Copyright © 2020-2024 Douglas DD. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 27
TITANS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7
<Aiden>
Sunday was a sleep-in day for Aiden and Trent. Aiden knew before he fell asleep that he would not be waking up in time to fix breakfast. Aiden woke up just before ten. He had hoped to sleep in later, like to the “crack of noon”, as his basketball teammate called it the other day. As he looked at Trent sleeping soundly, he wondered if sleeping in until noon was a teenager thing.
Since his bed was against the wall and he had the inside position, Aiden pulled off his covers and worked his way down until his feet hit the floor at the end of the bed. After taking a pee, he washed his hands and stepped out into the hall. Before he could go into his room, he heard his dad quietly call his name from the top of the steps.
Aiden walked to the landing and told his dad good morning. “When does Trent have to be home?” Phil asked.
“Never.”
“You mean he’s moving in?”
“No, I mean has doesn’t have a time to be home. Why are dad’s always so goofy?”
“Being Goofy is a chapter in the ‘How to be a Cool Father’ manual.”
“Well, I’m going back to bed because sleeping in on Sunday is in the ‘How to be a Healthy Adolescent’ manual.”
“Then you’re on your own for breakfast.” Translated from parent-ese, Phil had said that if you sleep in past when we eat breakfast, then you’ll be eating a cold breakfast.
“What are we having if we come down to eat now?”
“Waffles, fried eggs, and sausage.”
Aiden let out a deep sight and said, “We’ll be right down.”
Ten minutes later Trent and Aiden came down the stairs dressed in boxers and socks. Larry and Phil both appreciated the look of Aiden’s athletic thirteen-year-old friend, but not nearly as much as that friend and Aiden appreciated the breakfast in front of them. Larry quickly saw that more waffles were going to be needed and got up to take care of the issue. As good as waffles were, their big drawback was that they had to be prepared one at a time unless they purchased a second waffle maker. That had been discussed more than once.
A fresh, hot waffle landed on Trent’s plate just when he needed it. Aiden waited patiently for his and dug right into it when it arrived. During breakfast, the boys talked about the upcoming basketball game against Chinook Middle School. The Totems had a 1-1 record, their win coming against a weak Clark Pass team. The game against Chinook would be a night game. The boys were looking forward to that experience, hoping there would be a big crowd for the game.
“They’re not real good, but we always have to play our best against everybody because you just never know what could happen,” Aiden said, repeating the mantra he had been hearing from coaches from the time he started playing organized sports.
After breakfast, they helped clean up and sat to watch a college basketball game on TV. They sat together on the loveseat. “I don’t think you’ll be riding your bike home,” Aiden said as the rain outside showed no sign of letting up.
“I’ll call my dad to pick me up when I’m ready to go,” Trent said.
That ended up being unnecessary since Aiden asked Phil if he could give Trent a ride home. They could put Trent’s bike in the back of Phil’s pickup. After North Carolina earned a 69-66 win over Tennessee in a non-conference game, the boys took a quick shower together in the basement and dressed. Phil then drove Trent home, with Aiden riding along, of course.
Aiden spent the rest of the day talking to friends on the phone, all the while hoping his dads would free him to use Skype with friends like Miles, Trent, Keith, and even Kalie, who said their parents’ okay to use it. He was reminded that Ian and Gretchen, Kalie’s cousins, would be visiting for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s.
“I think I’m probably going to be able to spend the night at Kalie’s,” Gordy crowed. “There will be strict rules about separating the boys and the girls, which nobody’s going to pay any attention to. I hope you’ll be able to stay—it’s gonna be fun.” Aiden had observed that for whatever reason, Gordy seemed to loosen up when Kalie’s cousins visited.
“Do you think this might be the time you and Kalie do it?” Aiden asked.
“No, that time is going to be in private. But it could be the time you and Kalie do it,” Gordy chuckled.
“That’s a no for me, too. If I come over to stay, then I want Nolan to come, too, and that takes care of me and Kalie doing it.”
“You told me he was okay with you doing it to her.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t do it with him around. But then, he might decide to try doing it with Gretchen.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t—it’s just that watching them do that sounded kinda sexy.”
“Kalie was talking about maybe Miles and Brittany being there, too, but I don’t know. It’s hard to get parents to say it’s okay for boys and girls to be at the same overnight. I can’t believe mine said yes.”
Kalie’s overnight was just one of many things to look forward to when winter break came.
Sunday was the start of a two week stretch before the start of winter break. It was a time where teachers knew they would have to work hard to maintain student interest. They understood that it was not a time to introduce new concepts or to give out major assignments.
For the kids it was a time they wished would fly by at the same time it seemed like each hour passed by slower than a day usually did. But there still were things for them to look forward to during this time span: sports, games, watching movies, playing games, an overnight somewhere with somebody, and, of course, sex.
<Justin>
Sunday was the day of Justin’s dinner at the Woodward Retirement Home with his Grans. Mike told her that he and Ryan were willing to drive Justin to the home, enjoy dinner out, and then pick him up after his visit was over.
“Nope, that’s not how it’s going to happen,” Maggie told him. “This is my day with my grandson, and that includes transportation. I might live in a retirement home, but it will be a while before I retire from driving. Also, I need to have a private talk with the two of you after we bring Justin back,” she told the dads.”
Maggie picked up her grandson at three-thirty. They enjoyed playing a Scrabble in her apartment (Justin received double credit for each word played) and a game of cribbage until dinner time arrived.
“I did pretty good, Nans. I lost Scrabble by just three points and won one of the cribbage games. When I get to middle school, I’m going to be beating you in Scrabble without a handicap.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, love. And by the time you get to middle school you’ll be saying ‘I did pretty well’ instead of “I did pretty good.’”
“I don’t see what different it makes; they both mean the same thing.”
“Like I’ve told you before, you have to trust me here. They might mean the same thing, but they don’t do the same thing. It will all make sense when you learn about adjectives and adverbs, along with the importance of sounding educated.”
Justin ordered chicken and dumplings with green beans and had a slice of chocolate cream pie for dessert. Justin was introduced to some of Maggie’s friends and patiently answered the usual inane questions adult liked to ask (“What grade are you in, young man?”, etc.) He was happy to finally leave for home, which gave him a little more alone times with his beloved Grans.
Justin gave his Grans a kiss on her cheek from his perch in the backseat after she parked in the driveway. “Thank you for the dinner and the games,” Justin said. “I had a nice date with you.”
They exited the car and walked up to the front door. Mike had seen their arrival and was waiting at the door. “I found out I was on a date with my Grandson,” Maggie announced to Mike and Ryan.
“I imagine it was a great one,” Ryan grinned.
“How could a date with such a handsome, polite young man not be a great one?” She gave Justin a kiss on his smooth right cheek, enjoying the love she felt for her grandson along with the love he returned.
Justin hung his coat and scarf in the hall closet and said he was going to his room so his Daddy Donkey and Papa Dawg could have the private time together his Grans wanted.
After letting Mike and Ryan know about her totally wonderful time with Justin, she got down to business. “As you know, I sued the estate of the idiot texter who killed my lovely family, and won. I will need the two of you to join me in signing some documents at his investment counselor’s office once Justin’s adoption is official. The amount of money the insurance paid and his estate paid was significant.” Maggie opened a copy of Justin’s investment account. “This includes over two years of growth as well as the original amount.”
Mike and Ryan looked at the complete value of the account and whistled. “I guess we won’t have to worry about paying for Justin’s college education,” Ryan uttered.
“You will be the executors of the account as his parents once the documents are signed. There are rules and laws that must be followed, of course, but you don’t have to keep it in that account. I will say that Tom and his company have taken care of our finances for twenty-five years and I can say nothing but good about them.”
“Maggie, I assure you that we will do what’s best for Justin,” Mike assured her.
“I trust you to do that or I would not have left my grandson in your loving care.”
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9
<Aiden and Kalie>
“When are you going to wear a Mariners cap?” Kalie asked. It was a question she asked every morning when Aiden boarded the bus.
“Hey, I’m probably coming to your overnight with your cousins, so why do you need to grab me on the bus?”
“Because when the overnight part comes, the girls will be staying in my room and the boys will be staying in the backhouse. I’ll have nothing to see or grab.”
“Since when did you follow those rules?” Aiden smirked.
“Since forever.”
“Liar.”
“Well, we are supposed to follow them since forever. Mom says we’re not little kids anymore, so she’s going to make sure we don’t mingle. That means don’t mix in case you didn’t know.”
Aiden wanted to say he was in seventh grade, read tons of books, and actually knew what words meant, but he held is tongue. There were times Kalie made him mad. When she did, he would pause and let things go on.
“Then why have an overnight if we can’t mingle?”
“So we can at least stay up late and do a little bit of stuff together.”
“And also, so you girls can sneak into the backhouse in the middle of the night.”
“That won’t happen this time. But, look at it this way, maybe you can sleep with Ian, who thinks you’re really sexy for a boy.”
“Or maybe I’ll sleep with Nolan, who knows I am really sexy for a boyfriend.”
Kalie’s eyes lit up. “You mean Nolan can come?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet. My guess is his mom will have a fit and say no.”
“Too bad. I might actually try sneaking back if he was there.”
Aiden gave Katie a light punch on the arm. “Just remember he’s my boyfriend.”
“That doesn’t stop him from being a hunk.”
<Basketball practice>
Middle school games were usually scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays, but when they scheduled a night game the day was often changed to avoid conflict with the high school schedule. This was the case for the Titans game against the Chinook Totems. The game would be played Wednesday night at the middle school gym. As a result, the Titans had practice after school on Tuesday.
Coach Randall informed Aiden on Monday that he would not be suiting up for the JV game on Wednesday and would be practicing entirely with the varsity on Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices. Aiden correctly interpreted that to mean that while he wouldn’t be starting the Varsity game, he would be one of the first players to come off the bench.
After Tuesday’s practice he showered next to Gordy, who was told he would be available to Coach Meeker play in three quarters of the JV which meant he would be suiting up Varsity, where he would be eligible to play in one quarter.
“Did you talk to your dads about Kalie’s overnight?” Gordy asked.
Aiden pulled his head away from the shower stream and said, “Not yet. I want to find out what Nolan has to say first.”
“I kind of hope the girls can sneak to the backhouse and I kind of hope they can’t.”
“Which one to you hope for the most?”
“That they can’t. It would turn into a big orgy and we’d all end up getting in trouble.”
“We’ve never gotten in trouble for doing that before.”
“I know, but Kalie said her mom is being strict this time.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” He looked at the next shower stall and saw that Everett was sporting an erection. “Damn, is Everett’s cock ever soft?”
“I hope he doesn’t decide to jerk off there.”
“Yeah, that’s for after game celebrations only,” Aiden giggled.
While Everett did nothing to hide his erection, which was pushing six inches, he didn’t masturbate like he had after the Harborview game. When Trent asked him if he was going to jerk off, Everett replied that he was saving it for Stacy. Aiden noted that even though Everett wasn’t a big kid, he undoubtedly had the biggest cock on the team.
“I thought it was for me,” Max Robinson giggled. He had also popped wood.
“I’m done showering,” Gordy told Aiden.
“Me, too,” Aiden said.
It turned out everyone else was, too. The display was nothing more than pubescent boys losing control of their tools and not being embarrassed by it. “We need to have a team circle jerk before the season is over,” Aiden heard Everett say to nobody in particular as they walked out of the shower area.
<Justin and Joey>
Justin sat with Neal at lunch. According to school policy, third graders were supposed to sit with their classes at lunch, but as long they sat in the third-grade area of the lunchroom and didn’t create problems, the lunch supervisor and the third-grade teachers gave blanket permission for them to sit at any of the third-grade tables.
Justin and Neal had brought lunches from home; Joey was in the lunch line for a hot meal. He arrived with another boy, who looked remarkably like Joey. Justin had seen him around the school, but they weren’t in the same class, so they hadn’t met. Neal sat across the table, saying that when Justin and his friend, Marco, sat at the table with their lunches it would be easier for the four of them to talk if they weren’t spread out.
When Joey and Marco arrived, Joey sat next to Justin and Marco sat next to Neal.
“Is that guy your brother?” Justin asked Joey. “You guys really look alike.” Marco had dark hair like Joey, and they were both about the same size.
“That’s Marco, but everybody calls him Mark,” Joey replied. “Marco, this is my new friend Justin. Me and Marco look alike because we’re both Italiano.”
“You called him Marco, not Mark,” Justin pointed out.
“That’s because he likes being called Marco better.”
“Marco is my name, not Mark,” Marco stated.
“Then I’ll call you Marco, too,” Justin told him.
“Marco’s parents own a restaurant. They make awesome pizzas there, and their spaghetti is really good, too,” Joey said.
“It’s called Luigi’s, but it’s in a different part of town.”
