Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2013 20:07:49 -0700 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: Diamond Dreams Chapter 28 Greetings and welcome back. As I keep stating, the Chapter One disclaimers are still valid and will remain valid. Please, donate to Nifty. Do be safe. The Mayfield Middle School Titans started their season full of self- confidence. They were good, and they knew it. But baseball can be the great humbler, especially when things go awry in a hurry. To add to the problems with Mayfield baseball, the freshmen are certain they see greener grass on the other side of the fence. The result is the stock of the Go to State Team sliding to an all-time low. Email Douglas at thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 28 SCRAPING BOTTOM-Middle School Edition [CHANDLER] Some guys think I made the varsity baseball team because my dad is the coach, but that is a lie. I made it because I'm good. I'm just saying I don't need my dad to be the coach for me to make the varsity as a sixth grader. Then they say Korey made it because he's my best friend. That's lie number two. He made it because he's almost as good as me. Besides, we will play a lot of JV, too. When it's my turn to pitch, we will play in the JV game. I will be the pitcher and Korey will be the catcher. I'm a really good pitcher and he's a really good catcher, but we're not good enough to do it for the varsity yet. We should win lots of games. Before home room, Kevin saw me in the hall and grabbed me around the waist. "Careful," I said, "you almost grabbed my jewels." "And that would be a bad thing?" "Not usually, but here in the hall it would." "Korey says you still plan to suck off the whole varsity roster." "That's true. I got two down since my dad put the roster up." "Oh? Korey didn't tell me that." "Probably because he had yours and Kraig's dicks in his mouth, or both." It's no secret we all like sex fun. And it's no secret Korey and I are almost like boyfriends. But no way have we told peeps we really are boyfriends, just like we don't tell them we're gay. We don't even tell the twins that, but they figure me and Korey are gay. We probably are, but we're eleven and all I know is we like doing sex things together. We've been sexing since we were nine. And we like doing stuff with other guys, especially Mikey and Drew, plus the twins, who are Korey's brothers, plus Mikey's brother Rich, and Rich's boyfriend Marty. I fucked a girl when I was ten. She was twelve and her name was Stacy. It was fun, but it didn't feel like sex. We did it in the woods after we got naked there after I lost a bet to her. It felt good sticking my little thingy in her, but like I said it didn't feel like sex, at least not like me and Korey do it. That's what feels like sex when we suck and do each other's butts and kiss and hump. We do it as hard as we can. What I did in the woods, it was almost like the girl was jerking me off with her pussy. She lives way up by Edmonds next to my cousins. I've seen her since then and she keeps trying to get me to do it again, but I just say I have a girlfriend now—like Korey is a girl. We got naked in that spot in the woods when I visited there a couple of weeks ago during Spring Break. Her boobs were bigger and she let me touch them and suck on one and she had more hair around her pussy. I told her I could put my dick in my mouth and showed her. She thought that was cool and then she played with my balls. Then she said I could fuck her again if I'd smoke some weed with her. I said I wasn't into that shit, and told her again that I had a girlfriend. She pretended like she forgot that. So we got dressed and didn't do anything more. And that's the story of me and girls, which is more than Korey's done. Anyway, Korey and I said we'd suck off everybody on the varsity roster before our last game of the season, and, like I told Kevin, I had two down. Korey sucked me, but that's been all. "So, you and Korey got each other, but who did you get that Korey didn't get?" Kevin asked. "I got Korey and he got me and I got me. So it's Korey not getting himself cuz his dick is too short. He tries, but he just doesn't make it." "So you'll end up sucking one more player than him." "Yep, but I won't count doing me because not many guys can suck their own dicks. Want me to suck you at lunch?" "You mean sneak by The Schnoz?" That was exactly what I meant when I said that. We ate fast and then went to the boys' room in the main hall that the Schnoz watched. And when we were done eating lunch, I got me more to eat in the bathroom from Kevin and had an orgasm jerking off while I did it. But baseball was almost as important as sex. Our first game was the next day, but it got rained out. Coach Dad didn't even have practice. But he said we'd have some kind of practice the next day even if it was raining. Eric called Noah as soon as he woke up. "Happy birthday, beautiful," Eric said as soon as Noah picked up the phone. "I am a teenager," Noah said with obvious pride in his voice. "Now we can both be thirteen year olds with no pubic hair." "Don't forget Lars," Eric reminded him. "Lars is fourteen," Noah corrected, as if that made a difference. "And since his imprisonment nobody sees him naked anyway, so he might have a giant bush of pubic hair by now." Lars wasn't allowed to shower at school, lest somebody gay should see him naked. Eric and Noah didn't know that Lars had been seen naked at the twins' house a few days before. "See you in school," Eric said, his voice indicating that seeing Noah couldn't come too soon. The Titans had outdoor practice on Wednesday, which got them ready to play their first games on Thursday; weather permitting, of course. The weather was partly sunny and in the low sixties. The Titan varsity boys, along with the JV girls' softball team, got on the bus to head for Meadow Park. Noah had Bobby's uniform shirt with him. The team agreed to hang it for the spring season, since it would have been Bobby's eighth grade year and he would have been a key part of the team. When they got to Meadow Park, Noah made sure to get it dirty before hanging it at the end of the dugout. He carefully pinned Bobby's picture to the shirt. For all their issues off the ball field, the Titans were convinced they had a good team. By any measure of talent, they did have a good team, potentially one of the best in the league. They were defending league champions on both the varsity and JV level, and even with some good players from last year moving on to high school, there was an air of confidence around the players. But for whatever reason, that didn't translate on to the field that day. Eric was the starting pitcher, and he threw with his usual precision and intelligence. But because of two