Team Manager 2: SPRINT!
Chapter 14
“WAY TO GO, DUDE,” Les said when he caught up with Dennis in the hall on Tuesday.
“I didn’t do anything,” Dennis said, trying to fend him off.
“Oh, man, we know you didn’t do it yourself. You’re too smart for that. I just want to know how you manage it. There are plenty of other crap artists around school who need to go. I’m ready to go anytime you are. I want to join your army and take out the bitches.”
“Les, it isn’t as simple as that. My dad got killed.”
“Yeah. Too bad. My old man says he wasn’t Superman and only Superman can stop a speeding bullet. We watched Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice last night. We need a Justice League in Bartley. You can’t just stand alone. So, remember, I’ve got your back. We’ll rain justice down on the criminals in this school. Maybe in the whole town and the whole state. Yeah, we’ll show them what’s right and what’s wrong.”
“I guess I need to watch that movie so I understand what you’re talking about,” Dennis said. “Um… I need to get to class.”
“Yeah. Tyranny of the educational system. They have no appreciation for the smart kids. See you later, Superman.”
Dennis considered himself lucky to not be in any of the same classes with Les Steinman.
“Hello, Mrs. Enders. Thank you for seeing me,” Ardith said.
“It’s unusual to have a teacher visit in the middle of a school day,” Dot said. “I hope it’s not another problem. I’m really too tired to deal with any more. Is Dennis okay?”
“Yes. Very okay. He’s doing wonderful work managing the track team and working with us as a trainer. I was delegated to visit you by the other coaches and by the senior class. I want you to know that I personally had nothing to do with this proposal.”
“That sounds ominous, Ardith.”
“I just didn’t want you to think I was sticking my nose into other people’s business. I think you and Mr. Enders made it very clear last fall that I wasn’t welcome to do that. And I warned my colleagues and students that their suggestion might not be welcome,” Ardith said.
“Well, I suppose I should hear their suggestion,” Dot said. She poured them each a cup of coffee and they sat at the kitchen table.
“Each year, the senior class takes on a project that is supposed to be their contribution to the school, the town, and society in general. They have an unusual proposal for this year’s project. Over the course of this year, Dennis has shown a good bit of heroism, both working with the teams and independently. The senior class was directly affected when he rescued Carol Reston. They also consider his father’s sacrifice in stopping Lee Smith and Tom Perkins to have had a significant impact on their class. So, they want to do something for Dennis as a thank you and as their senior project.”
“I’m sure just being kind to him is more than enough. Dennis went through nine years of school without friends and I’m not sure what has happened this year to change that,” Dot said. “Did you know that the entire Angelines Basketball Team is actually his girlfriend? Not just friends. I don’t know how they manage it, but without them, we would have been lost over the past few months.”
“The Angelines, in fact, are a part of the instigators for the senior class project. So, I should just get to it. A select group has studied Dennis’s eye condition—theoretically, mind you. They do not have access to his medical records. Most of their information has been gleaned from their personal relationship with Dennis. They consulted with an eye surgeon to find out what could be done to improve his eyesight, or at the very least, to get him lighter-weight and more fashionable glasses or even contact lenses. The surgeon ruled out Lasik as likely to help. He said that with the case as it was presented to him, he would assume there was an internal flaw in Dennis’s eyes. It could be as simple as cataracts, but that would have been detected and dealt with long ago. The other likely scenario, according to the doctor, is a chorioretinal fold. Depending on the diagnosis, it is possible that such a problem could be surgically corrected. I can’t go into any more depth than that because I’m not an eye doctor and I didn’t do this research. The senior biology class took the project on and have launched a rather extensive study of the subject, including interviews with this surgeon. The class wants to offer to pay for the diagnosis and surgery if it can be done, as well as providing transportation and home assistance as needed.”
“I’ve heard some of these terms from doctors in the past and they seemed to be consistent with what you’ve heard. When we investigated this—well, Dennis was quite small when we finally realized he couldn’t see well—the doctors described a procedure that was prohibitively expensive. We have minimal health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. I don’t see how the senior class could possibly afford to fund the procedure,” Dot said. “It’s a lovely gesture, but…”
“I have learned to expect unusual things at Bartley High School, Mrs. Enders. Both extraordinarily bad and extraordinarily good. Class representatives have been busy. The eye surgeon they talked to is associated with the university. He has volunteered to perform the surgery pro bono. Further, the university has gotten on board with this and will provide the facilities and all other costs through the university hospital.” Ardith paused while this new information soaked in. Dot shook her head.
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t think any of us realized what a profound impact Dennis has had on our community and our school,” Ardith said. “His girlfriends, as you rightly identified them, are also his champions and have been involved with the seniors every step of the way. If we went public with this information, I believe donations would flood us.”
“I just don’t want to build his hopes up only to have them collapse because it can’t be done,” Dot said. “Do you really think such a desperate measure would work?”
“I don’t know,” Ardith said truthfully. “I just know that I would have a difficult time of living with myself if something could be done and I kept my mouth shut to make sure his feelings weren’t hurt. Dennis has also become a dear friend and trusted trainer. His inner geekdom is physical fitness and training. He is a natural at it.”