“Whose class are you in?” Justin asked Marco.
“I’m in Mrs. White’s class.”
The four boys chatted through lunch and tried to get to know each other better. One thing Justin noted about Marco was that he didn’t talk much. Justin liked him, however, and felt that he would like to make friends with him. One thing that stood out in Marco’s favor was that he liked baseball and loved the Mariners. Justin hoped they could build a friendship from there.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10
The lunchtime chatter at Mayfield Middle School was about the middle school basketball games played the day before. The Chinook/Mayfield game was the only one not scheduled for Tuesday. The basketball players at the table had checked the Seamount League website the night before, so they were armed with the facts at Aiden’s lunch table.
Kentburg, Monte, Meadow Park, and Winston had all won their games to remain undefeated. But the big topic of conversation was Skyler Winsley of Monte. Skyler was a scoring machine who had transferred to Monte from Seattle. Before the season started everybody thought Monte was going to have a decent team with a shot at the league tournament, but Skyler had turned them from a middle-of-the road team to one of the league’s elite teams. Skyler had scored 59 points in Monte’s first three games. Many middle school TEAMS struggled to score that many points in three games.
“Where did he come from?” Miles asked. “I mean, I know he came from Seattle, but how did he end up in Monte?”
“My pop says he had some problems at home and his living with his grandparents,” Aiden responded. “That’s all I know.”
“He has my permission to move back with his parents anytime,” Blake said. “My cousin Grady, who’s a ninth grader, plays on the JV team at Monte High. He says Skyler’s like six feet tall and quick and way more than a shooter. He’s a good rebounder and passer and ball handler. Grady says that on top of that he’s a good team player and a really nice kid.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about him right now,” Trent said. “We’ve got the Totems to worry about tonight.” Everyone agreed and the top shifted to the night’s game.
Aiden was going to stay at Gordy’s house until it was time for them to get back to school for their game. They walked out of the building together along with Miles, Blake, and Mason. Miles and Blake would be heading for their own homes while Mason planned on staying at Gordy’s. Miles and Blake went to their own homes a couple of blocks from the school and the other three walked to Gordy’s house.
The JV game started at five; Gordy and Mason had to be there by four-fifteen, which was an hour away. The three boys spent their time doing homework until Gordy’s mother arrived home from substituting gig at Meadow Park. She gave the boys a ride to school. Mason and Aiden took their backpacks with their books and schoolwork; the three boys had left their gym bags with their uniforms and basketball gear in Coach Randall’s office.
While they weren’t required to be at the gym to watch the start of the JV game, most of the varsity was there. When Coach Randall signaled them to just before half-time to head for the gym, the Titans had a 17-7 lead, which sat at 19-9 at the half. The JV’s ended up with a 35-21 win. Gordy led the team with 10 points.
The varsity game started at six-fifteen. As Larry said, the starting time for the middle school “night” games made them more like evening games, but he understood how calling them night games made the whole affair sound more grown up.
Even though Aiden didn’t start, he was substituted a little over three minutes into the game when Scott turned his left ankle while battling a Totem for a loose ball. Coach Randall moved Everett to Scott’s shooting guard position. He was a stronger shooter than Aiden while Aiden was a better passer and ballhandler than Everett, making it the logical move. Except for a one-minute break midway through the second quarter, Aiden played the remainder of the first half. The Titans went into the locker room at the half leading 22-13. The ended up with their most one-sided win of the young season, defeating the Totems 40-21 to move their record up to 3-0. Aiden finished with four points, five assists, two steals and two turnovers, playing in just over 16 of the game’s 24 minutes.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11
<Barry Bender>
Barry was met in the school foyer by Mac and Roger. “Hey, birthday boy, how are they hangin?” Mac gave Barry’s balls a quick squeeze through his jeans. “You’re fourteen now and I thought they’d be hanging to your knees,” Mac chortled.
“They’d be hanging better if you kept your hands off them,” Barry snarled.
“Oh, check him out, Roger. Barry’s fourteen and thinks that makes him better than us.”
“You can go fuck yourself, Mac.”
“Does this mean you’re not coming to your big birthday party at my house on Saturday?”
Barry was thankful Mac didn’t play basketball; it meant he didn’t have to deal with his shit in practices and games. He thought Mac was worse than Peter Astor or Eddie Shafer ever were. On top of that, Roger and Russell, had turned into total assholes since hanging with Mac. “What it means, Mac, is that you’re not coming to my big party on Saturday. And before you ask, I’m sitting with my teammates at lunch.”
“Wow, listen to the big stud. I should have squeezed him harder.”
Barry walked away before he did something that would get him suspended from the basketball team.
“Hey, Barry,” Mac called out after him, “how come Aiden Miller played more than you did yesterday?”
Barry ignored him, but Mac’s comment got him to thinking the same thing. He decided to ask Coach Randall about it before school started. When he found Coach Randall patrolling the hall, the coach was holding some papers in his hand. Barry asked him about why a seventh grader like Aiden got more playing time than he did.
“That sounds like kind of selfish question to me, Mr. Bender. Does it happen to sound that way to you by any chance?”
“Well, maybe. But…” Barry hung his head in shame, realizing his coach was right.
“But what, Barry?”
“But, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Learn from it, son.” Coach Randall looked at one of the papers in his hand. Barry could see it was a computer printout. “Interesting. Take a look at this.” He held the paper where Barry could see it. “This column tells how many minutes each player was on the floor.” He pointed to Barry’s line. “It says here you played 18 minutes and 11 seconds.” He then moved down to Aiden’s line. “Aiden played 16 minutes and 7 seconds. It would appear you had more playing time. Plus, you started the game. Perhaps after the next game, you should think more of your team and of your teammates than of yourself. And you might thank the stat keepers for their work—they do a great job. Now, get going to class so you won’t be late.” Coach Randall didn’t bother to mention that the first team didn’t play much in the fourth quarter because of the size of the Titan lead.
“I’m sorry again. I’ll be sure to say something to Aiden.”
Barry started to walk away when Coach Randall stopped him. “Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday.”
“Thank you,” Barry grinned. He took off for class, surprised and pleased that Coach Randall knew it was his birthday.
At lunch, he sat across from Aiden at table where most of his teammates sat. “Hey, Aiden,” he said as they started eating. “Nice job of filling in for Scott, yesterday.”
Aiden was taken aback by Barry’s compliment. It wasn’t often that Barry talked to him let alone complimented him. “Thanks, Barry. And you did a good job working the boards.” Barry had tied Blake for the team lead in rebounds with six.
“Has anybody heard how Scott is doing?”
“Yeah, he texted Blake and Everett. He said it was a moderate sprain and he’d have to sit out tomorrow’s game and Tuesday’s game, which means he won’t be playing again until after the break. You know he stayed home today. He told them he probably would tomorrow, too.”
“That’s too bad, him being our team captain and all.”
“Coach will pick a temporary one at practice, I’m sure.”
Coach Randall did just that and named Everett and Barry as co-captains for the last two games before winter break. Barry couldn’t believe what he had heard when Coach Randall gave him the news; it was almost as if Santa Claus had arrived a couple of weeks early.
One of the first to congratulate Barry was Aiden. After Coach Randall made the announcement to the team in the pre-practice meeting, Aiden walked right up to him and gave him a hug. “Way to go, Barry, you earned it.” Aiden was sincere about what he said, but Barry felt a pang of guilt when he thought about how, just the day before, he had complained about Aiden to Coach Randall. He promised himself that when the time was right, he would have to be candid with Aiden and tell him about the incident. The next thought he had was a question; after the selfish thing he had done that morning, how did he end up being named a co-captain?
<FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12>
<Aiden and Barry>
The Titans played the Winston Middle School Red Roosters on the road. Winston was an hour’s drive from Mayfield. The Roosters were 2-0, but both wins had been against weak opponents. The players liked having the long ride to Winston because it got them out of school early. The JV game started at three o’clock, fifteen minutes after Winston dismissal time. The JV score was 13-13 at the half. Barry and Everett signaled the varsity to head for the locker room to change when the JV returned to the floor.
The JV was in good spirits after pulling out a 25-24 win over the Red Roosters. Because of Scott’s injury, Gordy, who was the JV’s leading scorer, did not suit up JV and Muddy, their big man, was available for only two quarters. Aiden was also not available for JV play. At one point, Coach Meeker had all four if his sixth graders on the floor at the same time. They were exceptionally talented sixth graders, but they were still inexperienced sixth graders. However, everyone played hard and smart and managed to hang on for a tough win.
With Scott Keller injured, the varsity missed their captain and one of their best shooters. But they were a deep team. Coach Randall was confident he had the better team as long as they played with intensity and executed properly. Even without Scott, they were a talented and deep team.
Aiden was making his first varsity start of the season. He was the starting point guard. Everett, who had started at point guard the first three games, was the shooting guard since he was a stronger shooter than Aiden, in part because he was three inches taller.
Everett and Barry met with the referees at the center circle to go over the usual pregame preliminaries. Blake then jumped center, easily winning the tip. The Titans scored off their set jump ball play for a quick 2-0 lead and never trailed on their way to a 43-18 win. Everett led the team with 13 points in just over 17 minutes of play. Aiden scored five points with six assists, four steals, and one turnover. It was his best game of the year.
Postgame showers were get in, get wet, run soap under the arms and around the crotch, and dash out. Aiden boarded the bus with Gordy and was prepared to sit with him. He was surprised when Barry indicated he wanted Aiden to sit next to him on the bus. Aiden nodded and Barry sat in the empty aisle seat.
“Nice game, Aiden.”
“Oh, thanks.” Aiden wondered what kind of ulterior motive Barry had for given him the compliment.
“I know you don’t really trust me, but I mean it. You ran the offense great. But I had something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“I really appreciate how you came up to me and gave me that hug at practice yesterday. You and me haven’t gotten along real good most of the time.”
“Well, it’s kinda like what you said, I really meant it. You’ve KMS’d and worked hard in practice and been a team player in games and…,” Aiden gave Barry his best smile, “…you didn’t give me any shit.”
“Well, I haven’t said what I sat down to tell you.” Barry took a deep breath and told Aiden how he had complained to Coach Randall about Aiden getting more playing time in the Chinook game. “I’m sorry I did that. It was, like, totally wrong.”
Aiden looked out of the window, focusing on the lights of a distant farmhouse. He wasn’t sure what to say. His problem wasn’t as much Barry as it was Coach Randall for making Barry a co-captain after what he had done. He wanted to yell at Barry about how that wasn’t what a good team player did and rant about how his words didn’t mean anything anymore. Then he remembered what Marty had told him once, that it’s better to be nice than to be right. Aiden realized Coach Randall must have had a good reason for making Barry a co-captain. Even if he didn’t understand that reason, he decided to follow a philosophy Marty kept drilling into him—accept the things you cannot change and live with it.
Happy that he had paused to look out of the dark window, he turned to Barry and said, “I’m glad you told me. You were being honest, like we’re supposed to be and, well, maybe I can start trusting you more.” That didn’t quite come out the way Aiden wanted to say it but it was the best he could think of right then.
“Thanks, Aiden. If I’m gonna be a team captain, even if it’s just for a week, I want to do the best job I can.”
Aiden had never heard Barry talk about doing the right thing. Usually, when he worked to behave, it was because he was afraid of the consequences from a teacher or his parents, especially from his parents, not because he wanted to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
“Well, I said what I needed to say,” Barry said. “I know you want to sit with Gordy so I’ll switch seats with him.” Gordy was sitting my himself two rows back.
“You can stay here. Gordy’s gonna be spending the night at my house, so we’ll have plenty of time to talk.”
“Are you gonna tell him what I said?”
“Just the good parts, unless you say it’s okay to tell him more. I will be telling Nolan though.”
“He’s you’re Meadow Park boyfriend, right?” Aiden nodded. “It must be hard doing what you guys do and living so far from each other.”
“We do our best and it seems to work.”
“So why, after what I said, do you want to still sit with me?”
“Because I want us to be friends,” Aiden said quietly.
Aiden and Barry spent the rest of the bus trip talking from their hearts and getting to know each other in as many new ways as two young adolescents could in just over a half-hour time. As the bus pulled into the Mayfield Middle School driveway, Aiden made up his mind that he was going to invite Barry to spend the night soon. He was learning that there a lot of things to like about Barry Bender that he never knew about before. Instead of being just a snooty troublemaker, he was a kid who sometimes felt just as lost as Aiden did.
Barry felt much the same about Aiden. Instead of being the stuck-up son of a teacher and coach who got whatever he wanted, he was kid with problems just like other kids. Barry and Aiden had sat in a few Forth Dimension meetings together, but they had never shared their feelings with each other as they did on the team bus that evening.
