Chapter 30

July 22, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

Both Rhee and I woke feeling crampy. At breakfast, Dad seemed to watch us quite carefully and noted our less-than-stellar moods. I actually saw the decision on his face to ask us again about concerns with doing sex stuff with him, so I cut him off.

“No, Dad. Our periods approach, probably today, and neither of us is feeling all that great. However, the memory of last night is still shining, still wonderful. Thank you.”

He looked into me through my eyes for what seemed like minutes, but wasn’t, then briefly nodded his head. Carol and Rhee took off around 8:30 and I spent much of the day curled up in bed writing the previous day’s account. Heather and her mother are coming for lunch tomorrow with my parents and Carol.

July 23, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

Dressed in “normal” shorts and a T, I met Carol and Rhee at the front door after they’d walked in around 11:00. I hugged Carol, then Rhee and I headed off to kill some time in town and get lunch; Mom would text when they were done.

We hit Second Chance Wear, again, but found nothing of particular interest, so strolled around, gabbing about nothing of real import. We walked back in the front door a bit after 1:00, in time to hug Heather before she and her mother headed back to their house. Behind her mother’s back, she cracked a grin at us, her eyes sparkling, so I guess that the discussion went well.

“Do you two want some pie,” Mom asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Rhee responded. “Beth said that you’d made peach pie.”

We joined the three parents at the kitchen table while they gave us the run-down on the Heather discussion. Apparently, it went very well, Heather’s mother being amenable to Carol and Dad working on a solution for Heather’s education. She was even willing to sign a document giving either or both of them rights to deal with schools. Dad and Mom’s lawyer had prepared it and Heather’s mother took it with her in order to sign three copies in front of a notary public. Also interesting is that Heather is nearly caught up to where the Intro Calculus course at the university is, so she’ll be sitting in it starting next week. Dad will pick her up and take her to class and then drive her to the soccer pitch for practice on weekdays.

July 25, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

Today is our penultimate game of the regular season, against Baskerville. We dominated them (4-1) in the second week of the season. I expect us to do even better today. Tomorrow, we’re having an impromptu sleepover of the Gang of Five, as neither Liya’s nor Gracey’s moms were available to cart them to the field on Thursday for our early-afternoon game against Paradise. Dad is taking Rhee, Heather, and me to the field later this morning; Rhee will be here shortly; Heather around 11:00.

[Much later]

As I expected, we ran away with today’s game, despite Baskerville’s goalie making a dozen saves. Unfortunately for her, we had 21 shots on goal (and >10 wide or high) and won 9-1. We spread the wealth around, with six notching goals: Rhee, Heather, and Mia getting two each and Haven, Lissa, and Tonda getting the others. I got assists for five of the six goals that our starting front line tallied. With her two goals today, Rhee’s lead is 16 over Sanderson, though we don’t know how Charlize did today. GV played New Paris today, which is tied at the bottom of the nine teams with only two wins, so I expect Sanderson to have gotten at least a couple.

While we had already clinched one of the four slots in the league tournament before this week, that really means little, as only four teams have a chance at double-digit wins, and three of those are already there. Watermelon Mountain will probably win twice this week, giving them 10 wins. Unlike in the past two years, the league was highly unbalanced this season. At least three of last year’s six best teams, Central, Midland, and New Paris, were decimated this season by the loss of most or all of their good players either because they aged out of our level or moved or whatever. New Paris was particularly stricken, losing seven starters and even a few backups.

With our win today, we’ve clinched the tournament’s first seed, not that that means much, as the whole tournament takes place on a single day; at New Paris this year. The one meaningful part of our seed is that we won’t have to play GV in the first game. We’re a game up on GV (13-1-1 versus 12-2-1) and two games up on Paradise (11-3-1). Although we lost to Paradise in our first meeting, we’d still have first seed even if we lose to Paradise on Thursday. because of our better head-to-head record against GV. So, the seeds are all set today, as long as GV doesn’t lose this week. All of this means that, barring various miracles or disasters, we’re first seed in the tournament, Rhee has won the scoring title, and I’ve won the assists title (leading by 11, now). Of those three facets of this season, only one is a repeat: Rhee won the scoring title last year ... by a single goal.

