Team Manager CHAMP!
Chapter 3
THE CREW FOUND OUT how having two little sisters put a crimp in their activities. They’d invited the girls to stay and they came out to the field with them in the morning to help with baling and stacking the straw. They weren’t sure they liked having to work so much, even though they were given simple jobs. They liked being with the older kids though, and soon managed to make friends with Tori and Lana’s siblings, Leanne’s siblings, and Rosie’s brother. By the time the evening workout was done on Monday, they had playdates arranged with other girls who would be in their class.
But they were with the crew for evening meals, workouts, and even showers. Playtime for the crew was definitely limited. The last of the straw was baled and stacked Friday morning and they were all ready for a break. Unfortunately, Dennis had fallen behind in his class and the term ended the previous week. He had just this weekend to finish his incompletes and that tied him down all day Saturday and Sunday. He couldn’t join his girlfriends Saturday in moving the Kellys into their new home.
And then practice started.
The football schedule was enough different from the cross country and volleyball schedule that they did not participate in the daily conditioning session. Dennis had a feeling, though, that coaches Grant and Lyle were working the team just as hard. They were rebuilding from scratch, though. Last year’s team had been predominantly seniors. This year, there were a lot of freshmen. The team was both smaller and weaker than the previous year.
Dennis expected to see Donnie and Dave back on the cross country team. Donnie had made a full recovery over the summer and might not be as strong as he’d been a year ago, but was working out every day. What he didn’t expect to see was the contingent of guys from the track team who had been involved in the fracas. Jim, Drew, Si, and Greg. Three of those four had all played football the previous year.
“I didn’t expect you guys to be running cross country this year,” Dennis said after practice.
Si stepped up to face Dennis. He was the biggest of the guys and they still didn’t like each other. But it seemed he was the spokesperson for the guys who had participated in the battle against the Bulldogs.
“We owe Coach Andy,” he said. “We screwed up the track season last spring and it shows poorly on him. We might not be able to beat you in a footrace, but we’ll beat some runners. I’m suspended from competition. The other guys, though… They’ll be right behind you.”
“Great. I’ll be trying not to let them catch me,” Dennis laughed.
There wasn’t much time to get ready for the first event, and Dennis was happy to have been working out so hard all summer. The second Bartley 5k Open was Saturday morning. His cross country team lined up with boys beside the girls. In the ‘traditional’ challenge, the football team lined up next to them. Then came other students and finally community runners. It looked like a much bigger event than the previous year.
Dennis crossed the finish line in 17:50 for a solid first place, but there was an older runner from County Seat who was only ten seconds behind him. Donnie, Dave, and Drew all broke twenty minutes, and surprisingly, asthmatic Darrel was just over twenty minutes. He’d received some new treatments for his asthma over the summer and was breathing much more clearly.
Janice was thick with the guys as she, too, broke twenty minutes with her first place women’s finish. Five other Bartley women were in the top twenty-five places and under twenty-five minutes. It was looking like a good season coming up.
“Does it seem to you like time is compressing into nothing?” Dennis sighed. “Or am I already suffering from acute senioritis?”
“Or did Lana bring brownies that have happy stuff in them?” Tori asked as she leaned back against Dennis’s leg and stared up into the night sky. It was such a beautiful night that the teens had not gone into the barn, but simply lay out on the grass near the campfire.
“Not my fault,” Lana said, turning her head from the other side of Dennis to kiss her girlfriend on the forehead.
“I feel it, too,” Judith said. She was propped against a log seat and Dennis lay back between her legs, his head resting on her bosom. “It’s like summer is gone already and we didn’t do anything. And next comes graduation and Dennis and Natalie and Diane and Leanne and Tori will all disappear on us the way Roberta and Daniella did. And next summer will just be… empty.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Natalie said. “Whatever we do, we know we aren’t going far away. Dennis wants to stay near enough to Peg so she doesn’t have too much adjustment to make. I don’t know about anyone else, but that means at least Brenda and I will still be near, too.”
The longest-term girlfriends were on the other side of the fire, generally leaning against each other and giving the newest girlfriends time to spend with their boyfriend. Brenda, Amy, and Natalie still had the easiest access to Dennis because they could walk over and stay the night just about any time. Usually they just slept, but there was a little lovemaking involved. Besides, they felt Rosie, Diane, and Leanne needed more contact with them. The difference between the girlfriends who were lovers and the girlfriends who weren’t was becoming more pronounced and they could feel the three pulling away.