Not everything on the bus was serious, particularly in the back rows. When he got on the bus, Max made sure to sit next to Everett. “Damn, dude, you shot the eyes out today,” Max told his friend and teammate. Max had three points and a solid five rebounds coming off the bench.
“Thanks. I like point guard okay, but I think shooting guard fits my game better. I liked how you worked the boards when you came into the game.”
“Thanks. I love rebounding. But, fuck, games like that make me horny.” Remembering Max coming into the shower area with a developing erection, Everett was hoping Max would say something in that vein. Max grabbed his crotch area, his hand squeezing the big bulge in his tan dockers. “I was in and out of that shower so fucking fast—I mean my cock was just moving. I’m glad nobody saw it.”
“Why? Everybody knows what we did after we beat the Tugs.”
“I know, but it’s still embarrassing. But, hey, you can see what it’s like now,” Max said as he grabbed his crotch again. “You don’t mind if I pull it out and jerk off, do you? I can’t last a whole hour without getting taking care of my buddy.”
“You’re crazy, dude,” Everett grinned.
“I know, but the empty seats up to the front and close the coaches are for JV players, so I gotta do it back here.” It was an unwritten rule that the varsity players had first call on the seats to the back. “I suppose I could sit on the back seat and stretch out.”
“If you want, but you got me horny again, so as long as we’re both going to do it, let’s do it together.”
“We won’t be seeing nothing we haven’t seen before,” Max said, referring to the jerk off session in the shower after the Harborview game. Trent was sitting across the aisle from him and Gordy was in the seat ahead of him. Max opened his pants and unzipped, pulled his five-inch uncut cock out of his boxers, spit on his right hand, and started jerking off.
Everett was surprised at how quickly Max got started. He opened his tan chinos and pulled them and his boxer shorts down to the floor. He spread his legs, his right leg pushing against Max, and, like Max, got right down to business. When Trent looked across the aisle and saw what Max and Everett were doing, he opened his pants, and since he had taken his shoes off after sitting down, he pulled his pants and blue briefs completely off. He wrapped his right hand around his cock and joined the jack off party.
Gordy suspected what was happening. He turned and looked over his seatback. His suspicions confirmed, he turned back around and adjusted his wares, but did nothing else. While he didn’t object to what the three eighth graders were doing, it was not something he would ever consider doing in public like they were. It did make him more than ready for overnighting with Aiden however.
The three eighth graders shot their loads within minutes of each other, starting with Max, then Trent, and finishing up with Everett. All three made sure they didn’t shoot on their shirts, coats, or pants. They shot their cum on their crotches or on their underpants where it could be dealt with later.
Aiden and Barry guessed what was happening a couple of rows behind them, but neither one brought up the topic. They were too deep into discovering each other to be thinking about who was masturbating on the bus. When they finally got talked out, Aiden went to work texting Keith and Nolan to find out how their teams fared. He found out Kentburg won easily over Chinook but was surprised by Meadow Park’s close 27-24 win against Harborview since Meadow Park was undefeated and the Tugs hasn’t won a game.
<Aiden and Gordy>
Aiden and Gordy enjoyed a late dinner at Bob’s Burger Barn with Larry and Phil. The talk was about the great game played by the Titans.
“Yeah, it all looks good,” Aiden said. “We’re 4-0 and play Clark Pass next and Clark Pass is being what Clark Pass usually is, and that is winless. Plus, their JV is winless—I guess they are totally bad.”
“From what I hear, their JV is now their JV and whoever was left is now their JV,” Larry pointed out.
“Yep. I talked with one of Winston players when we were watching the JV game and he said that Clark Pass started three seventh graders and two sixth graders against them. He said they were pretty good players. He thinks everybody is gonna have to watch out for them next year—they could be pretty decent.”
“Then you should go into the break with a 5-0 record.” Since the Seamount League had eleven teams, on every game day one team had a bye. The Titans’ bye was the last game day before winter break.
“We should, but you coach type guys always say not to count any game as a win unless you want to get a surprise ass kicking.”
“That’s true. It would appear I have been properly put in my place,” Larry chuckled.
“Well, here’s the thing,” Aiden said as he maintained his serious demeanor. “Kentburg and Meadow Park both won, and if Monte won their game against Evans, the they’re all undefeated, just like us. And guess who our first three games after break are against.”
“I don’t have to guess, I know,” Larry said. “You guys get to show what you have against those three.”
“We’re pretty good, too,” Gordy said. “I think we’ll do okay against them. It’s gonna be a fun three games.”
“What do you think, Aiden?” Phil asked.
“What Gordy said,” Aiden replied. He agreed it would be a fun four games and that the Titans would play them hard and smart, but he also understood that they could play their best and lose all four games. But, as Marty said, what was coming up was why you played sports—to compete your ass off.
When they arrived at Aiden’s house, Aiden and Gordy said their goodnights and went upstairs to Aiden’s room. They stripped naked and lay next to each other on the bed, talking about the fact that Gordy had played almost seven minutes, his most ever in a varsity game. Since middle school teams played six-minute quarters, Gordy had played over a quarter’s worth of basketball. He scored four points, his career high for a varsity game. He also played ten minutes in the JV game. Even though he didn’t play as much in the varsity game as in the a JV game, Gordy felt good about the game.
Aiden sat at his desk and brought up the Seamount League website on his computer. “Monte beat Evans by six. Dang, Evans has a pretty good team, but they can’t beat anybody. I guess it didn’t help that Skyler scored 21 points against them. That is so unreal.”
“Did you know what was going on behind me on the way home?” Gordy asked.
Aiden nodded. “I didn’t exactly know, but it wasn’t hard to figure out, especially since Max gets a little excited. Was it just Max and Everett doing it?”
“No, Trent was busy in the other seat. And get this, Aiden, he took his pants and undies all the way off! Can you believe it? I thought he might even take his shirt off and get naked, but he didn’t go that far.”
“I can believe that somehow when you become a teenager you must lose all control over your little head,” Aiden giggled.
“That won’t happen to me.”
“Don’t tell me that what they were doing didn’t turn you on.”
“It turned me on big time, but no way I was going to go jerking off on the bus.” While Aiden didn’t think he would get involved in the masturbation in the shower area or on the team bus in the near future, he also didn’t rule out what the far future would hold. He knew from talking to Marty, who not only jerked off in the showers and team bus when he was in middle school and high school, but even got involved in sex in both venues, that he still had some stronger levels of horniness to deal with.
“Well, if you got turned on big time, what do you want to do about it?” Aiden asked in a husky voice. He was now turned on big time himself and was looking forward to some serious sex stuff with his best friend.
Gordy took a deep breath. He had known what he wanted to do since the three eighth graders had turned him on but was afraid to say it because Aiden might laugh at him. After giving it a moment’s thought, he realized that one thing Aiden would never do was laugh at him. Laugh with him—yes, but never laugh at him.
“What I want to do is, well, you know, with break coming up and the holidays and all, well, what I want to do is, you know, get more practice.”
Aiden had never heard Gordy be so inarticulate. But he knew his friend wanted to fuck him again and knew what his response would be. “Go ahead, Gordy, you can say it.”
“I want to, you know…,” long sigh, “…fuck you.”
Gordy saw Aiden start to smile and was afraid the laughter was about to start, but what he heard was the boy who had been his best friend since fourth grade. “Gordy, I guess this means you really want to be great for Kalie.”
“I want to be the best.”
“Well, you can do it again right now, but I am going to ask that we kiss while we do it.”
“For real? Kiss? You mean, like French kiss?”
“You’re going to be doing that with Kalie so you might as well put it all together tonight?”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Gordy agreed to kiss. “But only this time, since you’ve got a boyfriend and I’ve got a girlfriend.”
Aiden turned toward Gordy, put his arm around his best friend, pulled them close together, and planted the first romantic kiss between the two good friends. When Aiden pushed his tongue into Gordy’s mouth, Gordy tensed and started to reject it, then relaxed and let it happen when he realized he had nothing to be afraid of. Aiden was the only boy in the world Gordy would ever think about kissing like that, and because Aiden was his best friend, kissing him wouldn’t mean he was gay.
They finally broke the kiss, both boys fighting for air. Aiden rolled on his back, pulling Gordy on top of him. Aiden lifted his head and planted another kiss on his best friend’s lips, instantly pushing his tongue into Gordy’s mouth. Once again, they surfaced for air, taking in each other’s looks of love. For Aiden, it wasn’t the kind of love he felt for Nolan, but it was right up there. It was the love for his absolute best friend. Gordy would never be more than Aiden’s best friend, but the boys never thought of asking for more.
This time Gordy initiated the kiss and the tongue. He was amazed as to how special kissing Aiden was. The boys kissed and rolled on the bed and soon knew they had to stop before the came over each other. “You know where the lube is,” Aiden croaked.
Gordy moved off Aiden, pulled the lube out of his top desk drawer, applied it the way Aiden instructed, and got ready to push his throbbing four-and-a-half inches into Aiden, who had put himself into position for his friend. Once Gordy was in, he went full out, giving Aiden a hard fucking as they both grunted and groaned and enjoyed the amazing sensations. When Aiden spontaneously shot his clear semen over himself the squeezing of Aiden’s ass muscles was all it took for Gordy to follow him. He shoved his cock as keep as he could into Aiden’s ass and let out a muffled scream as he filled his friend with his heavier cream.
Gordy fell on top of Aiden, breathing heavily. “That was awesome,” he whispered.
“You were awesome,” Aiden said. “You didn’t hold back, you just plain ol’ fucked me. You are so ready for Kalie, dude.”
“For the first time, I think you’re right. I didn’t think we would to it before we were teenagers, but now, um…yeah…but now, I’m not so sure.”
“Let’s take care of brushing and pissing and washing and get some sleep,” Aiden said. “It’s gotten kinda late and I’m tired.” Aiden couldn’t fail to notice that Gordy never mentioning anything about Kalie getting experience. He left the impression that he was ready to go any time.
<SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13>
“I was kind of crazy last night, wasn’t I?” Gordy asked as he and Aiden took a quick shower together before heading down to the kitchen to cook up breakfast.
“You weren’t crazy, you were horny,” Aiden responded.
“You mean there’s a difference?”
“Whoa, Gordy pulled a funny,” Aiden giggled.
“I was serious.”
“I know, but it was still kind of funny. I dunno, I guess when you get really horny you just do things really hard to get off, like you did last night.”
“I didn’t know intercourse could be so fun. I was, well, crazy horny.”
“Yeah you were and we both loved it. Oh, and by the way, it’s okay to say the word fuck when you’re taking a shower with your best friend and are talking about sex.”
“I’ll remember that,” Gordy said as he rinsed off.
The Naked Chef and his trusty and experienced Assistant Naked Chef cooked up a breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs, and bacon. Larry, who was not naked, took care of getting juice ready as well as coffee for Phil and himself. Everyone agreed that both the food and the company made it a great breakfast.
Gordy stayed until after lunch, which consisted of hot dogs and potato chips. After Gordy left, Aiden called Nolan. The first thing he wondered is why Meadow Park had such a close game against Harborview (a 27-24 win).
“Coach started the second team,” Nolan explained. “Harborview might not have a good record, but they’ve got some good players and the score was 8-3 by the time the first team got in the game. We had a hard time getting things going and were lucky to win the game.”
“Tell your coach we’re not good at all and he should start his second team against us,” Aiden laughed.
“Then you better lose a few games to prove it.”
Aiden talked about who jerked off on their team bus. Nolan said even though they were on the road, nobody on their bus jerked off, at least as far as he knew. Then Aiden talked about Gordy being wild in bed, which got Nolan and him turned on, and led to a good jerkoff for both. Not for the last time, they wished Nolan could get on Skype for a video chat.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15
<Aiden and Kalie>
“No Mariner hat again,” Kalie said as Aiden took the aisle seat.
“I was gonna wear it today, but I couldn’t find it,” Aiden grinned.
“Whatever. Looks like you guys had a good game on Friday. I can’t wait for girls’ basketball to start.” The girls’ season started when the boys’ regular season ended in late January. “What did you and Gordy do Friday night?”
“You can ask him,” Aiden said since Gordy hadn’t cleared him to share his wild night with Kalie. “But I bet he will tell you.”
“If he’s gonna tell me, then why can’t you?”
“Because I think it’s better if he tells.”
“Oh, you make me so mad sometimes, Aiden Miller.”
Aiden shrugged. There were times Kalie totally confused him, and this was one of them. “By the way, with Ian spending some of Christmas break with you, maybe he could be the one to give you some experience.”
“I know he wants to do it,” Kalie said. “He does his sister and everything. But, I’d rather you did it. But if you’re not going to do it, then maybe I’ll start thinking about it. Oh, and by the way, Heather might come to my big overnight. She wanted to come really bad when she found out you were coming.”
