Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 20:38:25 -0700 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Puget Posse Chapter 45 Welcome back for more fun with the Posse. In this chapter, they get pretty serious as they learn about the world of politics. Please donate to the Nifty Archive. The usual disclaimers are still disclaimers. Please write. Emails are my salary and I love hearing from my readers. Douglas. thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 45 FIFTH GRADE MARCH March came in as advertised—like a lion. The weekend consisted of wind and rain, making all of the Posse boys restless. When they got to school on Monday, they found themselves having no time to be restless—there simply was too much on their plate. Monday after school was just the beginning. Mark, Matthew, Will, and Patrick had a basketball game. The onetime Bobcats were now the Pelicans since they represented the school. They would be playing St. Andrew's school in Everett in their third of four interschool games. "I kinda like this way of picking a school team," Matthew said on the bus ride north to Everett. "It's way better than soccer was," Matthew agreed. "You have to earn your way on the team." "Maybe, but a lot of good players don't get to play doing it this way," Will said. "I mean, the only way you can play on the team is to win the intramural championship." "Or be one of the players picked up," Tom LaCrosse, one of the pick- up players said. Mark agreed. "Yeah, when you get picked up, you know you're good." "The only bad thing is now we're not short, swift, strong, and smart Bobcats," Matthew said. "We're just birds with big mouths." "A wonderful bird is the pelican/ His beak can hold more than his belly can/ He can hold in his beak/ Enough food for a week/ And I don't see how in the helican.'" Patrick quoted. "That's by this poet dude named Ogden Nash. Dad told me that one when he learned our team name." The image of the pelican presented in the short poem had the boys giggling, with the word "helican" adding to their merriment. "But playing is better than staying home," Lance finally said. The other boys nodded in agreement. The Bobcat players weren't the only Pelicans on the bus. The seventh grade team also had a game at St. Andrew's. They had been the Raptors before morphing into Pelicans. The sixth and eighth grade teams were playing St. Andrews at home. One of the seventh graders on the bus was Blake, who had put on the jerk off show in the shower room. He gave the fifth graders who'd witnessed it a knowing smile. "He's weirder than Jeremiah," Mark said. "I'd rather be locked up in a room with him than with Jeremiah," Will observed. "He doesn't seem to be an asshole like Jeremiah is." "Yeah, at least his weirdness is fun weirdness." The Pelicans won both games. The fifth graders had an easy time of it, winning 49-19. The seventh graders had a tougher game with a 33- 32 win. Not all of the players rode the bus home. Some rode home with their parents. The coach's rule was that players had to ride the bus home unless they rode home with one of their parents. He required a written request from the parent for that to happen. Will was the only Posse boy who had to ride the bus home. Brian was able to get off work early to watch the fifth graders play, and Kristy always scheduled her work to be able to watch the twins play. She was doing less and less part time nursing work as her work as an independent photographer was starting to become more lucrative. The twins and Patrick were almost disappointed they hadn't been on the bus after the game. Will told them on the way to school that he and Tom sat in the back with Blake, who dared Will to jerk him off. Will had jerked off and sucked off his older brother as well as his brother's friends many times, and had no problem jerking off the seventh grader. Tom, who was sexually inexperienced, was awed by how casual Will was about doing something sexual with the older boy. "How come you didn't give him a blow job?" Mark asked Will after he finished his story. "Because Tom might think I was a homo or something," Will said matter-of-factly. The twins seemed satisfied with his answer, but Patrick wasn't quite sure how giving a blow job instead of a hand job was so different. "But it would have been less messy; I got his spooge all over my hand and on my pants. It was gross." Basketball wasn't the only Monday activity. Misha had chess club. It was their last meeting before their chess meet against North Lake School on Thursday. It was a memorable afternoon because Cole gave Misha his first chess club defeat. The game had been hard fought, but Cole stuck to his game plan and more than once outmaneuvered the younger boy. "The czar has been kicked off his throne," Arno, an eighth grader announced. "I don't think so," Cole said after he and Misha finished shaking hands. "The czar is still the best chess player in the school. I got lucky this