Chapter 3: This Just In: Suzie!
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The crowd was pouring out in clumps, spilling into the orange-glow hallway lights and leaving behind the warm stink of sweat, popcorn, and gym socks. Laughter bounced off lockers. The air had that buzzy, electric feel that only followed a home team winning. Suzie was the only one heading in the opposite direction - down the corridor. Toward the boys’ locker room.
The day had come. Suzie had spent the entire weekend preparing, and now, she was as ready as she could ever be. Her backpack was stuffed full of note pads, her recorder had been tested and was working fine, and her camera lens had been meticulously polished.
She walked slower now. Not because she was scared. Reporters aren’t scared, she told herself. But… well. It wasn’t exactly your average reporter's scoop. The tile floor echoed under her sneakers. The noise of the crowd faded behind her like the end of a song.
And then there was Mrs. Carson, standing just to the right of the 'Boys Locker Room' sign. She was a stern, but kind looking woman; tall and broad shouldered, with thick glasses, and her long dark hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She wore a white button-up blouse and black pencil skirt, and a pair of sensible flats. She seemed more a librarian or wannabe executive than a sex-ed teacher.
Suzie had the closest thing to a friendship that a girl her age could have with an instructor, and the two extensively discussed all things girl power. Mrs. Carson was more educated than most of the school's staff - a former PhD candidate turned middle-school health teacher. That drop in status had, the teacher had reluctantly confessed to Suzie, given her a bit of a complex that led her to dress and act above her station.
In Suzie's mind, the older woman was the perfect chaperone for her mission. Professional, educated, powerful, and knowledgeable about all thing boys.
She was also, apparently, quite early.
"Mrs. Carson!" Suzie waved, quickening her pace. "Sorry I'm late! The crowd was crazy!"
"Don't worry about it." She smiles, waving her hand. "The boys' flag football team is surprisingly popular in this town. Are you ready? Do you have everything you need?"
Suzie nods, checking her backpack for about the tenth time tonight. She pulls her recorder and notebook out of her backpack, before zipping it up and slinging it over her shoulder.
Mrs. Carson takes a deep breath. "Okay. I've never seen the inside of the boys' locker room, myself. But, I've seen my fair share of naked boys and men. And of course, I've handled all of these boys as my students before. If you're not comfortable with something, please let me know. Remember, I'm here to make sure you're safe and respected. Okay?"
Suzie nods, trying not to giggle.
"Alright. Let's get started, then. Coach Reynolds should be finished talking with them now." Mrs. Carson knocked twice on the door, and opened it. The air rushed out of the locker room, carrying with it a smell of body spray and wet towels.
... And the chaos of what sounded like a riot on the verge of breaking out.
"Coach, what the fuck!?!"
"You're saying a GIRL is gonna come in here?!?"
"Why the hell do we have to do this?! I've got better stuff to do than talk to some little tyke with a camera!"
"This is bullshit. BULLSHIT."
Suzie blinked.
She'd been prepared for the boys to not take the news well, but... she hadn't expected them to be quite so dramatic about it. The school's locker room was large enough to have a sort of division. There was the locker area, the shower area, the bathroom, and storage space. She could hear the commotion, but the acoustics of the room made it difficult for her to tell where the boys were.
That is, until a lone damp boy in nothing but a towel on his way to the locker area stopped dead in his tracks, his hand clutching at his towel. "F-fuck! She's already HERE coach???" He dashes away, his wet feet squeaking on the floor.
Mrs. Carson took Suzie's arm, leading her forward. "Don't let them push you around, alright? You're the reporter here, not them. If anyone gets out of line, you just let me know and I'll handle it."
The two women stepped inside, the door shutting behind them.
"ALRIGHT! Everyone stop!" Coach Reynolds bellowed. It was almost silent, now. "I argued your case. Now, it is DONE, and frankly I don't give a damn if you don't like it. I don't have the students to keep this team going if one of you gets yourself kicked off for acting like a child over a little interview. Am I clear boys?"
