Chapter 228

June 19, 2018 (Tuesday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

Padme was nearly in tears when we left her and Kai at home to head to Paradise for a 10:00 game. Coach was there before we arrived, so I pulled her aside to talk to her, after which we prepared for the game. Paradise was 11-4-1 last year – 3^rd in the league, and they seemed to be a bit better this year considering their 5-0-1 record so far. Their O seemed a bit lackluster – their record included a 0-0 draw against Watermelon and two 1-0 wins, but that was balanced by a D that had given up only five goals, matching our league-leading goals-against total. In our Friday practice, given the details of their record, we had decided on a full-out O attack for both lineups. Of course, Krypton’s lineup was a full-out O attack by design.

Argon started the game with a bang. After the two teams had given the ball up once each, the second due to Haven standing up their center half and ripping the ball from her feet. She quickly sent an outside-left pass to Kanda who booted the ball forward and beat their right half to it, then carried across midfield for another ten yards, sent the ball forward to Lissa, then kept sprinting upfield. Because Paradise’s right half was lagging well behind the speedy Kanda, Argon had, essentially, a five-on-four against the other team’s four-girl back line, the ideal situation to enable Argon’s Ghost to disappear.

I had been wondering most of the season about Mia’s effort this season being less certain, more timid than that of last season. Perhaps, we are doing her some good, as she was far from timid today.

Kanda had, seemingly on purpose, stayed well left and, given her lagging defender, Paradise’s right back pulled farther inside to pick her up. I had purposefully kept my eyes focused on Mia, as she had made a big arc back downfield and then came streaking inward and upfield. Since Lissa was in my field of view, I saw her assess the situation, and send the ball to her left so that Kanda could run onto it as she also sent her two hand signals. I saw Kanda grab a quick peek over her left shoulder.

I called out, “Krypton, watch Ghost!”

Only seconds later, Civ replied, “Ohhh, that’s a goal!”

Keeping her eyes on the play, Coach responded, “You see that, Civ?”

“Sure. Here it comes.”

As Kanda ran onto the ball, their right back came up to challenge her, but Kanda laid the ball back and to her right – the two signals Lissa had sent her, and Mia charged onto the drop and curled it inside the right post.

The Paradise D kept Argon from scoring again until they began running out of steam late in the half. Tonda got a brace, with one of them a streaking goal that she poked through their goalie’s legs after receiving an incredible pass from Lissa. Mila rounded out the scoring with two minutes to go in the half with a penalty kick for her first goal of the season.

In the locker room at game’s end, Seamus was passing out Krypton attagirls, “Rhee gets an attagirl for another unassisted goal created by her D skills. Her quick feet enabled her to tap the ball away from their left center back and between that back’s own feet, then blast a rocket into the upper right corner. Abby gets the next one for her great bomb leading to Heather’s streaking goal for which she also gets an attagirl. While I’m at it, Heather gets another for anticipating their goalie’s clearing pass, one-touching it to Beth, who one-touched it to Civia, who one-touched it into the goal. Each of you gets an attagirl for what may well have been the prettiest play of the season. I know Coach wants to discuss that one further, so I’ll move on. Gracey gets an attagirl for her second assist of the season for her bomb to a streaking Char, who gets an attagirl for juking the right center back out of her shorts, faking a shot to the far side which got the goalie to lean that way, then slamming it into the close corner. Coach also wants to talk about something related to that, so, again, I’ll move on. Beth gets another attagirl for her incredible peripheral vision and knowledge of her teammates. I don’t know when she spotted Zahira making a run up the left sideline, but she certainly hit her with a perfect pass that I first thought Zahira was one-touching to Rhee, but reassessed when the ball sailed pretty as you please into the upper right corner. Zahira, that was one of the prettiest shots I’ve ever seen in person.”

He continued handing out attagirls for great non-goal plays, then turned the floor over to Coach.

