Chapter 92

November 17, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

[Written November 18-19]

We had a light practice, doing only the typical warmups, laps, and rondo. Coach had all of us adjourn to the locker room where we discussed the start of the state tournament tomorrow. We’ll be playing in the southeast regional, as will Petaluma, which got one of the two regional at-large entries. Fortunately, the draw does not have us in the same side of the bracket. The only way we could meet them would be to play them in the regional final on Sunday. The four regional winners will play for the state championship next weekend.

After dropping Brittany at her house, as per usual, Meka dropped the Go6 at the house, saying that she’ll be back shortly to join us for dinner. As we entered the kitchen, Mom said, “Civia, do you mind staying with Meka tonight ... wherever she decides to spend the night?”

“Of course not. I’m here, as we planned.”

“Thank you, Dear. We truly appreciate you helping with this task. We’ve been trying to call on you only sparingly, but the rest of the girls need a break.”

Civia’s face almost crumbled, but she got hold of herself and responded, “I understand. Completely. I know that it’s really hard to stay upbeat for her day after day. Do you think she’ll want the hot tub tonight?”

“Probably. She’s used it after every visit the past three or four. We parents will stay in our room after you all get home. If any of us do have to come out of the room, it won’t be Charlie, so don’t worry about being naked in the house on your way to or from the hot tub.”

“Okay. Thanks, Sandy. May I help with dinner?”

“We’ve got it.” Mom turned to me and said, “You two, join your sisters upstairs and just relax for the next half-hour. I can tell you need showers; that could help.”

Civia and I joined the rest of the gang in the bathroom after dropping our stuff in the BRH bedroom and stripping down there.

As I opened the shower door, I said to Civia, “I’ll do you first,” after which we proceeded to do the usual buddy-system wash.

The other duos had exited, and I was washing my belly while Civia was washing my back, when she suddenly stopped and threw her arms around my waist and hugged herself hard to my back. I could feel her crying against me, so I gently worked myself around within her arms so that I could wrap her in mine. I knew why she was crying, so just held her and tucked her head on my right shoulder, the warm water from our shower head sluicing down her back. After a couple minutes, she calmed and looked up at me, her eyes very puffy.

“How does she do it? How does she manage to go to school, play soccer, live ... something resembling a normal life? I doubt I could ever be that strong.”

I sighed quietly, then responded, “I don’t know. Perhaps I could find that sort of strength if it happened to me, but that seems hard to believe. It hurts so much as it is, and he’s not my father and I’ve known him for less than a month.”

She put her head back on my shoulder for a short bit, then picked it up again and said, “Okay. I think I’m okay.”

Dinner was enjoyable, with typical sparkling conversation, laughter, and good food. We seven girls left immediately thereafter. Jim seemed upbeat and asked us about the beginning of the tournament and what we thought of our chances. The Go6 spent about 20 minutes with Jim and Meka, after which we left Meka with her father and spent the rest of the time doing homework in the lobby. Meka said nary a word when she hit the lobby, simply indicating with a movement of her head that we were leaving. We six scrambled to stow homework in our packs and followed her to the Suburban.

Halfway home in total silence, Meka finally said, “I really hate this. I’m sorry for being so ... so...”

“No, Meka,” Gracey responded. “We understand and don’t blame you for being a bit ... moody. We all think you’re dealing with this better than any of us would.”

“No, Gracey. I know that bit, but you don’t understand, but there’s no reason you should. Last year, Dad was at the regional, and we lost the first game. A game that we shouldn’t have lost. He didn’t get to see me play in the tournament more than that one game, a game we lost partly because of me. This year, when the team is surprisingly better than last year’s and we could go deeper into the tournament, he’s ... stuck in that fucking place!”

We were all struck dumb as Meka spewed a series of expletives, pulled off onto the side of the road, brought the vehicle to a stop, then broke down. Liya unbuckled in the front passenger seat and contorted herself to wrap as much of her around Meka as she could manage. I reached around from behind Meka to touch her. After about ten minutes, with Meka calmed, although cried out, we continued the trip home.