July 26, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

[Written July 27]

Today’s practice was three hours of full-team scrimmage, though with a few 10-minute breathers mixed in. Coach mixed and matched starters and backups, though reunited the regular starting offense against the starting defense for the last half-hour, with starting and backup midfielders mixed. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting, and I was quite happy when Coach called it to an end.

The whole Gang trooped happily back to my house, everyone excited to be back together and looking forward to some fun. Rhee’s and my periods were just about done and, since we hadn’t spent a night together since Friday, we were jonesing for some multi-person sex.

A block from my house, Heather said, “I move that this sleepover officially start when we close Beth’s front door behind us.”

“SECOND,” shouted everyone else.

My query about discussion met silence and after asking for votes, said, “The motion passes unanimously.”

As I closed the front door, there were already four gym bags on the floor and four semi-naked girls in the foyer.

“How long ‘til Dad or Mom is home,” asked Heather.

“Not ‘til after 5:00 for Dad, assuming he doesn’t play hooky.”

“I bet he’d love that, coming home to five naked girls,” Liya exclaimed.

“Yeah, that he would,” replied Rhee.

I glanced at her and she gave me a minuscule shrug. I headed upstairs, removing my shirt on the way and finished stripping in my room. The others clumped up the stairs after me, clothes and gym bags in hand.

“What do we want to do after lunch,” I asked.

“Well,” said Gracey, “I want to shower first.

“Okay, which shower do you want?”

“Would you mind if Heather, Liya, and I showered up here?”

“Not at all. Rhee. You coming,” I asked as I headed out the door to go downstairs to the master bath.

After showers, we all returned to my room.

Liya said, “I’ve got something that I’d like to do before lunch. Beth, would it be okay to use your mom’s sewing machine?”

“Uh, okay. What for?”

“I made a thank-you gift for Heather, but I need to finish it.”

“You made something for me? You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did. Gracey and I wanted to thank you for getting us together, you know, sexually. I made a top for you and Gracey found a pair of shorts to go with it.”

Heather looked a bit dumbfounded, at first, then hugged Liya and Gracey individually. “You ... you guys. You’re too good to me.” Her face faltered a bit, but she pulled herself together. “Before I started hanging with you guys, I’d never had friends that got me things, much less made something for me. This gang rocks! I love you all!”

Liya pulled a small package out of her gym bag and said, “I didn’t know how big to make this, so I’d like to put it on you and mark it, and then I can finish it in a few minutes.” Out of the package came a piece of emerald green velour cloth and a piece of something like chalk. She then looked at me.

I grinned at her, nodding.

“Turn around, Heather, and lift your arms up; let me try this on you.”

Heather turned around and Liya opened the cloth and wrapped it around Heather’s torso, with the two ends at the middle of her back. It was a tube top. A very skimpy tube top. I’ll bet that it was barely four inches wide, if that.

“Heather, this has got to be tight, because you don’t have much to hold it up. But it should make your pretty little titties stand out.”

As Liya pulled the two ends tight around Heather’s torso, Rhee said, “Oh, my god! That thing is even sexier on you than the crop top that Beth got you, Heather! Let me re-arrange you so that it’s perfect. Hold it tight, Liya” Rhee reached inside the tube from below and sort of fluffed Heather’s breasts. “That’s got it, Liya.”

Liya held the two ends closed with one hand and marked the cloth with the chalk, then let one end go. With the cloth and chalk, she headed into the spare bedroom where Mom’s sewing machine lived. We all started following her, but Liya turned.

“Heather, it’ll have plenty of extra material to let it out. I wanted to put hooks on it, but I didn’t have them handy, so I’ll just sew it together now. When you outgrow it, I’ll fix it. Oh, and I don’t need any help and you guys would just make me nervous hanging over me. Is that all right?”

“Of course,” answered Gracey. “We’ll get lunch started.”

The four of us headed to the kitchen, where we made sandwiches and got everything else together for lunch. We were just finishing when Liya joined us, her hands empty.

“Where’s the top,” asked Rhee.

“In our bedroom. Gracey and I had an idea and we wanted to wait until we got Heather dressed in her new clothes to broach it with you.”

