 |
There was also the distraction of Siá´n's hand caressing my thigh every few minutes. By the end of the lesson I had a very unfinished assignment and was feeling as aroused as earlier. |
Part 5
"Well done boys!" said Mr Jones to us, as we sat in the changing room, after the match. The chants of 'Cwm Wysg, Cwm Wysg', from groups of children in the lower school wandering around outside, came to us through the windows.
"oh.. and Celyn, of course. Sorry Celyn," he added as his gaze alighted on me, sitting next to Siá´n, " well done all of you. Mr Jenkins, after he had got over the shock of his school losing, was very complimentary, he told me he was impressed with the way you came back in the second half of the game. That was the first time Ysgol Casnewydd had lost a friendly game in five years he told me."
We all looked at each other in pride at our achievement.
"Obviously Celyn and Elfed for scoring the goals got the attention and well done to the two of you," continued Mr Jones," but everyone played really well in attack and in defence so I think you all deserve to give yourselves a round of applause"
The sound of our clapping was almost deafening in the hard surfaced changing room.
"One bit of good news is that I managed to persuade Mr Jenkins to rescind the yellow card against you Celyn, since this was only a friendly game, but he did ask me to remind you and Siá´n of the rules about EXTENDED goal celebrations next time you play," said our coach with a broad smile on his face.
The redness of my blush would have illuminated a dark room, as some good natured chuckles echoed in the changing room.
"OK, Celyn if you can grab your dress and the rest of your stuff, Mrs Simons has opened the girls' changing room for you"
I took my things and followed Mr Jones, after asking Siá´n to wait for me for our next lesson.
"Celyn," said the coach, quietly as we left the room, "I didn't want to say it in front of everyone, but you really made the difference today, thanks so much for coming"
"I enjoyed it, sir," I replied.
"I did notice one thing on the pitch though," he continued.
"What was that?" I asked.
"You seemed to have some argument with Elfed and I thought that he seemed reluctant to pass to you earlier in the half. Is there a problem between the two of you?"
I paused and then answered carefully.
"There was, sir, but now I think that Elfed realises that he was being stupid"
"I'm glad to hear that, and please Celyn if there are any issues in the team I need to know straight away so that I can sort them out, you know what the 'Head' said at the beginning of term, we are all one hundred percent behind you," he stated.
"Thank you sir"
"One interesting bit of news, I contacted the Welsh Schools' FA and explained your situation"
"What did they say?" I asked.
"They are still considering their response but one of their officials did suggest that if you were playing for a ladies team outside school then your case to play for a boys' team in school would be strengthened"
"Why is that?"
"Because you could argue that you would need to play at the highest level in school in order to raise your standard for your club"
"OK"
"One last thing, before you go, and I'm sorry for delaying you from your next lesson, but have you thought of doing some weight training?"
"Why, sir?"
"I noticed that you were losing some tackles today just because the boys you were tackling were stronger. They are lucky, the testosterone that is flooding their system makes muscle development easy, that's why it's banned for athletes, but you could compensate by doing some work in the gym. Think about it."
I thanked Mr Jones and ran across to the girls changing room. Thankfully my Mother had packed my school uniform in my sports bag. I breathed a sigh of relief, even being the scorer of the winning goal wouldn't have let me get away with wearing my skimpy dress around school. I had a quick shower and changed and then rushed out, still brushing my hair, to find Siá´n looking a bit impatient outside.
"Sorry, love," I said giving him a kiss on the cheek, " Jonesy wanted to talk to me"
As we walked to our lesson, I explained about the ladies team and the gym.
"That's a good idea," said Siá´n, "we could go down to Aberllwyd leisure centre, shall we have a look tomorrow?"
"OK"
We were half an hour late for our Maths lesson, but Miss Evans, the teacher, smiled as we went in.
"Hi you two, great game," she remarked.
"Thanks Miss," we replied.
She gave us the notes and showed us the exercise, I tried to concentrate on the problem on the worksheet but it was difficult after the euphoria of the victory. There was also the distraction of Siá´n's hand caressing my thigh every few minutes. By the end of the lesson I had a very unfinished assignment and was feeling as aroused as earlier.