“I think we should ask him,” Dot finally said. “I won’t prevent it if he wants to try. I so wish Will were here to advise me. He would be incredibly happy if his son could see better.”
“Remember, power out of the blocks,” Dennis said as he put an arm around Brenda and one around Judith. “You win the race in the first three steps. From there on, everyone is trying to catch you. You can do this.” The meet on Saturday was a six-way meet hosted by one of the larger Class 2A schools. Unlike basketball’s five classes, track was divided into only four classes. This was considered a trial meet for the State Qualifiers, still a month away. As such, it was a huge meet. Six schools were participating and would use timed heats to determine who ran in the final field of eight for the sprints. Similar qualifying rounds would be held for other events. The problem with a preliminary was that it didn’t necessarily produce a winner. The preliminary was timed and, in this meet, the top eight times would advance to the final heat. The runners were assigned their heat and lane by past recorded performance. None of the Bartley runners were in the first heat. Brenda and Judith would run in the second heat. Amy would be in the third heat. It was completely possible that Amy could place first in her heat and still not qualify for the final.
Dennis checked his stopwatch on the first heat and saw it was faster than anything Brenda had run yet. He didn’t pass that news on.
“Okay, babes,” he said to Brenda and Judith. “You’ve got this. Go out there and beat the pants off of them.”
“Ooh! For you? We’ll definitely get their pants off of them!” Judith giggled. The two went to the blocks and lined up in their assigned lanes. The starter gave the signal and they were off. Thirteen seconds later, Judith led the way across the finish line with Brenda hot on her heels. It was a personal best for both girls.
Amy stood beside Dennis, waiting her call to the blocks. She leaned against him. “Going to give me a pep talk, Team Manager?” she asked.
“Amy, you haven’t shown us what you’ve got yet this year. I know it’s a lot more than you’ve shown.”
“I promise I’ll show you in the locker room,” she giggled.
“I’ll look forward to that, but I want to see your speed on the track. Remember all our training. The first three steps are where you win the race. From there on out, you just keep running as fast as you can. Go get ’em, girl.” He patted her butt as she went to take her place for the start and she turned to smirk at him.
Amy crossed the finish line with a new personal best of 13.75, winning the heat and getting her the eighth starting position. They’d need to wait until after the shuttle hurdle relay prelims and the 4x800-meter relay event. Then came the 200-meter prelims and the 100-meter hurdle prelims. Since shuttle hurdles take two lanes for each team, it had to have preliminary heats to cut the field to a maximum of four teams for the final. The shuttle hurdles are run forward and back down the track rather than continuously around it. It can be as confusing to watch as to explain. Dennis was in awe of hurdlers in general. He wondered if he could ever contribute to the training of hurdlers.
The next event Dennis had been working with sprinters on was the 200-meter dash and, like in the 100-meter, three preliminary heats would determine the final eight competitors. Becky Davis had thus far been their fastest 200-meter sprinter, but coming off her exhilarating 100-meter dash, Judith was ready to get her in this event. They wouldn’t be running side-by-side, though. Becky would be in the first heat, Judith in the second heat, and Tori would run in the third heat, determined to better her time in a shorter distance run than the 400-meter.
Becky and Judith both qualified for the final, but Tori’s new personal best wasn’t enough to place in the top eight. There was a mandatory half hour break between the preliminaries and the finals to make sure everyone was rested for the final heats.
In the meantime, Jennifer and Corrine had placed in the top eight in the shot put. Rita and Erin had made the top eight in the discus. Lana placed third in the high jump with a personal best of five feet even. Rosie had landed a jump of 16'1" for second in the long jump. The whole team was doing well compared to the lack-luster performance they’d given the previous weekend.
The 100-meter dash looked like a race mostly between Bartley’s maroon and Crestwood’s union blue. Each school had three runners in the final heat with two of the other four schools represented in the remaining lanes. Judith was in lane seven as the fastest qualifier and Amy in lane eight as the slowest qualifier. Brenda was in lane three. Dennis loved seeing the three of them in a beautiful start, leading by a step over the competition. From that point on it was thirteen seconds of running flat out. Brenda recaptured first place with Judith dropping to third. Everyone cheered the close finish.
Judith rested during the 1600-meter medley relay, but Debbie and Becky blitzed the 200-meter legs with Tori getting a good split on the 400-meter leg. Leah Davis had plenty of time to turn in a good record for the 800-meter leg and brought the team in second. She turned around a while later and ran twice that distance for a third place finish in the 1500-meter run. When it came time for the 200-meter finals, Judith and Becky were in lanes one and eight. The girls didn’t give an inch to the other competitors and came in first and second for a big win.
All told, Bartley tallied well for second place in both boys’ and girls’ competitions and a second place finish overall. They were happy and celebrating the entire way back to Bartley.
“Do you know what tonight is?” Brenda asked Dennis.
“Um… I hope it’s kiss-a-girlfriend night. I’ve missed kissing you,” he answered.
“It’s kiss-all-girlfriends night,” Brenda giggled. “Up close and personal.”
