Team Manager COACH!
Chapter 35
EVERYONE HAD TO GO home Sunday night, but no one wanted to be parted from the others. During the movie, the girlfriends had clustered together with Dennis and just held each other. None was certain what the movie was really about. Tom left and Dennis read to Peg for bedtime. All the girls kissed him deeply before they left. Tori took Debbie and Lana home. The Armors walked Leanne and Rosie to their homes before going to their own. Diane and Judith drove home. Amy and Brenda went together to Amy’s house where Brenda was spending most of her time these days.
Dennis sat in the living room with his mother and silently watched a talent contest game show neither of them paid attention to. Dot turned off the television.
“Do you still have your father’s gun?” Dot asked.
“Um… It’s in the money bag. I kind of buried it there so no one would see it if they discovered the bag,” Dennis said.
“Did you clean it?”
“I think the police cleaned it before they returned it. I checked and it has a full magazine. There’s one in the chamber, so nine bullets all told,” Dennis said flatly. He’d been thinking about the gun all evening.
“How did you learn all that?”
“You know me. When I put it away, I looked up all the info I could find on the gun. There was a pretty good manufacturer’s site that had a manual. I didn’t want to have it in my room without knowing what was there.”
“I would like you to bring it in here and place it on top of the china cabinet where I can reach it. Then forget about it. Make sure it is out of sight from Peg.” Dot didn’t move or turn to watch Dennis. He went to his room and got the gun out of his bag and took it to the place his mother had indicated. It scared him to have the gun so accessible, but it was also a comfort.
“It’s done, Mom.”
“Now forget about it. I have a permit. Your grandfather insisted when we got married that Will and I both take the training and get permits. Renewing every five years has just been automatic. It’s not legal for you to have access to it, so now it’s put away out of your reach. I’m sorry you have to go through all this. You shouldn’t need to think about your dad’s gun or anything but your girlfriends and your team,” Dot sighed.
“Mom, I’m the reason this is a concern. I’m sorry you have to think about it.”
“Dennis, your father would be very proud of the kind of man you are becoming. I am very proud of you. We will see this through. Who knows? Maybe the psychiatrist is right.”
Dennis couldn’t help but scan all around him everywhere Monday, even though he knew Les probably wasn’t home from detention yet. The girls seemed a bit uptight as well and he did his best to relax them before the game Monday night. They’d met the Vikings before and won pretty handily. This was their last regular season home game and they were determined to show the fans what they could do.
With the score at 43-7 at the end of the first half, the entire second half of the game was played with the thirty-five-point continuous clock rule in effect. The Vikings didn’t score at all in the second or third quarters. It was Roberta’s turn to shine as she hit seven three-pointers to lead the scoring with twenty-one. Every Angeline player scored at least once. The final score of 78-11 was a little embarrassing, but the Vikings were excited to have played against ‘such a big school’ as they had fewer than half the students that Bartley had. The Wolverines, on the other hand, had their worst game of the season, losing 43-76.
Tuesday, the team was on the bus before school was out, traveling nearly two hours to play the Norse. It was an unusual game for the teams.
“Uh, Coach? What are we doing playing at a college?” Natalie asked.
“We’re playing the Norse junior varsity,” Ardith said as they got ready to head to the gym for warmups. “Various colleges around the state offer a game during their season to high schools. They are assigned by lottery. You’ll be playing against girls who are a year to three years older than you are, with comparably more experience. For us, it’s a great opportunity to work against a higher caliber team than we’ve faced before. You’ll have to work for what you get tonight.”
They did have to work harder. They led throughout the game, but the Norse came back some in the third quarter. A huge difference between the teams was the number of fouls called. Six of Daniella’s fifteen points were free throws. The other nine were three-pointers. Natalie worked inside for eleven points and eight rebounds, but three of her eleven points were free throws. Amy showed that she could hit three-pointers with two of them and a two-pointer from just left of the foul line. The other ten points the Angelines scored were all free throws. That put them ahead at the end of the game 44-24. They avoided the other team after the game, going straight to their bus while the boys took another huge loss 27-60.
“That was brutal,” Daniella said, rubbing her arm where she’d been hacked by the tall forward guarding her. The only good thing about having the big forward focused on Daniella was that it kept her out of the scrum under the basket where Natalie kept control of the rebounds.
“Do you think the tournament will be like that?” Amy asked.
“Coach is right about one thing,” Roberta said. “Well, about most things, but one thing in particular. We haven’t been playing against teams of equal caliber all season. More than half our regular season games have been against 1A teams. That includes Thursday this week. Starting Tuesday, a week from tonight, we’ll play only 2A teams until the State Champion is decided. So, assuming we play all six games to get to the championship, we’ll play as many 2A teams in two and a half weeks as we have for the whole rest of the season.”
“Why did they do that to us? We were the 3A State Champions last year,” Judith complained. “You’d think that would merit some tougher competition. I like winning, but I’ve felt like we worked a lot harder last year than we have this year.”