She began by catching every girl’s eyes one player at a time, then said, “I have a few points I’d like to make, with the most important being that, despite that we tallied ten goals, nine players scored, including Mila, who notched her first of the season on a well-placed penalty. Crewe also tallied her first, which means that 20 of our 23 players have tallied goals this season, and all but one has at least one goal or assist.”

“It’s me. I’m the inept one,” Sophia called out to much chuckling.

“Sophia is the only one not on the scoring table, but who here thinks she could do a better job at Sophia’s job?”

Lissa responded, “No one, and she’s saved multiple goals, including that incredible header she sent back upfield off that near-rocket. Sophia has more than earned her pay.”

“Yes, she has. Thank you, Lissa. She also has seven league games and six non-league games to make up her lack. But what would I rather have from her for the rest of the season rather than her looking for a goal?”

Rhee yelled out, “D rock!”

“Precisely, although I might have used less-jargonish words.”

Coach sent a grin at Rhee, who returned it in spades.

“I want to congratulate both lineups for tallying goals within the first two minutes of their respective halves. I know most of you are aware of this, but it’s a point worth emphasizing. Getting early goals is one of the surest ways to put an opposing team on its back foot. While Paradise’s O is not particularly great, it was a non-entity in the first half of each half, with those early goals possibly being a contributory factor. That’s the entire reason for The Thing of Beauty and other off-the-kickoff plays. I’m still waiting for Beth to come up with another such play.”

She grinned at me to assure me that there was no stinger hidden in her words, but I dramatically hung my head, anyway, which got me some chuckles.

“I hope everyone noticed that three of our goals came on streaks, one each from Tonda, Heather, and Char. While foot speed is certainly critical for the goal-end of streaks, the more critical aspect is the teammates behind those speedy forwards who know to immediately look upfield if they suddenly come into possession on an opponent’s offensive push. I add my thanks to the attagirls already received by Lissa, Abby, and Gracey.

“I want to talk about the D aspects of the front line. Despite being the smallest player in the Krypton lineup, Heather uses the skills and speed she has to great effect. Not only did she get a streak goal today, but she also initiated what Seamus said may well be the prettiest play of the season when she anticipated their goalie’s outlet pass; I add my congratulations to her, Beth, and Civia for combining on what must have been a demoralizing play for Paradise. Their right center back had made a great play on what would have been Rhee’s second goal of the game, but Heather, Beth, and Civia turned that around on them in the span of, perhaps, eight seconds ... at most. I want to point out that not only did Heather anticipate the pass she intercepted, but she also knew what she was going to do with the interception before she made it. That was possible only because she knew where relevant teammates were, particularly Beth. I don’t know when Beth knew what she was going to do with Heather’s pass, but she certainly knew what her action would be before the ball reached her, as she had undoubtedly seen Civia initiate a run. Civia had obviously seen the slot into which she made her run as soon as ... possibly before ... Heather intercepted the ball.

“The point here, ladies, is situational awareness. That play worked only because all three of them knew their immediate and nearby situations, and all three used that knowledge to turn a heartening effort of a great play by a fullback, into a nearly soul-shattering goal going the other way. Plays like that ... and very quick goals early in a half make for demoralizing impacts on teams, and regularly taking advantage of such situations is one of the marks of excellent teams.”

“Finally, if Brett’s stats are correct, I have two points to make about goals. Barring a very good outing by Watermelon Mountain’s center forward today, this team has the top five goal-scorers in the league.” After Coach waited out the cheering and back pats, she added, “Char has 13; Tonda and Rhee each have 12; Civia has 11; and, with her four in the past two games, Mia has 10, and we have the only double-digit goal scorers in the league.”

Coach waited for the celebration to die down, then said, “On the other side of those goals, our two sweepers have 37 assists between them of our 83 assisted league goals. That’s 44 percent, which means that those two are responsible for nearly half our assisted goals and over a third of all goals, and that statistic points out the primary reason that those two have the positions they have. While those two, again between them, have only six goals, the sweeper position is not designed as a goal-scoring position, it is a support and set-up position, and those two are very good at it. With her two assists today, Lissa moves into second place in the league in the category ... behind Beth. I thank you both for your great efforts.”