Meka parked in the back and didn’t even enter the house, just stripped off between the driveway and the hot tub, leaving her clothes where they fell; moved the lid off the hot tub; and got into it. Civia looked to me, obviously not knowing what to do, so I pointed my chin at Meka in the tub. Civia nodded once; glanced around; then stripped off, herself; and entered the tub. She put an arm around our distraught friend and pulled her head onto her right shoulder, at which point Meka began softly sobbing. The rest of us picked up Meka’s and Civia’s clothes and Civia’s pack and entered the house.

Our parents were in the kitchen, so we quickly explained.

“Okay,” replied Sandy. “Why don’t you put your stuff away ... or somewhere and then join us in our bedroom. Meka might not be too concerned about coming into the house naked with Charlie here, but Civia would probably feel much different about that.”

We nodded, went upstairs to drop our stuff, then joined Dad and the Moms in their room; Carol closed the door as the last of us entered and said, “Light somewhere.”

We took seats – two on chairs, three on the floor. We fleshed out the explanation of what happened, particularly about Meka breaking down due to Jim’s inability to go to the regional.

“Ah,” Mom said. “We wondered about that. We devised a plan this week, that we completed only after you’d left to visit with Jim. We didn’t tell Meka about it, as we suspected strongly that it wouldn’t work out, and we didn’t want to get her hopes up for no reason. However, we solved the last hurdle this evening. We attempted to call Meka just a minute or so before you returned, but it went straight to voice mail.

“We’ve arranged for medical-assisted transport to the game tomorrow, with allowance for an overnight if you win the game. We need to tell Meka, so, perhaps Carol and I should join the two of them in the tub without the rest of you present.”

We girls were crying happy tears by the time Mom finished their explanation. After a scrum on the bed, Carol and Sandy stripped off and headed to the hot tub. The five of us went upstairs and finished our homework, leaving us free for the weekend. We had spent some time talking about Meka and the tournament and other stuff when Civia pattered up the stairs. She stuck her head around the jamb looking into the BRH room, then gave a brief and small smile and stepped in the room.

“That was ... weird.”

Heather asked, “What was weird?”

“I’ve never spent anytime naked with anybody but you guys, and the others last weekend, of course. I didn’t know how to react or what to do when the Moms joined us in the tub. Although I considered getting out, Meka gripped me even more tightly, so I stayed. The Moms then made her day. She began crying, she was so happy. She’s much better, now, so she said she wouldn’t need me to stay with her. I argued with her; a little, anyway. She’s going to stay at the Devlin place tonight, but she’ll be over early in the morning to catch a ride in the Sprinter. So, what are the sleeping arrangements?”

Liya picked up her phone and ran her spreadsheet, then said, “Civia, Liya, and Gracey. Hmmpf. Not different. Not that I’m at all objecting to spending the night with you, Civia. Do you want the middle?”

Civia reacted to the question a bit bashfully, then lifted her head, and replied, “I’d like that.”

Heather climbed off the bed and enveloped Civia, then leaned back a little with her hands on Civia’s shoulders.

“You’ve come a long way, Girl. Remember when you were nervous about sleeping naked with us? Now, you’re gladly taking the middle, ensuring that you’ll have at least some skin-to-skin contact all night.”

Civia pulled Heather in and hugged her very tightly, and Heather returned the favor.

Civia leaned back a little and responded, “I know. I could not have imagined how much you girls would change my life, and all for the better. I love being with you guys and I really like sleeping with you, too; even naked. I even miss that when I’m in my bed at home. I’ve woken up a number of times and found myself feeling around in the bed for whomever was sleeping with me, but there was no one there.”

That comment initiated a full six-girl scrum, with Civia on the inside. Then I noticed something and tapped her on the head.

“Hey, you’ve gotten taller. You’ve got to be pushing 5’4”!”

She turned within the five bodies to look at me and nodded.

“Yes. Just a tiny bit less than that. That’s four inches this year. Sandy and my mom wanted me to get more new clothes when we went shopping. However, I pointed out that I’m still growing and, in fact, am growing faster now than I was earlier in the year.”

“Getting back to a previous subject,” Heather said, “did it become less weird in the tub with the Moms? In other words, might you get used to being naked around the Moms?”

