Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 20:38:25 -0700
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
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

<Monday, March 4>

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.

<Thursday, March 7>

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.

<Monday, March 11>

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.

<Tuesday, March 12>

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.

<Saturday, March, 16>

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.

<Wednesday, March 18>

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