time." "You played a very good game," Misha said. "You have been harder to beat every time we play." "I've been going to the community center like you said. Those old guys are really good and are very helpful." Misha knew that Cole was playing at the center because he'd seen him there a couple of times. They didn't play each other, figuring they could do that at school. "The czar will be back." "It might be best for the Mad Russian to lose today instead of at the meet on Thursday," Yung-Li, a seventh grader said. Yung-Li was the third ranked player in the club after Misha and Cole. "The Mad Russian?" Cole asked. "I thought he was the Russian Czar." "He is, but my father tells me the czars were mad, like in crazy. Misha plays chess like crazy. So, he is also the Mad Russian." Misha grinned at his newest name. He still preferred being the Wolverine, but nobody in the chess club called him that. The Puget Academy boys found the North Lake chess team to be rude hosts. The chessboards were set up in a large meeting room named after one of the school's major contributors. Most of the members of the North Lake chess team were at their boards awaiting their opponents. The first games would be by rating, meaning the top rated Puget Academy player would meet the top rated North Lake player and so forth down the line. Misha sat at the number one board. His opponent's seat was unoccupied. Cole sat to his left across from a blond boy who looked to be thirteen or fourteen. Misha thought the boy was very cute. While he waited for the opening remarks he thought about the Posse at lunch time. "You're going to kick some serious ass, Misha," Mark had told him. "Yeah," Matthew agreed. "Their number one will look at you and be scared shitless by your brain power." "How is he going to see Misha's brainpower, doofus?" Mark asked. "In Misha's case, how can he miss it?" Matthew replied with a grin. "Sometimes I have the world's stupidest brother. But, he's right about one thing. Misha has more brains than anybody he plays." "I am going to play their number one player," Misha said. "Better yet," Matthew said, "he'll have farther to fall." Patrick didn't say anything until he and Misha met in the covered play area. "I wish I could watch you play," Patrick said. "You've watched me play basketball and soccer." "I know you will be thinking of me," Misha said. "I will, all afternoon. Call me when you get home." He gave Misha a dreamy look. "I wish I could kiss you right now." "Me, too." "Follow me," Patrick said, grabbing Misha by the hand. The two boys ran out onto the grassy athletic field and to the fence along the cliff. It was drizzling, which had almost all of the boys either indoors or in the covered play areas. They stopped at the farthest corner of the field, and looked down at the railroad tracks below. Patrick looked up slightly at his best friend. He grinned and gave him a not so quick kiss on his lips. "Not my best kiss, but you can take it with you." As if on cue, a two-hour late Amtrak "Empire Builder" came into view. It was Misha's turn to grin. "I believe that is called an omen." "It's a good omen." "I have two good omens to take with me—the train and your kiss." Misha's thoughts were interrupted by a big kid standing across the table looking down at him. "You're in the wrong seat kid," he said. "This is for the top rated player. You belong down at the back table." "This is the correct seat," Misha said calmly, although he felt his heart rate go up a bit. He did not like the boy who was standing over him. The boy's name was Edwin. He was fourteen with scraggly brown hair and peach fuzz growing on his upper lip and on his cheeks. He was fighting an unsuccessful battle against acne. Edwin stood at 5'9 and weighed 185 pounds. He did not cover his extra weight well. Misha could detect a distinct waft of body order emanating from the teen. He was a brilliant student, but left a lot to be desired as a person. His peers considered him to be an asshole, and he had few friends. "I don't think you heard me, butthead," he hissed. "Your team's best player sits here to play me. Which is the kid next you. His name is Cole and I know he's your best player, because he was number two last year. I am not letting you waste any more of my time. Move your fucking ass to where it belongs or I'll come over and drag it there." "I am where I belong," Misha said, trying hard to sound calm even though he was shaking. Before Edwin could say or do anything, Cole spoke up. "He's right, Edwin. He is in the right seat, so chill out." "You're joking, right. This is like some fucking joke that only a second rate piece of shit school like your Puget Academy could come up with." "It's no joke. Misha is who you will be playing." "Oh, hell, no, I'm not playing him. No way I play some little kid. And what the fuck kind of a name is Misha?" "Also known at the Mad Russian Czar, the best chess player at the Puget Academy," Yung-Li announced proudly. "And