That got lots of back pats, particularly for Lissa, after which Coach stated, “However, let’s not forget about the midfields and defenses that thwart so many attacks and give the offenses so many chances to create effective offense. Now that we’ve notched ten goals on Paradise, they’re no longer in a tie in the league with us for fewest goals allowed in the league ... at five ... in eight games.”

Once that celebration had died, Coach looked around the room gathering every set of eyes, then said, “Liya.”

“For the rest of the week, practice starts at 8:00 rather than 9:00, so please don’t forget that. We have games on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday next week, all at home and all starting at 9:30. Please be aware that we’re coming into the beastly hot period of our season, so plan accordingly. Kim?”

“With nine goal-scorers and six goal-assisters, today’s decision about the game ball was difficult. However, with her two goals and Mila’s penalty-kick goal due to Argon’s center forward being tripped up before she was about to score, today’s game ball goes to Tonda Byers!”

Upon our return home, Padme met us in the hallway just inside the side door, where I immediately informed her of Coach’s decision.

“With ADA Raleigh’s plan, Coach has agreed to allow you to practice this week.” Before I could finish, Padme slammed into me and wrapped herself around me, so I put an arm around her and told her, “You must obey every rule she has for you without argument. Can you do that?”

“Ye ... What are they?”

“No,” I responded. “Yes or no? Those are her words.”

She breathed deeply a few times, calmed herself, and then answered, “Yes. It’s so boring here when everyone’s at practice and I miss playing so much. I agree, no matter what the rules are.”

“Seamus will be running practice at the start, and Coach will pick you up here a few minutes before 8:00. You must be ready to go when she arrives, and you must watch for her from the porch. You know her car.”

“And?”

“Those are the only rules she told me. Are you willing to do as she asked?”

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes!”

“Okay. Do you want to join us in the shower?”

“Yes. Have you had lunch?”

“We got it on the way home. Do you want to know how we did?”

“I’m sure ... we won, but I would like to know the details.”

“Civ and Mare said that they’d tell you in the shower if you joined us.”

She looked into my eyes, then said, “Beth. Thank you. I know I must seem ... childish for wanting to be with the team despite my ... uncle being on the loose, but it’s been the ... most enjoyable part of my life since I joined the team last year. I was ... pretty sad when the season ended after we won State and we ... didn’t live near any of the rest of the team and ... Mom wasn’t...”

“Shhh. I know some of this, and I apologize for not following through when I considered inviting team members to join us occasionally over the fall and winter. You know some or most of why ... we let that fall, but I understand if you don’t think we have a valid excuse.”

“No! Without last fall and winter, there wouldn’t be ... this. This ... life I’m now part of. Beth, if it weren’t for losing Mom and ... being scared our relatives would find us, I’d be having the best time ever here. As it is, it’s still very, very good. I ... just want the ... bad times to be ... over and done.”

I nodded and replied, “I understand. We thought the same when Brit’s family caused us problems, but it’s even worse with your family. We’d like it to be over, too. Very much so.”

Once out of the shower, I tracked down Rache and asked, “What do you know about remote cameras?”

“The only one I could find with modern high-end resolution is over 16 thousand dollars!”

I grimaced and said, “Ouch. That’s not something we could easily cover, and if we don’t use it a lot, it’s not worth spending that much.”

“Exactly. And I so wanted that butts-and-balls photo. It looks so good.”

“Is there any chance that Garvey would know about something like that?”

“I thought of that. If we could find one to rent for a couple of days, I think that might be reasonable, but the controls are a bit tricky, at least with one person trying to control both the drone and the camera.”

“There’s no reason we couldn’t have an operator for each, as long as there are separate or dual controls.”

“There are. Since the thing also has a video camera, there are three controls. However, the drone requires a license to operate since it’s above some weight limit for simply recreational users.”

“Ouch squared, although I can’t imagine we’d have any trouble without a license just using it in the yard. However, I just can’t see us using it anywhere near enough to justify the money to purchase one.”