"Do you want coffee?" asked Siá´n when we reached the sixth form common room.
"Please," I replied.
I sat down on the sofa while Siá´n busied himself with the kettle. Soon we were sipping our hot beverage and were joined in our corner by Sioned, Ceri, Meryl and Gethin.
"How did the game go," asked Meryl, who had been one of the many sixth formers who had had to be in their lessons rather than watch the match.
Siá´n and I recounted the events of the morning.
"You got a yellow card for snogging on the pitch!," howled Ceri," that's a really good one"
"Did you really get booked for kissing on the pitch?" asked Meryl.
"That's sounds harsh," said Gethin, "you see it on games on the TV all the time, players always hug when they have scored"
"Um, Gethin, it was a little bit more than a hug," I said, smiling.
"I wonder what you would need to do to get a red card*?" asked Ceri, impishly.
"Shut up Ceri," Sioned and I said almost in unison, laughing.
"Only you could think of that, Ceri," said Meryl, joining in the mood.
"There could be an advertising deal there, though," said Siá´n.
"What are you on about?" I asked.
"Well imagine the TV slogan, buy our new fun beds as tested by Celyn on 'Match of the Day'**" he continued with a broad grin on his face.
I threw a cushion at him and soon he was completely covered as the other girls joined in.
We had calmed down a few minutes later, Meryl turned to me.
"So after today's game are you still thinking of leaving school?" she asked.
"I'm not so sure, the football was great fun, and there are some other things," I said and told them about Seren, " not sure how I can help him but I'd like to if possible, it must be so hard being transgendered and having to hide it. But still don't know what to do about Biology and Franklinstein"
"Do you need to take Biology," Ceri asked.
"Yes why are you even taking the subject?" asked Meryl.
"I liked it last year and it seemed interesting and I thought it might be useful if I want to go into medicine or another health area," I replied.
"But you don't really need it, do you?" asked Siá´n.
"No maybe not,as long as I am studying Chemistry" I replied.
"What about you Sioned?" said Meryl.
"I guess I don't really need to do it either," Sioned replied.
"I wonder what Jonesy would say?" pondered Meryl.
"Which Jonesy?" I asked.
"You know Dr Jones, head of Biology," Meryl replied.
"What he would say about what? I'm lost Meryl," said Ceri.
"If we all quit Biology," she replied.
"You know that's exactly what we should do," said Sioned," we should quit the subject and get as many of the others to do so too"
"I bet that they would have to do something then!" stated Meryl, forcefully.
"Wow, Franklin would be toast!" I said.
We were all thinking about Sioned's idea when there was a knock on the door, Sioned got up and answered it.
"Celyn, there's a little boy here, he wants to see you," she said before opening the door wide to show us who was there.
I looked up and saw Seren standing there, crying his eyes out, his clothes ripped to shreds.
* A red card means that the player is sent from the field of play and his/her team has to play on with one player less.
** 'Match of the Day' is a weekly highlights programme of the top football(soccer) games in the UK.
End of Part Five
Comments
Solid
Another solid installment. I'm definitely enjoying this series.
I particularly like the way you ended the episode, with not so much of a cliffhanger, but more of an intro into the next episode.
is there
.. such a thing as an emotional cliffhanger, or is it simply a this means war. That image in the doorway... oof. If it's the same 'bunch' as Celyn, well... gloves off time. I've been there, I've seen it... sort of the Clint Squint, just before a very focused explosion. Um... ahhh, nice job Alyss... next..grrr...
Kristina
ps... Celyn and Sion need to play it a little more cool and laid back. It's a pinch in ya face.
So the students are revolting
Yes, I know old joke. I am thoroughly enjoying where you take this next Alys, and what has happened to poor Seren? Wouldn't he have gone to a staff member rather than his 'big sister'? When's the next one due? What with your stories and the Ireland v Wales match this afters, I'm turning into an adrenalin junkey.
Diolch yn fawr,
Angharad
Angharad
Loooks As If The Students Are About To Make An Impact
If they all do drop Biology, then the school will have to listen to the report against the teacher. But now we are wondering why Seren has arrived and crying at that. Something tells me that things are about to get very interesting now. May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
lovely as always - but how do you pronounce Welsh?