errors by Danny at third base in the fourth inning, along with a dropped fly ball by Gavin in left, coupled with a lack of timely hitting, the Titans found themselves down 3-0 going into the top of the sixth. Noah, who was hitting in the two hole, led off the sixth with a single to left. "Is it boner rally time?" Korey asked, hoping that it was. "Dude, that is so last year," Scott told the sixth grader. Nobody disputed him, and so all dicks stayed in their pants. The team did have a rally, however. Scott followed Noah at the plate, but struck out, which brought Carl up. Carl let everybody know right away that his hard work to get into good shape was paying off by hitting the first pitch to him over the left-center fence for a two-run homer. That would be the end of their scoring. Lars pitched a one- two-three seventh, but the Titans went down in their half of the seventh with two strikeouts and a weak grounder. They had lost their first game, 3-2. On the bus ride home Kevin wondered if maybe a boner rally would have helped, but like his little brother, he was shot down. "Kevin, it was what we did last year. We were all seventh graders last year and this year we're eighth graders," Scott told him. "The eighth graders did it last year," Korey said. "Yeah, the eighth grader named Marty," Scott pointed out. That brought an end to the discussion. The boner rallies were no longer going to be a Titans ritual. Through the years they would become something of a legend at the school. The twins, Korey, Eric, and Noah were among those who thought maybe the team might have performed better if they'd had something like a boner rally going for them. Marty and Eric decided it would be a good idea not to hold the monthly Go to State meeting in a public place. That way, if hardly anybody showed up, they wouldn't be embarrassed like they had been the month before. That turned out to be a fortuitous decision as only Marty, Eric, Noah, Scott, and Rich attended the meeting. Fortunately, both of their adult board members, Seth McCall and Mr. B., were there. Those two, plus Eric, Marty, and Noah gave them a quorum and they were able to conduct business. They knew the next meeting was crucial. They had fund raisers planned which would require everybody's participation. Turnouts for the Falcons would start in mid-May. It was beginning to look like Marty and Rich would be the only freshmen to turn out for the Falcons, since Coach Miller couldn't offer the collection of perks the coach from Kentwood was using to entice the Mayfield players. The twins and Korey had told Eric that they would work at any of the fund raisers, but they were skipping the meeting in support of Lars, even though Lars had all but begged them to go. Hunter followed Kraig's lead. Danny didn't want to go to the meeting if everybody didn't seem interested, and Carl followed Danny. The ninth graders stayed away because they saw themselves as too good to be part of a middle school project, even though they had originally begged to be included when the organization was started by Eric and his classmates. Eric was discouraged, especially when both of their adult board members suggested that, if they couldn't muster the enthusiasm they once had, the group might have to think about disbanding at the end of the summer season. "Running an organization like you guys created can't be done based on whims and on who likes and who doesn't like who," Mr. Bednarzyck said. "And that appears to be what is happening now. I know I am preaching to the choir, but your Go to State organization is functioning exactly like a lot of your critics said it would function. They were convinced a group of young teenagers could not maintain the enthusiasm and work ethic needed to make this work over the five or six years needed to achieve your goal. As a group, and I don't mean you gentlemen here today, but as a group, you are on the verge of proving them right." The boys hung around after the meeting was over. Noah was supposed to have a birthday party after the meeting. He was afraid nobody else would show up, and his nervousness was very obvious. But he needn't have worried. The Go to State team might have had its issues, but Noah's teammates were good friends and weren't about to let him down. Soon, the doorbell was ringing with the arrival of his teammates and friends. The only boys who didn't show up were Connor, who was in one of his anti-social "I don't do birthday parties without booze" moods, and Lars, who was forbidden from socializing with his friends and teammates. Noah's dad had the barbeque going strong, Noah's mother had a ton of food to accompany the burgers and hot dogs being grilled, and the chocolate birthday cake with seemingly endless ice cream was a great topper. Eric was delighted to see his boyfriend's thirteenth birthday be a huge success. One thing that helped make it so was the tacit agreement not to discuss the problems plaguing the Go to State Team at the party. Unlike Noah's previous parties, only Eric spent the night. Noah explained that he just wasn't ready for a big wild and crazy party overnight when he handed out the invitations, and everyone understood. But for Noah, the night spent in bed having sex with his lover was far more satisfying than the orgies in the cabana. Noah was quite aware of how Eric's love was what helped keep him whole and what helped make him healthier as time passed. Noah made sure they were cuddled up as tightly as they could be, as the two, finally exhausted from their sexual exercise, finally ran out of gas, if not cum. Noah never let go of Eric's naked body as he instinctively stayed as close as he could. It was a loving and satisfactory night for both of the young teens. The Titans had Evans at home for their second game. Many of Lars's old friends played for Evans and Lars was happy to see them. Lars had been a student at Evans before his parents moved to Mayfield. He was even able to chat with them for a few minutes after their bus arrived and before warm-ups started. "I hate getting your texts," his old friend Skip said. "They're really depressing." "My life is really depressing," Lars said. "Your dad always seemed like a cool dad to me," Jeremy, another old friend said. "He was until he caught me doing what I was doing." "Fuck, and to think I could have been caught doing the same thing. I don't know what my dad would do. It was bad enough I got caught making out with Sherry Matthews with us having hardly any clothes off. I'd really be in the toilet if I got caught naked with a guy's dick in my mouth." While Lars had had his phone taken away to keep him from unauthorized communication with his friends, his father couldn't keep him from using other phones at school to contact his old buddies from