“I don’t know, but then, I was amazed at how quickly I got used to every other aspect of nudity with you girls. I guess the weird part was that I didn’t have my nudity-loving friends with me, supporting me. I would imagine that I could become used to being in the hot tub with the Moms naked. I don’t know about Charlie. That would be something very different.”

“Uh, yeah,” Rhee said with finality. “I think we don’t want to go there. Although, there are family-based nudist camps, so...”

“Really? That seems weird.” Civia cocked her head, obviously in thought, then added, “Although I said that about being in the hot tub with the Moms. I can’t imagine being naked with my dad, much less with ... your dad. Really? Naked families? Mom, Dad, the kids?” When Rhee nodded, Civia shrugged her shoulders, then replied, “I guess I could ... see that ... maybe. Although...”

Liya began to say something, but Civia held her hand up in the ‘stop’ sign. Liya recognized that Civia was thinking hard about the subject, so relented with a smile, and we waited for Civia to return from wherever her thoughts had taken her.

“No, I can see it. Learning to be naked with you girls was, for me, learning to face, rather overcome ... not fears, but concerns and learning how to be open to friends. Sleeping naked with you was more of the same, only more intense. It was the route I took to have this situation, where I not only have friends, but that I have five incredibly close friends; that I have friendships so strong that we can sleep naked with each other in the same bed without being concerned or ... squicked out.

“I can certainly see that having a b ... having male friends like that would be ... at least somewhat different. But is it really different? I know of and understand at least somewhat about boys with girls and all that, but could you have a ... friendship with a boy ... with a male ... that you could be naked with and not have it turn into ... you know ... sex?”

All of us were blown away, but Rhee recovered first.

“I don’t know. None of us do. However, some of those same aspects of openness and closeness with friends ought to come into play. It must be possible, but I gotta believe that it’s more difficult to keep sex out of a female-male friendship in which nudity was a part. It’s been only recently that I’ve had a male friend, much less one that was anywhere near close enough of a friend to go there.”

I felt a little guilty with the direction the discussion had taken. We’ve never once even suggested to Civia that the Go5 had a strong sexual component to the friendship and, of course, she doesn’t know about our ongoing sexual relationship with a male she knows. Thus, I was happy when Civia diverted the conversation to a different track, herself.

“Well, while I think I can see it, I cannot see it happening with me or us anytime in the near future. So, I’d like to change the subject to ... soccer camps, residential soccer camps. What do you know about them and how do they work?”

Since I had had this conversation with Dad and Mom, I told her ... and them what I knew about them, including how expensive they were. Of course, I also had to tell them how apparently important they were to professional women soccer players. That conversation lasted for nearly half an hour, but it wound down as we all realized that we had to get up early tomorrow. We conducted nightly ablutions, I wrote today’s diary entry, and Rhee, Heather, and I fell asleep together in our bed.

November 18, 2017

[Written November 19]

After the nearly two-hour drive to Mountain View, we arrived a bit before 8:30, which is when team registration started, the first set of two games were to start around 9:30, and we were playing in that first time slot. We were in the upper left of the bracket, playing Santa Lucia-Madison. The other left bracket combo began at the same time. The two right-bracket duos would start at 1:30.

We had just begun warming up when I saw Charlize and her mom arrive and begin a conversation with Coach. Charlize was wearing the premier-team jersey that Coach had given her in appreciation of her help at the premier-team state tournament. Leaving her mom with Coach, she came and joined in the warmups.

“I ... we were all hoping you could make it, and we’re happy to see you here.”

“It wouldn’t have worked out, except that Dad got called out of town for work this weekend, so we made a nearly last-second decision to come. It was too late last night to call you, but we’re here for the whole weekend if you win today. If not, we’ll head home after the game.” She looked around quickly, then more quietly said, “Please win. I’d like to be here ... with you guys all weekend. If you win, Mom said that if you’ll have me, I can stay with you guys while she stays with an old college friend in town.”

“Hmm. That would be fun. I’m unsure of the lodging plan tonight, but you’re more than welcome to stay with us.”

Once we’d completed stretching and warmups, Coach called the rally.