“A lot of people credit our short season last year for our success and don’t take us seriously,” Diane said. “When we played the Comets a couple of weeks ago, I heard a couple of the girls talking about how we weren’t as good as State Champions should be. They were going to get the 4A championship. So they said.”
“I guess we kind of put an end to that kind of thinking,” Natalie scoffed. “I seem to recall scoring twenty-four points in that game.”
“Well, we have to take them one game at a time and remember what Coach says,” Judith said. The girls nodded and all responded together.
“Every game is the championship game.”
It was a long bus-ride back to school and the girls all changed on the bus. It was dark, so no one really noticed the crew making sure their boyfriend got a chance to pet and caress a naked girlfriend as they were all changing clothes.
It was nearly ten when they got back to the school and most of the team scattered straight to their cars or their rides. Dennis took Rosie and Leanne home, making sure to walk each girl to her door and kiss her goodnight after scanning the area to be sure they were safe. Dennis parked his RAV4 in the driveway and decided he needed to clear out the other side of the garage so he could park his car inside. Not that it would get done before the tournament.
In bed, he breathed a sigh of relief and let the tension wash out of him as the text messages indicating safe arrival home came in from all his girlfriends.
Brenda’s team extended its winning streak to five Wednesday night. She sent text messages to all the Angeline girlfriends Thursday, wishing them luck in the last game of the regular season.
Dennis had time to run the after-school exercises before heading down to join his team. He had the away uniforms washed and ironed after their Tuesday night game and the girls were excited in the locker room. He and Lana went through the process of taping everyone, including the cheerleaders. Lana had picked up the Team A cheer uniforms Wednesday morning and barely got them washed and ironed before school on Thursday. Team A was traveling with the Angelines while Team B traveled with the Wolverines.
Sara sat on the bench in front of Dennis and held her foot up. The filmy panties and bra she was wearing did nothing to hide the details of what was beneath. Dennis was just a little preoccupied while he taped her ankles.
“That’s a pretty set of lingerie,” he finally admitted to Sara.
“You know we wear this stuff just for you,” she said. “If the Team B squad was getting ready at the same time, you know Rae would be sitting here stark naked.”
“I don’t understand the phenomenon, but I certainly enjoy it. You’ve got, um… very pretty bits.”
“Thanks, Dennis. I need your help,” Sara said.
“Uh… What do you need?”
“I need to get laid. You know, last year I was going out with Lance Weatherman? Well, he graduated and sent me a text to tell me he had a new girlfriend at Illinois. Can you imagine, breaking up with me by text? The scum. But he was a good lover and we screwed a lot. I haven’t had a boyfriend or even dated much this year. I’m constantly horny, and sitting here like this teasing you just makes me hornier,” Sara said. “Could you uh…”
“Sara, I don’t just screw around with anyone but my girlfriends. You know that. I can’t help you like that.”
“Oh, geez! I know that! I mean, I wouldn’t mind it if you did. I like you and you’re hung like a horse, but I want one of my own.”
“You’d look silly with one.”
“Oh, you! You know what I mean. I want a guy of my own.”
“I don’t know what I can do for you.”
“Tell Lonnie Rasmussen to ask me out,” Sara blurted out.
“You want me to ask a boy to ask you out?” Dennis asked.
“You know him. He worked for you as the football equipment manager. I saw him a lot during football season, but he hasn’t been around since basketball started. One thing I’ve learned this year is how good and faithful team managers are. So, help me get one of my own.”
“Why don’t you just ask him out yourself?”
“That’s so… undignified. I mean, if there was a Tolo dance, I’d consider it, but you know spring means prom is coming the weekend after Easter and I’d like to be dating a guy for a while before I spend the whole night with him. Please? Help me get this little pussy filled?” Sara stroked up the crotch of her panties as she spoke and glanced around to see if anyone else was paying attention. She slipped a finger beneath the leg band and pulled it aside to show Dennis her open slit.
“I’ll um… uh… see. I mean I do see. I’ll see if I can make a suggestion. Geez, Sara, you make it so hard.”
“Yeah. I can see that.” She hopped off the bench and ran to get her uniform on.
Dennis changed into his blue tee and burgundy jacket and they went to catch the bus. As they were on their way south out of town, they passed a white passenger van with Des Moines Schools on the side. Dennis was almost certain he saw Les Steinman looking out the window.
The Angelines had no difficulty handling the Warhawks. Natalie had already scored twenty-six points when she came out of the game mid-way through the third quarter. Ardith played all freshmen and sophomores during the last quarter and they still outscored the Warhawks 8-1. The final was an Angeline win, 59-25.
“Anything on your mind besides Sara’s pussy?” Natalie giggled to Dennis as they sat next to each other on the bus ride home.
“You saw?”
“I knew. We’ll figure out a way to get Lonnie to make a move. I know he likes her. She’s just always been out of his league, you know?”
“Like you are for me.”
“Dennis! You are head and shoulders above anyone at school.”
“I’m not that tall!”
“So, tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Well, what Sara said about prom. It’s just two months away. I’ve got eight girlfriends who will want to go! How am I going to handle that?”