Evans. The texts that he sent were now the topic of conversation. "Do you think you might really be gay?" Skip asked. Lars nodded yes to that question. "All we do is mess around," Jeremy said. "I don't think none of us are gay." This time it was Skip and Stefan, who had been quiet through all this, nodding their assent. "Does it bother you that I'm probably gay." "Fuck no," Skip said. "It means we got taught to start doing stuff by an expert. I've had blow jobs from two different girls and they aren't near as good as you two," he pointed to Jeremy and Stefan, "or you," he finished, pointing to Lars. At that point the Evans coach broke up their conversation and the boys returned to their own teams. Scott started, but once again the defense was shaky. Eric, who was incredibly solid and reliable at second, let a grounder go through his legs and tossed a throw to first over Hunter's head. Also, their offense was once again shut down, this time by Skip, who held them to just three runs. Scott was tough, striking out ten as he went all seven innings, but the Titans ended up losing 4-3. Meanwhile, Chandler and Korey played JV that game. Chandler threw five shutout innings as the JV won 6-3 to even their record at 1- 1. The Titans had another home game, this time against the Chinook Totems. While the Titans finally found their bats, Eric, who started, had one of those games all pitchers have where he couldn't get into a rhythm. It didn't help that Coach Ecklund decided to start Carl at catcher. While Carl had improved a lot at catcher over the last two years, he still wasn't the polished catcher that Kevin was. Kevin knew how to get into Eric's head and work with him when Eric's pitches weren't going right. That talent came not only from Kevin's experience as a catcher, it also came from his innate leadership abilities, as well as the combination of his being a best friend of Eric and having caught Eric since sixth grade. Kevin tried to help Eric between innings, but it wasn't the same as their being in synch and communicating while Eric was on the mound. Eric went four innings, giving up four runs off of six hits and three walks. The score was tied at four when he left the mound. Lars pitched the next two innings and gave up two runs. The score was tied at six going into the seventh. Kraig went to the mound in the seventh, and like Eric, he couldn't locate his pitches and ended up giving up a two-run home run. The Titan players lined up along the dugout screen to cheer for a comeback. Scott led off the inning and flew out to center. Carl then gave everybody something to cheer about with a solo home run to left. But Kraig and Hunter both struck out to end the inning and the game. The Titans had suffered their third straight one-run loss. That night there were a lot of players spending the night with one another and all of them expressed how discouraged they were with how the team had started the season. Kevin and Kraig were pleased to be invited to Noah's house to spend the night with him and Eric. Noah and Eric knew that the twins were a bit down about their being kept apart from Lars and Hunter and thought they would love a chance to spend a night away from home. They had read the situation perfectly as the twins were literally hopping with enthusiasm when they received the invitation. They camped out in the cabana below the pool. The pool still wasn't ready for swimming; the pool service in Centralia was scheduled to take care of it the next week. The boys were lounging naked in the cabana and talking baseball, while idly fondling their cocks and balls. "We really suck," Eric said. "Damn, Eric, for somebody who is so positive you can sure be depressing," Kevin said. "We've lost all of our games by a run. We'll get it turned around." "I know that, but we still suck. I mean we could have won them all by a run and still sucked. We aren't playing very good baseball." "I won't argue with that," Noah said. "We've made way too many errors and our hitting is real dumb when there are runners on base. That includes me. I swung at a pitch over my head with Eric on second and two outs today. I should be smarter than that." "Yeah, but if that was Lars up there it would've been right at his belt," Kraig said with a laugh. "Shut up. I just haven't enjoyed my growth spurt yet." "Well, I know for a fact you are enjoying some other spurts," Eric said. That switched the conversation from baseball to sex, which soon got Eric paired up with Kevin and Noah paired up with Kraig. It didn't take long for each pair to be doing a sixty-nine on the carpet. "You've got hairs," Kevin observed when he got a closer look at Eric's pubic area. "Just a few—and it's about time." Eric was less than four months away from his fourteenth birthday. That ended the chatter until Noah shot the first load, his sweet nectar shooting on Kraig's tongue. "Damn, you got good tasting cum, Noah. It's almost like sugar." Eric momentarily stopped his sucking of Kevin's cock to say that was because his Noah was the sweetest boy around. Noah, Kevin, and Eric went back to their tasks, and within a few minutes they had all done what boys loved to do more than anything else—have an orgasm. The pairings didn't continue after that, however. Eric slept with Noah in his sleeping bag and Kevin and Kraig slept together. They were familiar with each other, which made it comfortable for them. Before falling asleep they enjoyed not only the smooth skin and hard cocks of their partner, but enjoyed listening to the other pair as they kissed and petted and dry humped each other. Meanwhile at Carl's house, Danny was in bed with Carl. He had to placate Carl, who was blaming himself for Eric's poor outing. "Kevin kept talking to him between innings. That should've been my job," Carl said. "You did good," Danny told him. "Sure you and Eric weren't used to each other, but you weren't strangers either. Even Eric said he just didn't have his good stuff. We all did the best we could. We can't go blaming ourselves for shit that happened. We just have to go out and kick some ass the next game." "Speaking of ass...," Carl said. "Yeah, I want yours, boy." Danny was soon pounding on Carl's big, tight ass, which was the highlight of their night. Korey spent the night with Chandler. The two sixth graders weren't as discouraged as the eighth graders were. They were happy just to be playing baseball. What they did talk about was how their challenge to sucking the entire varsity was going. "Well, we both got each other," Chandler said. "And we both got your brothers. I got Scott in the boys' room at lunch and I got Justin at his house after practice yesterday. He said he liked our idea, but he would never do it himself." "Did you guys get naked?" Korey asked. "No, we had to be