“Well, you can tell Heather, I won’t be coming,” Aiden grumped.
“Why, because Heather is coming?”
“Yep.”
“That is so lame. You can tell her yourself.”
“You invited her, and you know what I think about her.”
“I invited her so you would get to know here better.”
“That would have been cool back when she was shy and nice to know. But now she’s all pushy.”
“Well, I said she might come,” Kailey said. “But you could come and stay away from her.”
“Better yet, she could stay away from me.”
Aiden saw Scott in the foyer after the bus arrived at school. He was favoring his injured ankle a little but was able to walk okay. Aiden gave him a quick hug, hoping any spying teacher would understand. “It’s awesome to see you again,” Aiden said.
“It’s awesome to be back in school. It sucks I can’t play until after break, but I’ll be watching the practices and our game tomorrow. The doctor said I probably will be able to practice during the break.” The league allowed each team to have three practices during winter break.
“It will be great to have you back. See you at practice.
Aiden didn’t think about Heather after that until she came up to him on the way to lunch. “Hi, Aiden. Did Kalie tell you I might be able go to her party?”
“She told me.”
“That’s going to be so fun. Maybe you and me and get some serious kissing to show you you’re not gay.”
“Nolan might be coming too, and I think he and I will get some serious kissing to show you that I am gay.”
“We’ll see. I’m not giving up.”
“Whatever, I gotta get my lunch and sit with my bros.”
“I’ll see you in Math,” Heather said as she peeled off for her own table with Kalie, Brittany, and some of her other friends.
Before reaching his table, Aiden saw Alex Guerrero sitting by himself in a corner, at least for the moment; the empty seats would fill by the time everyone arrived for first lunch. Alex had a lunch tray in front of him but hadn’t touch it. Aiden could see that Alex looked terrible. His face was pale and his eyes were red.
“Hey, Alex,” Aiden said pleasantly.
“What the fuck to you want, Miller?”
“I just wanted to say hi and let you know you could sit at our table if you wanted.”
“Why would I want to sit with a bunch of fucking jocks who think they’re better than everybody else? Go fuck yourself, I want nothing to do with you bullshit.”
Aiden was doing his best not to get into Alex’s face. He took a deep breath and said. “Okay, whatever. But the offer stays open.” Before Aiden could turn to walk away, Alex picked up the sandwich on his tray and threw it Aiden, who easily ducked out of the way. Aiden shrugged and walked to his table. At least nobody can say I didn’t try, he thought.
“What was that about?” Miles asked when Aiden sat at the table.
“I was trying to be nice to Alex. I thought he might need some friends, but I guess he doesn’t like us.”
“I don’t think he likes anybody—he’s totally weird.”
“I think he needs some serious help,” Aiden said. He remembered Alex coming to a couple of Fourth Dimension meetings, but he didn’t hang around. He knew that Grant used to get drunk with Alex a lot. Aiden figured that Alex was still drinking and that he probably needed more help than the group could give him, but he didn’t know what. He decided to talk about it with Marty and with his dad.
Toward the end of lunch, Brittany approached Aiden. “Heather wants you to know she wants to go out with you.”
“How come she couldn’t tell me herself on the way to lunch?” Aiden growled.
“That’s now how it works, and you know it. She says to tell you she might be in love with you.”
“Fine, if you’re sending messages back and forth, tell her I’m in love with Nolan Moyer and he and I are going out together.”
“You know you’re making a big mistake. He doesn’t even go to school here, for one thing.”
“I’ll live with it,” Aiden said as he walked away.
<TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16>
The Mayfield Titan varsity was sitting on the benches at the front of the locker room awaiting Coach Randall. The wondered what kind of inspiring speech he would give to get them ready to play the Clark Pass Eagles. The Eagles were 0-3 and had not been competitive in any of their three games, but they were young, starting no eighth graders.
When Coach Randall started his talk, he made the Eagles’ youthfulness the theme of his talk. “Remember that we will be starting two seventh graders today and our first guard off the bench will be a seventh grader. We have all been impressed by how quickly they have been improving. You can be certain that the Clark Pass players have been developing quickly as well and would love to show you how much they have learned since the season started. Remember to play smart, play hard and play under control. Do that and you will make this a great game, gentlemen.”
Aiden was starting again. As he went through warmups, he saw his Pop in the stands, which he expected, but he also saw Marty and Rich, which he did not expect. He felt a wave of warmth going through him knowing that Marty was there.
Blake started at center. Max, making his first start of the season, and Barry were the starting forwards. Aiden and Everett were the starting guards. Even though the Titans led 9-3 at the quarter they discovered that the Eagles might be young and physically overmatched, but their young players played their asses off. Very little came easy for the Titans.
As Larry observed to Marty, this Eagles team was not like so many Clark Pass teams in the past who raised the white flag of surrender before the game even started. “This young group is hungry,” Larry said. “They’re going to surprise some people before the season is over. Hell, they’re surprising me right now.”
That surprise was nothing compared to the surprise the Titan players felt when the Eagles scored the next three baskets to tie the score at 9-9. Coach Randall called a timeout and told the players that they needed to up their intensity to turn the game back around. “Those kids are outhustling you, pure and simple.” The Titans regrouped and ran off 12 straight points. They went into the locker room at the half with a 21-9 lead as they upped their intensity level to match that of the Eagles.
The final score was 36-21 and the Titans improved to 5-0. Aiden had two points, six assists, five steals, and one turnover. The leading scorers were Barry and Trent with nine points apiece. The JV team won 42-12. Lenny led them in scoring with 11 points. Everyone was pleased to see a sixth grader lead the team. What nobody mentioned was that Chris Kane, a sixth grader starting for the Eagle varsity, had scored all three baskets in their second quarter run and led the varsity with nine points for the game.
The next game for the Titans would be a night game on the road against archrival and currently undefeated Kentburg on January 6.
After dinner, Aiden logged on to the Seamount League website to check the league scores. He went to the Middle School page and saw that all the undefeated teams had won again. He thought it was weird that none of the top teams in the league had played each other yet even though the season was almost halfway over. The Meadow Park score surprised him once again. The Coyotes had to go into overtime to defeat Evans 34-33.
He called Nolan and the two got right into talking basketball. When Aiden asked Nolan about how it was that the Coyotes were undefeated but barely beating teams with losing records, Nolan said that while the team had good talent, they weren’t play together very well as a team.
“We don’t always work as hard as we should, especially you-know-who.” Aiden knew Nolan was referring to Roland Barker, one of the Meadow Park boys who had harassed them at the County Fair in October. Roland was an eighth grader and a starter on the school basketball team. “He’s lazy on defense and even worse, he’s a gunner. It’s like he’s allergic to passing and shoots whenever he can. Coach calls it running a ‘my turn to shoot’ offense but keeps playing him because he’s the best player on the team, even though he hurts the team as much as he helps it. That’s why we have problems beating the teams that aren’t good and why we’re going to have big problems even winning after the break.”
Aiden knew that Nolan was irate because he rarely went on a rant. He knew there was no love lost between Nolan and Roland and their animosity was flowing onto the basketball court. “I thought you were the best player on the team,” Aiden said.
“I’m good, but I’m still a seventh grader, which is probably one reason Roland never passes me the ball, no matter how open I am. The other reason you know already.”
“Yeah, it’s because you’re gay and have a boyfriend. I’m glad we don’t have that shit going on here in Mayfield. There are assholes, like Mac and those guys, but more kids here are cool with whoever you are as long as you don’t hurt anybody, which is why hardly anybody likes Mac and his friends.”
“Boy are we on a pissed off roll or what?” Nolan giggled. “If you have the time, we can put all our energy into a good jerk off over the phone.”
“Sounds good to me, but after tonight I want to save everything between us for Friday night.” Nolan would be spending Friday night in Aiden’s bed and both boys were excited.”
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18
The last games before break were all scheduled for Thursday. Because Mayfield had the bye that day and Coach Randall said their next practice wouldn’t be until Monday morning, Larry said he would take Aiden and a couple of friends to Meadow Park and they could watch Nolan’s game together. Gordy and Miles were the two friends.
“Nolan is playing really good,” Aiden said to Larry as the teams left the court for half-time. Nolan had six points and five rebounds as the Coyotes led the Chinook Totems 15-12.
“But, between you and me, I’m glad number 24 doesn’t live in Mayfield.” Larry was referring to Roland, whose selfish and lazy play was hard hide from anybody who knew basketball.
“He’s an asswaffle,” Aiden said as if it was a known fact. “He’s one of the kids who gave us crap at the fair.”
“You can see the poor chemistry on that team. The only reason they’re ahead is that they have better athletes than Chinook.”
Larry and Aiden ended their discussion when Paul Moyer, Nolan’s father, came up the bleachers and sat next to them. “Funny how I was able to recess court at just the right time to make it here at half-time. It was on the schedule of course, but timing is just perfect,” Paul chuckled.
“Where’s Vivian?” Larry asked.
“It’s a busy time at work and she knew she wasn’t getting the time off, which is why I wanted to be sure to be able to take in at least a half. She hates missing his games and hates it even worse if neither one of us can watch Nolan play.”
“I know you guys won’t be missing our game,” Aiden said.
“And I am looking forward to it,” Paul grinned. “Both teams are doing really well.” Paul would have loved talking to Larry about the problems the Coyotes were having. Although he suspected that Nolan had told Aiden what the issues were, he didn’t want to bring anything up that the three boys might misinterpret.
Meadow Park fell behind 18-17 after the second half started, but, as had happened for all their games, their size and athleticism made up for their lack of fundamentals and team play and they struggled to a 31-28 win against an inferior team. Larry noted that they didn’t play as hard as Chinook had, plus they didn’t play smart and had problems playing together.
Larry and the boys waited with Paul until Nolan came out of the locker room, freshly showered and sporting a big smile. He traded fist bumps with the three Mayfield boys and after a couple of minutes of congratulatory talk, Nolan left with his dad while Aiden, Gordy, and Miles left with Larry.
“I’m sure glad I don’t play on that team,” Gordy said. “I saw some of them argue with each other and they don’t pass the ball well and they’re lazy on defense.”
“Yeah, but they won and they’re undefeated,” Miles pointed out.
“I bet they start losing after Christmas, because they’re just like us. They haven’t played Kentburg or Monte and their superstar, Skyler.”
“And they haven’t played us,” Aiden pointed out.
That night Aiden checked on the scores. Monte and Kentburg, along with Meadow Park, all won. Including Mayfield, that meant there were four undefeated teams in the Seamount Middle School League.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19
Because it was the last day of school before winter break, the students had a half-day. There was no home room and all seven periods were on a short schedule. Coach Randall got the okay from all the players’ first period teachers to have a quick basketball team meeting. He included all the players in the program, Varsity and JV.
The coach got the meeting off to a good start by having a couple dozen donuts set out and ready to eat. The players were very grateful and became willing to tolerate a meeting.
“I’m going to make this quick, because I know how desperate you all are to get to first period,” the coach grinned, which netted him a few snide remarks, as expected.
“Who are the first three teams we play after break?” he asked the players.
Fifteen of the nineteen players at the meeting raised their hand. Coach Randall called on Trent.
“Kentburg, Monte, and Meadow Park, in that order,” the eighth grader answered.
“And what do the three teams have in common?”
Anticipating the question, Aiden shot his hand up first and was called on. “They are all undefeated.”
That created a murmur throughout the group. While they knew the facts, many of the players hadn’t connected the dots.
“That is correct. The next three games are going to be fun to prepare for and even more fun to play. We have four weeks for preparation and playing. We are allowed three practices over vacation, with the first one being Monday. I want you all prepared to give every ounce of energy you have over those practices, and then for the nine days in which we play those three teams. I know it will be easy during vacation to not think about basketball and I know it’s hard to go out and shoot in the cold and rain. But the Community Center gym will be open most of the days during break.
“Every day I want you to do something basketball connected, even if it’s only thinking about the games or practicing shooting form in the mirror. If you need something to think about, you can think about ICE—intensity, concentration, and execution even when you’re not at practice, and it needs to start today. I’ll see all of you, except the three whose parents excused them in advance, on Monday. Make it a great weekend.”
The player rose slowly from the locker room benches, figuring if they didn’t rush, they might miss all of first period.
“Let’s get moving, gentlemen. Making it to the rest of first period will be your first act of basketball hustle for you to get to class as quickly as possible…,” everyone started to move in a hurry, …WITHOUT breaking any school rules.
Before they could move, Scott yelled out, “Huddle up!”. The players rushed to form a circle, putting their hands together or their hand on the shoulder of someone in front of them. Scott gave another yell, “Ready…One…Two…Three…”
All the players screeched out, “TITANS!” and broke their hands. Nineteen Titan basketball players left the locker room almost as excited about basketball as they were about Christmas.