She followed that with a questioning look to Rhee and me. We both nodded and dug into lunch. We had a grand time, cracking wise and laughing. After lunch clean-up, we all trooped back upstairs.

Rhee asked, “So, what’s this idea?”

“Hang on. Heather, come with us.”

Liya and Gracey led Heather to the spare bedroom and closed the door. Rhee looked at me, raising that left eyebrow. I shrugged at her. We then heard Heather blurt out something like a ‘yip,’ and then a loud “Wicked!”

I raised my eyebrows at Rhee, and she quietly said, “This should be interesting. Heather’s excited.”

After a few minutes, we heard the door open and the three of them filed into my room, Heather in the lead, Liya bringing up the rear. My eyebrows tried to bolt off the top of my head and Rhee’s mouth dropped open.

“Wow,” Rhee exclaimed quietly.

Heather pranced into the room and did a pirouette.

OH. MY. GOD. The tube top was only barely wider, top to bottom, then her breasts, and those breasts were highlighted by the top. It did not quite look painted on, but it did make me want to rub her chest over the top. But the shorts! They were white, bright white, and the “legs” of them were shorter than the “legs” on my short shorts, probably not even an inch long! Both front pockets extended well outside the legs and there was just a hint of cheek extending below the back side of both legs. And they were tight!

“FU-UCCCKKK,” exclaimed Rhee.

I forced my eyes from Heather to Rhee, who was not even looking at Heather, so I followed her eyes.

I immediately understood Rhee’s sentiment. Neither of us had ever seen either Gracey or Liya in blatantly sexy clothing; now, we had. Gracey, whose boobs were second in size amongst us only to Rhee’s, was wearing a Daisy Duke outfit. She had on a bright yellow and black, short-sleeved, flannel shirt, the tails tied under her breasts and with a single button buttoned, a lot of cleavage showing. When she lifted her arms, I noticed that the armpits of the shirt were cut out, showing off her upper sides and some side boob. She had about six inches of midriff showing between the shirt and blue denim, low-rise shorts that were nearly as short-legged as Heather’s though not quite as tight.

Liya looked incredible. She had on a hot pink, spaghetti-strap, lace crop top – severely cropped. I could see the shape of her breasts behind the lace, but not any details. She had acres of uncovered skin between the top and a pair of tight, stretchy, black, low-rise, boy-cut shorts that had longer legs than Gracey’s, but only barely.

I looked back at Rhee; her eyes were nearly bugging out, her mouth hanging open.

“You three look incredible and sexy as hell,” she said.

I almost interrupted Rhee, but waited for her to finish and said, “I agree. You’re all incredibly sexy. So, does this have something to do with your ‘idea?’”

Gracey nodded. “We were talking about Dad and we came up with this idea as a way to partially repay the debts that we owe him. Beth, do you think that it would be okay to wear these outfits here tonight, or would Dad ... or your mom ... object?”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rhee shaking her head strongly. Since there were actually two aspects to Gracey’s question, Rhee’s response was seemingly nebulous, but I was pretty sure that I understood which aspect of the question she was answering.

“No, Dad certainly won’t object, and I doubt that Mom will, either.”

An obvious load was lifted from Gracey’s and Liya’s shoulders, as they relaxed, exhaled, and smiled.

“No,” I continued, “Dad will definitely not mind, though you guys might cause some palpitations. God, you three are sexy!”

“Thanks, Beth,” Liya said. “Coming from you, and from Rhee, that means something ... to all of us. However, we hoped that you two could join us with sexy clothes. Rhee, would you have to go home for something like that? Do you have anything?”

I looked at Rhee who had started to deflate.

“No, I’d have to go h ... No! I’ve got stuff here!” She then proceeded to open drawers in her dresser, but then turned. “Could you two step outside so Beth and I can do to you what you did to us? Heather’s already seen these.”

As the door closed, Rhee donned the shirt that I’d gotten her and the short skirt that she’d worn on game night, though added panties. I also donned game-night clothing; we called the others back in.

Gracey grinned and Liya chuckled.

“That’ll do,” Liya said.

“Anyone wanna go for ice cream,” asked Heather.