“I’m going away,” Leanne said. “Don’t cut me off, please. I don’t want to break up. Yet. I got my early acceptance letter from Northwestern University this week. I’m going into their Legal Studies program.”
“Leanne!” Rosie said, wrapping her arms around her long-time neighbor and friend.
“Congratulations,” Dennis said. “That’s really exciting news.”
“I figured my boyfriend and girlfriends should be the first to know. I haven’t even told my parents yet,” Leanne said.
“Like father, like daughter?” Natalie said. “I know Zoe and Eva are planning to go to law school next year. Dad’s very proud of them.”
“How’d we get so many lawyers in our little town?” Diane asked. “Your father, Leanne’s father, my father. My older brothers have already declared themselves for different fields, so he’s looking to me next.”
“Thank goodness, Dad knows I have no higher ambition than playing basketball in college and coaching afterward,” Natalie said.
“Summer camp didn’t dull your ambitions?” Lana asked. “I’m certainly thinking twice about having anything to do with kids in the future. Even my brother and sister!”
“I think they’re adorable!” Natalie said. “It was so much fun having Anna and Caitlyn living with me the last week of camp. Even if it put a bit of a damper on some of our activities.”
“So, Leanne, how do you want to define your identity with the crew this year? You kind of just told us you were breaking up with us… at least in the spring,” Amy said.
“Yeah, I guess I did, didn’t I?” she said. “The thing is, I don’t want to not belong with us. Does that make sense? I don’t want to not be included in things just because I’m temporary. I don’t want any other girlfriend or boyfriend. I guess I don’t really want to fuck, either, since it would just be for entertainment and not for commitment. But I’m still happy to get naked and play little games and be together with you all. That includes you, Dennis.”
There was no response. Judith leaned forward and saw his closed eyes.
“He’s out cold,” she said. “So much for marathon sex tonight.”
Of course, they didn’t do without sex. And Dennis woke up enough to participate.
It felt like an extension of his dreams. Tori rolled her head on his thigh and began nibbling at his cock. Lana pushed her way up to kiss Judith and that left her nipple just at Dennis’s lips where he responded by sucking and licking it. When Dennis was hard, Tori rolled a condom on his cock and mounted him. Dennis was in a world of tits and pussies. He didn’t come right away and when Tori finished her ride for pleasure, Judith moved around to take her place, leaving Lana to kiss and be fondled by her boyfriend. Dennis wanted the dream to continue for as long as possible. He stayed hard without coming. But when Judith finished and rolled off him, the condom was stripped off and Lana planted herself on his cock.
Dennis’s eyes snapped open to look into the intense blue eyes of his blonde lover and pull her to him. He was oblivious to the whispers and continued play around him. Lana’s face, her lips, her pussy clasped around his cock consumed him. They rocked together and slid their bodies against each other. Each time she moved forward and back and he sank into her again, electric charges ran up and down his spine. As she mounted toward a climax, just as Tori and Judith had done, he hugged her to him and thrust as far into her as he could to unleash the torrent of semen built up inside him. He flooded her pussy and she came, adding more of her own juices to the mix that flowed out between them.
When they collapsed next to each other, Natalie pillowed them against her breasts while Amy softly licked the juices off Dennis’s cock and Brenda cleaned the mess from between Lana’s legs. And in that position, sleep claimed them.
The school lawns and sports fields looked like a well-manicured golf course when the students arrived on Monday morning. The new groundskeeper had been out all Saturday afternoon making sure everything was in perfect condition for the first day of school. Somehow, arriving at a building that sparkled as much as this one did served to enthuse the students about returning to the classroom, even though it still looked like summer outside.
Dennis would not be in any classes until his 1:45 statistics class with Coach Neil, but on days when Bartley was in session and DMACC was not, he had to check in at the same time as other students in the morning. He and the girlfriends all arrived at the same time and they found their way to first period classes. Dennis went straight to the coaches’ office where Ardith checked him in. He spent the day organizing the equipment cage and checking all the team manager first aid kits.
The new athletic pavilion was not completed yet, but they were scheduled to move into it on November 1, just in time to start basketball practice. It would be a chaotic time. As long as the weather held, he would continue to lead combined workouts on the softball field starting at 3:30, fifteen minutes after school let out.
Then there was cross country practice. He was pleased to see the course had been as well cared-for by the new groundskeeper as the rest of the school grounds.