“I wondered about using it for the team, like for practice or something, but I couldn’t think of any truly important use there, and I don’t know if the team has anything like that kind of money to throw at something like that.”

“I doubt it. They don’t even have the vehicle we need to transport the team. Granted, the necessary vehicle is way more expensive than your drone.”

“I can call Garvey and see if he has time to talk today. That’s all I’ve got, Beth.”

I hugged her as I replied, “It’s not your fault at all. Thanks for looking into it. Like you, I really wanted that photo. The young girls will be so disappointed.”

“There’s no sense in telling them until I find out what Garvey knows.”

“Okay. Come see me when you get back and we’ll decide what to do.”

She gazed into my eyes for a bit, then said, “Beth. I want and need to tell you ... and probably the other older girls, particularly Meka, that I’m so thankful that you allowed me to stay here while I figured out the problems in my life that I hadn’t understood I had. Even though my research for the butts-and-balls photo was disappointing, this conversation about it and how ... the family deals with interests and even disappointments is ... wonderful. I so much love my life right now. I didn’t understand what I thought I might be missing, but this was it. I love my jobs within the LA, I love that you and everyone else have been and are so supportive of me. This ... this ... belonging is what I’ve missed most of my life after Meka and Kim had their problem.” When I started to respond, she held up her hand at me and added, “I thought Seamus was the answer, but ... even though he truly is a very nice guy, I didn’t get from him what I get from the LA, and I’m not at all talking about sex.”

“I didn’t think you were. While the sex here is incredible, the ... belonging, as you said, the love, the ... comradeship is what I find most satisfying about the LA. We’re not just single girls each trying to find our way.”

“Exactly. I’m sure that it’s the single most important reason that ... we attract girls like me. We’re no longer alone, and no one of us needs to work out everything by herself. I want to tell the whole LA how I feel.”

“I think you don’t need to do that; we all know how you feel.”

“No, Beth. I’m not sure they do. Except for the Fahrad girls, I’m the newest addition, but I required the ... full immersion to understand both the LA and my place in it, and even then, it took me a long time to ... understand. Once I figure out how to say what I feel I need to say, I want to be ... more fully involved. I want to know how we afford our life and how I can truly contribute to that effort. While I’m excited about making a living photographing sex, I can’t see making much money at it for ... many, many years.”

She halted for long enough trying to find words that I could step in with, “I know you know part of how we are supported and that it’s due to ... Mom’s money and investments. Not one of us could truly make a dent in how much it costs for us to be here ... together without giving up the life we’re leading now. Mom sees her support as ... obtaining a stake in ... our futures. A few of us have at least a reasonable chance of making a very good living, and I think you’re one of those, although I understand that it’s still something of a long shot. I think the future will involve each of us ... purchasing stakes in ... us, but Mom is very happy to support us until we, particularly we freshmen, begin our actual careers. I’ll be happy to explain more to you if you want, but there are still many aspects I don’t quite grasp about financials. As I said, Mom’s happy to support us while we figure out what we want and how we want to go about obtaining it. I think our potential is ... very high. While it’s not something that most of us need to think about much, at least for a while, all of us will need to start getting a handle on our personal answers to two questions: What we want and how to get there. You now may know what you want, but you still must figure out how to get there without the LA members being your money-making photo subjects.”

She nodded, and responded, “While I suspect that one or two of us might have an interest in that, I know most of us don’t, and I’m not considering the family, the LA, as anything other than practice subjects in my hoped-for career. I would hate myself if I tried to use the family in that way, for business and profit. I’m happy to photograph us having sex ... very happy, but as soon as that becomes more than simply practice, I’ll quit going for that, as it will mean that I’ve lost sight of what makes me so happy here.”

I looked deeply into Rache’s eyes for many seconds, then said, “While I’ve loved you for a while, now, I’m beginning to fall in love with you, Rache. I’m finding it harder and harder to think of a future without you in it.”

She stepped into me, wrapped me up, and embraced me tightly, then whispered in my ear, “I’m so glad for that. I’ve been falling for you for some time. I find you amazing.”