Next: Winter Break (1)
CHAPTER 27
TITANS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7
<Aiden>
Sunday was a sleep-in day for Aiden and Trent. Aiden knew before he fell asleep that he would not be waking up in time to fix breakfast. Aiden woke up just before ten. He had hoped to sleep in later, like to the “crack of noon”, as his basketball teammate called it the other day. As he looked at Trent sleeping soundly, he wondered if sleeping in until noon was a teenager thing.
Since his bed was against the wall and he had the inside position, Aiden pulled off his covers and worked his way down until his feet hit the floor at the end of the bed. After taking a pee, he washed his hands and stepped out into the hall. Before he could go into his room, he heard his dad quietly call his name from the top of the steps.
Aiden walked to the landing and told his dad good morning. “When does Trent have to be home?” Phil asked.
“Never.”
“You mean he’s moving in?”
“No, I mean has doesn’t have a time to be home. Why are dad’s always so goofy?”
“Being Goofy is a chapter in the ‘How to be a Cool Father’ manual.”
“Well, I’m going back to bed because sleeping in on Sunday is in the ‘How to be a Healthy Adolescent’ manual.”
“Then you’re on your own for breakfast.” Translated from parent-ese, Phil had said that if you sleep in past when we eat breakfast, then you’ll be eating a cold breakfast.
“What are we having if we come down to eat now?”
“Waffles, fried eggs, and sausage.”
Aiden let out a deep sight and said, “We’ll be right down.”
Ten minutes later Trent and Aiden came down the stairs dressed in boxers and socks. Larry and Phil both appreciated the look of Aiden’s athletic thirteen-year-old friend, but not nearly as much as that friend and Aiden appreciated the breakfast in front of them. Larry quickly saw that more waffles were going to be needed and got up to take care of the issue. As good as waffles were, their big drawback was that they had to be prepared one at a time unless they purchased a second waffle maker. That had been discussed more than once.
A fresh, hot waffle landed on Trent’s plate just when he needed it. Aiden waited patiently for his and dug right into it when it arrived. During breakfast, the boys talked about the upcoming basketball game against Chinook Middle School. The Totems had a 1-1 record, their win coming against a weak Clark Pass team. The game against Chinook would be a night game. The boys were looking forward to that experience, hoping there would be a big crowd for the game.
“They’re not real good, but we always have to play our best against everybody because you just never know what could happen,” Aiden said, repeating the mantra he had been hearing from coaches from the time he started playing organized sports.
After breakfast, they helped clean up and sat to watch a college basketball game on TV. They sat together on the loveseat. “I don’t think you’ll be riding your bike home,” Aiden said as the rain outside showed no sign of letting up.
“I’ll call my dad to pick me up when I’m ready to go,” Trent said.
That ended up being unnecessary since Aiden asked Phil if he could give Trent a ride home. They could put Trent’s bike in the back of Phil’s pickup. After North Carolina earned a 69-66 win over Tennessee in a non-conference game, the boys took a quick shower together in the basement and dressed. Phil then drove Trent home, with Aiden riding along, of course.
Aiden spent the rest of the day talking to friends on the phone, all the while hoping his dads would free him to use Skype with friends like Miles, Trent, Keith, and even Kalie, who said their parents’ okay to use it. He was reminded that Ian and Gretchen, Kalie’s cousins, would be visiting for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s.
“I think I’m probably going to be able to spend the night at Kalie’s,” Gordy crowed. “There will be strict rules about separating the boys and the girls, which nobody’s going to pay any attention to. I hope you’ll be able to stay—it’s gonna be fun.” Aiden had observed that for whatever reason, Gordy seemed to loosen up when Kalie’s cousins visited.
“Do you think this might be the time you and Kalie do it?” Aiden asked.
“No, that time is going to be in private. But it could be the time you and Kalie do it,” Gordy chuckled.
“That’s a no for me, too. If I come over to stay, then I want Nolan to come, too, and that takes care of me and Kalie doing it.”
“You told me he was okay with you doing it to her.”
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t do it with him around. But then, he might decide to try doing it with Gretchen.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t—it’s just that watching them do that sounded kinda sexy.”
“Kalie was talking about maybe Miles and Brittany being there, too, but I don’t know. It’s hard to get parents to say it’s okay for boys and girls to be at the same overnight. I can’t believe mine said yes.”
Kalie’s overnight was just one of many things to look forward to when winter break came.
Sunday was the start of a two week stretch before the start of winter break. It was a time where teachers knew they would have to work hard to maintain student interest. They understood that it was not a time to introduce new concepts or to give out major assignments.
For the kids it was a time they wished would fly by at the same time it seemed like each hour passed by slower than a day usually did. But there still were things for them to look forward to during this time span: sports, games, watching movies, playing games, an overnight somewhere with somebody, and, of course, sex.
<Justin>
Sunday was the day of Justin’s dinner at the Woodward Retirement Home with his Grans. Mike told her that he and Ryan were willing to drive Justin to the home, enjoy dinner out, and then pick him up after his visit was over.
“Nope, that’s not how it’s going to happen,” Maggie told him. “This is my day with my grandson, and that includes transportation. I might live in a retirement home, but it will be a while before I retire from driving. Also, I need to have a private talk with the two of you after we bring Justin back,” she told the dads.”
Maggie picked up her grandson at three-thirty. They enjoyed playing a Scrabble in her apartment (Justin received double credit for each word played) and a game of cribbage until dinner time arrived.
“I did pretty good, Nans. I lost Scrabble by just three points and won one of the cribbage games. When I get to middle school, I’m going to be beating you in Scrabble without a handicap.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, love. And by the time you get to middle school you’ll be saying ‘I did pretty well’ instead of “I did pretty good.’”
“I don’t see what different it makes; they both mean the same thing.”
“Like I’ve told you before, you have to trust me here. They might mean the same thing, but they don’t do the same thing. It will all make sense when you learn about adjectives and adverbs, along with the importance of sounding educated.”
Justin ordered chicken and dumplings with green beans and had a slice of chocolate cream pie for dessert. Justin was introduced to some of Maggie’s friends and patiently answered the usual inane questions adult liked to ask (“What grade are you in, young man?”, etc.) He was happy to finally leave for home, which gave him a little more alone times with his beloved Grans.
Justin gave his Grans a kiss on her cheek from his perch in the backseat after she parked in the driveway. “Thank you for the dinner and the games,” Justin said. “I had a nice date with you.”
They exited the car and walked up to the front door. Mike had seen their arrival and was waiting at the door. “I found out I was on a date with my Grandson,” Maggie announced to Mike and Ryan.
“I imagine it was a great one,” Ryan grinned.
“How could a date with such a handsome, polite young man not be a great one?” She gave Justin a kiss on his smooth right cheek, enjoying the love she felt for her grandson along with the love he returned.
Justin hung his coat and scarf in the hall closet and said he was going to his room so his Daddy Donkey and Papa Dawg could have the private time together his Grans wanted.
After letting Mike and Ryan know about her totally wonderful time with Justin, she got down to business. “As you know, I sued the estate of the idiot texter who killed my lovely family, and won. I will need the two of you to join me in signing some documents at his investment counselor’s office once Justin’s adoption is official. The amount of money the insurance paid and his estate paid was significant.” Maggie opened a copy of Justin’s investment account. “This includes over two years of growth as well as the original amount.”
Mike and Ryan looked at the complete value of the account and whistled. “I guess we won’t have to worry about paying for Justin’s college education,” Ryan uttered.
“You will be the executors of the account as his parents once the documents are signed. There are rules and laws that must be followed, of course, but you don’t have to keep it in that account. I will say that Tom and his company have taken care of our finances for twenty-five years and I can say nothing but good about them.”
“Maggie, I assure you that we will do what’s best for Justin,” Mike assured her.
“I trust you to do that or I would not have left my grandson in your loving care.”
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9
<Aiden and Kalie>
“When are you going to wear a Mariners cap?” Kalie asked. It was a question she asked every morning when Aiden boarded the bus.
“Hey, I’m probably coming to your overnight with your cousins, so why do you need to grab me on the bus?”
“Because when the overnight part comes, the girls will be staying in my room and the boys will be staying in the backhouse. I’ll have nothing to see or grab.”
“Since when did you follow those rules?” Aiden smirked.
“Since forever.”
“Liar.”
“Well, we are supposed to follow them since forever. Mom says we’re not little kids anymore, so she’s going to make sure we don’t mingle. That means don’t mix in case you didn’t know.”
Aiden wanted to say he was in seventh grade, read tons of books, and actually knew what words meant, but he held is tongue. There were times Kalie made him mad. When she did, he would pause and let things go on.
“Then why have an overnight if we can’t mingle?”
“So we can at least stay up late and do a little bit of stuff together.”
“And also, so you girls can sneak into the backhouse in the middle of the night.”
“That won’t happen this time. But, look at it this way, maybe you can sleep with Ian, who thinks you’re really sexy for a boy.”
“Or maybe I’ll sleep with Nolan, who knows I am really sexy for a boyfriend.”
Kalie’s eyes lit up. “You mean Nolan can come?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it yet. My guess is his mom will have a fit and say no.”
“Too bad. I might actually try sneaking back if he was there.”
Aiden gave Katie a light punch on the arm. “Just remember he’s my boyfriend.”
“That doesn’t stop him from being a hunk.”
<Basketball practice>
Middle school games were usually scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays, but when they scheduled a night game the day was often changed to avoid conflict with the high school schedule. This was the case for the Titans game against the Chinook Totems. The game would be played Wednesday night at the middle school gym. As a result, the Titans had practice after school on Tuesday.
Coach Randall informed Aiden on Monday that he would not be suiting up for the JV game on Wednesday and would be practicing entirely with the varsity on Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices. Aiden correctly interpreted that to mean that while he wouldn’t be starting the Varsity game, he would be one of the first players to come off the bench.
After Tuesday’s practice he showered next to Gordy, who was told he would be available to Coach Meeker play in three quarters of the JV which meant he would be suiting up Varsity, where he would be eligible to play in one quarter.
“Did you talk to your dads about Kalie’s overnight?” Gordy asked.
Aiden pulled his head away from the shower stream and said, “Not yet. I want to find out what Nolan has to say first.”
“I kind of hope the girls can sneak to the backhouse and I kind of hope they can’t.”
“Which one to you hope for the most?”
“That they can’t. It would turn into a big orgy and we’d all end up getting in trouble.”
“We’ve never gotten in trouble for doing that before.”
“I know, but Kalie said her mom is being strict this time.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” He looked at the next shower stall and saw that Everett was sporting an erection. “Damn, is Everett’s cock ever soft?”
“I hope he doesn’t decide to jerk off there.”
“Yeah, that’s for after game celebrations only,” Aiden giggled.
While Everett did nothing to hide his erection, which was pushing six inches, he didn’t masturbate like he had after the Harborview game. When Trent asked him if he was going to jerk off, Everett replied that he was saving it for Stacy. Aiden noted that even though Everett wasn’t a big kid, he undoubtedly had the biggest cock on the team.
“I thought it was for me,” Max Robinson giggled. He had also popped wood.
“I’m done showering,” Gordy told Aiden.
“Me, too,” Aiden said.
It turned out everyone else was, too. The display was nothing more than pubescent boys losing control of their tools and not being embarrassed by it. “We need to have a team circle jerk before the season is over,” Aiden heard Everett say to nobody in particular as they walked out of the shower area.
<Justin and Joey>
Justin sat with Neal at lunch. According to school policy, third graders were supposed to sit with their classes at lunch, but as long they sat in the third-grade area of the lunchroom and didn’t create problems, the lunch supervisor and the third-grade teachers gave blanket permission for them to sit at any of the third-grade tables.
Justin and Neal had brought lunches from home; Joey was in the lunch line for a hot meal. He arrived with another boy, who looked remarkably like Joey. Justin had seen him around the school, but they weren’t in the same class, so they hadn’t met. Neal sat across the table, saying that when Justin and his friend, Marco, sat at the table with their lunches it would be easier for the four of them to talk if they weren’t spread out.
When Joey and Marco arrived, Joey sat next to Justin and Marco sat next to Neal.
“Is that guy your brother?” Justin asked Joey. “You guys really look alike.” Marco had dark hair like Joey, and they were both about the same size.
“That’s Marco, but everybody calls him Mark,” Joey replied. “Marco, this is my new friend Justin. Me and Marco look alike because we’re both Italiano.”
“You called him Marco, not Mark,” Justin pointed out.
“That’s because he likes being called Marco better.”
“Marco is my name, not Mark,” Marco stated.
“Then I’ll call you Marco, too,” Justin told him.
“Marco’s parents own a restaurant. They make awesome pizzas there, and their spaghetti is really good, too,” Joey said.
“It’s called Luigi’s, but it’s in a different part of town.”