Hi Alys,
It’s nice to see all of Celyn's friends are fine with Siôn and her being together like that. After all, some could have had a difficult time accepting that a former boy who was not even transgendered would not be with "another boy".
The play for Franklinstein sounds cool and promising so I'm looking forward how this goes. It also shows how much everyone cares about the others.
Alys, while I really enjoy this story I have one big problem.
As a non-native speaker (German) I have no idea how to pronounce the Welsh names since there seem to be vocals missing. The town, school and team names seem unpronounceable to me. I wonder if English or American readers know how to pronounce the names.
So maybe you could show us with an English spelling how to pronounce them. Although you told us what Heulwen's name means in English. If there is a meaning to the other's names would you be so kind as to let us know what they mean?
Thanks for this wonderful story Alys
hugs
Holly
Friendship is like glass,
once broken it can be mented,
but there will always be a crack.
Welsh vowels
Hi Holly
Thanks for your lovely comments and your questions.
In Welsh 'w' and 'y' are vowels. 'w' has an 'oo' sound and 'y' is usually 'uh'. So if you put those sounds in the words it makes sense, all letters, without accents, only have one sound, unlike English.
As regards names Siôn is a Welsh version of John, Sioned is a Welsh version of Janet, Celyn is the same as your name :-) ie Holly and Seren means 'Star'
Hugs
Alys
re: Welsh names
http://www.welshpedia.co.uk/wiki/wales/index.php?title=Categ...
There is an index here which you can use to reference male and female names.
Although Alys does use some which aren't there, such as Elfed, which is pronounced El-ved.
Angharad
Angharad
Pardon?
Is Celyn a common name for boys? If it translates to Holly, I would think it a bit unusual. Works well now, though.
Karen J.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Pronounced
..."Kellin," with the emphasis on the first syllable, it sounds masculine enough. Actually, confession time, I had been saying something like "Celine" (seh-LEAN) until I looked up the Welsh alphabet, found C to always be a "K" sound in Welsh and y to be something like an "uh"/schwa sound. I still wasn't sure of the stress until I looked up the names listing in the Welshpedia site that Angharad posted the other day.
Sounds?
It might sound fine to us, but one has to presume that local speakers know it means Holly, which at least in the part of the U.S. I've lived in is a girl's name. So, is Celyn the local "boy named Sue"?
KJT
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Celyn
It's not a very common name, of the two people I know with the name, one is a girl and the other is a boy. If you search on google the personal names on the first and fourth pages are female, on the second and third are male. It is also often used as part of a place name. Llyn Celyn - Holly Lake is a large lake in North Wales.
So you could say that it is a good name to have if you have to change gender :-)
Hugs
Alys
Name, Gender, Meaning
The meaning of names doesn't always dictate which gender they are, any more than the prior trends in naming carry on from generation to generation.
I was watching an episode of "Danger Man", the hard-boiled English TV adventure series from the early '60s. In it, a male office clerk gofer-type is named, or perhaps nicknamed, "Ginger." Those of us who grew up in the U.S., especially if we grew up watching "Gilligan's Island," couldn't imagine a perfectly "normal" (i.e., non-effeminate, preppie) male being called Ginger. The other characters in the story reacted as if it were a perfectly average name for a bloke.
That's why I asked
Naming comventions vary from generation to generation, from country to country, and culture to culture. Where I live, I tend to see some Hispanic names that seem unusual to my white, anglo-saxon, Norwegian background; but in the Hispanic population they are pefectly normal. I saw on obit the other day for a 90-something man whose middle name was Mary, and it specifically stated his middle name was given him in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Obviously Catholic.
I tend to accept foreign language names as given, unless I have some reason to wonder. I did not question Celyn until I learned it was Celtic for Holly. Then I felt it was worth inquiring about. It might have had some significance I wasn't aware of. If I don't ask, I can't learn. And isn't learning a good thing, Pippa?
Karen J.
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Names
I had grandmother named Indiana, an uncle Vivian, a neighbour (girl) named Christopher, and a friend (boy) named Bev, Beverly. And don't even *go* near my French family and friends' names!