I blushed and tried to duck my head, but there was nowhere to go with it in her embrace, so I simply reveled in our new understanding of each other.

After two deep conversations, I needed a change. I snuck downstairs to find the “sex-in-progress” sign up. We had decided to make that so that the young girls would not be surprised or surprise us. I peeked in to see Brett entertaining Gracey, Liya, Kath, Cera, and Brit, so smiled, then shifted to another idea. I did 20 laps in the pool, then padded into the W, took a quick shower in the parents’ room to rinse off the chlorine, then spread myself in their bed. I put my right hand between my legs just to keep up something of a slow burn while I pondered recent events in the LA. At one point, I was thinking about how to fully incorporate Kai into the LA, given what she wanted from us, but the next thing I knew, Dad was crawling into bed with me.

“Hi, Cupcake. How was the game?”

“It was good. We probably could have done better, but we shut them out, and Heather, Civ, and I combined on a play that even I think was something special.”

I sat bolt upright, which concerned Dad, so I had to explain about the butts-and-balls photo, the camera drone, and the costs for quality, and finished with, “We couldn’t think of any even marginally relevant use for such an expensive drone. We considered how we might use it for soccer, like for training or something, but the cost still seemed exorbitant for such minimal use. I just thought of something else that might have made it worthwhile if you squinted enough, but it’s still not truly worth that much money.”

“This is one of the main reasons we kept our wealth from you. You have a very grounded understanding of money and costs that you might not have had if you had known since you could walk that we were rich.”

“Thanks, Dad, and I truly appreciate what you did, and it worked ... at least until I got you to give my girlfriends and me a house and all the food, clothes, and transportation we need. I understand much of what you and Mom explained about financial stuff about the J and us and ... everything, but I don’t quite understand it all. That doesn’t matter as I still can’t see having a video of team highlights to sell to the parents as being worth the cost of that drone.”

“What was the ‘something else’ you just thought about that you haven’t said?”

“Sometimes, Dad, your facility with figuring me out is a problem for me, as I can so rarely hide anything from you or Mom. I was thinking ... after the highlights video ... that it could be a training tool, particularly in concert with a field-level video camera.”

I then explained how Heather had seen the corridor she had to me, the slot that I could see in front of Civ, and the slot that I could use to get the ball to where she would need it, and how at least some of that could be taught, to be recognized.

He looked into my eyes for a bit, then responded, “I can see that. It seems ... reasonable, at least for a ... higher level ... or better-funded level of play.”

“Exactly, but the one thing the team really needs is transportation, and it cannot seem to afford that, not even temporary rentals of such.”

“Speaking of that, we think it’s going to work out that we can justify the cost for the team of using the Sprinter mostly for the team once we get the other thing.”

“Are we getting it?”

“Yes. The problem of the isolated driver is solvable, but the ... older girls still need to pass the driving portion, but they’ve all passed the written portion and I doubt any of them will have trouble with the driving aspect, considering all the time they’ve spent driving the Sprinter with no problems.”

I gazed into his eyes for a few seconds, then asked, “Dad, would you make love with me?”

A smile crept slowly onto his face, and he replied, “I’d love to.”

He did. It was glorious and exactly what I needed ... and lasted long enough that Mom got home in time to excitedly offer to clean me with her mouth. I accepted that offer.

On my walk back to the J, I pondered why I had needed what Dad had given me. Of course, the reasons had quickly seemed obvious: Dealing with Padme and her family’s problem, the disappointment at losing the butts-and-balls photo, and the intensity of Rache’s and my discussion about ... her in the LA and the relationship she and I were developing. It also dawned on me that Heather’s thing with Belinda and Darren was pure escape for me. Well, mostly so. I did worry about where it would go, as I was mostly sure I did not want the two of them in the LA. While I very much enjoyed watching the show, I was surprised that it was still a going concern, and that seemed to concern me, at least a little, but I had difficulty quantifying that concern. If I could understand that concern, that would make me happier, but I was also very happy for Heather enjoying their interactions so much. When I began wondering if intercourse would come into play there and how those two and the LA would react to that, I realized I was borrowing trouble, so shook my head, put a smile on my face at the thought of so many I loved being just on the other side of the basement door, and opened that door.