I've already told you what a fucked up place I think that is," Edwin said. "How old did you say you were?" "Eleven," Misha answered calmly. While Edwin made him nervous, he'd learned a bit about how to handle know-it-all teen assholes at the orphanage. "Eleven? That is so fucked they want me to play an eleven-year-old. They wouldn't even let me play in a school tournament when I was eleven and I was the best in my class. No, I will not play your sorry little ass." He stood up and yelled across the room, "Mr. Garnett, help me out here." Mr. Garnett, the North Lake chess coach, came to the table. "What's the problem this time, Edwin?" Mr. Garnett considered Edwin to be a trouble-maker and a drama queen. He was arguably the best chess player he'd ever coached at North Lake, but overall Mr. Garnett considered him to be a pain in the ass. "This...this...little boy is lost," Edwin explained. "He thinks he's the fu...er...the number one player and thinks he is going to play me. This is a total waste of my time." "Well, Edwin, according to Mr. Nichols, he is their number one ranked player." "That means he beat you," Edwin said to Cole. Cole nodded. "I guess that means you're not as good as you think you are." He turned to Mr. Garnett. "I still ain't playing him. Move everybody up a board and I'll play Cole. I played him last year and he's good. I know he's better than that twerp." He pointed to Misha. "I don't believe he beat Cole." "Edwin, you can forfeit your game and go home, in which case you would not be wasting any time. Or you can play the person you're supposed to play." Edwin flashed an empty smile. "Or I can beat him in say, ten moves or less, and still go home. I won't be wasting any time then either." He sat in his chair. "Okay, sucker. You want to play with the big boys, you got your wish. But, you'd have way more fun with the little kids down there, trust me." With things settled down, Mr. Garnett welcomed the Puget Academy Pelican players, although his words seemed a bit hollow after the ruckus at the first table. He went over a few rules and procedures, admonished the few spectators in the room to not utter a word to anybody, and told the players they could begin. Truth be told, none of the Pelicans really wanted to play. They wanted to watch Misha and Edwin. They wanted to watch Misha hand the arrogant prick his ass. Cole and Yung-Li observed that Mr. Nichols chose to sit near the number one board and get out a notebook. They knew he was going to write down the moves of the game so they could all see how the game played out later. Like his players, Mr. Nichols was hoping Misha would put the big North Lake jerk in his place. "Ten moves," Edwin said as he ended up with the white pieces and first move. "I did not know there was what you call trash talk in chess," Misha said with an air of bravado. Misha felt that Edwin was a blow-hard and that he would use his overconfidence against him. Edwin didn't answer; instead he made his first move. It quickly became apparent that Edwin wasn't going to win in ten moves, or in twenty moves. In fact at the twentieth move he was obviously starting to sweat. Cole made his move against Roger, his opponent, hit his clock, and let his eyes wander quickly towards Misha's board. Cole fought back a grin—he could see that Edwin was in trouble and Misha would have to really screw things up to lose the game, if Misha saw the same set of moves he did. He wondered if Misha saw those moves, or for that matter, if Edwin did. It would be complicated, but he thought Misha could pull it off. Misha may have seen what Cole had, but he didn't make the moves Cole expected. He made two better moves. First, he moved his black bishop into Edwin's territory, leaving it unprotected. The look on his face said he had just committed a fatal error and knew it. When Edwin saw that Misha had made what he perceived as an obvious mistake by an inexperienced little kid, he moved quickly, taking the czar's unprotected bishop with his queen. From what Edwin saw, taking that piece was about to open the floodgates for him. Cole finished his move just in time to see the finish of Misha's move. Not only had Misha not seen a possible way to get to Edwin, he had made a dumb move to boot. It was apparent that while Misha was a good chess player, the pressure of the interschool tournament along with Edwin's taunting had affected his game. "Sorry kid, but this game is over. But, I gotta say you played a lot better than I thought you would," Edwin said magnanimously. Making any kind of compliment to an opponent was rare for him. What quickly became evident was that Misha had not made a beginner's error. He had sacrificed his bishop, hoping Edwin would think he'd made the mistake a "little kid" would make and use his queen to take his bishop. Misha had read Edwin properly as the eighth grader jumped on Misha's "mistake" instantly, instead of looking over the board. In other words, Misha