“Whose class are you in?” Justin asked Marco.
“I’m in Mrs. White’s class.”
The four boys chatted through lunch and tried to get to know each other better. One thing Justin noted about Marco was that he didn’t talk much. Justin liked him, however, and felt that he would like to make friends with him. One thing that stood out in Marco’s favor was that he liked baseball and loved the Mariners. Justin hoped they could build a friendship from there.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10
The lunchtime chatter at Mayfield Middle School was about the middle school basketball games played the day before. The Chinook/Mayfield game was the only one not scheduled for Tuesday. The basketball players at the table had checked the Seamount League website the night before, so they were armed with the facts at Aiden’s lunch table.
Kentburg, Monte, Meadow Park, and Winston had all won their games to remain undefeated. But the big topic of conversation was Skyler Winsley of Monte. Skyler was a scoring machine who had transferred to Monte from Seattle. Before the season started everybody thought Monte was going to have a decent team with a shot at the league tournament, but Skyler had turned them from a middle-of-the road team to one of the league’s elite teams. Skyler had scored 59 points in Monte’s first three games. Many middle school TEAMS struggled to score that many points in three games.
“Where did he come from?” Miles asked. “I mean, I know he came from Seattle, but how did he end up in Monte?”
“My pop says he had some problems at home and his living with his grandparents,” Aiden responded. “That’s all I know.”
“He has my permission to move back with his parents anytime,” Blake said. “My cousin Grady, who’s a ninth grader, plays on the JV team at Monte High. He says Skyler’s like six feet tall and quick and way more than a shooter. He’s a good rebounder and passer and ball handler. Grady says that on top of that he’s a good team player and a really nice kid.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about him right now,” Trent said. “We’ve got the Totems to worry about tonight.” Everyone agreed and the top shifted to the night’s game.
Aiden was going to stay at Gordy’s house until it was time for them to get back to school for their game. They walked out of the building together along with Miles, Blake, and Mason. Miles and Blake would be heading for their own homes while Mason planned on staying at Gordy’s. Miles and Blake went to their own homes a couple of blocks from the school and the other three walked to Gordy’s house.
The JV game started at five; Gordy and Mason had to be there by four-fifteen, which was an hour away. The three boys spent their time doing homework until Gordy’s mother arrived home from substituting gig at Meadow Park. She gave the boys a ride to school. Mason and Aiden took their backpacks with their books and schoolwork; the three boys had left their gym bags with their uniforms and basketball gear in Coach Randall’s office.
While they weren’t required to be at the gym to watch the start of the JV game, most of the varsity was there. When Coach Randall signaled them to just before half-time to head for the gym, the Titans had a 17-7 lead, which sat at 19-9 at the half. The JV’s ended up with a 35-21 win. Gordy led the team with 10 points.
The varsity game started at six-fifteen. As Larry said, the starting time for the middle school “night” games made them more like evening games, but he understood how calling them night games made the whole affair sound more grown up.
Even though Aiden didn’t start, he was substituted a little over three minutes into the game when Scott turned his left ankle while battling a Totem for a loose ball. Coach Randall moved Everett to Scott’s shooting guard position. He was a stronger shooter than Aiden while Aiden was a better passer and ballhandler than Everett, making it the logical move. Except for a one-minute break midway through the second quarter, Aiden played the remainder of the first half. The Titans went into the locker room at the half leading 22-13. The ended up with their most one-sided win of the young season, defeating the Totems 40-21 to move their record up to 3-0. Aiden finished with four points, five assists, two steals and two turnovers, playing in just over 16 of the game’s 24 minutes.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11
<Barry Bender>
Barry was met in the school foyer by Mac and Roger. “Hey, birthday boy, how are they hangin?” Mac gave Barry’s balls a quick squeeze through his jeans. “You’re fourteen now and I thought they’d be hanging to your knees,” Mac chortled.
“They’d be hanging better if you kept your hands off them,” Barry snarled.
“Oh, check him out, Roger. Barry’s fourteen and thinks that makes him better than us.”
“You can go fuck yourself, Mac.”
“Does this mean you’re not coming to your big birthday party at my house on Saturday?”
Barry was thankful Mac didn’t play basketball; it meant he didn’t have to deal with his shit in practices and games. He thought Mac was worse than Peter Astor or Eddie Shafer ever were. On top of that, Roger and Russell, had turned into total assholes since hanging with Mac. “What it means, Mac, is that you’re not coming to my big party on Saturday. And before you ask, I’m sitting with my teammates at lunch.”
“Wow, listen to the big stud. I should have squeezed him harder.”
Barry walked away before he did something that would get him suspended from the basketball team.
“Hey, Barry,” Mac called out after him, “how come Aiden Miller played more than you did yesterday?”
Barry ignored him, but Mac’s comment got him to thinking the same thing. He decided to ask Coach Randall about it before school started. When he found Coach Randall patrolling the hall, the coach was holding some papers in his hand. Barry asked him about why a seventh grader like Aiden got more playing time than he did.
“That sounds like kind of selfish question to me, Mr. Bender. Does it happen to sound that way to you by any chance?”
“Well, maybe. But…” Barry hung his head in shame, realizing his coach was right.
“But what, Barry?”
“But, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Learn from it, son.” Coach Randall looked at one of the papers in his hand. Barry could see it was a computer printout. “Interesting. Take a look at this.” He held the paper where Barry could see it. “This column tells how many minutes each player was on the floor.” He pointed to Barry’s line. “It says here you played 18 minutes and 11 seconds.” He then moved down to Aiden’s line. “Aiden played 16 minutes and 7 seconds. It would appear you had more playing time. Plus, you started the game. Perhaps after the next game, you should think more of your team and of your teammates than of yourself. And you might thank the stat keepers for their work—they do a great job. Now, get going to class so you won’t be late.” Coach Randall didn’t bother to mention that the first team didn’t play much in the fourth quarter because of the size of the Titan lead.
“I’m sorry again. I’ll be sure to say something to Aiden.”
Barry started to walk away when Coach Randall stopped him. “Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday.”
“Thank you,” Barry grinned. He took off for class, surprised and pleased that Coach Randall knew it was his birthday.
At lunch, he sat across from Aiden at table where most of his teammates sat. “Hey, Aiden,” he said as they started eating. “Nice job of filling in for Scott, yesterday.”
Aiden was taken aback by Barry’s compliment. It wasn’t often that Barry talked to him let alone complimented him. “Thanks, Barry. And you did a good job working the boards.” Barry had tied Blake for the team lead in rebounds with six.
“Has anybody heard how Scott is doing?”
“Yeah, he texted Blake and Everett. He said it was a moderate sprain and he’d have to sit out tomorrow’s game and Tuesday’s game, which means he won’t be playing again until after the break. You know he stayed home today. He told them he probably would tomorrow, too.”
“That’s too bad, him being our team captain and all.”
“Coach will pick a temporary one at practice, I’m sure.”
Coach Randall did just that and named Everett and Barry as co-captains for the last two games before winter break. Barry couldn’t believe what he had heard when Coach Randall gave him the news; it was almost as if Santa Claus had arrived a couple of weeks early.
One of the first to congratulate Barry was Aiden. After Coach Randall made the announcement to the team in the pre-practice meeting, Aiden walked right up to him and gave him a hug. “Way to go, Barry, you earned it.” Aiden was sincere about what he said, but Barry felt a pang of guilt when he thought about how, just the day before, he had complained about Aiden to Coach Randall. He promised himself that when the time was right, he would have to be candid with Aiden and tell him about the incident. The next thought he had was a question; after the selfish thing he had done that morning, how did he end up being named a co-captain?
<FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12>
<Aiden and Barry>
The Titans played the Winston Middle School Red Roosters on the road. Winston was an hour’s drive from Mayfield. The Roosters were 2-0, but both wins had been against weak opponents. The players liked having the long ride to Winston because it got them out of school early. The JV game started at three o’clock, fifteen minutes after Winston dismissal time. The JV score was 13-13 at the half. Barry and Everett signaled the varsity to head for the locker room to change when the JV returned to the floor.
The JV was in good spirits after pulling out a 25-24 win over the Red Roosters. Because of Scott’s injury, Gordy, who was the JV’s leading scorer, did not suit up JV and Muddy, their big man, was available for only two quarters. Aiden was also not available for JV play. At one point, Coach Meeker had all four if his sixth graders on the floor at the same time. They were exceptionally talented sixth graders, but they were still inexperienced sixth graders. However, everyone played hard and smart and managed to hang on for a tough win.
With Scott Keller injured, the varsity missed their captain and one of their best shooters. But they were a deep team. Coach Randall was confident he had the better team as long as they played with intensity and executed properly. Even without Scott, they were a talented and deep team.
Aiden was making his first varsity start of the season. He was the starting point guard. Everett, who had started at point guard the first three games, was the shooting guard since he was a stronger shooter than Aiden, in part because he was three inches taller.
Everett and Barry met with the referees at the center circle to go over the usual pregame preliminaries. Blake then jumped center, easily winning the tip. The Titans scored off their set jump ball play for a quick 2-0 lead and never trailed on their way to a 43-18 win. Everett led the team with 13 points in just over 17 minutes of play. Aiden scored five points with six assists, four steals, and one turnover. It was his best game of the year.
Postgame showers were get in, get wet, run soap under the arms and around the crotch, and dash out. Aiden boarded the bus with Gordy and was prepared to sit with him. He was surprised when Barry indicated he wanted Aiden to sit next to him on the bus. Aiden nodded and Barry sat in the empty aisle seat.
“Nice game, Aiden.”
“Oh, thanks.” Aiden wondered what kind of ulterior motive Barry had for given him the compliment.
“I know you don’t really trust me, but I mean it. You ran the offense great. But I had something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Okay.”
“I really appreciate how you came up to me and gave me that hug at practice yesterday. You and me haven’t gotten along real good most of the time.”
“Well, it’s kinda like what you said, I really meant it. You’ve KMS’d and worked hard in practice and been a team player in games and…,” Aiden gave Barry his best smile, “…you didn’t give me any shit.”
“Well, I haven’t said what I sat down to tell you.” Barry took a deep breath and told Aiden how he had complained to Coach Randall about Aiden getting more playing time in the Chinook game. “I’m sorry I did that. It was, like, totally wrong.”
Aiden looked out of the window, focusing on the lights of a distant farmhouse. He wasn’t sure what to say. His problem wasn’t as much Barry as it was Coach Randall for making Barry a co-captain after what he had done. He wanted to yell at Barry about how that wasn’t what a good team player did and rant about how his words didn’t mean anything anymore. Then he remembered what Marty had told him once, that it’s better to be nice than to be right. Aiden realized Coach Randall must have had a good reason for making Barry a co-captain. Even if he didn’t understand that reason, he decided to follow a philosophy Marty kept drilling into him—accept the things you cannot change and live with it.
Happy that he had paused to look out of the dark window, he turned to Barry and said, “I’m glad you told me. You were being honest, like we’re supposed to be and, well, maybe I can start trusting you more.” That didn’t quite come out the way Aiden wanted to say it but it was the best he could think of right then.
“Thanks, Aiden. If I’m gonna be a team captain, even if it’s just for a week, I want to do the best job I can.”
Aiden had never heard Barry talk about doing the right thing. Usually, when he worked to behave, it was because he was afraid of the consequences from a teacher or his parents, especially from his parents, not because he wanted to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do.
“Well, I said what I needed to say,” Barry said. “I know you want to sit with Gordy so I’ll switch seats with him.” Gordy was sitting my himself two rows back.
“You can stay here. Gordy’s gonna be spending the night at my house, so we’ll have plenty of time to talk.”
“Are you gonna tell him what I said?”
“Just the good parts, unless you say it’s okay to tell him more. I will be telling Nolan though.”
“He’s you’re Meadow Park boyfriend, right?” Aiden nodded. “It must be hard doing what you guys do and living so far from each other.”
“We do our best and it seems to work.”
“So why, after what I said, do you want to still sit with me?”
“Because I want us to be friends,” Aiden said quietly.
Aiden and Barry spent the rest of the bus trip talking from their hearts and getting to know each other in as many new ways as two young adolescents could in just over a half-hour time. As the bus pulled into the Mayfield Middle School driveway, Aiden made up his mind that he was going to invite Barry to spend the night soon. He was learning that there a lot of things to like about Barry Bender that he never knew about before. Instead of being just a snooty troublemaker, he was a kid who sometimes felt just as lost as Aiden did.
Barry felt much the same about Aiden. Instead of being the stuck-up son of a teacher and coach who got whatever he wanted, he was kid with problems just like other kids. Barry and Aiden had sat in a few Forth Dimension meetings together, but they had never shared their feelings with each other as they did on the team bus that evening.
