Team Manager 2: SPRINT!
Chapter 22
NATALIE, DANIELLA, AND ROBERTA joined Dennis for the night. Leanne was sad that she had to go home, but the four walked her to her door and all gave her a long and heartfelt kiss goodnight.
“I’m going to rub myself raw tonight, thinking about what you three will be doing,” she sighed. “I know I’m not there yet, but imagining it just makes my juices flow.”
“Don’t worry, sweetie. When you’re ready, we’ll all make sure your juices are flowing,” Natalie said. She dove back in for another kiss with her girlfriend, then Leanne went into her house and the quartet crossed the street to Dennis’s house. Dot was asleep in her chair and only stirred slightly when Dennis kissed her on the cheek.
“Did you get all charged up over the auditions tonight?” Roberta asked as soon as they were alone in his room. “Lana made sure she was paired up with as many of us as possible during the game. She wasn’t overtly sexual, but she wanted to cuddle with each of us.”
“I think it was the first time Debbie had kissed a girl,” Natalie said. “But she had so much desire in it that I couldn’t help but hold her and keep kissing her.”
“That might have only been her second kiss with boy or girl,” Dennis said. “She’s not as experienced as everyone thinks. I don’t know how she got that reputation.”
“You’re probably right,” Nat said. “It started in seventh grade when she decided to go all goth and emo girl. It was such a change from the bubbly blonde she’d been the year before that people just started talking about ‘the crowd’ she ran with. I talked with her for a while tonight. You know, she’s still upset about the last party at her house. But one of the things she mentioned was that when she decided to join the track team, it was because she’d finally decided not to let her stepmother ruin her life any longer.”
“Is she in danger of being abused?” Dennis asked.
“That’s what I thought she meant, but she said it was all her own doing. She didn’t want her dad to remarry and becoming the slutty goth girl was her way of cutting her stepmother out of her life.”
“Gosh, that’s too bad,” Daniella said. “On the other hand, Tori had definitely kissed before and didn’t really mind if it was a boy or a girl who was exercising her mouth. Did she let you see her boobs again, Dennis?”
“Um… Not exactly.”
“How not exactly?” Roberta asked.
“She kind of used the Braille method. You know I hate to talk about what I do with any other girl, but… Damn! Her tits felt good!” Dennis declared. The girls started laughing. “But I’m not saving number eleven for her. She wants to play and made sure I knew what she meant, but I don’t think she really wants to be a girlfriend. She’s really a free spirit.”
“I’m not opposed to playing with her,” Daniella said. “And I don’t think she cares much if it’s a boy or a girl making out with her. She’s one fast girl.”
“She sure has been anchoring the races. 400-meter, sprint medley, 4x400-meter relay. I think Coach might be thinking of having her replace Janice in the 4x800-meter relay,” Dennis said. “Janice really wants to run longer distances. She’ll be great at cross country.”
“Did you know she ran a half-marathon last summer? And she was only fourteen. She won’t turn fifteen until August,” Roberta said.
“That makes her like one of the youngest freshmen in school, doesn’t it?” Natalie asked. “She’s going to be great next year.”
“Look what I found!” Daniella said. She had Dennis’s cock out and wrapped her hand around it. “I think talking about Tori got him hot and bothered!”
“Daniella, you did that, not Tori. You know how I love to be touched by you,” he said.
“Feeling’s mutual, so how about some mutual touching.” Talk about the auditioning girlfriends was suspended as the four managed to get the clothes off each other and roll into bed.
It was always fun to have Natalie, Roberta, and Daniella in the house on Sunday morning as they planned the dinner menu for the coming week. When Leanne and Rosie joined them, it was a near riot. But six of them wouldn’t fit in the car for grocery shopping, so Dennis volunteered to stay home and play with Peg. They were outside shooting hoops when Lana and her siblings came into the back yard to join them. They were all dressed for church, but that didn’t stop the younger kids from joining Peg as she shot baskets.
“Wow, that was some party last night,” Lana said as they sat on the swing.
“It wasn’t too much for you, was it?” Dennis asked. “I think the girls were all a little over the top.”