“We’ll do the usual pre-game drills after a bit of talking. Civia, Charlize? Would you two be willing to scout the other game on our side of the bracket?” When she got two positive responses, she continued with, “As we discussed yesterday, SLM is a reasonably good team. Although they score a lot of goals, they also give up a lot. Their offense is overall good, although lacking a particularly big scorer. So, we’ll play our regular formation with no tweaks. They usually play a 3-4-3, and two of their better scorers are midfielders. I hope to get many of the backups into the game, but we’ll see how that goes. Shameka, please get them started on the usual.”

Shortly after we started, I heard Mom.

“Meka, we’re here with your dad.”

Meka looked at Katie, who pointed her chin at Sandy, and then replaced Meka at overseeing drills. Various of the team that knew Charlize wandered over and said “hi,” including Cera, Brittany, and Brett. Civia and Charlize took part in a bit of the drill time, but soon headed out to the other pitch. After about 20 minutes, Meka returned and came over to me, quite emotional.

“I’m so glad that you’re on the team and that your family has become, essentially, my family. I would not have thought it possible that Dad could be here, but had I, I would not have known how to make it happen. I’ve already thanked Sandy, but if you didn’t play soccer, and play it well, I might never have met you and would never have had another chance for Dad to see me win a state-tournament game.” She sniffled and wiped her eyes, then said, “Thank you, Beth,” then wrapped me in a hug.

Meka pulled herself together, shortly after which, she called us into a huddle as Brett, Cera, and Brittney gathered all the cones and balls from the pitch.

“Katie, Kim, Rachel, Gracey, we need to be on today. This is the third-highest scoring team in the state, and because they spread the wealth across most of the forwards and midfielders, they’re really hard on defenses. Since we can’t gang up on any particular attacker, we need all of us to be individually good and we need to communicate. We also need the O to get us some goals. Their back line is susceptible to speed, so we should look for some streaks. Rachel, you have a green light on runs up the side but pick your times wisely. Gracey, watch for her, and fill in behind her.”

She continued for a couple more minutes reminding us of what we’d discussed yesterday. We three captains went to the coin toss, which we won, giving Santa Lucia-Madison the first-half kickoff. They controlled the ball for more than two minutes after the kickoff but did not get a shot before losing the ball out the right sideline.

Both teams went up and down the pitch many times in the first 20 minutes. Their only shot went high over the goal from just outside the penalty box, while we got no shots at all. However, that changed suddenly and dramatically in the 22^nd minute when Kim stripped their left wing of the ball. She made a couple dribbles as she looked up and saw Rhee, Heather, and Jules on the move, so booted up to an unmarked Jules. Jules trapped it on the run, took one dribble, then lofted it upfield toward Rhee. She was behind all the D except their right center back and goalie and had Heather on her right and a bit behind. Rhee made an excellent running control and pushed hard upfield right at their safety. While I was hauling upfield, I doubted that I’d have any part of this one, unless Rhee pulled it back for some reason.

One of the reasons that Rhee is so good is that she reads the D so well, so she was prepared for the moment that their right center back dug in her heels. Heather had begun crossing the pitch to the left, so Rhee took two more dribbles right at the fullback and then, right before she would practically have run into that girl, sent a firm backheel back to Heather who surprised me and everyone else by shooting from a couple yards outside the box.

Heather has never gotten to the point where she could consistently hammer a rocket, but she didn’t need it. Rhee had been charging almost toward the left post and with the fullback cheating to Rhee’s right a bit, the goalie was covering more to our field left. Heather reverse sliced a shot that went just past the fullback’s right side and kept curling away from the goalie as she frantically went to her left trying to get to it. The ball softly billowed out the right-side netting and we were up 1-0 on our first shot of the game, a score that we took into the locker room.

“Gather ‘round!” Once Coach had our attention, she said, “That was a great showing by the D. Shameka, you and your cohorts seem to have their number. Don’t let up. I’ll see what I can do about getting our O to get you more goals. After Heather’s gorgeous shot to open the scoring, our shooting has been something near abysmal. We’ve gotten only one other shot on goal, but something like six wide and three high. There’s no single culprit, but our usually-proficient shooters seem to have forgotten where the goal is.