“Welcome to the new routine,” Coach Andy said. “We have to work earlier now that school is back in session and we have the first games this week. So, Coach Dennis will be starting conditioning exercises at 3:30 each afternoon. The first volleyball game of the season is tomorrow night at the Roadrunners. Coach Pat and I have agreed to split out volleyball for separate warmups on game days. I want you all to look around you at some of the younger faces in our group this afternoon. We have enough of you now that we can cover the junior high meets as well as the varsity meets. And at many of our regular season cross country meets, there will be races for a junior varsity or there will be a freshman-sophomore race. Believe me that if you are showing varsity running, neither Coach Ardith nor I is going to force you to run JV instead of varsity—even if you are a freshman or sophomore.”
“You’re going to see a lot of that this year,” Ardith said. “Our teams have had a lot of hard times, but they are behind us now. We have more athletes trying out for sports than ever before. So, we’ll be fielding JV teams in volleyball, cross country, and basketball. And we’ll have Junior High cross country and basketball. We want to give as many of you as possible an opportunity to play. So, as of right now, look at your teammates and choose someone to help along. Janice, lead out on an easy five. Everyone stick with her. Dennis, run drag and keep people together. Ready, go!” she shouted. There were a few seconds of confusion as everyone sorted themselves out on the track and then Janice was off in the lead and everyone was following. It would be an interesting year.
Dennis checked in with everyone else Tuesday morning, but this morning there was a separate DMACC high school orientation at 11:30. In addition to expanding the sports program, Bartley had expanded its participation in the Career Advantage Program (CAP) at DMACC with more classes being offered at Bartley that would give dual credit in both high school and college. Dennis probably could have taken most of his DMACC classes at the high school, but no one objected to him traveling to Boone for class.
He expected to see Leanne in the orientation, but was surprised to see some of his other girlfriends in the room as well. Lana, Amy, Natalie, and Debbie were all taking dual credit classes.
There were some other unexpected faces in the room, but Coach Neil, who presented the program, said that several tech school courses were also being offered, including both automotive classes and computer classes. Olivia was taking technical courses in computer programming.
“This is a great opportunity that you are taking advantage of,” Ms. Duval, the guidance counselor, said. “I want you to know that my door is always open. If you have any issues, please don’t let them fester or get out of control. Come to me and we’ll work to get things resolved.” The guidance counselor had been very helpful in getting Dennis’s classes set up.
“I didn’t know you guys were taking advantage of the CAP program,” Dennis said after school as they headed to the locker rooms.
“It would be silly not to get college credit the high school has to pay for,” Diane said. “When Leanne told me what she was doing last year with Calculus, I jumped on it this year.”
“It just makes me more marketable when it comes to getting recruited,” Natalie said.
“We need to get ready to leave for the Roadrunners,” Lana said, cutting things off. Dennis kissed Natalie, Lana, Judith, Rosie, and Amy for luck and they took off as the others joined him for the workout.
“That was close,” Amy whispered to Lana as they boarded the bus.
“I hope this works,” Lana replied. “But if it doesn’t, I don’t want anybody disappointed in us.”
“It will work. We’ve got the brains to do it.”
“I’m sure glad we’re in it together. Thank you for talking me into it.”
“I don’t think I’d survive without it. It’s hard enough with Bren at DMACC, and she lives with me.”
The rest of the trip to the Roadrunners was spent studying.
The first class Dennis had at 8:00 Wednesday morning was weight-lifting. He was met by a trainer who took assessments and nodded in approval of Dennis’s condition. Then they talked for half an hour regarding Dennis’s goals and athletic interests.
“Okay. What I’m going to do is design a program for you to enhance what you’re already doing and get you set up on the weights. Let’s meet Wednesday morning and go over what I want you to do. Then, you’ll have your worksheet to fill out after each weight session here.”
“Do I need to do all the lifting here?” Dennis asked. “We have a pretty good weight room in Bartley.”
“That’s great. Our sessions together are by arrangement and will include both a mid-term and final assessment. The rest is all on you. If you lift a couple or three times a week and keep track of your record, that will be all I need. The assessments will tell me if you’re keeping honest records. But any time, you can call for an appointment if you discover you need help or are having difficulty with a particular lift.”
That would be a relief. Dennis would have something to do on the three days a week that he was at Bartley in the morning. All his DMACC classes were on Monday and Wednesday.
