Chapter 210

May 25, 2018 (Friday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Shortly after I woke, yesterday came slashing into my awareness, and I nearly lost it. I fought it off, then gingerly extracted myself from bed. Of course, how we sleep in our big bed makes it impossible to get out of bed without waking others, but my bladder was screaming.

As I crawled across the hole in the center of the bed in which the covers were attached, Lana whispered, “I’ll come with you.”

I was peeing almost before I was fully seated and also had Lana wrapped around me, saying, “I love you, so much. You were so ... impressive yesterday. You knew what to do and when, you got Padme and Kaira out of their emotional hole enough to help your plan along, and ... and ... Fuck! I cannot imagine myself being like that, so ... effective.”

“I ... don’t know what ... comes over me. Apparently, I perform well ... under pressure.”

“That you do,” Heather agreed as she stepped up to the stall Lana and I were in. “I thought how you dealt with Brit’s situation was stunning, but yesterday, you were fucking incredible. While none of the LA was even considering anyone but you being our leader, you absolutely cemented that title to you for all time. You and Meka took charge together at the pitch, but even she let you run the show after we left there. I’m so freaking in love with you.”

I blushed deeply as I finished peeing, wiped, and stood, after which Lana took my place; Heather wrapped me in her arms and love in the stall’s doorway.

We were on our way to school when a text arrived from Katherine telling me that they were on their way to the salon and that the night had been uneventful. I thanked her.

I was not entirely with it at school all day, as my mind frequently returned to worrying about Padme and Kaira. Fortunately, all of my classes were in review mode in preparation for next week’s exams. We ate outside, despite the heat.

I quietly announced, “Katherine reports that both dye jobs are done, the girls look very different, and that she’s gone to Armoire to get them more clothes. Liya, she said that she was impressed with how perfectly you gauged their sizes. I think it was tongue-in-cheek, but she offered you a job.”

There was much laughing and Liya broke out her best smile.

Brit stated, “With needing to deal with the Fahrads, we’ll put the next portrait-planning session on hold, although I think I’ve finally got my idea to a ... more-solid state. I’ve also ... gotten to thinking about using it as ... Ms. Sullivan’s requested artwork. Of course, that would require permission from each of you to use you as a ... canvas for that.”

Many of us stepped on each other’s responses to let her know that they were amenable, although Rache asked, “Would it stick with our naked theme and, if so, are you ... and everyone else willing to ... do that knowing that Ms. Sullivan will be looking at us like that?”

Meka immediately inserted, “Let’s hold off on that discussion until we’re home, have some free time, and the ... mental freedom from worrying about Padme and Kaira.”

Kim responded, “I agree. We’ve gotten the information from Katherine that we needed, so let’s just be our normal selves here at lunch.” She looked around the tables, then added, “I can’t believe I’m done with high school. I’ve decided that having this, being part of the LA, will be making my transition out of high school easier because I’m not leaving behind anything I’d really miss ... because I’ll continue to live with ... my wives and husband. More and more, I realize how lucky I was and am to have all of you. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be stuck with James and getting further and further from escape. Instead, I’m continuing the process of rekindling the love for ... the love of my life and I have a living-and-loving situation that not only would have been impossible for me last fall, but something I literally could not have imagined. I firmly believe that you girls saved my life.”

While her neighbors patted her on her back and arms, Meka said, “You’re getting the best kiss I can give you as soon as I get you somewhere suitable, and I guarantee that my hands will be heavily involved.”

“Meka, my love, I greatly look forward to that.”

After stretches, warmups, and laps, Coach sat us all on the grass and explained Padme’s situation, that her mother had been murdered, and that the authorities had put her and her sister in hiding until the police found the murderer.

“I find it abominable that you girls should be so impacted by a senseless crime. I had strongly considered sending you home, but I’ve decided, instead, to wear you out. Argon versus Krypton, all out. Liya, you’re field ref. Kim, Katie, you’re side refs. Crewe fills the hole in Argon’s lineup. Seamus, you’re the Krypton coach, Meka, you’re coach of Argon, and you’ll have to reorganize around the lineup’s hole. You have ten minutes to prepare your teams at your respective goals, Argon to the north. All other staff will deal with out-of-bounds balls and water. The ten minutes starts now.”

As I hustled to the south goal, I marveled at Coach’s solution to a team that may well have practiced very poorly today, a solution that would probably get Padme’s problems out of the fronts of our brains until practice is over. I also wondered how Meka would reorganize Argon.

“Gather ‘round!” When we were all present and attentive, she added, “Park your tushes on the grass and listen up.”

Once we were all seated, and in a soft voice, Coach said, “That ... was ... phenomenal. If all of you would play that well in every game, I don’t know of a team of similar age that could beat you. Meka, I assume that moving Dakota to right wing was your brainstorm. Yes?”

“No, Coach. That was Lissa’s ... fault.”