pretty quick and had to be ready to pull our pants up if his parents came home. Plus, his brothers were home." Justin had twin brothers who were ten. His brothers, Korey's brothers, and Noah's brother and sister, were currently the only pairs of twins enrolled in the Mayfield schools. "Plus, I didn't get off doing him. I ended up jerking off on my walk home." Chandler's house was almost a mile from Justin's. "You walked home with your dick out?" Korey asked wide-eyed. "It was only out of my boxers. I rubbed it through my left pocket in my shorts. You know, the one I never put change in because I don't want to lose any of it." "Ohhh, you had those shorts on. Cool. Okay, I only got Gavin so far. That was in the showers on Tuesday, and you saw me do it." "And I saw you squirt your stuff on the floor when you finished." "Are you scared to do it in the shower?" Korey asked Chandler. "Kinda. I sure don't want my dad catching me doing it there. But I guess I'll have to do somebody in there to get his done," Chandler said. "I'll make sure to watch." "Look," Chandler said. "Everybody knows we're doing this, let's text a couple of guys and see if we can do something tomorrow." "Okay. But right now I want to do you." While the two of them did anal sex a lot, they preferred oral sex, dry humping each other, or putting their cocks between the legs of their partner. And they both really loved kissing each other, any time, not only when they were having sex. Hunter wished his dad would quit being stubborn and let Kraig spend the night. He decided he was not going to go the whole summer without Kraig being in his bed. He was going to have to talk to his dad about it soon. Lars, on the other hand, saw his status continue to deteriorate. His dad had seen him chatting with Kevin and Eric after the game as they were putting equipment away. "What were you all talking about?" he asked his son after confronting him. "They're my friends. I can't talk to them ever?" "You know the rules." "I talk to them in school. Are you going to have me followed there by a detective or something?" "You won't be talking to them in school next year." "What's that supposed to mean?" "What it means is you will be attending high school in Kentburg and will be riding there with me every morning." Lars stared at his father as if the man had lost his mind. He said quietly, but with undisguised anger, "I hate you," and walked away, ignoring his father's entreaties to return. The Titans were on the bus traveling to Pine Lake for their make-up game. Lars was sitting next to Kevin, complaining about his weekend. "I'm surprised he even lets me ride the bus to a game," he groused. "Who knows what we might talk about sitting next to each other. We could end up talking about sex or something." Kevin grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed. "We have to figure out something to do. You can't go home and be pissed off all the time." Kevin had seen Lars change from the boy whose ready smile was as bright as his shiny blond hair to one who seemed to wear a perpetual frown and whose lanky body had started to slump as if he was in a state of perpetual defeat. "I wish I could be like Marty and move out. Maybe Marty will let me sleep on his couch, or something." "I hear he's becoming a pretty good cook." Kevin said, trying to inject some lightness into the conversation, especially since Lars had been designated the starting pitcher for the game. Unfortunately, Lars carried his problems onto the field and Kevin could do little to change things around once the game started. When a team's starting pitcher doesn't have his head in the game, that team is usually going to have problems, and this game was no exception. Lars got into some trouble in the first inning, but managed to wiggle out of it, giving up only one run. He wasn't as fortunate the next inning as he gave up four more runs. The Titans were down 5-0 and Coach Ecklund went with Hunter in the third inning. Hunter pitched two innings, Kraig pitched an inning, followed by Toby, a seventh grader, who pitched the last two innings. The parade of pitchers managed to hold the Panthers to just two more runs as home runs by Carl and Scott helped the Titans come within a run at 7-6 at the end of six innings. They couldn't muster any offense in the seventh, however, and found themselves suffering their fourth straight one-run loss. The only plus was Chandler sucking Toby off in the back seat of the bus. Toby had his pants pulled down below his hips as Chandler sucked on Toby's musky four inch uncut cock, his lips often touching the seventh grader's hairless pubic area. "You're crazy," Toby told Chandler on the way to the game when the sixth grader proposed doing it on the bus. "I am, but you know me and Korey have this challenge going." "Your dad will kill us." "Korey's gonna watch out for us." Since there wasn't much else to do on the way back but sulk over another close loss, Toby agreed to let Chandler suck him. Chandler was surprised that he had to work to get Toby hard, but once the twelve year old boned up, the desired result came quickly. Toby thought about the jerk off session he'd witnessed in the shower after a practice the year before as Chandler gave him his first ever blow job. As scared and reluctant as he was, he was now as excited and horny as he'd been since he and Justin had made out in the woods in just their underpants a couple of weeks ago. As he thought about the moment he had creamed his boxers while Justin rubbed him off through to a climax, he started shooting his watery cum into Chandler's eager mouth. "Oh, wow, that was pretty good," Toby admitted as he pulled up his uniform pants. "I liked it, too." "Do you got a boner?" "Yeah, but Korey will help me out pretty soon." "Are you guys like boyfriends or something?" "Kinda, I guess. I dunno, we just like messing around. Korey's still gonna have to do you." "I know. I didn't want you guys sucking me, but now I can't wait." Just when the Titans wondered if things could get any worse, it did. They had to face their archrivals, the Kentburg Bulldogs, who were undefeated. To make it worse, the Bulldogs were pitching Ben, their ace pitcher. The game was at Kentburg, which was a short bus ride from Mayfield. Scott started for the Titans and pitched well, but the Titans couldn't touch Ben. The Bulldogs scored a run in the fourth and two in the sixth and those were enough as Ben tossed a no-hitter, striking out twelve. Even though he only had one inning in which he put the Titans down in order, he dominated the game. The Kentburg pitcher walked four, hit two batters, and two batters reached on errors. But when Eric grounded out to third for the last out of the game, he hadn't allowed a hit. The final score of 3-0 was