Not everything on the bus was serious, particularly in the back rows. When he got on the bus, Max made sure to sit next to Everett. “Damn, dude, you shot the eyes out today,” Max told his friend and teammate. Max had three points and a solid five rebounds coming off the bench.
“Thanks. I like point guard okay, but I think shooting guard fits my game better. I liked how you worked the boards when you came into the game.”
“Thanks. I love rebounding. But, fuck, games like that make me horny.” Remembering Max coming into the shower area with a developing erection, Everett was hoping Max would say something in that vein. Max grabbed his crotch area, his hand squeezing the big bulge in his tan dockers. “I was in and out of that shower so fucking fast—I mean my cock was just moving. I’m glad nobody saw it.”
“Why? Everybody knows what we did after we beat the Tugs.”
“I know, but it’s still embarrassing. But, hey, you can see what it’s like now,” Max said as he grabbed his crotch again. “You don’t mind if I pull it out and jerk off, do you? I can’t last a whole hour without getting taking care of my buddy.”
“You’re crazy, dude,” Everett grinned.
“I know, but the empty seats up to the front and close the coaches are for JV players, so I gotta do it back here.” It was an unwritten rule that the varsity players had first call on the seats to the back. “I suppose I could sit on the back seat and stretch out.”
“If you want, but you got me horny again, so as long as we’re both going to do it, let’s do it together.”
“We won’t be seeing nothing we haven’t seen before,” Max said, referring to the jerk off session in the shower after the Harborview game. Trent was sitting across the aisle from him and Gordy was in the seat ahead of him. Max opened his pants and unzipped, pulled his five-inch uncut cock out of his boxers, spit on his right hand, and started jerking off.
Everett was surprised at how quickly Max got started. He opened his tan chinos and pulled them and his boxer shorts down to the floor. He spread his legs, his right leg pushing against Max, and, like Max, got right down to business. When Trent looked across the aisle and saw what Max and Everett were doing, he opened his pants, and since he had taken his shoes off after sitting down, he pulled his pants and blue briefs completely off. He wrapped his right hand around his cock and joined the jack off party.
Gordy suspected what was happening. He turned and looked over his seatback. His suspicions confirmed, he turned back around and adjusted his wares, but did nothing else. While he didn’t object to what the three eighth graders were doing, it was not something he would ever consider doing in public like they were. It did make him more than ready for overnighting with Aiden however.
The three eighth graders shot their loads within minutes of each other, starting with Max, then Trent, and finishing up with Everett. All three made sure they didn’t shoot on their shirts, coats, or pants. They shot their cum on their crotches or on their underpants where it could be dealt with later.
Aiden and Barry guessed what was happening a couple of rows behind them, but neither one brought up the topic. They were too deep into discovering each other to be thinking about who was masturbating on the bus. When they finally got talked out, Aiden went to work texting Keith and Nolan to find out how their teams fared. He found out Kentburg won easily over Chinook but was surprised by Meadow Park’s close 27-24 win against Harborview since Meadow Park was undefeated and the Tugs hasn’t won a game.
<Aiden and Gordy>
Aiden and Gordy enjoyed a late dinner at Bob’s Burger Barn with Larry and Phil. The talk was about the great game played by the Titans.
“Yeah, it all looks good,” Aiden said. “We’re 4-0 and play Clark Pass next and Clark Pass is being what Clark Pass usually is, and that is winless. Plus, their JV is winless—I guess they are totally bad.”
“From what I hear, their JV is now their JV and whoever was left is now their JV,” Larry pointed out.
“Yep. I talked with one of Winston players when we were watching the JV game and he said that Clark Pass started three seventh graders and two sixth graders against them. He said they were pretty good players. He thinks everybody is gonna have to watch out for them next year—they could be pretty decent.”
“Then you should go into the break with a 5-0 record.” Since the Seamount League had eleven teams, on every game day one team had a bye. The Titans’ bye was the last game day before winter break.
“We should, but you coach type guys always say not to count any game as a win unless you want to get a surprise ass kicking.”
“That’s true. It would appear I have been properly put in my place,” Larry chuckled.
“Well, here’s the thing,” Aiden said as he maintained his serious demeanor. “Kentburg and Meadow Park both won, and if Monte won their game against Evans, the they’re all undefeated, just like us. And guess who our first three games after break are against.”
“I don’t have to guess, I know,” Larry said. “You guys get to show what you have against those three.”
“We’re pretty good, too,” Gordy said. “I think we’ll do okay against them. It’s gonna be a fun three games.”
“What do you think, Aiden?” Phil asked.
“What Gordy said,” Aiden replied. He agreed it would be a fun four games and that the Titans would play them hard and smart, but he also understood that they could play their best and lose all four games. But, as Marty said, what was coming up was why you played sports—to compete your ass off.
When they arrived at Aiden’s house, Aiden and Gordy said their goodnights and went upstairs to Aiden’s room. They stripped naked and lay next to each other on the bed, talking about the fact that Gordy had played almost seven minutes, his most ever in a varsity game. Since middle school teams played six-minute quarters, Gordy had played over a quarter’s worth of basketball. He scored four points, his career high for a varsity game. He also played ten minutes in the JV game. Even though he didn’t play as much in the varsity game as in the a JV game, Gordy felt good about the game.
Aiden sat at his desk and brought up the Seamount League website on his computer. “Monte beat Evans by six. Dang, Evans has a pretty good team, but they can’t beat anybody. I guess it didn’t help that Skyler scored 21 points against them. That is so unreal.”
“Did you know what was going on behind me on the way home?” Gordy asked.
Aiden nodded. “I didn’t exactly know, but it wasn’t hard to figure out, especially since Max gets a little excited. Was it just Max and Everett doing it?”
“No, Trent was busy in the other seat. And get this, Aiden, he took his pants and undies all the way off! Can you believe it? I thought he might even take his shirt off and get naked, but he didn’t go that far.”
“I can believe that somehow when you become a teenager you must lose all control over your little head,” Aiden giggled.
“That won’t happen to me.”
“Don’t tell me that what they were doing didn’t turn you on.”
“It turned me on big time, but no way I was going to go jerking off on the bus.” While Aiden didn’t think he would get involved in the masturbation in the shower area or on the team bus in the near future, he also didn’t rule out what the far future would hold. He knew from talking to Marty, who not only jerked off in the showers and team bus when he was in middle school and high school, but even got involved in sex in both venues, that he still had some stronger levels of horniness to deal with.
“Well, if you got turned on big time, what do you want to do about it?” Aiden asked in a husky voice. He was now turned on big time himself and was looking forward to some serious sex stuff with his best friend.
Gordy took a deep breath. He had known what he wanted to do since the three eighth graders had turned him on but was afraid to say it because Aiden might laugh at him. After giving it a moment’s thought, he realized that one thing Aiden would never do was laugh at him. Laugh with him—yes, but never laugh at him.
“What I want to do is, well, you know, with break coming up and the holidays and all, well, what I want to do is, you know, get more practice.”
Aiden had never heard Gordy be so inarticulate. But he knew his friend wanted to fuck him again and knew what his response would be. “Go ahead, Gordy, you can say it.”
“I want to, you know…,” long sigh, “…fuck you.”
Gordy saw Aiden start to smile and was afraid the laughter was about to start, but what he heard was the boy who had been his best friend since fourth grade. “Gordy, I guess this means you really want to be great for Kalie.”
“I want to be the best.”
“Well, you can do it again right now, but I am going to ask that we kiss while we do it.”
“For real? Kiss? You mean, like French kiss?”
“You’re going to be doing that with Kalie so you might as well put it all together tonight?”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, Gordy agreed to kiss. “But only this time, since you’ve got a boyfriend and I’ve got a girlfriend.”
Aiden turned toward Gordy, put his arm around his best friend, pulled them close together, and planted the first romantic kiss between the two good friends. When Aiden pushed his tongue into Gordy’s mouth, Gordy tensed and started to reject it, then relaxed and let it happen when he realized he had nothing to be afraid of. Aiden was the only boy in the world Gordy would ever think about kissing like that, and because Aiden was his best friend, kissing him wouldn’t mean he was gay.
They finally broke the kiss, both boys fighting for air. Aiden rolled on his back, pulling Gordy on top of him. Aiden lifted his head and planted another kiss on his best friend’s lips, instantly pushing his tongue into Gordy’s mouth. Once again, they surfaced for air, taking in each other’s looks of love. For Aiden, it wasn’t the kind of love he felt for Nolan, but it was right up there. It was the love for his absolute best friend. Gordy would never be more than Aiden’s best friend, but the boys never thought of asking for more.
This time Gordy initiated the kiss and the tongue. He was amazed as to how special kissing Aiden was. The boys kissed and rolled on the bed and soon knew they had to stop before the came over each other. “You know where the lube is,” Aiden croaked.
Gordy moved off Aiden, pulled the lube out of his top desk drawer, applied it the way Aiden instructed, and got ready to push his throbbing four-and-a-half inches into Aiden, who had put himself into position for his friend. Once Gordy was in, he went full out, giving Aiden a hard fucking as they both grunted and groaned and enjoyed the amazing sensations. When Aiden spontaneously shot his clear semen over himself the squeezing of Aiden’s ass muscles was all it took for Gordy to follow him. He shoved his cock as keep as he could into Aiden’s ass and let out a muffled scream as he filled his friend with his heavier cream.
Gordy fell on top of Aiden, breathing heavily. “That was awesome,” he whispered.
“You were awesome,” Aiden said. “You didn’t hold back, you just plain ol’ fucked me. You are so ready for Kalie, dude.”
“For the first time, I think you’re right. I didn’t think we would to it before we were teenagers, but now, um…yeah…but now, I’m not so sure.”
“Let’s take care of brushing and pissing and washing and get some sleep,” Aiden said. “It’s gotten kinda late and I’m tired.” Aiden couldn’t fail to notice that Gordy never mentioning anything about Kalie getting experience. He left the impression that he was ready to go any time.
<SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13>
“I was kind of crazy last night, wasn’t I?” Gordy asked as he and Aiden took a quick shower together before heading down to the kitchen to cook up breakfast.
“You weren’t crazy, you were horny,” Aiden responded.
“You mean there’s a difference?”
“Whoa, Gordy pulled a funny,” Aiden giggled.
“I was serious.”
“I know, but it was still kind of funny. I dunno, I guess when you get really horny you just do things really hard to get off, like you did last night.”
“I didn’t know intercourse could be so fun. I was, well, crazy horny.”
“Yeah you were and we both loved it. Oh, and by the way, it’s okay to say the word fuck when you’re taking a shower with your best friend and are talking about sex.”
“I’ll remember that,” Gordy said as he rinsed off.
The Naked Chef and his trusty and experienced Assistant Naked Chef cooked up a breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs, and bacon. Larry, who was not naked, took care of getting juice ready as well as coffee for Phil and himself. Everyone agreed that both the food and the company made it a great breakfast.
Gordy stayed until after lunch, which consisted of hot dogs and potato chips. After Gordy left, Aiden called Nolan. The first thing he wondered is why Meadow Park had such a close game against Harborview (a 27-24 win).
“Coach started the second team,” Nolan explained. “Harborview might not have a good record, but they’ve got some good players and the score was 8-3 by the time the first team got in the game. We had a hard time getting things going and were lucky to win the game.”
“Tell your coach we’re not good at all and he should start his second team against us,” Aiden laughed.
“Then you better lose a few games to prove it.”
Aiden talked about who jerked off on their team bus. Nolan said even though they were on the road, nobody on their bus jerked off, at least as far as he knew. Then Aiden talked about Gordy being wild in bed, which got Nolan and him turned on, and led to a good jerkoff for both. Not for the last time, they wished Nolan could get on Skype for a video chat.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15
<Aiden and Kalie>
“No Mariner hat again,” Kalie said as Aiden took the aisle seat.
“I was gonna wear it today, but I couldn’t find it,” Aiden grinned.
“Whatever. Looks like you guys had a good game on Friday. I can’t wait for girls’ basketball to start.” The girls’ season started when the boys’ regular season ended in late January. “What did you and Gordy do Friday night?”
“You can ask him,” Aiden said since Gordy hadn’t cleared him to share his wild night with Kalie. “But I bet he will tell you.”
“If he’s gonna tell me, then why can’t you?”
“Because I think it’s better if he tells.”
“Oh, you make me so mad sometimes, Aiden Miller.”
Aiden shrugged. There were times Kalie totally confused him, and this was one of them. “By the way, with Ian spending some of Christmas break with you, maybe he could be the one to give you some experience.”
“I know he wants to do it,” Kalie said. “He does his sister and everything. But, I’d rather you did it. But if you’re not going to do it, then maybe I’ll start thinking about it. Oh, and by the way, Heather might come to my big overnight. She wanted to come really bad when she found out you were coming.”