was hoping Edwin's obvious cockiness would sink him. And sink him it did. When Edwin moved his queen, it opened up a move for Misha's knight. "Check mate," Misha announced as his knight, a rook, and his queen had Edwin's king squeezed in. The already quiet room became even quieter as Misha's magical two words were heard. The eyes of the other twenty-two chess players, Mr. Nichols, Mr. Garnett, and the six spectators were all on the number one chess board. Edwin looked down at the board in disbelief. "No. Fuck, no. Somebody cheated." He stared at Misha. "You cheated. No way I lose to a fucking eleven-year-old." He then shouted out a loud, "FUCK THIS SHIT!" He slapped the chess pieces off of the board and the table, and stomped angrily out of the room. Misha looked stunned, but his plight ended quickly as the players for both schools erupted in applause for the young boy. His teammates shouted out his name and Cole yelled out, "Let's hear it for the Mad Russian Czar," setting off another round of applause. The two teachers brought order back to the room. Both of them had been coaching chess for a long time and had never witnessed such a noisy spontaneous outburst during a chess match. While they had stern looks on their face, they were secretly pleased that the egotistical teen had been defeated. While Mr. Garnett had been skeptical of the eleven-year-old being the number one ranked player at the Puget Academy, he had backed up the decision of Mr. Nichols, whom he had known for years. He had seen the log of the Puget Academy ranking games, and knew Misha was legitimate, but he had been surprised by the youth of the boy. He took Mr. Nichol's notebook and went through the game, smiling as he saw the complete game unfold on paper. Many of the other boys looked at the book as well after their games were finished. The Puget Academy finished with a 6.5 to 4.5 record and a win in the tournament. The ride home in the school bus was indeed a happy one. Misha sat next to Cole who remembered his own anger at losing to the fifth grader. He knew now that the Mad Russian was for real and he respected and genuinely liked the young boy. Misha called his father, and then his mother, and finally Patrick. All of them were excited, but Patrick was the most excited. "I wish you could come over tonight so I could give you something special," Patrick cooed. "I know what you mean by special," Misha said as he felt a slight stirring in his groin. "Cool, because you know it is very special." "Very, very special and it feels very, very good." They both giggled and exchanged a few more pleasantries. After Misha hung up, Cole asked what special thing from his friend felt so good. "Oh, nothing. It is just something Patrick and I like to do together." "Oh, yes, I know what that is," Yung-Li said from the seat in front of them. "I do that with a friend, too. It feels very good." Cole looked down at the fifth grader sitting next to him. His teen cock was hardening quickly. "Really?" he asked, knowing full well what was being talked about. "Really," Misha replied, blushing some. He was now fully erect. "You are one amazing Mad Russian," Cole grinned, giving Misha's erection a quick squeeze. "Nice. I understand totally, too." Misha smiled back at the eighth grader. Cole and Yung-Li were partially correct. They were both thinking mutual masturbation, while Misha and Patrick were both talking about fellatio. Mark fidgeted in his seat in the student council room. He munched on his lunch as Patrick, the fifth grade vice president, brought the fifth student senate meeting to order. This was the first meeting in which their votes counted for something. Mark, along with the posse members and some other confederates, had planned this meeting out and Mark was eager to get things started. The student council members gave their reports and the meeting quickly got to new business. The first item on the agenda was a proposal to have the eighth grade guides be available to greet the new students on the first day of school. That meant available to all new students, not just the ones on their table team. Vic stood up and gave the reasons for making this a student body policy. Even though the idea had been Mark's, Mark wanted somebody else to propose it. He had a bigger fish to fry. Vic made the motion and Kirk, who was in Mr. Nash's class, gave it a second. The motion passed by a 5-1 vote, with Tony casting the no vote. Since the proposal involved grades other than the fifth grade, it would have to now be approved by the full student senate. The big fish came when Patrick got through the agenda and asked if there was any further new business. Mark raised his hand, which didn't surprise Patrick; Mark had discussed this move with the Posse. "Mr. President," Mark said with as much seriousness as he could muster. "I would like to propose an amendment to the Puget Academy Student Government Constitution." With those words, Mark set forces in motion