“Oh, I can just see the guy behind the counter having a stroke or heart attack or something,” Rhee responded. “Remember how he ogled the five of us the last time we were there, and we were wearing normal clothes!”

“I think that we should,” I said.

Rhee looked at me with that eyebrow raised and with an odd expression. “You think we should? Are you not only beginning to, finally, accept that you’re pretty and sexy, but also starting to flaunt it? Who are you and what did you do with the real Beth?”

The gang, minus me, cracked up.

Through her chuckling, Rhee continued. “Not that I object at all. I like the idea of you coming out from behind your self-built walls.”

I had started to get warm with the laughter, but Rhee’s comment put a burn on my face, so I hung my head. Rhee stepped to me and wrapped me in her embrace.

“Beth, I love you how you are, but I do like the idea of your self-image being more positive than it has been. I know that you’re proud of your mind, and that’s a good thing. A more-realistic self-image would also be a good thing, providing that you don’t go overboard into narcissism.”

I felt a second person putting her arms around me and then heard Liya.

“Beth, my wonderful friend, Rhee is right. Stronger belief in more aspects of yourself is good, particularly when justified. Just maintain a strong aspect of humility. Despite what you think and what you have said over the years, you are the gravity well around which the rest of us orbit. You are strong, smart, kind, and loving. Sure, you’re not perfect, but no one is. However, I have to say that it is heartening to see someone so good at assessing social aspects that cannot seem to assess her own capabilities well.

“I will be the first person to knock you back on your heels if you get too uppity, as you well know. Just keep all those aspects of you that we all like so well, but think better of your appearance and, particularly, your leadership skills. We would not be who we are, individually or collectively, without you.”

Rhee then squeezed me more tightly and said quietly, “Hear, hear.”

I then felt two impacts as Gracey and Heather added their weight, their arms to the pig pile. I could not help it. I began crying and I still don’t really know why. Rather, I did not know all of the reasons. I still do not know that my role in the Gang is as important as Liya suggested, but that’s no reason to cry. Am I afraid of fully knowing myself? Or of being a critical component of something larger than me? Both? More? I decided to put off thinking further on the subject and pulled myself together.

As my quiet blubbering came to an end, I said, “There is no doubt, none whatsoever, that no matter what I think about my appearance or my importance, I know one thing with certainty: I have the best friends in the world!”

Rhee tightened her arms again, then relaxed.

“Thank you, Liya, Gracey, Heather, Rhee, for helping make my life so good.”

Rhee kissed my cheek. Apparently, the others must have seen that because they all followed suit.

“So,” Gracey said, “once you clean up, are you still interested in giving the ice-cream guy a heart attack?”

I joined in on the laughter. After that died down, I wormed my way out of the multi-person embrace and went to the bathroom to wash my face with cold water. Rhee, and only Rhee, followed me in.

“I’m sorry if I said anything that made you cry. That’s about the last thing that I want to do.”

“No, you didn’t. Well, you did, but a large part of my crying was that you four make me so happy, make me feel so loved. It surprises me; at times it overwhelms me.” I had to inhale deeply and concentrate to keep from bawling again. Once I felt more in control, I continued. “I’ve thought about this frequently. For much of my life, I’ve been confident. At first, that was probably because of my parents, who have always been supportive and taught me independence, even if I wasn’t exactly a model child for most of that time. My current confidence is certainly still backed up by my parents, but now, a lot of the support that I get is from my incredible friends. Friends that see good aspects of me that I haven’t seen, haven’t recognized.

“I have always cringed from the thought that I make all of us do what I want to do. I’ve seen that in some school cliques, and I never wanted to be that way, so I had trouble with being seen as a leader. Of the team, okay. Of my friends, not. No, wait. Please let me finish. What I neglected to consider, and which popped into my brain in that pig pile of a group hug, is that my friends are strong in their own right. Yes, your mind may be mush due to being ‘besotted’ with me. Yes, Heather is something of a submissive. And, yes, Gracey generally gets along. But Liya? No, she would never blindly follow anyone or anything.

