Donnie, he’d lost track of both Neil and Chris, but he knew they were watching.

“All the same reason. This whole morality investigation has all the coaches a little spooked. The school board issued some guidelines regarding interactions that just make it hard to do our jobs sometimes. Coaches are not supposed to be alone with members of the team in the locker room or therapy room. We are not to physically maintain contact with a student beyond a list of acceptable touches on back and shoulders when the student is fully dressed. If anyone else had been available among the guys, I’d have had one of them stay with us, too. As it was, I took what I could in you and Chris.”

“Gosh, Coach, that’s terrible. Um ... Why didn’t I get a copy of these rules?” Dennis asked.

“Same reason I had you do the massage. You aren’t a school employee. You’re a student. When the lawyers did their investigation a couple of weeks ago, one of the things they turned up was that you are exempt from the laws regarding student-teacher contact. It’s a crazy mixed-up world, Dennis. I just want to say thank you for stepping in.”

“You’re welcome, Coach. I’ll get going now.”

“See you tomorrow. Good luck, if I don’t get a chance to tell you before the game.”

On Friday morning, the teams got the news that by some quirk of fate, the regionally top-ranked Terriers had been upset by the Roadrunners 58-49. The Wolverines and Roadrunners would meet on Tuesday. The game would be played in a neutral location over an hour south. Neither team had played in the Panthers’ gym. The Wolverines would wear home uniforms.