that he and the Posse hoped would bring down Jeremiah and his minions. What Mark proposed was an amendment giving the fifth and sixth grades equal representation with the seventh and eighth grades. As things stood, each home room in the two lower grades had two representatives in the senate, while each upper grade home room had three. Mark proposed to end the inequity. He was not the first one to try, but nobody had been able to penetrate the upper grade majority. But those students lacked the drive of Mark or the organization of the Posse, which was ready to make itself felt in student government. "Fifth Grade Power," was how Mark and Matthew had put it. There was a reason Mark didn't want the proposed amendment on the meeting agenda. The fifth grade senate members from Ms. McCann's room were in Jeremiah's camp, especially Tony. Mark was pretty certain that Frank, who was in Mr. Nash's room, was tight with Alden, which put him in Jeremiah's camp as well. That meant a vote along party lines would be a three-three tie. An amendment to the constitution needed a sixty percent majority to pass. With votes by four different bodies needed, it would be difficult to pass the amendment. The meeting chairman, in this case Patrick, generally broke a tie. Patrick would, of course, vote in favor of the amendment, but his vote would give the proposal a 4-3 lead, which was not sixty percent. One of the reasons Mark had Vic present his idea for the eighth grade greeters was because he knew Jeremiah's minions would vote no just because he was the one who presented it. Patrick, of course, would break the tie, but Mark wanted that vote to be an easy win. For the amendment to pass, he needed one vote from Jeremiah's camp. By keeping the amendment off of the agenda, Jeremiah wouldn't be able to talk to the three ahead of time about how to vote. The vote would have to be made right then. The Posse needed to win Frank over and they had to do it that morning. Mark knew exactly who to give that job to, and it was Misha. Misha stopped Frank in the hall before school started and swore him to secrecy about what he was about to learn. He told Frank about the upcoming amendment and why it was needed. "We will still have only six votes next year in sixth grade. We need to have as many votes as the older kids or they won't listen to us," was Misha's chief argument. Frank said he would think about what Misha told him, and once again said he wouldn't tell anybody about what they talked about. Misha wasn't sure he trusted Frank. The Posse knew that all kinds of things could go wrong with their plan. They'd seen enough movies and TV shows to know that no matter how good a plan the heroes had, something always seemed to go wrong with it somewhere. When it came time to vote, Mark moved that it be by secret ballot. That vote was 3-3 with Patrick breaking the tie in favor of Mark's motion. Mark thought Frank would be more likely to vote their way if Jeremiah didn't know for sure how he'd voted. The fact that he voted against having the vote by secret ballot didn't make Mark feel confident about Frank's vote. On the other hand, Jeremiah decided not to attend the senate meeting. He was in a snit because Mr. Vargas sided with Patrick over who would chair the fifth grade senate meeting. "I heard the president usually does the first one," Jeremiah had protested the week before when he and Patrick met with Mr. Vargas. "It's happened a couple of times, but normally the vice president assumes his duty under the constitution. Patrick has expressed the desire to do so." The Posse knew that the amendment they wanted had to be voted on at the first real senate meeting in order for it to be in the constitution the next school year. Patrick had to chair that meeting, and this time they were using the fine print in their favor. "That's not fair," Jeremiah said. Mr. Vargas knew how Jeremiah had manipulated the wording of the constitution in order to pick his friends for the Valentine's Day Party planning committee, so he had no sympathy for the boy. He knew the Posse, who he now called the Gang of Five, had plans up their sleeves. Patrick, Misha, and Matthew had kept him apprised of the upcoming amendment and why they didn't want it on the agenda. Nobody wanted Mr. Vargas to be surprised when it came up for a vote. "What if we have a compromise?" Mr. Vargas asked. "We can make the second meeting the President's Meeting and Jeremiah can chair it? It could be the start of a new tradition." "It sucks," Jeremiah said with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. "Maybe, but that's the way it is going to be." Jeremiah stomped out of the meeting room, saying he would not even attend the first senate meeting. His salesman veneer had been knocked aside by his sizeable ego. Patrick, for his part, knew he needed to chair the first official meeting to make sure it went the way the Posse wanted it to, especially if his vote was needed