A few quiet groans answered him, followed by the soft thudding of feet against the tiled floor.
"I said -
am I clear boys?"
"Yes coach..." Came the quiet chorus of voices.
"Now get back to your showers. The rest of you, start getting dressed. I'll let Suzie explain." It was only a few moments before the coach came around the corner, his face fuming. But when he saw Suzie, he nodded his head ever so slightly.
"Well, there's the star of the show. Ready for your grand tour?"
"Yes sir," Suzie said, smiling.
"Good. Now, I'm sure the boys have made it perfectly clear that they're not thrilled to be doing this. And frankly, neither am I. So, just get in and get out, and make it easy for me, alright?"
Suzie nodded. The coach turned, and started walking. Mrs. Carson and Suzie followed.
"Now, you can't go IN the shower. But you're welcome to hang out near there or wherever, and talk with anyone who might be getting dressed or undressed. You can roam freely, except for the bathrooms. You can't go INTO a stall that's in use, obviously." He continued, his voice booming and echoing throughout the room.
The two women continued down the hallway, finally reaching the corner that coach had come from. The three stopped. Suzie peeked around the corner. About two dozen boys were in varying states of undress. Most were still in their shorts, or their towels, but a few were in nothing but boxers. Suzie blushed slightly, looking away, but Mrs. Carson gave her a reassuring little nudge forward.
The boys noticed the intruders, and had all frozen. All eyes were on her, and Suzie smiled sheepishly. She looked back at her chaperone, who nodded her head reassuringly. She took a deep breath, and stepped out.
"Hey everyone. My name is Suzie. I'm the new sports reporter for the Pinebrook School Paper."
Some boys muttered, but a few meekly waved. The boy in the towel from earlier, having just finished his shower, was blushing bright red and was holding the fabric in front of his crotch, his hands shaking. Another boy, in no more than a jockstrap and cup, and a white wife-beater was sitting on a bench. His arms were crossed, and he was glaring at her.
Suzie, not one to waste a golden opportunity, walked over. "Hey there. I'm Suzie," she said, extending her hand. The boy said nothing, continuing to stare daggers into her in silence.
"Uh, I'm the paper's new sports reporter. Would you be willing to give me a few minutes of your time for an after-game interview?"
He looked at her for a few seconds, then scoffed. "Fuck off. You're not Steffins."
Mrs. Carson cleared her throat. "You're going to have to answer her in a very different tone than that, mister," she said, her voice a warning.
"Oh? And why's that? Why should I?"
"Because
she's the sports reporter now. And unless you want to find yourself suspended from the team, I'd advise you to start behaving like a gentleman."
The boy;'s eyes darted towards the hallway, where Coach Reynolds leaned against the wall-watching silently. The coach nodded. The boy looked back at Suzie, his eyes narrowing.
"Fine. A few questions.
Then fuck off."
Before Mrs. Carson could reply, she noted the sly smile on the younger girl's face. 'She's got this. She needs to learn to handle the boys herself as well, or they're going to eat her up.'
Suzie held out her pen and notebook, and began writing.
"What's your name, and how old are you?"
"Aiden Braxton. And I'm 15."
"Oh! So you're a senior, right? Does your birthday fall on an off-season, or-"
Aiden shrugs. "I was held back, but coach was able to pull some strings, and I got to keep playing for the middle school team."
"What position do you play, Aiden?"
"Quarterback. It's no contact flag football, but it still helps for the quarterback to be a big guy."
"Have you always wanted to play for the football team?"
"Seriously? This is the replacement Steffins got? What kind of boring ass article are you going to write with all of this?" Aiden scoffs, leaning back slightly in the bench, and pulling his right left across the bench.
"Hmmm... You can go back to the way you were sitting actually." Suzie said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"What are you on about?" The boy asks incredulously, his eyes darting between the girl and his sex ed teacher, genuinely unsure what he'd even done.