There was much chuckling.

She continued, “Not only was that Lissa’s fault, but it was also her idea to put Crewe in Dakota’s midfield slot.”

“Well, that certainly worked quite well. Crewe, would you be interested in more time in the midfield?”

“Yes, Coach. That was fun, even though it was tiring.”

“Good. We’ll give you time in both lines for the rest of the season and if you do at least reasonably well in both, that would virtually assure you a place on the high-school team.”

“That’s what I want, Coach.”

“Lissa ... and the rest of the Argon O, I think you ... and the rest of us need to slightly rethink Argon’s O plan and strategies from here on out. Your new ... hybrid winger-slash-midfielder may require that rethinking.

“I agree, Coach. Dakota is certainly showing more abilities this year than she did last year, and I’d love to have her in the O on occasion, particularly if Crewe is going to continue to show promise as at least a solid midfielder.”

“Seamus, your team had more than a handful in your opponent, today.”

“We did, indeed. Argon looked incredible out there, and I add my congratulations to Dakota and Crewe for a game very well played. Despite the surprisingly strong showing Argon put in, I believe that Krypton recovered well after their surprise early on that Argon was ... girlhandling them. I’ll also say that, while I’ve never doubted her, having watched her pull off some amazing feats on this very pitch when the girls joined us boys in pick-up games, Beth’s leadership skills were more in evidence today than I’ve ever seen. If I were going to point at just a single cause of Krypton coming back and winning the game, that reason was Beth.”

“Hear, hear,” shouted Rhee, causing my face to go even redder than it had been.

Coach took the floor, saying, “Again, very well played, all of you. Practice here on Monday, same time. Have a good weekend!”

On the way home, I texted Katherine, “Please tell Padme that the team misses her,” to which I got a thumb up. The young girls came home with us.

On the way home, Brett got a call from Steph. Since we could hear only his side of the conversation and because he spoke only to give short replies to questions or statements, he was able to surprise us, particularly because his mien stayed flat and he said nothing about the call as he put his phone back in his pocket.

Lana was antsy enough to wait only a half-minute or so before she asked, “We-elllll?”

Brett furrowed his brow at her, looked puzzled, and asked, “Well, what?”

“I’m going to beat you black-and-blue if you don’t give.”

He grinned widely at her, then replied, “Dad has to travel for work and Mom’s going with him, so she was trying to convince me that we should stay at the compound ... through Wednesday night.”

There was much rejoicing!

With most girls naked, Brett and Civ in panties, and Maren in bra and a panty, Liya announced, “Cera and Gracey, Brit and Lana, Brett and Rhee, Meka and Katie, Rache and Maren, Heather and Civia, Kim and Char, and Beth and Liya.”

It was very nice showering with Liya, as we had not gotten that pairing in quite some time. In standard dress, i.e., with most of us naked, we gathered in the kitchen to make a quick dinner: sphaghetti and meat sauce, although we did not use spaghetti, instead boiling separate pans of mostaccioli and ziti.

At the table, Civ stated, “I was surprised how well Crewe played at right half. I mean, she stole the ball from me once!”

“Yeah,” Heather replied, “I bet you won’t try to take liberties with her again!”

“That’s the truth. Who knew? If the roster size hadn’t been increased, she wouldn’t have made the team, and now I’m very glad she did. I think she’s decided to come further out of that shell she was in and is just going for it. I suspect she’ll wind up being important before our season’s over, and the high-school team could certainly use her playing better.”

“Hear, hear. She’s got a way to go, yet, but she’s already much better than she was last fall. She’s even doing pretty well in rondo, and she was ... really poor at it, last fall.”

As dinner was winding down, Maren tapped her glass with her fork and said, “We have announcements.” She immediately had all 16 other pairs of eyes on her, to which she said, “And Civ’s starting.”

Fifteen of those pairs of eyes transferred to take in Civ as she stated, “We were going to make these announcements yesterday, but circumstances caused a change in plans. First, although I never met her, I’d like to ask for a minute’s silence for Padme’s mom.”

Sitting on Civ’s right, Lana put her left around her, grasped Civ’s left shoulder, and pulled her in for a one-armed hug, while all of us pondered Padme and her sister and now-absent mother.

After a short time, Maren said, “We had a good cry on our parents’ shoulders when we got home last night. Civ had previously told me that when she found out about Jim last fall, her first thought was ‘What if that were me.’ I had that same thought last night, as somewhat like Meka, I had only one real parent recently although, unlike Meka, I was never really fond of either of my ... fathers. Meka, I know it’s not the same, but last night caused me to ... understand at least a bit better what you’ve been going through.” Kim put her right arm around Meka as she ducked her head and tried to maintain control as Maren continued, “and tell you that I now have even more respect for you, as you’ve managed an awful lot while going through that. I doubt I could have managed even half as well as you have. Meka, I love you.”