anywhere, which ended up being the case with the secret ballot motion. Patrick's stint leading the Posse as they completed their dioramas had served as a great apprenticeship for the little boy. He was confident that, young or not, he could run the meeting. He'd proven that by leading the Posse. Mr. Vargas liked the Gang of Five. He didn't like Jeremiah. He, as well as Scott, the twins' father, had helped the Posse, as they called themselves, through the fine print of the constitution. While Mr. Vargas gave the impression of being a hands-off type of adviser, that was not the case. He was willing to go the extra mile to help students, especially those who had done their homework. The Posse had done just that by having Scott help them see how they could use the constitution to work things their way. Mr. Vargas was more than happy to confirm the details. Now that it had been decided to hold a secret ballot, Matthew, the sergeant-at-arms, passed out ballots to the six representatives. They each voted and folded their ballot. Matthew picked them up. Along with Mr. Vargas, he would be counting the votes. The two opened the ballots outside in the corridor. Matthew wrote the result on a slip of paper. Mr. Vargas reminded Matthew what to do with the slip of paper and the two re-entered the room. Matthew stepped to the front of the meeting room and handed the slip to Patrick, who made the announcement. "The motion passes 4-2." The three posse members on the council sighed in relief, the one Posse member in the senate sighed in relief, and the one member observing the meeting sighed in relief. Step one of their plan had succeeded, but a lot of tough hurdles lay ahead. While each grade's student senate met only once a month, the student councils usually met on a weekly basis. The fifth grade student council met during Tuesday lunch. Because the fifth graders didn't get the right to conduct official business until March, their attempt at introducing an amendment to the school constitution in time to make it official the next school year was on a tight time schedule. Jeremiah was not in a good mood when he brought the student council to order. The first order of business after Misha read the minutes of the senate meeting and Ellis gave his treasurer's report was to deal with the amendment that had been passed the day before. Jeremiah couldn't decide if the amendment was good or bad; all he knew was that he didn't like it because Mark had proposed it. He liked it even less because Mark and Neville were in the back of the meeting room as spectators. "Who voted for that stupid amendment?" Alden had asked Jeremiah after school on Monday. "I don't know, it was a secret ballot thanks to that little twerp Patrick. Besides, I wasn't there, thanks to the same little asshole." "Maybe you should have been there. I bet that vote would have been different with you there." "Don't tell me how to do stuff," Jeremiah whined. "Somebody has to since you don't seem to know." Only Alden could get away with talking to Jeremiah like that. "I know Tony didn't vote for it. I bet it was the kid in your class who you got on our side." "You mean Frank? You're probably right. I'll have a talk with him. Let him know how he always needs to vote." "I wish I could vote at the council meeting, today," Jeremiah said. "You can vote." "Only if it's a tie." "You can in this kind of election since there can't be a tie." "How can you not have a tie?" "Just go do the math, Jeremiah. The constitution says the president gets to vote when it is about an amendment, at least if it is a council meeting. Patrick didn't have that vote chairing the senate. Sometimes I wonder how you got into this school." "You know I could kick the shit out of you if I wanted to." "I doubt it," Alden said haughtily as he walked away. He wasn't afraid of Jeremiah. Alden knew that Jeremiah needed him, and even if he didn't, Alden was confident he would prevail in a fight. The fifth grade council met at lunch. The biggest item for the Posse was the amendment, an item they had not placed on the meeting agenda. Jeremiah complained that the vote shouldn't count because the amendment hadn't been on the agenda. He didn't care what the amendment was about, he just wanted it shot down because Mark had proposed it. For Jeremiah, this was a power play. He'd defeated Mark in the election for president, and he wasn't about to have Mark pull something over on him. Jeremiah was correct about the amendment being a power play, because that is exactly what it was. What Jeremiah didn't know was that the amendment was opening the door for bigger things. When it came time to vote on the amendment, nobody asked for a secret ballot. It was no secret that the amendment would get the required sixty percent. Patrick, Misha, and Matthew would vote for it and Jeremiah and Ellis would vote against it. At 3-2 they had the sixty percent they needed. From here, the battle would get tougher. The Posse had