“Yes, it’s unfortunate that we’ve had so many shots go off the mark... But ... we’ve gotten a lot of shots. Keep taking them; they almost have to start going in at some point. Don’t tighten up about shooting. If you’ve got a good op, take it. Overall, the team played quite well. The passing has been very good, and we’ve controlled the ball for well more than half the time. That’s our game, and I expect you to keep playing it.

“I’m going to slowly get breathers for most in the second half. We’ll probably have no more than three backups in at the same time, usually fewer, as I’ll be sending starters back in, particularly if we don’t get a larger lead.”

Just then, our scouts returned, causing Coach to beckon them to her and saying, “What’s the scoop?”

Civia looked at Charlize, who pointed her chin back at Civia, who cleared her throat and began, “Weldon is leading Chillicothe 2-1 at the half, although the game has not been that close. Weldon has controlled the ball for much of the game and has taken a huge number of shots. Charlize?”

Charlize stepped up, replying, “Weldon’s taken 15 shots, seven on goal. The Chillicothe goalie is really good and has made a couple brilliant saves. She’s the reason the game is as close as it is.”

Civia took back over, saying, “Coach, we can give a detailed summary whenever you want it. I assume that you want us to watch at least part of the second half.”

“Yes, please, if you’re willing.”

Civia and Charlize both nodded, so Coach told us to relax, but to stay loose, ending with, “Lucia, if all goes well, you’ll go in at the first chance after five minutes.”

“Hah,” snorted Meka. “That makes sense to make sure Lucia plays against Santa Lucia.”

Coach turned and grinned at her.

We pulled away in the second half, although SLM also broke through against us, scoring two goals. However, our three second-half goals gave us a 4-2 win.

“Gather ‘round!”

Coach did not have to resort to yelling “Settle,” as we happy girls calmed quickly.

“Good game! We had a bit of a breakdown on D in the middle of the half but considering how potent their offense is and given that we are the first to hold them to fewer than three goals, I’m quite satisfied with our showing. Civia hasn’t gotten to present the attagirls in a while and since she was serving us in a different capacity today, Brett will be filling her shoes. Have at it.”

Brett stepped up, cleared his throat, then began with, “The first attagirls go to the four that created our first goal. Kim got the first for her smooth steal of the ball and then quick look upfield and pass to Jules. Jules quickly recognized that our strikers were just passing the up-front portion of their back line, so booted it up to Rhee. Then Rhee executed a superb drop for Heather, and I don’t know how Heather got the ball into the net, but it was amazing!”

“Hear, hear,” Rhee exclaimed. “That was the sweetest reverse-slice I’ve seen you make, and you’ve made a bunch of good ones! That couldn’t have missed that fullback by much more than a foot ... on her right side, but you still managed to sneak it into our right side of their goal! That was crazy good!”

“I agree,” Coach stated. “That was incredibly pretty!” When there was a lot of jabber, Coach called, “Settle!” She looked around as we quieted, then said, “Brett.”

“Unfortunately, except for the excellent play of the D, there was little else of note in the first half. The second half was different, with both Hope and Shameka earning attagirls on the same play early in the half to stop a nearly certain goal. And then Lucia entered the game. Less than a minute later, she stole the ball from their right half and charged upfield, ran a give-and-go with Rhee, and deposited the ball past their goalie into the left side. Lucia, I know it was your first goal this year, but was that your first goal for the team?” When she nodded, he added, “Congratulations! And then you quickly garnered another attagirl for being on the other end of a give-and-go with Rachel for her goal. Rachel also gets a couple attagirls for that play, one for the timing of her run upfield when their D’s attention was concentrated on our right side midway in their side of the field with the ruckus that Heather, Jules, and Beth were causing. Beth gets an attagirl for seeing Rachel coming and making a superb cross-pitch pass to her that resulted in Lucia and her getting a two-on-one on their right back; Rachel gets her other attagirl for that sweet shot.”