“Oh, it’s not that big a deal,” Natalie said. “Some might not even want to go. The rest of us will all go together and you’ll be in the middle.”
“Really? Is it that simple?” Dennis had a feeling it wasn’t really that simple.
“I can’t believe the amount of basketball crap we have to wade through to get to the track equipment,” Dick Ledbetter said. “And then there’s football stuff!”
“Hey, I did my best to get all the football equipment packed into the smallest possible area after the season. It’s just bulky. At least we don’t have a hundred footballs to store,” Lonnie Rasmussen said as the two passed the starting blocks back to Randy Peterson, the lead team manager for track. Dennis checked each piece off on the list he’d been given.
“Where are we supposed to take all this stuff?” Dennis asked.
“There’s a portable storage unit out at the track,” Randy said. “JV basketball ended Tuesday and Coach Andy didn’t want to waste any time getting what we needed for track sorted out and in position where we can get to it.”
They finished pulling the equipment and used a cart to carry it to the new portable equipment shed by the track. As they walked back to school, Dennis pulled Lonnie aside.
“Hey, you dating anyone?” he asked.
“Um… No. Don’t you have a corner on all the hot girls in our class?” Lonnie responded.
“Please. It might seem that way, but our whole class is full of hot girls,” Dennis said. “Like, have you asked Sara out?”
“Dude, she is so far out of my league I wouldn’t even be allowed in the bleachers,” Lonnie said. “Damn. We were getting along well during football season, but she’s been unapproachable through basketball season. I’m not interested in getting laughed at by the hottest girl in our class.”
“Listen to me. If you approached her politely and asked her out, I could almost guarantee she’d say yes. If you turned into an asshole, she’d make a spectacle of you. But I know she’s looking for someone to date now that the season is winding down. You can’t blame the basketball schedule any longer,” Dennis said.
“You serious? Dude, if you’re setting me up, I’ll go postal on you.”
“I’m serious. Just don’t be an asshole and don’t take her for granted. I’ve gotten to know her better this year than I ever did before and she’s really a nice girl. Ask her out.”
“Yeah. I think I’ll do that. Um… After the tournament.”
“Okay, ladies, you get two more games in your home team uniforms right here in our gym. Regional quarterfinals and regional semifinals. Do you know what that means?” Ardith yelled at the team Monday afternoon.
“We beat ’em!” was the spontaneous declaration. Ardith laughed.
“Of course we do! And we do it in front of the biggest crowd this school has ever seen at a basketball game. A crowd of our home team boosters and fans. A crowd who will raise the roof when you come onto the court. They will deafen everyone when you score,” Ardith said. “This is important. You will not be able to hear each other! You will not be able to hear Dennis or me from the bench. You will be operating entirely on your other senses. You still need to know where your team mates are. You need to know where the ball is. You need to call plays visually. Roberta, I’m looking at you at point. Make those hand signals high and clear.”
“Yes, Coach!” Roberta responded. She was getting worked up already.
“I have a present for you for our practice today. Dennis?”
“Yes, Coach. I have a pair of earplugs for each of you. We want you to put them in and make sure they are secure. From now on, we operate with a hearing deficit. Red team on me. Blue team on Coach. Let’s have a good scrimmage.”
The girls took the earplugs and blocked their ears. It was a strange sensation to suddenly lose a significant part of their hearing. Dennis motioned his team to one end of the court and Ardith to the other. They got starting teams on the court and began working the girls, moving them in and out of the scrimmage as they would in a game and watching them call plays. The girls adjusted quickly. The slight ear blocking forced them to focus on each other and on the ball. In a gymnasium, the earplugs probably didn’t mute nearly as much as the girls thought they did, but it was an effective way of getting them to focus on the game. They scrimmaged for forty-five minutes and the coaches blew their whistles to call the team together.
“Good work!” Ardith said. “You’re going to be fine out here tomorrow against the Bulldogs. Remember, don’t count on having beaten them before meaning you’ll beat them again. They’ve had to win a game to get to the quarterfinals. They’ll be looking for revenge. We are not going to slack off. Every game is…”
“…the championship game!” the girls yelled.
“Shower up and get a good night’s sleep tonight. We’re back here tomorrow to win!”
The girls were all keyed up and did not want to go home or go to sleep. They ended up all going to PJ’s and eating pizza—a great dinner for champions. But it gave them all a chance to talk and get rid of their nervous energy. All ten cheerleaders joined the girls at the café and were just as excited as the team.
Dennis sat at a table where he could easily scoot back so a girlfriend could claim a place on his lap and a share of his pizza. It started with Natalie, but as soon as she’d eaten part of a slice of pizza, she kissed him and moved so Tori could claim a place on his knee.
Suddenly Dennis was a kind of good luck Buddha. Every girl on the team and each of the cheerleaders got a turn on his knee and gave him a little kiss—on the cheek for most of them. Dennis tolerated the gesture from Fred and Doc. Sara and Rae gave him considerably more than a kiss on the cheek. Lana ended the progression by claiming his lap and not giving it up. She was finished eating and just lay her head on his shoulder while Dennis finally got to eat a piece of pizza himself.
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