“Well, you can tell Heather, I won’t be coming,” Aiden grumped.
“Why, because Heather is coming?”
“Yep.”
“That is so lame. You can tell her yourself.”
“You invited her, and you know what I think about her.”
“I invited her so you would get to know here better.”
“That would have been cool back when she was shy and nice to know. But now she’s all pushy.”
“Well, I said she might come,” Kailey said. “But you could come and stay away from her.”
“Better yet, she could stay away from me.”
Aiden saw Scott in the foyer after the bus arrived at school. He was favoring his injured ankle a little but was able to walk okay. Aiden gave him a quick hug, hoping any spying teacher would understand. “It’s awesome to see you again,” Aiden said.
“It’s awesome to be back in school. It sucks I can’t play until after break, but I’ll be watching the practices and our game tomorrow. The doctor said I probably will be able to practice during the break.” The league allowed each team to have three practices during winter break.
“It will be great to have you back. See you at practice.
Aiden didn’t think about Heather after that until she came up to him on the way to lunch. “Hi, Aiden. Did Kalie tell you I might be able go to her party?”
“She told me.”
“That’s going to be so fun. Maybe you and me and get some serious kissing to show you you’re not gay.”
“Nolan might be coming too, and I think he and I will get some serious kissing to show you that I am gay.”
“We’ll see. I’m not giving up.”
“Whatever, I gotta get my lunch and sit with my bros.”
“I’ll see you in Math,” Heather said as she peeled off for her own table with Kalie, Brittany, and some of her other friends.
Before reaching his table, Aiden saw Alex Guerrero sitting by himself in a corner, at least for the moment; the empty seats would fill by the time everyone arrived for first lunch. Alex had a lunch tray in front of him but hadn’t touch it. Aiden could see that Alex looked terrible. His face was pale and his eyes were red.
“Hey, Alex,” Aiden said pleasantly.
“What the fuck to you want, Miller?”
“I just wanted to say hi and let you know you could sit at our table if you wanted.”
“Why would I want to sit with a bunch of fucking jocks who think they’re better than everybody else? Go fuck yourself, I want nothing to do with you bullshit.”
Aiden was doing his best not to get into Alex’s face. He took a deep breath and said. “Okay, whatever. But the offer stays open.” Before Aiden could turn to walk away, Alex picked up the sandwich on his tray and threw it Aiden, who easily ducked out of the way. Aiden shrugged and walked to his table. At least nobody can say I didn’t try, he thought.
“What was that about?” Miles asked when Aiden sat at the table.
“I was trying to be nice to Alex. I thought he might need some friends, but I guess he doesn’t like us.”
“I don’t think he likes anybody—he’s totally weird.”
“I think he needs some serious help,” Aiden said. He remembered Alex coming to a couple of Fourth Dimension meetings, but he didn’t hang around. He knew that Grant used to get drunk with Alex a lot. Aiden figured that Alex was still drinking and that he probably needed more help than the group could give him, but he didn’t know what. He decided to talk about it with Marty and with his dad.
Toward the end of lunch, Brittany approached Aiden. “Heather wants you to know she wants to go out with you.”
“How come she couldn’t tell me herself on the way to lunch?” Aiden growled.
“That’s now how it works, and you know it. She says to tell you she might be in love with you.”
“Fine, if you’re sending messages back and forth, tell her I’m in love with Nolan Moyer and he and I are going out together.”
“You know you’re making a big mistake. He doesn’t even go to school here, for one thing.”
“I’ll live with it,” Aiden said as he walked away.
<TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16>
The Mayfield Titan varsity was sitting on the benches at the front of the locker room awaiting Coach Randall. The wondered what kind of inspiring speech he would give to get them ready to play the Clark Pass Eagles. The Eagles were 0-3 and had not been competitive in any of their three games, but they were young, starting no eighth graders.
When Coach Randall started his talk, he made the Eagles’ youthfulness the theme of his talk. “Remember that we will be starting two seventh graders today and our first guard off the bench will be a seventh grader. We have all been impressed by how quickly they have been improving. You can be certain that the Clark Pass players have been developing quickly as well and would love to show you how much they have learned since the season started. Remember to play smart, play hard and play under control. Do that and you will make this a great game, gentlemen.”
Aiden was starting again. As he went through warmups, he saw his Pop in the stands, which he expected, but he also saw Marty and Rich, which he did not expect. He felt a wave of warmth going through him knowing that Marty was there.
Blake started at center. Max, making his first start of the season, and Barry were the starting forwards. Aiden and Everett were the starting guards. Even though the Titans led 9-3 at the quarter they discovered that the Eagles might be young and physically overmatched, but their young players played their asses off. Very little came easy for the Titans.
As Larry observed to Marty, this Eagles team was not like so many Clark Pass teams in the past who raised the white flag of surrender before the game even started. “This young group is hungry,” Larry said. “They’re going to surprise some people before the season is over. Hell, they’re surprising me right now.”
That surprise was nothing compared to the surprise the Titan players felt when the Eagles scored the next three baskets to tie the score at 9-9. Coach Randall called a timeout and told the players that they needed to up their intensity to turn the game back around. “Those kids are outhustling you, pure and simple.” The Titans regrouped and ran off 12 straight points. They went into the locker room at the half with a 21-9 lead as they upped their intensity level to match that of the Eagles.
The final score was 36-21 and the Titans improved to 5-0. Aiden had two points, six assists, five steals, and one turnover. The leading scorers were Barry and Trent with nine points apiece. The JV team won 42-12. Lenny led them in scoring with 11 points. Everyone was pleased to see a sixth grader lead the team. What nobody mentioned was that Chris Kane, a sixth grader starting for the Eagle varsity, had scored all three baskets in their second quarter run and led the varsity with nine points for the game.
The next game for the Titans would be a night game on the road against archrival and currently undefeated Kentburg on January 6.
After dinner, Aiden logged on to the Seamount League website to check the league scores. He went to the Middle School page and saw that all the undefeated teams had won again. He thought it was weird that none of the top teams in the league had played each other yet even though the season was almost halfway over. The Meadow Park score surprised him once again. The Coyotes had to go into overtime to defeat Evans 34-33.
He called Nolan and the two got right into talking basketball. When Aiden asked Nolan about how it was that the Coyotes were undefeated but barely beating teams with losing records, Nolan said that while the team had good talent, they weren’t play together very well as a team.
“We don’t always work as hard as we should, especially you-know-who.” Aiden knew Nolan was referring to Roland Barker, one of the Meadow Park boys who had harassed them at the County Fair in October. Roland was an eighth grader and a starter on the school basketball team. “He’s lazy on defense and even worse, he’s a gunner. It’s like he’s allergic to passing and shoots whenever he can. Coach calls it running a ‘my turn to shoot’ offense but keeps playing him because he’s the best player on the team, even though he hurts the team as much as he helps it. That’s why we have problems beating the teams that aren’t good and why we’re going to have big problems even winning after the break.”
Aiden knew that Nolan was irate because he rarely went on a rant. He knew there was no love lost between Nolan and Roland and their animosity was flowing onto the basketball court. “I thought you were the best player on the team,” Aiden said.
“I’m good, but I’m still a seventh grader, which is probably one reason Roland never passes me the ball, no matter how open I am. The other reason you know already.”
“Yeah, it’s because you’re gay and have a boyfriend. I’m glad we don’t have that shit going on here in Mayfield. There are assholes, like Mac and those guys, but more kids here are cool with whoever you are as long as you don’t hurt anybody, which is why hardly anybody likes Mac and his friends.”
“Boy are we on a pissed off roll or what?” Nolan giggled. “If you have the time, we can put all our energy into a good jerk off over the phone.”
“Sounds good to me, but after tonight I want to save everything between us for Friday night.” Nolan would be spending Friday night in Aiden’s bed and both boys were excited.”
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18
The last games before break were all scheduled for Thursday. Because Mayfield had the bye that day and Coach Randall said their next practice wouldn’t be until Monday morning, Larry said he would take Aiden and a couple of friends to Meadow Park and they could watch Nolan’s game together. Gordy and Miles were the two friends.
“Nolan is playing really good,” Aiden said to Larry as the teams left the court for half-time. Nolan had six points and five rebounds as the Coyotes led the Chinook Totems 15-12.
“But, between you and me, I’m glad number 24 doesn’t live in Mayfield.” Larry was referring to Roland, whose selfish and lazy play was hard hide from anybody who knew basketball.
“He’s an asswaffle,” Aiden said as if it was a known fact. “He’s one of the kids who gave us crap at the fair.”
“You can see the poor chemistry on that team. The only reason they’re ahead is that they have better athletes than Chinook.”
Larry and Aiden ended their discussion when Paul Moyer, Nolan’s father, came up the bleachers and sat next to them. “Funny how I was able to recess court at just the right time to make it here at half-time. It was on the schedule of course, but timing is just perfect,” Paul chuckled.
“Where’s Vivian?” Larry asked.
“It’s a busy time at work and she knew she wasn’t getting the time off, which is why I wanted to be sure to be able to take in at least a half. She hates missing his games and hates it even worse if neither one of us can watch Nolan play.”
“I know you guys won’t be missing our game,” Aiden said.
“And I am looking forward to it,” Paul grinned. “Both teams are doing really well.” Paul would have loved talking to Larry about the problems the Coyotes were having. Although he suspected that Nolan had told Aiden what the issues were, he didn’t want to bring anything up that the three boys might misinterpret.
Meadow Park fell behind 18-17 after the second half started, but, as had happened for all their games, their size and athleticism made up for their lack of fundamentals and team play and they struggled to a 31-28 win against an inferior team. Larry noted that they didn’t play as hard as Chinook had, plus they didn’t play smart and had problems playing together.
Larry and the boys waited with Paul until Nolan came out of the locker room, freshly showered and sporting a big smile. He traded fist bumps with the three Mayfield boys and after a couple of minutes of congratulatory talk, Nolan left with his dad while Aiden, Gordy, and Miles left with Larry.
“I’m sure glad I don’t play on that team,” Gordy said. “I saw some of them argue with each other and they don’t pass the ball well and they’re lazy on defense.”
“Yeah, but they won and they’re undefeated,” Miles pointed out.
“I bet they start losing after Christmas, because they’re just like us. They haven’t played Kentburg or Monte and their superstar, Skyler.”
“And they haven’t played us,” Aiden pointed out.
That night Aiden checked on the scores. Monte and Kentburg, along with Meadow Park, all won. Including Mayfield, that meant there were four undefeated teams in the Seamount Middle School League.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19
Because it was the last day of school before winter break, the students had a half-day. There was no home room and all seven periods were on a short schedule. Coach Randall got the okay from all the players’ first period teachers to have a quick basketball team meeting. He included all the players in the program, Varsity and JV.
The coach got the meeting off to a good start by having a couple dozen donuts set out and ready to eat. The players were very grateful and became willing to tolerate a meeting.
“I’m going to make this quick, because I know how desperate you all are to get to first period,” the coach grinned, which netted him a few snide remarks, as expected.
“Who are the first three teams we play after break?” he asked the players.
Fifteen of the nineteen players at the meeting raised their hand. Coach Randall called on Trent.
“Kentburg, Monte, and Meadow Park, in that order,” the eighth grader answered.
“And what do the three teams have in common?”
Anticipating the question, Aiden shot his hand up first and was called on. “They are all undefeated.”
That created a murmur throughout the group. While they knew the facts, many of the players hadn’t connected the dots.
“That is correct. The next three games are going to be fun to prepare for and even more fun to play. We have four weeks for preparation and playing. We are allowed three practices over vacation, with the first one being Monday. I want you all prepared to give every ounce of energy you have over those practices, and then for the nine days in which we play those three teams. I know it will be easy during vacation to not think about basketball and I know it’s hard to go out and shoot in the cold and rain. But the Community Center gym will be open most of the days during break.
“Every day I want you to do something basketball connected, even if it’s only thinking about the games or practicing shooting form in the mirror. If you need something to think about, you can think about ICE—intensity, concentration, and execution even when you’re not at practice, and it needs to start today. I’ll see all of you, except the three whose parents excused them in advance, on Monday. Make it a great weekend.”
The player rose slowly from the locker room benches, figuring if they didn’t rush, they might miss all of first period.
“Let’s get moving, gentlemen. Making it to the rest of first period will be your first act of basketball hustle for you to get to class as quickly as possible…,” everyone started to move in a hurry, …WITHOUT breaking any school rules.
Before they could move, Scott yelled out, “Huddle up!”. The players rushed to form a circle, putting their hands together or their hand on the shoulder of someone in front of them. Scott gave another yell, “Ready…One…Two…Three…”
All the players screeched out, “TITANS!” and broke their hands. Nineteen Titan basketball players left the locker room almost as excited about basketball as they were about Christmas.
Next: Winter Break (1)