told Ellis to vote no. For now, they needed Jeremiah to think he still owned Ellis. They needed him to believe that he still had the original envelope with the picture of Ellis naked and made up like a girl. They weren't ready to play all of their cards yet. After the meeting, Mr. Vargas watched with interest as the three Posse members on the council met up with Mark and Neville, who sat in on the meeting as spectators. He knew from his meetings with the group he called the Gang of Five that Machiavelli had nothing on that gang of fifth graders. He knew they were plotting and conniving to bring down Jeremiah, even if he wasn't exactly sure how they would do it. The whole business with the amendment had something to do with it, he just couldn't figure out what. He was interested to see how things would play out over the next couple of months. For now, the amendment would go the full student council, who would then present it to the full student senate. Any amendment put before the student senate could not be voted on until a month after it was presented to give everyone time to discuss it. At least that was the idea behind it. Mr. Vargas knew from past experience that only a small group of senators would actually discuss it or even consider it over the month. The weekend allowed the Posse boys to release a lot of the tension that had built up over the previous weeks. Misha's house became a focal point on Saturday afternoon. Patrick, Neville, Ellis, and the twins all showed up just before noon. Ellis was picked up by Shelly while Patrick arrived with the twins. All of the visitors had their bicycles. The six boys rode with Misha's father, Ryan, down to the park along Puget Sound. They spent their time walking on the beach checking out sea life, exploring the woods, goofing off with each other, and, especially, in the case of Misha and Patrick, watching the BNSF freights plus one Amtrak train go by. The weather was crisp, but sunny—a beautiful mid-March day. The ride out of the park was a long uphill trek. Ryan and the six boys were tired and hungry when they reached Misha's house. They put their bicycles and helmets in the garage and headed into the house. "Dinner will be in an hour." Lois told them as they entered the house. The boys acknowledged her with a nod and headed into the den to watch television, too tired to think of doing much else. Misha and Patrick sat together on the loveseat. Neville, Ellis, and Matthew sat on the couch with Mark sitting in Ryan's recliner. Mark was the first to fall asleep. Misha and Patrick followed, with Patrick leaning against Misha's shoulder. Ellis fell asleep with his head on Neville's lap. Matthew left the couch and stretched out on the floor, joining the rest of the boys in slumber land. They were able to nap for a half-hour before Ryan woke them so they could wash up for dinner. The twins headed for the bathroom first. Misha and Patrick remained cuddled and Ellis made no move to leave Neville's lap. For his part, Neville didn't try to remove him. He liked the feeling of the little blonde's head resting on his crotch. After the twins returned, Neville headed for the bathroom to pee and wash. He was surprised when Ellis followed him into the downstairs room. He felt self-conscious about peeing in front of him, but Ellis had no problem stepping past Neville, pulling out his little cock, and letting loose. "Sorry," Ellis said, "I had to pee bad." Neville shrugged and pulled his pecker out while Ellis washed his hands. "You still have your skin," Ellis said as Neville started to piss. "Most kids in England do." Neville could feel himself blush some. Even so, he took his time putting his junk back into his pants. He rather enjoyed having Ellis looking at him. "It looks really cool," Ellis said. "I wish I could touch it." Neville stepped to the sink to wash his hands. Not long ago he would have told Ellis what he could do with his wish. Instead, he left his cocklet hanging out of his pants, almost daring Ellis to touch it. When Ellis didn't move, Neville said. "It's okay. Touch it, It doesn't feel different than anybody else's." Ellis reached for Neville's hairless cock with his right hand. He put his thumb and index finger at the base, and then moved it up until he touched the foreskin. He could feel Neville getting hard as he pulled the skin back some and touched the skinny purple head. Neville shivered. It was the first time he'd been groped outside of the comfort zone of his house and he liked it. He particularly liked it because he had found himself liking Ellis. In many ways the two of them were outcasts, and that status had attracted them to each other for awhile without them knowing it. Ellis let go of the now semi-hard penis. "I liked that. Thank you," he said. Neville tucked his cock into his pants. "I liked it, too." Patrick and Misha were waiting outside of the bathroom. "It took you guys a long time," Patrick said. "We both had to pee bad," Ellis