“That thought got me to thinking that each of you is very strong in her own right. Heather, were she any weaker at all, might have killed herself. You are a titan, certain of yourself, and Gracey is strong in her very own, quiet way. All four of you have had to be strong, all coming from broken homes. I guess that I just hadn’t put those pieces together in the right way before.”

“Good,” Rhee said with feeling. “So, no more feeling sorry for yourself because you have to wear so many hats?”

I must have looked blankly at her, because she got a slightly exasperated look on her face and continued.

“Look, Beth. You definitely lead us. I think that you are uncomfortable with that for the wrong reasons. While I’m not completely certain about Heather, we just haven’t known her long enough, the rest of us are more than willing to argue with you if you’re wrong. But, given your obvious skills in social interaction, you’re rarely wrong. Gracey, Liya, and I have known you well for at least three years, and we’re happy to follow you. We don’t do it because you’re some amazing natural leader, though you definitely have aspects of that, but because you are usually the first one to figure out the best thing to do, the critical response. And that’s because you have already taken into account the likely response from each of us. You lead because you can quickly think of what or how to do something that accounts for our individual interests, interests that might differ a bit from yours.

“If you’ll recall, Liya used to argue with you more, but she quickly learned that you did usually have the best plan. You were the first one to learn, and take to heart, that the four of us would have more freedom by following the rules, being less egocentric. You convinced each of us and all of us that doing what we were asked or told, when we were asked by parents or teachers would prove more beneficial than rebellion, as long as we could understand the reasons for the requests or demands of those authorities. You remember, right? You challenged all of us to try it for a couple months. I learned it more quickly than did Gracey or, particularly, Liya, because I spent more time with you. I, especially, spent more time with you in your house, around your parents. I saw, firsthand, how effective it was.

“We have never followed you blindly, but that was the turning point. For each of us. We are all a lot happier than we used to be. Therefore, you lead, and we let you, because you’re nearly always right. And that last bit doesn’t bother us, because once we all realized that you were, we have come to trust that you are, and our lives are better. Much better!”

“If you don’t stop, Rhee, I’m gonna start crying, again.”

Rhee wrapped me up and whispered, “Poor baby.” She then lightly put her lips on mine and kissed me. I could feel the love in that long, light kiss. I disengaged our mouths but tilted my head so that my forehead rested on hers and I could look through my lashes at her eyes.

“Okay, Rhee. You’ve read me the riot act. I’ve got it. I’ll try not to feel sorry for poor old me, on whose shoulders all the world’s hopes rest.”

Then I grinned at her, a grin that she returned in spades.

We did go for ice cream. We did cause a furor. Of course, the guy that had ogled us while trying to scoop our ice cream last time was not working. A high-school-aged girl, probably in an upper class, waited on us. I did not know her name before reading it on her name plate, but I recognized her from somewhere. She was friendly and oohed and aahed over our outfits. The furor was due to a boys’ baseball team sitting at a bunch of pushed-together tables. A team that looked, perhaps, a year or so younger than us.

Katie, the employee serving us, made wisecracks about us making those boys’ day. She suddenly got an odd look on her face while looking at Rhee.

“Um, are you Rhiannon Devlin?”

I quickly swiveled my head to look at Rhee, whose eyes were wide.

“Ye-ess,” Rhee answered tentatively.

“I knew that you looked familiar. I just didn’t recognize you not in a soccer kit. I’m Katie Weeks. I’m on Elkton Central’s team. You’re going to be starting there this fall, right?”

“Yes,” I answered before Rhee got her act together. “I knew that I recognized you, too, but I couldn’t think of where. Rhee and I.knew that we’d be going there, so went to a few of your games last fall.”

Katie turned to me with something of a blank face, obviously trying to place me. Then her eyebrows rose dramatically.

“Oh. You’re Beth Williams, right?” When I nodded, she continued. “Some of the other girls and I have been talking about you two, hoping that you’re going to try out for the team. We’ve got a pretty solid defense, but both of our big scorers graduated. Some of us have been to a couple of your games. We could really use you!”

Rhee, now centered, took over. “Yeah, this is Beth, our team captain and league assists leader. Also here,” and she pointed at Heather, “is Heather Wilkerson, our new phenom right wing. While she lives in Central’s jurisdiction, her schooling is currently up in the air. You see, she’s a genius.”