not as close as it looked as the Titans played a listless brand of baseball. Because the Titans had a bye, they didn't have a game again until the next Tuesday. After a lethargic practice on Wednesday, Coach Ecklund held a long meeting with the team, telling them they were a way better team than they showed, but that they were lacking the kind of work ethic that had been a part of them since they were sixth graders. His talk fell on mostly deaf ears, with only Eric, Noah, Kevin, and Kraig really listening among the eighth graders. The rest of the team was convinced they were working hard and that they were just getting "shitty" breaks. Korey sucked off Justin in the shower after practice, while Chandler got Hunter, with Kevin and Eric looking on and jerking off. Kraig kept an eye out for the coaches so Korey and Chandler could get to their feet quickly if need be. Nobody worried about flashing a boner since boners sometimes just happened. Coach Ecklund worked the team hard on Thursday, but told them they could have Friday off. Korey and Chandler ended up at Eric's house after school on Friday. Of course they stripped and the soon to be twelve year old sixth graders busily set to work sucking off Eric and Noah. Noah had the first cum, coating Korey's tongue with his immature sperm, while Eric blew his more ample load into Korey's mouth a couple of minutes later. "Only two of us have any hair," Chandler said as he and Korey lay on their backs on Eric's bed, idly playing with their small boners. "Eric has some, but not much. Not like the twins have." He pointed to his apparently smooth pubic area. "I have little tiny blond hairs coming out. I'll have a lot hair when I get to seventh grade," he announced proudly. "How's the project coming?" Eric asked. "Project?" Korey asked. "He means the blow jobs," Chandler said. "It's a project all right. It seems really dumb right now." "Why?" Eric asked. "Because it's work. We got to ask everybody, then we have to find a place to do it, and sometimes we gotta do more than ask, we have to almost promise to do somebody's math for a week..." "I didn't know you had to do that?" Korey said. "I was exaggerating," Chandler said. "I mean if I keep sucking dicks in the shower room or on the team bus or try to sneak past The Schnoz to go to the main hall bathroom, I know I'm going to be caught." "That never bothered you before. You are always doing daring stuff." "Yeah, but not, like, all the time. I thought this sounded cool and now it sounds dumb. Like I said, it's work." "Sex should always be fun," Noah said. "If it's work and not fun, then don't do it. Nobody's going to give you any problems because you won't go sucking their dick." "What about you, Korey? Do you think it's dumb, too?" "Yeah, kinda." "Then quit," Noah said. "Isn't it wrong to quit stuff?" Chandler asked. "My dad always says it is." "I don't think it is in this case. You were doing this for you and not for somebody else, like you would being on a team. Just don't do it any more. You don't even have to say you quit, just don't ask anybody. Nobody will think anything of it." "What if somebody asks us to do them?" Korey asked. This time Eric chimed in. "Easy, if you want to give a guy a BJ and have a place to do it, then suck him off like you were still doing the dare. He'll think the project is still going on. But only do it until our last game. That way they'll think it's part of the project." Chandler and Korey thought Noah and Eric had the right ideas and decided to quit chasing down their teammates to ask if they could suck them. Noah and Eric told them they were doing the right thing. "Who did you guys have left?" Eric asked. "The only guys we didn't do anything with are Danny, Carl, and Lars," Chandler told them. "Kevin, Kraig, and Justin are the only ones we both got." "You guys didn't do that badly," Noah said. "Who knows, maybe, just by accident, at least one of you will suck the three you haven't got yet." "I know who I want to suck," Chandler said. "I'm really horny." He adjusted the pillows on Eric's bed and soon was lifting his beautiful athletic ass into the air until he was in position to lick his own boy cock. Noah kneeled in front of Korey, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and quickly got the younger boy's cock hard. It didn't take long for Chandler to lick himself into a furious cum as he shot into his mouth and over his cheeks and chin. Korey's dry cum into Noah's mouth followed soon after. When two teams meet who haven't won a game all season between them, something has to give, and on Tuesday afternoon something did. Even though they didn't play as well as they were capable, the Titans managed to pull out a 7-2 win over the hapless Clark Pass Eagles. Eric started the game and pitched all seven innings. The Titans were a happy team on the bus ride home. After practice on Thursday, Coach Sanders and Coach Miller met with the boys on the varsity to discuss the upcoming summer season. They asked if any of them had been approached by the coaches of the Kentburg team. Everyone said that everything they knew about that team had been told to them by the ninth graders, which confirmed the theory Coach Sanders and Coach Miller had. Since the Kentburg coaches were strictly interested in winning rather than developing players, they hadn't approached any of the younger kids, even the top players like Scott, Kevin, Carl, and Eric. "Is it true the ninth graders are going to play for Kentburg instead of the Falcons?" Eric asked. "Marty said he and Rich were going to be the only ones playing for the Falcons." "That may have been the case, Eric," Coach Sanders said. "But I've been making it pretty clear that there is more to becoming a good player and a good team member than fancy jackets and glitzy uniforms. I am telling you the same thing—the route to championship baseball in Mayfield goes right through Mayfield. You had it right with your whole Go to State concept." "Tell that to the ninth graders," Kevin said. "They begged to play with us when we started and now somebody wants to give them all kinds of free stuff and they act like they're too good for us." "I am working to change that attitude. The first turnout for the Falcons will be on Wednesday. Coach Ecklund won't be having practice that afternoon because you don't play until Saturday. If the high school varsity ends up playing that week we may have to change things." "My dad won't let me play," Lars said, a fact both coaches knew. "I wish you could talk to him." "I have Lars, as you know. Unfortunately there is nothing more that I can do." Lars nodded sadly and Kevin squeezed his hand, aware that Lars's father was nowhere to be seen. "But for now, I'm turning this meeting over to Coach Miller so he can