“Oh, I get it!” Suzie said, louder than necessary. “You think just ‘cause I’m a girl, I must be here to sneak a peek at your underwear or something? Not because I’m, you know, doing my
job?” She crossed her arms and added, for good measure, “Real mature Aiden.”
Coach Reynolds groans loudly from the hallway, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was already turning out to be a major headache for him, and if this escalated, he was going to have to do some serious paperwork over this. "For god's sake Braxton, just do what the girl says."
Aiden's face turns a little red. He grumbles, and pulls his legs apart once more, straddling the bench as he had been when the girl had entered. "Happy?"
Suzie smirks. She can't resist a little dig. "I mean, I guess. Not much to see when you have a cup on anyways."
Mrs. Carson has to cover her mouth, holding in her laughter. Aiden can only scowl in silence, growing increasingly less and less confident in the situation.
"Do you
have to wear those?" She asks, cocking her head inquisitively.
"W-wear what?"
"The cup."
"Uh. Yeah. You can't play without it. You wouldn't want to even if you could though. They're super uncomfortable. You get used to them, though."
"And are you supposed to sitting on the bench while you're wearing those?" She asks, her hand flicking back and forth in a gesture to the boy's jockstrap. "Because like, isn't your butt right on the bench?"
"W-what? It's a locker room, and I'm changing! Why wouldn't I be allowed to-"
"He's not, no." Mrs. Carson replies, smiling.
"Wait, what? Since when?"
Mrs. Carson shrugs, her smirk never leaving her face. "As long as I've been the health teacher. You can't sit naked on the bench if you haven't showered."
Aiden's mouth was open, and he looked frantically between the two females. "Aren't you here to talk about sports? Let's get back to football!"
"Well today I want to talk about sports related items. Liiiiike... The uniform. So like, do the cups do a good job?"
"D-do a good job...?"
"Yeah, you know! Do they prevent anything? Keep anything from jiggling around too much or falling out or whatever?"
"I-it's a cup! the jockstrap kind of does that, but the cup is for protection."
"Really? Protection from what? It's not a contact sport, right?"
"You don't wanna find out what happens when someone kicks you in the balls, alright? Just trust me... So we wear them just in case." He shifts uncomfortably on the bench as all attention is squarely on his jockstrap-which barely conceals anything. "Does she
have to be here?"
"Of course she does! She's the school's only sports reporter." Mrs. Carson replies matter-of-factly.
"N-no I mean, Mrs. Carson. Does SHE have to be here too?"
"Yes." Coach Reynolds bluntly states from the hallway, offering neither explanation nor sympathy.
Aiden groans.
"Soooooo.... Can I test it then?"
"Test... Test what?"
"Your cup. To see how safe it is."
"What?!? Why the hell do you need to test it?"
"To see if the team's equipment works properly! If it didn't that might make for a good story!"
"No way! Why don't you test it on someone else?"
"Because I'm interviewing you." Suzie says, a slight pout forming on her lips.
"Why don't you interview someone ELSE?"
"I
could test it on another player. But that would be a waste of time! I'm not going to interview the whole team just for this."
"So I'm your fucking guinea pig, is that it?"
"No, you're not a guinea pig. It's just a test. This can be the last question if you play nice!"
Aiden sighs, looking defeated. "So how would you even test it? Like, what do you want me to do?"
Suzie pauses, thinking.
"Just sit there." She giggles, he little hand reaching forward. Aiden shudders slightly at the idea of what was about to play out, scooting backwards as far as he could on the bench.
"Aiden...." Mrs. Carson warns. "Be a good boy and stay where you are."
He groans, but stops moving. He could see her hand reach forward, and then... Her finger poked the hard plastic cup in his jockstrap. "Wooooah..." She whispers. Her finger pushes again, and then again, poking the jockstrap from a few different angles.
"W-why are you touching it like that?"
"I'm testing it. It doesn't seem too hard!" She pokes at it a few more times, watching the plastic shift under the fabric of the jockstrap.