“Rhee!”

“Oh, hush, you. You are. We know it. What we don’t know is where you’ll be matriculating come fall.” In one of those blatantly false moves to ostensibly talk about someone without them knowing but being obvious, Rhee said, “She might be starting at the university this fall. She’s already scheduled to audit part of a calculus course there shortly.” Then, she turned and grinned hugely at Heather.

“Wow, that’s crazy,” Katie said. “I saw your game in Sedgwick, uh ... Rhee?” When we nodded, she continued. “I was in Sedgwick with nothing much to do at the time, so went to the game to scout you two, sort of. Anyway, Rhee scored, what, five? And that was you, Heather, wasn’t it, that got three?”

I grabbed Heather and pulled her forward. “Yup, that’s her, the speed demon.” I then said as I pulled Gracey forward, “This is Gracey García, our right fullback and probable starting center fullback next year. Finally, and not at all least, this is Liya Nahdi, who doesn’t play, but keeps us from obsessing about soccer all the time. We’re all best buds.”

Right then, a group of four came in the door, and Katie looked disappointed. “Hang on,” she said, then vanished into the back, to return shortly with an older woman trailing her.

“Okay,” she said, “let me get your cone, Rhee, and ring you all up. Were you going to eat those here?” When we nodded, she asked, “Might I join you?” When we again nodded, she smiled and said, “My mom can wait on those folks.”

Katie joined us at the table and most of us forgot about the baseball team. We talked about Central’s team, our team, and girls’ soccer, in general. It was really fun. So much so, that I do not really remember my ice cream.

As we were leaving, a tall, attractive man from the baseball team, a coach, I suppose, came up to us. Well, to Rhee, really.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to apologize to you ladies for anything and everything that you might have overheard from the boys. You all, uh, fascinated them.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I interrupted. “As my dad told both Rhee and me, if we’re going to wear provocative clothing, then we should be prepared to be, as he put it, ‘ogled.’ They didn’t bother us, though partly because we got into a great conversation with Katie, there, and really weren’t paying attention to much else.”

“Well, thank you for being so forgiving. Some of them were a bit rude. I also couldn’t help but overhear part of your conversation with, uh, you said, ‘Katie?’” I nodded. “My daughter is a soccer nut and, from what I understand from your conversation, some of you are on the local premier girls’ team. Is that right?”

“Yup. This here is Rhee Devlin, who is the league’s scoring champ, this year and last year.”

“Yes, that’s my other motivation for intercepting you. My daughter tells me that Rhee is her hero, and she’s dragged me to a couple of your games. I’m a baseball guy but having a soccer-nut daughter has forced me to learn at least a bit of the game. We were in the stands yesterday. You all were impressive.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I’m told by her coach that my daughter, Civia, is good. My daughter has told me in no uncertain terms that she’s trying out for the premier team next year, as she’ll then be in the team’s age range.”

“What position does she play? Wait, let me guess. Since Rhee is her hero, I’m gonna say ‘striker.’”

“Of course.”

“Ohh, that’s a difficult one. We have only two players on the team that are graduating to the next level after this year, our starters at goalie and center fullback. Our starting offense is nearly all my age and breaking into it will be tough, and even our backups are very good. However, I don’t want to discourage her from trying out. It’s just that she should be prepared, particularly as a 12-year-old, not to make it. Both Rhee and I made it as 12-year-olds, but that was primarily because nearly the entire offense had graduated the previous year. The offense next year will be comprised of mostly what could be termed seniors. In two years, I presume that there will be lots of slots available.” I changed tacks. “Will you or she be at tomorrow’s game?”

“Her mom is taking her. I have to work.”

“Well, since she knows who Rhee is, at least, have her come introduce herself to us. Before the game would work best; we’ll be there about an hour before kickoff. We can introduce her to Coach. While Coach might not have time to talk to her, your daughter ought to at least get to meet her. I know that Coach keeps pretty close tabs on the younger teams and does at least a bit of recruiting, so having your daughter meet her couldn’t hurt. Just prepare ... Civia for the possibility of not making the team. Our offense is currently cream of the league, and I’m one of the oldest members of it.”