I was surprised at the hullaballoo going on upstairs.

As I climbed the stairs to the living room, I got a text from Rhee that said, “News. Come home.” That text gave me an idea as to the cause of the hullaballoo, and that put a wider smile on my face. However, the terseness of Rhee’s text wiped the smile from my face as I cleared the final step and set foot in the living room.

Liya saw me first and shouted over the ruckus, “Everyone’s fine, but, somehow, Padme’s uncle found out about Armoire.”

“What?!?!”

Liya added, “If it weren’t for Katherine’s safety concerns, things might have been much worse. Beth, for some reason, that devil in a man’s guise arrived at Armoire almost two hours ago. Katherine’s security system there somehow alerted her, and no one on the staff was hurt. The sprinkler system tamped down the fire he started. Somehow, the police knew to come in loaded for bear, and Padme’s uncle is dead. That’s all we know, and I haven’t been able to reach Katherine, even though the news said that only merchandise was hurt.”

I held my hand up at everyone while I thought furiously about what we could and, more importantly, should do. Kai was doing a good job of dealing with Padme’s relief, so I concentrated on Katherine. Liya has all her phone numbers, so I knew that was a dead end until, presumably, the police and other authorities were finished with her. Suddenly, it came to me.

“Listen up,” I shouted. When I had quiet, I laid it out, “We’re taking everyone. Everyone, clean up, get ... Wait. No. Let’s get the Sprinter and Suburban cleaned up, just in case, and we’ll need to load as many blankets and pads as we can stuff in the vehicles. If we must, we can also take the Trooper. Gracey, would you go to the W and explain that we might be out all night, but we might not, and that we’re going to help Katherine in whatever ways she may require.”

“On my way.”

“Thanks, Gracey,” I sent after her. “We need a quick cleanup of the whole house, just in case. After that’s done, everyone, clean yourselves up. In ... an hour-and-a-half, we’ll get dressed – skimpywear is fine, although not for Liya, Gracey ... Not for the Go5. Liya, call our Indian place and order ... a shit-ton of food for ... two hours from now. We might need to feed as many as 23.” I looked around briefly, then asked, “Is everyone here? Katie, Celeste, Rache?”

“I’m here, Beth,” Rache called out, “and so are the others. I have some interesting news from Garvey when you have time.”

“Thanks. I think that’s it for now. Let’s get cracking on cleaning vehicles and the house.”

Meka called out, “I’m lead on the vehicles. I need Maren, Katie, Rhee, and ... Kath.”

Celeste followed with, “Attic, Heather and Civ. Second-floor team lead is Rache, main floor is Char, and I’m basement. Rache, pick five, as you’ve got the other big bathroom. Char, pick another five. Once those two have grabbed their teams, everyone else is on the basement.”

Seventy-five minutes later, we had everyone in the basement shower after cleaning the rest of the house. No one was worried about bare butts or anything else bare. We cleaned ourselves – no buddy washing – then wiped down the shower and went to our big closet to dress. Before I could climb into a panty, short, and a T, Maren slammed into me.

She softly told me, “I don’t like the reason we’re doing all this, but this is the first time I’ve felt like a full LA member. You and the team leads, particularly Celeste, didn’t worry about Civ, Padme, or me being naked in the shower with Brett without the usual constraints. Beth, I didn’t even look at him, and...” She sniffled, then finished, “I’m now even more dedicated to the LA. This is where I belong. This is where I will grow up and become a woman. I love my parents, all three of them, particularly now that Mom’s happy, but this is where I belong.”

“I believe you’re right. No, I know you’re right. I know that because you’ve been feeling more and more like one of my ... sister-friend-lovers. I love you, Maren.”

She reached up a bit and gave me an intense kiss that surprised me, but mainly because I had no idea where she learned that. I responded in kind, but only partly because to have done anything less would have demeaned her.