"It's not a shield or something, it sort of distributes the blow to your pelvis, you know?" Aiden provides awkwardly. His bravado was slipping rapidly, but at this point he only really wanted this little experiment to be done sooner.
"Ohhhh ok!" Suzie giggles, her fingers curling ever so slightly into a little fist. She reaches forward once more, end begins gently knocking on the surface of the cup.
*tap tap tap*
Aiden shivers.
She begins tapping away at the plastic, her fingers rapping the surface over and over. The fact that Suzie was 11, the presence of his sex-ed teacher, and the indignity of it all didn't seem to phase all of him--part of Aiden began to stir, rising to see who was knocking at it's door.
"F-fuck...!" He curses quietly, his toes curling and his body beginning to squirm. "Will you stop it already? It's fine, see?"
"Hmmm, okay!" Suzie giggles, flipping her notebook closed and gathering her things. "I think I have my article! I'm just going to need something for the cover. Would you mind standing for me?" Suzie asks with the bat of her eyelashes, pulling out her camera.
"WHAT?!"
"The picture for the front of the paper. We take a photo of each article. Is that a problem?"
"I-I don't have any pants on! Or an actual shirt!"
"But that's more than the swim team wears, and their articles always have pictures!"
"Their suits have, like, backs though!"
"So make sure you're facing me silly!" Suzie giggles, her eyes darting over to Mrs. Carson for support.
"You heard the girl Aiden." She adds.
"S-shit...!" He stands up, his hands clumsily trying to cover his crotch, his cheeks a deep shade of red.
"Awww, come on Aiden! Stand proud!" Suzie teases, lifting her camera and beginning to snap photos. "And smile! You're on camera!"
*click click*
Suzie continues snapping photos, the shutter sound and the flash sending all of the other boys scattering, for fear of being seen in a reflective surface.
"Okay! That should be enough, thank you Aiden!" Suzie giggles, waving her hand.
"Fuck this shit man!" He snaps, stomping past Suzie and towards the showers.
"That wasn't very polite." Mrs. Carson says, crossing her arms.
"It's fine! He was kind of a jerk, but he was kind of nice too. Boys are weird."
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Bonus Scene:
Is Pinebrook's Equipment Protecting It's Players' Equipment?
By Suzie G.
The sports equipment that Pinebrook issues has remained unchanged for years without major incident. But even when your game is a non-contact one, is it possible to say that our team is fully protected?
Pinebrook's flag football team uses the same protective equipment as it always has. This plastic cup is worn inside the player's jockstrap, and is designed to prevent injury to the most important pieces of equipment a man has.
But, what happens when players don't follow the requirements?
I, as the sports reporter, did my duty and took a trip to the boys' locker room to get an insider's view, where I spoke with the Flag Football team's quarterback, and start player, Aiden Braxton (15).
Aiden informed me that, while the cup is technically required, the only thing that actually compels male athletes to follow this rule, is the pain they experience should they fail to do so.
I was curious if the cup itself was truly up to the task, and I set out to test the cup's integrity. I was pleased to find that the devices do a well enough job, but my question remains: is it fair to our boys that we have no system in place to ensure that they haven't forgotten their equipment?
Is it really so that our only means of enforcing it's use, is the pain inflicted on our students when they fail to do so?
This reporter certainly thinks that Pinebrook can do better, and has proposed the idea to Coach Reynolds for a pre-game check, where we can ensure that every member of our sports teams has a cup in his jockstrap before they head out to the field.
**Included on the front page, just above the article, was a black-and-white photo. It showed Aiden, his face clearly red despite the lack of color, and his hands balled into fists on either side of his crotch. The cup prevented viewers from discerning any kind of bulge, but left little to the imagination. In the background, you could seone of his fellow teammates rushing towards the showers, their butt peeking through the window in the back of their jockstrap.**
And as much as Principal Maritn hated the tongue lashing Coach Reynolds gave him over that little slip, the numbers didn't lie. Both on and off the school grounds, the paper had never sold so well.
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