Of course, not all his time at Bartley would be spent in the gym. His next classes at DMACC were Sociology and Philosophy. They promised to be interesting classes, but each had an online component that supplemented the two hours a week in class. And both had a lot of reading to be done. Nonetheless, Dennis enjoyed the intro classes, even though they promised to be time-consuming.
His last DMACC class only met for an hour on Mondays. It was the mandatory “College Experience” class and focused on where things were, how to use various resources, and generally, how to take advantage of being a college student.
He had one more hybrid class, supervised by Coach Dearborn. As part of his AA degree requirements, Dennis had to take Fitness and Conditioning. Like the Weight Training class, this was typically left to arrangement of student and trainer. Coach Dearborn felt that the daily conditioning classes he led at Bartley would fulfill the requirement.
Dennis was finished in Boone by 12:10, which left him plenty of time to get to his 1:45 Statistics class back at Bartley. It would be a difficult schedule, but he was pleased with how doable it would be. And this term would give him eighteen hours of college credit toward his AA in Exercise Science and Kinesiology.
The girls won their first volleyball match at the Roadrunners in three games straight. Thursday night at home, they were not so lucky and dropped three straight to the Cardinals. They did well and played hard, though. No one was disappointed. The junior varsity had matched their play both nights.
Friday night, everyone got together to go to the football game and the school’s beginning of the year dance. The cheerleaders had been expanded some and there were now three teams, including one devoted to JV games. That team included two eighth graders who had been in the summer camp. The Team A cheerleaders, assigned to the football games included Sara, Fred, Claudia, and Rae. Team B, assigned to the volleyball games, included Doc, Donna, Sharon, and Rebecca. The JV Squad had three freshmen and the two eighth graders.
The teams had been to a cheerleading clinic the previous weekend and were excited to perform now that the seasons had begun.
The football game proved exciting. It was obvious that the Bartley team was inexperienced. There were fewer than thirty on the team this year and they scrapped hard for every yard, surprising everyone with a 26-21 victory. The Wolverines’ kicking game was even weaker than it had been the year before. They scored four touchdowns and one two-point conversion after. The Tigerhawks scored three times with good kicks afterward, so the Wolverines needed that last touchdown to win the game.
It put everyone in a good mood as they went into the school multipurpose room for the dance. It was nothing elaborate, with a student DJ who tapped in requests on his playlist and played them through the school speakers. Various clubs were using the dance as an opportunity to recruit new members and the wall was lined with tables of club activity exhibits. Future Farmers, Future Teachers, the Automotive Club, Speech and Debate Club, Student Government, Photography, Yearbook, Student newspaper, and a helping hands service club, inspired by what the Angelines had done for the Abernathys and others.
Dennis was occupied with dancing as he was surrounded by his girlfriends.
“Hey, Natalie, switch partners?” Chris Davis asked when she and Donnie Oswald danced near to her and Dennis.
“Sure! How are you doing, Donnie?” Natalie asked as she moved over, giving Chris room to get closer to Dennis.
“Hey, Chris. I hear you’re playing volleyball this season,” Dennis said. Of course, he’d seen her in his workouts all summer, working close to her boyfriend.
“Well, with Donnie running, I needed something to do, too. It’s fun, even though I’m the only senior on the JV squad.”
“I think it’s great. It gives the underclassmen a good example to look up to.”
“Thanks. You always have something nice to say. So… um… I want to say thank you.”
“For what, Chris? I mean, you’re welcome and all, but did I do something?” Dennis asked.
“All summer. Last spring, Donnie was ready to just quit on everything. It was really hard to recover from the beating he took. But you made an effort to invite him to the workouts and told him you’d give him exercises to help his recovery. And all summer long he’s been there and you’ve encouraged him. Now he’s running again like he loved to do. I just want to say thank you. Because, you know, I really love him and I was so afraid I’d lost him.” There was a tear sparkling in Chris’s eye, but it didn’t escape as she blinked it away.
“I’m just glad I could be there for him when he needed someone,” Dennis said. “Really, I’m happy he’s recovered.”
“We were really all nasty to you in school. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t beat yourself up about that. I just did my best to disappear until sophomore year. Coach Ardith really helped me open up to helping others and not being focused on my own problems all the time,” Dennis said.
“Still, I want to graduate this spring knowing I have Dennis Enders as a friend,” Chris said. “We might even invite you to the wedding,” she whispered.
“Really? Congratulations!”
“We aren’t saying anything yet. But we’re talking about it a lot. Mostly in bed.” She blushed and Dennis laughed.
“That’s where some of the best conversations happen,” he said.
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