give you all the paperwork and information you need." "Coach," Noah called out to Coach Sanders. "Yes, Noah?" "Good luck in the league playoffs." "We have to win tonight." "That won't be a problem," Kevin said, and the boys gave the coach a loud cheer of encouragement. "We're going to have a board meeting on Saturday," Eric told everyone, "and a full meeting after practice on Wednesday." The boys broke up without comment. But Kevin came over to Eric. "Me, Kraig, and Hunter decided we're all going to be there. Lars said we gotta do it for him. We finally decided to listen to him. He was getting pissed off at us for not taking part." Eric smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Kevin. Thanks a ton. That means a lot to me." "Hey, it's what friends are all about. Sorry if I was a shitty friend for awhile." On Saturday, the Titans had a game at home against Pine Lake. Each middle school varsity team was scheduled for one Saturday home game each season to give the parents who couldn't get off work for a weekday afternoon game a chance to see their sons play. The game was scheduled to begin at one. Marty had cancelled the board meeting because the Mustangs had made it to the league tournament and had their own game scheduled. The executive board, which consisted of Marty, Eric, Noah, Rich, and Rodney, rescheduled the board meeting for Wednesday after practice in place of the full membership meeting. The board would decide on a new meeting date for the full membership. Rodney never returned Eric's text with a vote. Scott started the Pine Lake game. The Titans had lost to the Panthers 7-6 in their first meeting. This time they lost 5-3, as once again they played sloppily and without focus. Chandler and Korey were in the dugout, but were not eligible to play because they'd played in the JV game against Pine Lake on Thursday, which the Titans had won 6-2 behind Chandler's six innings of pitching. After the Titan game, Noah, Eric, Scott, and the twins went with Noah's father to Centralia to watch the Mustang's second tournament game of the day. The Mustangs had defeated Meadow Park, 8-5, in their first game. Chandler, Korey, Mikey, Drew, and Toby went there with Coach Ecklund, Chandler's father. They all watched the Mustangs get pounded by Kentburg, 12-4, bringing their season to a close. That night at Eric's house, Eric expressed his worries to Noah yet again. "We have just a few days until the Falcons start turnouts and the ninth graders keep acting like they're not going to be there. I asked Rodney why he didn't send me a vote about changing the meeting date. You know what he said to me?" "Yeah, he said because he didn't feel like it. You already told me that," Noah said. "I just wanted to make sure you were listening." "You know that I always listen to you—always." There wasn't much to listen to after that except for grunts, moans, squawks, groans, the slurping of kisses, the rubbing of skin, the rustle of sheets, and the squeaks of the bed, as the two of them dry humped to a near house shaking cum. A more subdued sixty-nine a bit later got them drowsy enough to wrap themselves around each other. The two lovers fell into deep and satisfactory sleeps. The Titans played Meadow Park at home on Tuesday. Their first game against the Lions had been a 3-2 loss, with Eric starting. Lars got his second chance at being the starting pitcher, and once again his personal problems got in the way. His hitting had been terrible all year and his fielding uninspired. He often appeared unwilling to run full out to chase down balls hit to the outfield. He would not start any more games after this stint as pitcher. This time he made it into the third before leaving with the Titans down 7-1. The Titans didn't have the wherewithal to dig out of the hole and lost 11-4 to fall to 1-7 on the year, clinching a losing season. So much for defending our league championship, Eric thought gloomily after the game ended. Wednesday saw the first turnout of the spring for the Falcons. There was a sigh of relief from most of the eighth graders when all of the ninth graders showed up for the turnout. Except for Marty and Rich, the freshmen made sure everybody knew they didn't want to be there. "We could have been on a kickass team with those Kentburg dudes," Vince said. "Plus, we would have gotten all kinds of shit, like jackets and batting gloves, to keep." "I bet they aren't going to California for a tournament," Marty said. "If they were going, they would have flown, not take the lame train all the way to California," Connor said. "We're only here because Sanders said this has to be our summer team," Rodney said. "Like he can tell us what to do," Vince said. "This is almost as bad as Gardner trying to tell us not to play for this team. Fuckers should mind their own business and just let us play." In spite of all the grousing, the boys actually had a good practice as they all hustled and worked hard. They were used to how Coach Miller ran things and knew what he expected. It was almost like it was automatic for them to work hard. The Go To State board met after the practice and set a date for the full group meeting, which would include electing the new board. Every board member was at the meeting except for Rodney. They voted to have the full meeting on Sunday at Noah's house. The board was certain there wouldn't be many members at the meeting and that Noah's house would be big enough. On Saturday the Titans were the visiting team for the Saturday game at Evans Middle School. Scott started and overcame his wildness to keep the Evans bats in check and pitched all seven innings. Kevin had two doubles and Carl added another home run as the Titans managed to win their second game of the spring by a 6-4 score. The Dawg and Donkey had driven to Centralia to see the game, taking Rich and Marty along with them. Jerome surprised them by showing up with Noah's father, who brought Lisa, Shane, and Nicky. Along with other Titan parents and fans, the Titans had a pretty good rooting section for an away game. Even though his father was at the game, or maybe because his father was at the game, Lars went out of his way to talk to his old friends from Evans. He also made sure that Kevin was with him and standing close to him. That led to another argument that night between Lars and his father. It was more about his having Kevin at his side than about talking to his old friends, whom his father didn't see as the problem. Lars once again let his father know that he hated him and that he wished he could move out of the house. "Marty did it. If I had a place to go, I would, too." "Marty is another gay kid, isn't he," Neil Anderson said, more as a statement than as a question. "Damn straight he is," Lars said defiantly, "just like