Michelle
Re: Names
Had a classmate named Marion, he caught a lot of shit from the older kids. When we started junior high (7th grade) he was assigned to girl's PE. He was so embarrassed!
My point is: sometimes an author uses a name as a subtle point in the story, but you have to have the background to get it. If you don't have the background, you miss the point. Once I learned Celyn was the Welsh equivalent of Holly, I wondered if Alys was trying to say something with the use of that name, something that I was missing. Several of my characters' names are like that, the people who understand get it, and nobody else would. I even got a very tacky email from one reader awhile back that strongly criticized a name I used, telling me that "**** Sucks!" and the followup said "***** ****** Sucks Even Bigger!". She doesn't know why those names were chosen, nor is it any business of hers. I politely told her if the names offended her so much she didn't have to read anymore of my stories.
Sorry, Alys, that this has wandered so far off, I just wanted to make clear why I was asking, and that it wasn't intended as criticism of your work.
K
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Another "Name"
I once knew a lovely lady who's given name was "Timothy"... She almost got assigned to the "mens" dorm too... They decided to "fix" that when they saw her.
Annette
Sorry but a few dropping Frankenstein won't cut it
Given what a santimonious and lying bitch the head is -- she condemned persecuting Celyn then when it came down to it, persecuted Celyn herself -- a few asking to leave his class will be dismissed as "Oh, those mislead friends of the Freak!"
I'm sorry but so far the head is a real disapointment. She talked the fair and honorable line but has acted to support the worst kind of homopobic reactionaries.
If she is waiting to trap them and then offer her support to Celyn, she has me fooled. More likely she is a religious nutter and a bitch and not worthy of her high post.
Realistic, happy and sad at the same time.
Very good.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
You Have A Great Way
Of answering all our quibbles and objections from the previous episode. Poor little Seren must be very distressed to turn up at the door of the Sixth-Form Common room, but, my, how things have changed since I was at school. A sixth-Form Common room? Never heard of one. Lovely series,
Joanne
They can do that...
... Drop the class I mean... Or is this like an "advanced" placement year (2nd year of subject)? A mass exit, specially if these are all the top students, would be "interesting". I wonder if Elfed was in the class and gave "false witness" against Celyn and for Franklinstein... Might he reconsider this now...
I'm still a bit surprised at Celyn/Sion - and Celyn's mom's apparent "non" reaction. I guess Celyn's considered a "consenting" adult now.
Now, Seren showing up a bit the worse for wear is concerning. How'd he know where to find Celyn? We know Seren looks up to her, but why come to her and not the parents or another adult that have some authority? (I mean other than a plot device to set up the next chapter. :) )
How long until Part Six?
Annette.
running on instinct
It may have been logical for Seren to run to some "authority figure" after getting beat up;
but Celyn is someone who feels like safety to him, who he trusts will empathize, even if
the circumstances of her transition were quite different. It's sweet, you can't help but
feel protective of the little sister. With its heroes and villains, comedy, romance
and pathos, it's an emotionally engaging story with a lot of heart!
~~~hugs, Laika
.
(I thought Seren was a type of nerve gas, but nevermind...)
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
This is an interesting story
This is an interesting story and I am learning a lot about the Welsh side of Great Britain, thank you for that. Reading about Celyn being the same name as Holly in English, I will definitely have to tell my Daughter about this as her name is Holly. It is always interesting to see how names are written and pronounced in other languages.
I believe Celyn and company are going to cause a great problem for the school and a certain teacher there. He seems to need a good "whack up side his head". J-Lynn
This is a nice series.
I have been enjoying reading this series. Keep the chapters coming.
The coach is half blind and the head is an ass
The coach glossed over the troubles in the game and the head has yet to appologuise for her failure to enforce her own standards reguarding any unfair treatment of Celyn or others like her. Time to fish or cut bait as they say.
Thank god she has her friends. I wish we had a scene between her and Meryl so we can see how truely close they were and how it has evolved. If they were almost lovers, I would hope they are like sisters, as hard as that might be for each. The school is a best slow to act or hostile. I'm sorry but even if the head is playing a deep game to out *Frankennstein* and his ilk, she could at least have given Celyn a hint to encourage her.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa