Spring Semester Begins tonywrestles2

With registration came the regular Presidents' Forum. It was Damien's turn to chair; he was mildly surprised when Walker turned up before the meeting.

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously. "Is Buzz skipping or something."

Walker shook his head. "Buzz doesn't know that I'm here," he replied. "I'd like to speak at the end of the meeting, if I can."

Damien's eyebrow raised ever so slightly. "No problem," he said, "but you can't stay for the rest of the meeting. You'll have to wait outside until we call you."

"That's fine. Let me know."

The other presidents began to file in, with no few sidelong looks being directed at Walker as he sat outside the meeting room. Buzz in particular looked like he wanted to say something, but Damien cut him off with a peremptory "let's get started" and Buzz had to go in to the meeting.

"Okay," Damien said, "first off, the Dean had me in his office this afternoon."

"Didn't know you were his type," Brian noted.

The others chuckled, and Damien shot Brian a sour look. "Funny, Bri. Anyway, they're concerned about what's been going on this semester, and they'd like us to 'voluntarily' make sure that there are more pins than submissions this year."
"What's the difference?" Garrison asked. "A fight's a fight."

"Dean Slugwell thinks it's, quote, 'more in order,' unquote. C'mon, guys, you know they don't need reasons for the things they do. So pass the word--more pins this semester. Hopefully by April they'll forget and we can go back to business as usual. Speaking of business, any old business to bring up?"

John stood up. "I think it's time we talked about weight classes again. My Brady's almost a hundred pounds lighter than Buzz; how's he supposed to win the title?"

"He can get down on his knees and beg me," Buzz snapped. "You've whined about this before, John. You didn't get it then, and you're not gonna get it now."

They argued it back and forth for ten minutes. Finally Damien called a vote. "All for including weight classes?" Rick, Blake, and John raised their hands. "All against?" Buzz's hand shot up, followed by Scott, Garrison, and Brian. Damien added his. "Sorry, John, it won't happen this year. You can try again next semester. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Rick said, "when are we getting tag champions? The year's half over already."

"How about a tournament?" Garrison suggested.

"Fine," Damien said, "let's come up with a team apiece, and set it up. Anything else? No? Fine. I'm sure you all noticed Walker outside; he has something to say."

Walker did not look at Buzz when he entered the room. "Hi," he said. "I'm sure you all heard about the bet Blake and Buzz had. Buzz lost, which meant that Blake got me for a month. It sucked, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been, so thanks, Blake."

Blake acknowledged the thanks with a nod.

"But it still steams me that Buzz put me up as stakes without telling me first, especially after he reamed us all out about not telling him stuff less than a month before. I've been thinking about this all month--and I've come to a decision."