I am." "You know son, I've never laid a hand on you, even when you were a toddler. You were always a happy, well-behaved boy. But I am getting pretty tempted now. I'm really tired of all of this teenage mouthiness." "Yeah, well, if you don't like it, just remember who started it. I hate you and I'm tired of all your adult stupidness." Once again, Lars had the last word as he walked out, leaving his somewhat perplexed father in his wake. "If he'd just understand that I'm trying to protect him," Neil Anderson told his wife later. "Protect him from whom?" she asked. "Maybe you're being too hard on him for what happened." "Or maybe I'm not being hard enough." That night, Lars decided what he was going to do with his Sunday afternoon. The Sunday meeting ended up filling Noah's house. Fortunately the weather was warm enough for the boys to meet outside on the back deck. Noah and Shane set up extra folding chairs. Some of the boys simply sat on the deck. They all enjoyed lemonade and sandwiches prepared by the deli at the Mayfield Food-Mart. Marty, Rich, and Jerome were the only ninth graders to show, which was a huge disappointment. "They're all being stubborn jerks," Jerome said. "They got the idea it's more fun to get new jackets and play with a bunch of Kentburg assholes than it is to play with your friends and build a team." "Plus, they all want to show Coach Sanders they won't be totally bossed around," Marty added. They agreed that the freshmen were being stupid. All of the eighth graders, except Lars, were present. Justin, Toby, and Luke were the seventh graders attending while Chandler, Korey, Drew, and Mikey represented the sixth graders. The Dawg and Donkey also showed up as interested observers. Marty was just about to bring the meeting to order when a tall, lanky blond boy wearing a Mayfield Titans baseball cap with a shock of bright blond hair sticking out of the headband in the front, sides, and back, came out on the deck. "Did your dad let you come?" Noah asked. "Fuck him," Lars replied as he sat on the deck next to Kevin, his back against the wall of the house. The meeting discussed their upcoming carwash. Marty said he would work to get the freshmen to help. "Nobody should have to be at the carwash all day, and we need their help to keep that from happening." They also talked about their upcoming trip to California in July. Seth McCall had talked the league into giving the Falcons a lot of scheduling breaks in order to have the extra time needed to take the train down to Salinas. The fact that the trip would be over the Fourth of July weekend helped as well. Finally, they held their elections. The bylaws called for the new board to serve from the end of one school year until the end of the next. Marty was reelected the group chair, with Eric again being the vice chair. Noah was reelected treasurer and Jerome was elected to replace Rodney as secretary, the first time Rodney would not be a member of the board since the group was started. "Snooze, you lose," Rich said. "If he wants to stay home, he can't expect to be elected." "I don't think he expected to be anyway," Noah observed. Kevin, Rich, and Chandler were elected board members at large. Eric was pleased to see Chandler elected. It was an act that meant the Go to State Team might have a future after his class graduated. Seth McCall and Mr. B. were reelected as the adult members of the board. Marty adjourned the meeting with some boys hanging around, but most leaving for home. "You're going to get into some big time trouble if your dad finds out you were here," Kevin said to Lars after the meeting ended. "I can't be in worse trouble than I already am, short of being locked in my room, and it's almost like that anyway," Lars replied. "And it would be worth it just to sit next to you and to be part of the team again. It felt really good being here." Kevin pulled Lars tightly to him and laid a full kiss on his lips. The two quickly were trading tongue, their arms wrapped around each other, their hands looking for things to grope. While they had had opportunities to swap kisses since Lars had begun his "lifetime" restriction, they rarely had a chance to kiss passionately like they were on Noah's deck. Noah walked across the deck and stood next to his two friends and teammates. "Do you want to use the cabana?" he asked quietly. Kevin broke his kiss and nodded yes. They let go of each other and headed down to the pool area, holding hands as they walked along the length of the pool and down some more steps to the cabana. "Are they what I think they are?" Seth McCall asked his son. "Is there any doubt?" Noah replied. "It has to be the water in this town," Seth said, shaking his head. Kevin and Lars emerged forty minutes later, looking a big disheveled and completely satisfied. "Damn, he's such a good bottom," Kevin said to Eric and Noah. "Gawd, he did me hard," Lars added. Eric and Noah were boned up, wishing there had been a way they could have watched. On Tuesday, the Titans played the Chinook Totems at Chinook. Coach Ecklund decided that since the team was going nowhere he'd use a string of pitchers, starting with his son Chandler, who started varsity as a pitcher for the first time. Korey started as his catcher, Justin started at shortstop (where he'd already started a couple of games—he was an outstanding little shortstop), and Toby started in left field. Luke was called up from the JV for the game and started at second. Chandler was young and inexperienced and the eighth graders who pitched were also inexperienced. Lars was the only one who had pitched a lot and he looked good in his two innings as Coach Sanders rescinded his ban from the mound. But the pitching wasn't good enough to pick up a win for the Titans and they ended up losing to the Chinooks 8-4. On Thursday the Titans would be playing Kentburg at home. When it came to that rivalry, Coach Ecklund had no intention of experimenting with the younger players. He was pulling all the stops to win this game. The Bulldogs were undefeated and would be throwing their ace, Ben, against them. Ben had thrown a no-hitter against the Titans in their first matchup, which Kentburg had won 3-0. Coach Ecklund was almost happy to see that Ben would be the starter. He knew his team was a talented group that was lacking self-assurance. Even though the middle school season only had two games left, a big win could be a big help mentally when the Falcons started playing. A nice crowd showed up at the middle school field for the game. The bleachers were full and, as they often did, many of the parents brought their own folding chairs. The Dawg and Donkey were there as well as their friends Cody and Zach. Marty, Rich, Jerome, and, to the surprise of those three, Connor, were the