“Oh, there were half a dozen of us who weren’t ready for that kind of playtime, you know? We hung out and mostly didn’t get involved. You’re the only one I hid with.”
“That was really nice, Lana. Anytime you just need a hug, I’m here,” Dennis said. She reached over and took his hand in hers.
“Or if I need a hand to hold?” she asked. He gave her hand a little squeeze. “I hope that by the time I’m really ready for something more, you’re still available to give it to me.”
“Are you a girlfriend?” Peg demanded when she saw Lana holding Dennis’s hand. Dennis held on to keep her from quickly withdrawing her hand.
“She is,” he said. “Lana is Number Ten.”
“Oh, goody! That means you’ll be my sister, too. And if you’re my sister, then Nils and Sophie can be my sisters!”
“I’m a brother,” Nils objected.
“Oh.” Peg seemed disappointed for a second and then brightened up. “My sisters and my brothers!”
There was chaos in the house as the girlfriends came in with groceries and Dot and Elsa tried to get Sunday dinner on the table.
Everyone was excited on Monday for the Marysville Invitational Meet. It would be an eight-way meet and the last one before the State Qualifier at Traynor on Saturday. It was sixty miles from Bartley to Marysville, so the bus was slated to leave right after school.
And then, as the fantasy stories would say, the dragons came. Not long after lunch, people started running to the restrooms. The janitor was going crazy, cleaning up vomit in the hallways. The school stank to high heaven. Nearly half the girls’ track team was affected by what turned out to have been some undercooked chicken in the school lunch. Those who had eaten the cafeteria lunch were almost uniformly affected by the outbreak, including Dennis and several of the girls on the team.
Those who were well enough got on the bus and left the school. EMTs were called upon to help the two school nurses cope with the disaster. Bottles of water were brought from the grocery store and everyone remaining in the school started drinking as much fluid as they could. In some instances, that simply caused more vomiting, but in general, it helped. The sudden onset of the symptoms was unusual, but also meant that the stomach and bowels of nearly everyone affected were cleared within two hours. Parents arrived to take their children to doctors or just to take them home. Four students were loaded into medical transport and rushed to the hospital in Des Moines. Several showed up with parents at different regional clinics.
“Oh, God! I feel like someone turned my insides out,” Dennis moaned. Dot took him home and administered the anti-diarrheal the nurses had given out, though all agreed the best treatment was rest and fluids.
At Marysville, the team was a shambles as Ardith worked quickly on reorganizing who was running what. There were simply some events Bartley would not be able to field. Amy ran in the 100-meter but failed to place. Becky made a surprise showing of fifth in the 200-meter. In the 400-meter, things looked up as Tori placed first and Debbie second. No one placed in the 800-meter and Ardith withdrew the team from the 4x800 relay. Laura and Leah were out completely. Emily and Janice ran the 1500, but neither placed. Janice, as the only Angeline runner in the 3000, placed fifth. Hurdles was a no-go as all three Armors were still at school throwing up. Ardith consulted with her team and they jointly decided to focus their efforts on the 4x100 and distance medley races. They just didn’t have the people to make a good showing in either the 4x200 or 4x400, though Lana came away from the high jump after missing the first height and ran with the two relay teams.
Surprisingly, Amy and Tori led the 4x100 relay team to a victory, but Tori suddenly emptied her stomach in a trash can just before the start of the 4x400 and the team barely limped home from the final event.
Though no jumpers placed, despite ridiculously low standards, Corrine placed second in the shot put. Denise stepped in for ailing Rita and threw twenty-nine feet for fifth place. Then she turned around and heaved the discus 100'6" to capture first in that event.
In addition to Tori, two other teammates came down with symptoms on the drive back and twice the driver simply pulled to the side of the road to let them out for an emergency evacuation of the bowels. Ardith was on her cellphone all the way back to Bartley to get parents to pick up their daughters at school. In all, it was a disastrous day.
A third of the student body was out on Tuesday, postponing several final exams that would be held on Friday, the last day of the semester. The cafeteria had been closed by the state health department. Several families had pulled their kids from school altogether. Most of the seniors cut classes for the week, so there were few people in the halls.