“I want to say something about that,” Rachel interrupted. When everyone turned to her, she added, “At the beginning of tryouts, I was a bit skeptical about Coach’s praise of Beth’s field awareness and vision, but I’ve learned through the season that, if anything, she undersold it. I almost didn’t make the run, but remembered that Beth might see me, and nearly their whole D was on the other side of the pitch. And then she put it right on my foot. That was a superb pass, Beth!”

“Yes, it was,” Meka responded. “In fact, in a season of Beth’s pretty passes, that may well have been the prettiest.”

Of course, my face heated red-hot, but Liya was looking right at me, so I kept my head up. Rhee reached an arm out and pulled me into her with her left hand on my shoulder ... then gave me a noogie!

There was much laughing.

After we settled, Brett continued with, “When Coach finally let Jess back in the game to ... give Lucia a breather...”

There was much laughing.

Brett continued with, “Beth earned another attagirl for her pass to Jess breaking outside Makayla; she threaded the needle on that one. Jess got an attagirl for the run and another for the well-placed header and goal. Liya?”

Liya stepped forward as Brett stepped back, then began with, “After showers, the team members, and their parents-slash-drivers are free for the day. We’ll be gathering in the lobby of the hotel at 5:30 to have dinner in the restaurant there. It’s supposed to be quite good, so we should have a nice meal. We’ve got a private room and we’re all expected to wear something reasonably nice. Unfortunately, your pretty, but now stinky, uniform does not cut the mustard.”

There was much chuckling.

“After dinner, we’ll stay in the room to hear the report about Weldon, our next opponent, from Civia and Charlize. We’ll then tackle our plan for tomorrow, with the possibility of having to play two games. Coach, do you have anything to add?”

“Yes, I have a question. Is anyone planning on watching any right-side bracket games?”

No one responded, so I looked around, then said that I had a question; Coach called on me.

“Coach, who do you think will come out of the right-side bracket? Perhaps whoever wants should watch that game, although getting eyes on both games would be best.”

“I suspect that Petaluma will win their game, and we know them pretty well. I’d say the favorite on that side is Delta-North. They’re undefeated this year. They have two first-team all-staters – one of whom is an all-American – and one second-team. They also have the highest scoring offense in the state, as well as the sixth-best defense. I’d give them the inside track to winning the whole thing.” She looked around, then added, “Yes, we have the tenth-most productive O and the fifth-most stingy D...”

A bunch of gasps and other inhalations of surprise interrupted Coach, who looked around at us.

“Ah, many of you weren’t aware of those aspects of our play this year. How many were?”

I raised my hand, which joined Charlize’s and Meka’s in the air; there were no others.

Coach nodded and added, “I hope this doesn’t cause you not to play all-out tomorrow, but our average of those two numbers is the third-highest in the state tournament. Petaluma is right behind us, which is what got them their at-large entry. Does everyone see what that means?”

Before anyone else, Heather responded, “Three of the four strongest teams in the state, ranked by that statistic, are in our regional, which is annoyingly unfair ... for all three of those teams.”

“Yes. The teams that come out of the other three regionals will be coming out of potentially weaker competition. However, I remind you, that statistics like that in no way tell the whole story, as a team with an enough-better D, but a so-so O, can beat almost anyone on a given day ... or, at least, not lose. Once games getsto a shootout, it’s something of a crapshoot.”

Silence reigned for quite some time as we digested what Coach said.

“I’ll be watching Delta’s game. If anyone else wants to do so, you’re welcome to join me.” She looked around, then said, “Brett.”

Brett stepped forward, saying, “I forgot one other attagirl, which goes to Lucia for staying home at left half during the scramble on the right side of the pitch, thus being available to Rachel for the give-and-go she needed. In fact, given that and her excellent play in the 30 or so minutes she was on the field, which included a goal and an assist, the game ball goes to Lucia Jimenez!”

Pandemonium, and a heartily surprised Lucia.

When things quieted, Coach said, “Shameka wanted to say something.”

“Thanks, Coach. I hope this doesn’t cause the team not to play all out tomorrow, but we have now gotten further in the state tournament than any previous Central team; we lost a heartbreaker last year in this game. Congratulations to us all, although I’d really like to win at least two more games. I also wanted to thank every one of you for winning this game because, with some help from ... family, my dad finally got to see me win a state-tournament game.”