freshmen to show. Marty was disappointed not to see Vince or Rodney there. "They think if they show up it will show that Coach Sanders owns them," Connor said. "So why are you here?" Marty asked. "Those assholes are going to be my teammates, so what can I do?" Connor said referring to the eighth graders. With only two ninth graders missing maybe things are coming together, Marty thought. Even with all of their problems that spring, the Titans were a talented team, just as Coach Ecklund kept telling them. The coach knew that most of the team's problems were located between their ears. They had stopped believing in themselves and were suffering from an extreme lack of confidence, fueled mostly by their losing each of their first four games by a run. Eric and Ben were both on their games. Eric gave up a harmless single to the Bulldogs number two hitter in the first and pitched a one- two-three second. But Ben put the Titans down in order in the first two innings, giving him nine straight hitless innings against the Titans over two games. Kraig took care of that issue by singling to lead off the third inning. Justin bunted him successfully to second and Eric drilled a double up the left field line to score him, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead. After Noah popped up and Scott struck out, Eric went out to the mound to start the fourth inning. He was pleased to have a lead, small as it was. Like his teammates, he sensed that this would be a special game. Eric had a great fourth inning, striking out the side, giving him five strikeouts for the game. Noah, who was playing second, trotted off the field with his friend. They went past the Kentburg first baseman, who sported a dark boystache on his upper lip and dark strands of hair on each cheek. The Kentburg player gave them a glare that he hoped would intimidate them. He stood well over six inches taller and weighed maybe forty pounds more than either one of the short, more physically immature Mayfield boys. "I don't like being struck out by a Mayfield faggot," he said. "Then don't swing and miss," Noah told him. "Put the bat on the ball." "Are you being a smartass?" "I wouldn't think of it. I'm just giving you some sound advice so nobody, let alone a Mayfield member of the gay community, will strike you out." Ben walked up behind the three. "Is he giving you guys shit?" he asked the Mayfield players. "Nothing that we can't handle," Eric told him." "Josh tends to be an asshole at times. Isn't that right, Josh?" "Only a faggot stands up for faggots," Josh said. "You go take grounders and I'll do my warm-up tosses," he said casually to Josh. "Sorry if he bugged you," Ben said to Eric and Noah. "Not a problem," Eric said as he and Noah scurried to their dugout. "What was that all about?" Kevin asked. "Nothing, just a Kentburg asshole being a Kentburg asshole," Noah said. "Nothing new about that, but everything I know about Ben says he's not a bad guy." "He's a good guy," Noah said. "But his first baseman needs a personality transplant." "That's Josh," Justin said. "He can never keep his dad and his brother straight because they're both the same guy." By that time the inning was set to start. Scott opened it up with a single. Two pitches later, Carl sent one of Ben's fastballs sailing over the left-centerfield wall and the Titans had a 3-0 lead. That turned out to be all that Eric needed as he gave up only a two- out sixth inning double to Ben and a one out walk to start the seventh. The walk was erased by a 4-6-3 double play, a play that went from Noah to Justin to Scott to end the inning and the game. The Titans had defeated the Kentburg Bulldogs 3-0. Eric went all seven innings, giving up only three hits while walking one and striking out eight. Eric's dad told him later that it was unquestionably the best game he'd ever pitched. "That was a game a Donkey would have been proud to pitch," the Donkey told Eric as he trudged to the gym. "You guys made no errors, scored the runs you needed to score, and got great pitching. If you'd played like that all year you'd be right up there with Kentburg, who is no longer undefeated thanks to the mighty Titans." Michael gave Eric a big hug. Eric always loved it when the Donkey put his big arms around him. The weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Normally Noah's family went to eastern Washington for the weekend, which they did this time as well. Noah didn't go because the Falcons had practice on Friday as well as two games on Saturday. Noah spent the weekend at Eric's house. The Falcons were playing in a four team jamboree in order to get in some practice games. All teams were having the same problem, which was playing practice games while the school season was still going on. The Falcons still didn't have their roster set and wouldn't until the next weekend, but neither did the other three teams. As long as a player had all of his paperwork in he was eligible to play. Everybody noticed that Lars was not at the practice or at the games. His father was true to his word when he said Lars would not be playing summer ball with his Mayfield friends. The Falcons lost both of their games. Everybody but Eric, who'd just pitched seven innings a couple of days earlier, and Scott, who would be starting the Titans' last game on Wednesday, got to pitch an inning or two. But just like things hadn't really clicked for the Titans, they didn't click for the Falcons either. They lost 5-3 and 10-6 in a pair of sloppily played games. Coach Miller wasn't pleased and Coach Sanders, who sat up in the stands, was even less pleased. It was obvious that the boys didn't have it together as a team, not like they had the spring before when the Titans won the middle school league championship, or during the summer when they showed great improvement. Coach Sanders knew that the freshmen wanted to show they were too good to play for the Falcons. They wanted to show that they should be playing for the Kentburg super team. He also knew that the team that had shown the proper mix of humility and sportsmanship and teamwork to go along with their unbounded confidence had now turned into a team that was driven by ego. Too many of them were seeing themselves as being better than the team. He understood that if they were going to find themselves it would have to be without his help or the help of Coach Miller. The boys had put their own organization together, one that had created the successful Falcons of last year. Now the wheels were coming off of that organization, and only the boys who started the team to begin with could put it back together. Coach Sanders was very much aware that if they couldn't find a way to do it very soon, they probably would never be able to save it. Next: Scraping Bottom-Falcons