Wednesday, things gradually got back to normal and weary students took abbreviated tests for their final exams. Seldom had people so looked forward to the last day of school.
Practice Wednesday and Thursday had its own issues. Lana stepped crooked on her approach to the bar and twisted her ankle. She spent the rest of practice with her foot elevated and an instant ice pack on it that Dennis had grabbed from his waist pack. Half a dozen competitors—both boys and girls—came to him for taping. He had to run to the full kit to replenish his tape supply.
Tori wanted her ankles taped and when Dennis pulled the roll from his waist pack, the string of condoms stuck to it and came out with the tape. He hurriedly stuffed them back into his pack. Tori started laughing.
“Really? If I’d known you packed those in your emergency kit, we’d have hidden a little better and a little longer Saturday night. I’m glad to know you’re prepared.”
Dennis was embarrassed and mumbled something along the lines of “I’m sorry,” but it wasn’t really understandable.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. But, you know, I’ve got a bit of time before my next run, so you could take some of it and rub my legs. You can rub them as far up as you want,” she said.
Dennis thought he had more willpower to resist the sexy girl than it turned out he did have. His strokes were light and gentle as he made his way up her legs and onto her thighs. Tori moaned.
“You have great hands,” she said.
“Thanks. I uh… should really stop wasting time and get you taped.”
“Yeah. I suppose. I really hope you finish that massage one day. I mean all the way up. There’s lots of places I’d like to have you massage me.”
Dennis finished taping her up and she pulled on her spikes to head for her next run.
Thursday was more of the same, but generally, the team was back at near full strength. Ardith continued to encourage her girls (and the boys) to eat healthily and to drink lots of water. The coaches had bottles of Gatorade to hand out to everyone. Having this incident just five days before the State Qualifier was a real handicap and they could tell everyone still wasn’t up to speed.
Dennis carefully repacked his emergency kit, finding an inside zipper pocket to put the strip of condoms in. He was thankful none of the coaches had been near enough to see his accident. Everyone was exhausted when they headed home, even though the coaches had intentionally kept the workout light.
Friday, the cafeteria was still closed, so everyone was getting sack lunches from their lockers and disappearing outside for the last day of the school year. Dennis was at his locker near the central crossing of the two main hallways when the school echoed with gunshots. Students dove for cover, fled down the halls and into classrooms with safe rooms, and out the side doors. Carol stood stock still in shock and Dennis grabbed her collar and hauled her back into the hall. The guy she was supporting landed on the floor next to Dennis, sticking partly out in the hall. Dennis pulled him into the side hall and looked at the wound in his thigh. He grabbed a gauze pad and ice pack from his kit and pressed them onto the wound.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Carol cried. “I tried to be nice because I’d been so mean to you. But he just kept grabbing at me and telling me he wanted to fuck. Now he wants to kill us.” Dennis looked at her, hoping what she was saying wasn’t what he was afraid of.
“Come out, bitches!” The voice in the hall yelled. “Think you can all just dis on me? I’ll show you who the fuck the man is.” Another burst of shots echoed down the hall. The lockdown klaxon rang out in the halls.
“Shit,” Dennis said. There was no doubt now. It had to be Les Steinman. “Shit, shit, shit.” He looked at Carol and grabbed her hand. “Press here. Don’t let up,” he commanded. She caught her breath and immediately took over the compress as Dennis stood and stepped toward the hall.
“No!” Carol gasped. Dennis waved her down.
“Fuckers! I’m gonna hunt down every one of you skanky pussies and fuck you when you’re dead! I’ll kill you all!” Les shouted. He fired off three more shots down the now-empty hall that ricocheted off the lockers. The third went into the ceiling as if Les had not yet learned how to control the gun.
Dennis had one opportunity. The hall was empty except for him, Carol, and the wounded boy. He took a deep breath and let it out, waving his hand around the corner.
“Hey, Dude. It’s me. I’ve got your back, man. Remember? Don’t try to do this alone,” Dennis called.
“Denny? Really? You’ve got my back, bro?”
“Really, man. Let me come up with you so we can do this together.”
“You packing?”
“Of course,” Dennis said as he stepped out around the corner patting his waist pack. “You think I wear this thing because it’s so stylish?”
