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Chapter 13: Hotties Gone Wild
 By Jim Caple |
Previously at 24 College Avenue: State College cheerleader Mandy Stevenson has moved into the house after getting kicked out of her sorority for supplying a pledge with alcohol during rush. Orion Winfield is one of the best players in the country but his extreme mood swings and lack of discipline are giving coach Jimmy Medici an ulcer. Nicollette Mayle, who angered the athletic department by posing in her underwear more than a year ago, is still persona non grata. . . .
Athletic director Hudson Bay typed “MyWeb’’ and “Hotties Gone Wild’’ into his search engine and prepared for the worst. “As if I didn’t have enough problems with Orion Winfield,’’ he said.
Bay learned about the video while discussing the Orion situation with coach Jimmy Medici. “The best thing for him would be to keep this whole situation private,’’ Bay told Medici. “And, of course, that would be best for the program as well.’’
Medici was about to provide Bay with a vital bit of news – information about Orion so startling the coach still wasn’t sure whether to believe it -- when sports information director Moses Laek interrupted the meeting. “I told Miss Haversham we weren’t to be interrupted,’’ Bay said, glowering at Laek. “This better be damn important because I’m already in a pretty bad @#&$ mood.’’
Unfortunately, he was right. After Laek briefed them both, Bay called up the MyWeb site.
Although the production quality was embarrassingly low (not surprising given that it was shot with a cell phone) and hadn’t been posted until that morning, the video had already been seen by more people than any movie Hollywood released the previous weekend. Such was the popularity and power of MyWeb. That, along with the consistent appeal of sex.
Bay watched as the video began. It showed the Red Devil Hotties, State College’s renowned cheerleaders, as they prepare their routine off court before a recent game. They are practicing what had become known as the notorious “Fertility Dance,’’ a steamy bump-and-grind in which they shake their asses and gyrate their hips and thrust their pelvises and shimmy their breasts to a pounding drumbeat. Considering the state of arousal it usually inspired in male students and alumni (Bay himself occasionally had to strategically place his game program while watching the routine), video of the dance itself guaranteed tens of thousand of hits each time it showed up on MyWeb (at last count there were at least four dozen versions on the website).
But this time it wasn’t the dance that generated all the hits and required Bay’s attention. Indeed, the video only showed the last 10 seconds of the routine. After the finish, he could hear the captain of the Hotties, Ione Kenmore, asking Cathy Lamett if she had seen Mandy Stevenson. “She was in the locker room when we were getting dressed,’’ Kenmore says. “Where the hell did she go to?’’
The camera then pans over to the locker room door where Bay could see Mandy backing out while talking to someone. Her hair is messed up, her skirt is hiked up suspiciously unevenly and her top is untucked. Bay couldn’t quite make out all that she was saying, but it sounded like, “C’mon. Give them here. (Muffled.) I have to get on the court!’’
When Mandy turns and looks awkwardly at her fellow Hotties, Bay could see a hand toss something from the locker room. It strikes Mandy and comes to a rest atop her head. The camera zooms in and as Mandy reaches up quickly, Bay could see her snatch a pair of red cheerleader dance briefs. She smiles first with considerable embarrassment but when the other Hotties begin laughing, she joins in as well. She knows she’s busted.
“So who’s the lucky guy?’’ Kenmore shouts.
“As if,’’ Mandy replies, as the camera focuses on her pulling on the briefs. This provided Bay a very brief, very grainy glimpse of Mandy’s privates, at which point the video abruptly ended.
Bay slapped his hand on his antique redwood desk, sending a pencil flying into Laek’s face. The sports information director tried to block it unsuccessfully and then rubbed where the pencil struck.
“Goddamned @#&%ing camera phones – the worst thing that ever happened to athletic directors,’’ Bay complained. “This is great. This is @$#%ing great. A cheerleader caught having sex before a game. The president is just going to love this. And we were just getting over the jokes about Nicollette Mayle. But at least SHE was wearing underwear. Not this one. We’ll be living this one down for the next decade.’’
Laek nodded. Medici shook his head and looked out the window. Bay replayed the video again.
“I guess we’re lucky that she at least put on her underwear before going out onto the court,’’ Bay said when the video finished again. “Well, there’s not much to do other than apologize and kick her off the squad. Get her on the phone.''
Bay looked down at the computer, where the video was playing again. "Better yet,'' he said, "get her into my office. I want to see her in person.’’
“Unfortunately, kicking her off the squad is not going to be so simple,’’ Laek said.
“What do you mean?’’
Laek leaned forward across the desk. “The problem is,’’ he said, “the person who was in that locker room.’’
To be continued . . .
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