“Oh wow! Where am I supposed to do that?”
“Your house. We decided to have a party and your mom said okay.”
“My house? It’s not my birthday or anything.”
“No. It’s just I-Love-You Day. Your girlfriends miss kissing as much as you do.”
“Okay. As long as we’re careful around Peg,” Dennis said. “I’d love to kiss all my girlfriends.”
“And we’ve taken care of Peg for tonight.”
“Really? How?”
“She’s having a sleepover at the Browns’.”
“Um… Lana’s not… you know… coming to our party, is she?”
“No. She’s babysitting. They are taking your mom and Peg out to dinner and then both are staying over at their house.”
“Wow! The Browns know we’re all having a party with no supervision?”
“Dennis, that isn’t much of a secret to anyone any longer. We all really need tonight and everyone agreed.”
The girls had pizzas, chips, and sodas planned for the party and knew where everything in Dennis’s house was. By the time food was ready, the Browns picked up Dot and Peg for their evening together. Some semblance of pajamas became the order of dress after that with baggy T-shirts being the main style.
“Amy, I’m surprised your parents allowed you to come over for the night. Do they know you’re staying here?” Dennis asked.
“My parents have officially abandoned me,” Amy announced to the group. “They said they couldn’t stay in a house that reminded them constantly of the tragedy of losing their son and moved to an apartment in Ames near where Dad works. They calculated things out and figured the move was far enough they could write it off on their taxes or something.”
“But they just left you?” Rosie asked. Apparently, this was news to nearly all the girlfriends except Brenda.
“Well, I’m not completely unsupervised,” Amy said. “My grandma volunteered to come back to Bartley and stay with me until I graduate. Since my parents were paying for her retirement home anyway, they figure moving her into the house was a wash. Anyway, Grandma and I had a nice long talk and I told her everything. She immediately gave me permission to spend the night with my girlfriends and boyfriend. Um… it was helped by Mrs. Armor and Mrs. Long sitting down with her.”
“Wow! Our mothers knew and didn’t tell us,” Natalie said. “Wonder what else they’re keeping from us.”
“Probably more than we really want to know,” Dennis said.
“Well, there’s an ulterior motive to our wanting to be with our boyfriend tonight,” Brenda said. “Something besides wanting to kiss him and have him lick our pussies.”
“Brenda!” Diane screeched.
“What? You don’t want him to lick your pussy tonight? We can give your spot to someone else. Like me!” Brenda laughed.
“No! I’ll keep my own turn,” Diane sniffed.
“Go on with our ulterior motive,” Leanne said.
“Well, you have a part of the presentation, too,” Brenda said. “Dennis, we promised to talk to you about this because you’ll listen to us and not make a judgment until we’re finished. I’ll give you the brief version. We want you to get your eyes fixed.”
“Yeah. Well, me, too,” he laughed.
“Only, we actually think it’s possible,” she continued. “The big question is whether trying would get you so hopeful that you’d be crippled by disappointment if it didn’t work.”
“What’s the cure? A magic witch dance with my nine girlfriends dancing naked in a circle around me?” Dennis still assumed his girlfriends were joking.
“That sounds like fun,” Brenda continued. “I’m good with doing that, but we’re serious, honey. There’s a surgery available that might be able to fix your eyes.”
“I’ve looked that up. It’s still experimental and costs a fortune,” Dennis said.
“Would you try it if it was available and you didn’t need to pay for it?” Natalie asked. Dennis let what she was saying sink in as he stared around the circle of his girlfriends. They were intently looking back at him and it finally dawned on him they were serious.
“I… I’ve always said the first thing I would do when I was rich and famous was have my eyes fixed,” he said. “It’s always just been a dream and I have never believed I would become rich enough to afford it. If I suddenly won the lottery, I’d have it done the next day.”
“Well, let’s say you won an unexpected bonus,” Leanne said. “My father will act as your attorney and financial manager for the procedure. Your mother has said she’ll give permission if you agree to the surgery.”
“How can any of that be?” he cried. “It’s not possible. Who would ever give me the money to have my eyes fixed? It’s thousands of dollars!”
“Honey, you’ve touched many lives,” Nat said. “Many people want to touch yours. There’s a doctor who has agreed to do the surgery pro bono. The university has agreed to provide the facilities and nursing staff. And the senior class has organized everything and raised the money to pay for anything that isn’t covered. At the last report, they think they’ve raised pledges for twice what will be needed, but they want you to accept it as their thanks for rescuing Carol and for helping to rid the school and community of dangerous bullies. You’ve inspired the women’s sports program here in Bartley and all the athletic teams are in on the project.”
“If you say no,” Diane said, “we won’t try to convince you otherwise. Even in this, no means no. But we really hope you’ll say yes, just because you love us as much as we love you.”
“Yes. If you’ve done all this for me, I’d be stupid not to accept. I love you all so much!” He went around the circle kissing each of his girlfriends and thanking them. Then the nine girls mobbed him.
“There are some bits you should look at tonight because you can see them so well up close,” Judith whispered. “And my bits are really wet and want your tongue.”
Comments
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