“Good. I thought you weren’t gonna do it.”
Dennis kept walking toward him, the rifle loosely trained on him. Les was firing from the hip instead of holding the rifle to his shoulder to aim. He was looking around wildly as if expecting targets to suddenly pop out of the walls.
“Didn’t you get my message? Man, I was planning to do this at commencement Sunday. We could have done serious damage to the whole graduating class of whores and assholes.”
“I didn’t get that message.”
“Damn. I’m sure it was your phone I sent it to. It’s the number listed in the student directory.”
“Oh, fuck. That’s my dad’s work phone. Doesn’t even have messaging.”
“Well, we might as well finish it here. We’ll never get another chance. Who do you want to take out next?”
“The skanky cheerleaders,” Les growled. “That slut Rachel turned me down again yesterday.” Dennis was just a step away and Les had shifted the focus of the gun down the hall.
“Good choice. Wish I had a sweet rifle like yours. All I’ve got is my dad’s 1911.” Dennis made a show of unzipping the red waist pack as he came up beside Les. The freshman glanced toward what Dennis was doing and then stared back down the hall.
And Dennis swung.
He brought the hand that was on his waist pack around with as much force as he could muster and connected with the side of Les’s head. Another shot from the AR15 went into the ceiling and the gun skittered away from where Les hit the glass windows of the school office and sank to the floor. A honeycomb fracture in the safety glass appeared.
Dennis pounced on the partially conscious boy and jerked his arms behind his back. He had a roll of tape out of the kit and began wrapping it around Les’s hands, tying them together. He used most of a roll of tape as Les started struggling. Dennis ruthlessly sat on the boy’s legs and got the second roll of tape out of his kit to wrap around his ankles as Les started screaming out his hatred.
“Idiot!” Dennis screamed back at him. “Nobody but you was planning anything. You made it all up. Nobody wants to kill people but you. You goddamned fool!”
Dennis sat back as Les continued to struggle against his bonds. Dennis pulled out his phone and dialed 9-1-1.
“Yeah. You got the report of the live shooter at Bartley High? I’ve just subdued him. I’m sitting in the hall with him. His weapon, a Colt AR15, is about ten feet away on the floor. It’s safe to come into the school, but please don’t shoot me. Please.”
Based on the operator’s instructions, he gave his name and age. He knelt in front of the wall between Les and the gun and placed both hands on the wall, calling to his phone on the floor that he was in position and wouldn’t move but to please hurry.
“You fucking bastard!” Les screamed at him. “I thought you were one of the good guys. I thought we’d get rid of the bullies and cunts. I should have shot you down when I had a chance. You fucking cunt!” Les continued his rant as the doors burst open at the end of the hall.
“Freeze, all of you!” a trooper yelled. Dennis didn’t move. Les continued to struggle. “I said all of you!” Dennis dared a glance down the hall and saw half a dozen teens standing there, one who was stopped in the motion of leaning forward to pick up the rifle. A trooper came around the two of them and had the others move back away from the rifle. He stepped on the rifle to keep it out of play and motioned to the kids to sit. They quickly obeyed.
“Adhesive tape?” the other trooper asked as he frisked Dennis quickly looking inside his waist pack for weapons. He removed the scissors and tossed them toward his partner.
“Athletic tape,” Dennis replied through his tears. Now that it was over, he couldn’t stop shaking and weeping.
“Turn around and lean back against the wall, Dennis,” he directed. Dennis did as he was told and looked into familiar eyes.
“Trooper Moran?”
“Ever get tired of being a hero, kid?” the trooper asked. He checked the cuffs on the still-cursing shooter. “Hmm. I can’t tear through this many layers of tape. He’ll have to wear it until we get a medic in here.”
No sooner had that been said than two people with a gurney came rushing through the door. They didn’t stop at Les and Dennis, though. They charged on down the hall to the intersection. A few minutes later, they returned with a kid on the gurney.
“He’s one of them!” the kid yelled. “I heard him say they were going to kill everyone at commencement. He’s one of them!”
Dennis opened his mouth to protest, but found handcuffs slapped around his wrists.
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