said. Misha gave Ellis a grin that said he didn't believe a word. "I'm glad we weren't allowed to switch teams," Ellis said as he and Neville sat back down on the couch. "So am I," Neville admitted. "I like being on the Posse, now." "And I like being on the Fantastic Five. Plus, I am even a Posse deputy." He looked at Neville and said quietly, "And I even have a best friend on the Posse, I hope." Neville smiled. "Yes, I think you do." The boys wolfed down dinner and dessert and played around some until their rides showed up to take all but one of the visitors home. The boys would have loved a big sleepover, but their parents felt their sons weren't ready for that yet. Some individual ones were okay, but not big group ones. In reality, it was not the boys who weren't ready yet, it was the parents. The days of group sleepovers were in the future—farther into the future than the boys wanted, but not far enough in the future to suit the parents. They knew that once that genie was let out of the bottle, it could never be put back in. The one boy who didn't go home was Patrick. He would be sleeping with Misha, something both boys had been looking forward to. It was also something that had their friends a bit envious. Before they headed for bed, Ryan and Lois had a talk with the two boys. Misha and Patrick were both comfortably stripped down to t- shirts, briefs, and socks. "We have something we want to discuss with the two of you," Ryan said. "Misha's mother and I had a talk with your father a couple of days ago, Patrick. That sounded rather foreboding to the nine-year-old. "Am I in trouble?" Patrick asked. He wondered if everybody knew that he and Misha had sucked each other's cocks and they were going to get chewed out for it. Maybe they were going to be chewed out for being in their underwear. He couldn't think of anything else he'd done wrong, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten in trouble for something he didn't know he had done. "Nobody is in trouble," Lois said, "and we're sorry if it sounded that way." "I'm sure Misha told you that we're going to California to watch the Mariners open against the Angels and also tour all of the fun places down there." "He told me. I am going to miss him," Patrick said. Lois smiled. "Would you miss him as much if I told you we want you to go with us?" Misha and Patrick looked at each other, their grins lighting up the living room like a dozen 100 watt light bulbs. They jumped off of the loveseat, grabbed each other's hands, and did a little dance around the room yelling how they were going to California together. The happiness could be cut with a knife. Then Patrick looked serious for a minute. "Did dad say I could go? We don't have a lot of money and maybe he said..." Lois interrupted him. "Everything is taken care of, Patrick. Now go back to dancing with your friend," which is what he did. That night Misha and Patrick slept naked, fully intending to have some sexual fun together. But the long day caught up with them, as did the sandman, before they could do more than kiss each other with what ended being up a good-night kiss. The amendment proposed by the fifth grade senate and council was read to the full student senate by the school president, Tyler Mitchell. It hadn't been well-received by the student council or the eighth grade council. Nobody in the student senate seemed overjoyed about it either, outside of Mark and Vic. Mark knew what he had to do to get the amendment passed. First he needed to get 18 of the 30 members of the student senate to approve it. If they did, then the student council and the eighth grade council would have a rare combined vote, with six of the ten members needing to vote for it. After that it went to a faculty committee for final approval. The only way it would not be approved by the faculty would be if it violated school policy, which was not the case with this amendment. The way things stood, everybody knew the amendment was like most others read before the council—dead before anybody even voted on it. But, Mark and the Posse were ready to work for its passage. Getting it through the fifth grade senate and council was partly to tweak Jeremiah, but their enemy was no longer a factor in their thinking. Now they wanted to get it passed because they felt that all grades having equal representation was best for the school, and that it was wrong that they weren't equal. Mark, Matthew, Patrick, Misha, Neville, Will, as well as Paul and Curt their guides, along with some other fifth grade classmates, were ready to lobby and campaign for their amendment. It was understood that Ellis had to stay in the background, but he'd be given some tasks to help the group. If they lost, it wouldn't be because they didn't work their butts off to win. The Posse was ready to make itself felt. They might only be fifth graders, but they were The Puget Posse, and for them, that said it all. Next: Spring Break-The Golden State