My heart was thumping as he walked towards us. He was looking straight into my eyes. That cold hard stare had no warmth or feeling...

Football Girl

By Susan Brown

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Chapter 10

Previously...

I got to wear a pretty dress for dinner. Josie bought it as a surprise for me from the hotel boutique; it was a lovely purple silk Karen Millen shift dress with a beautiful handkerchief hemline and a double layered neckline. Of course it came with matching shoes and bag so I think I looked quite nice.

I was just tucking into some strawberry ice cream, trying to avoid dripping it on my gorgeous dress, when I looked up. Over by the door I noticed someone I most certainly did not want to see. I went cold all over and it had nothing to do with the ice cream.

It was that horrible reporter–Bob Ferris. He was having a good look around until his gaze came to our table. He looked straight at me with a puzzled expression, and then his eyes went wide. He smiled and walked over to us, looking like a shark who had just found his dinner. I gripped Josie’s hand under the Table and nearly fainted as he walked up…

And now the story continues…

1

My heart was thumping as he walked towards us. He was looking straight into my eyes. That cold hard stare had no warmth or feeling.

“Hello, fancy seeing you here,” said Ferris looking at me and ignoring everyone else.

“Can I help you?” said Jeff standing up, sounding none too friendly.

“No…sorry I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Bob Ferris, I used to work for the Melchester Star, but I’ve gone freelance now.”

“I did ask if I could help you.”

“I just would like to know where Mark Hurst is. You see I had a tip off that he was here and I recognized this girl from outside his flat the other day. I know who you are, Jeff, I saw you at the ground the other day, so when I see you and this girl together one and one makes two, so where is he?”

I sank lower in my chair. Josie held my hand under the table, my hand felt sweaty. Glancing around, I could see the other diners staring at us. The last thing I wanted was attention and that was happening right here and right now!

“You were told not to harass Mark, he’s under age and there are laws about that,” Jeff said, angrily, his face going red.

Ferris smiled, ‘he looks like a predatory shark’, I thought.

“He’ll be sixteen soon so it’ll be easier to, shall we say, report about him in the UK. Abroad, now that’s a different matter, some foreign papers are getting interested in him; you know ‘wonder kid’ and all that stuff.”

I got angry then. I may be a bit meek and mild, but I do have a bit of a temper and you don’t do well at football by being walked over.

“Go away, leave us alone, will you!” I shouted, standing up and spilling a drink at the same time.

“Oh yes, I can see the likeness now. Are you his sister?”

“Mind your own business!” I spat.

Jeff was flexing his fists; the twins were crying and Josie was as white as a sheet. It looked like things were getting rather ugly when the manager came over and placed his hand on Ferris’s arm.

“I think you should leave, Sir.”

Ferris just smiled and said, “Of course.”

“Yes, his sister,” he said thoughtfully, looking at me again, “You must be twins, you look so alike, much prettier though. Look I don’t want any unpleasantness; I just want an interview with Mark. Where is he by the way?”

“Mind your own business,” said Jeff calming down slightly. “Now are you going to leave or do I have to rearrange your face.”

The manager tugged at Ferris’s sleeve and pulled him away.

“I’ll be back,” said the reporter, leering. “The public has the right to know…”

Another man had come up and both he and the manager escorted Bob Ferris out of the restaurant.

I sat down feeling a bit faint and then I noticed that I had spilt cola on my lovely dress and promptly started to cry.

2

A few minutes later we were back in the hotel room; I was in the bathroom with Josie as she helped me out of my ruined dress. Catching site of my reflection in the mirror, I saw that my makeup had run and I looked a sorry sight.

Josie gave me a couple of tissues and took the dress out, returning a few minutes later with a nightie.

“Jeff is going to get the hotel to clean the dress. As the stain is still wet, it should come out okay. Now clean up your face and put on this nightie. I think that you need an early night and we are checking out at 7.00am tomorrow.”

“Where will we go?” I sniffed.

“Not sure, but Jeff thinks that we may be able to get into the rented house early tomorrow and if you like it and flash enough money around, maybe we can stay there.”

I quickly got ready for bed and was soon tucked up with my soft rabbit. It was nice when both Jeff and Josie came in and kissed me goodnight.

The light was out, but I couldn’t sleep. I could hear the sound of talking next door and I strained to hear what they were saying. Were they having second thoughts about me? I seemed to be causing a lot of trouble. They were now under the spotlight because of me and I felt so very guilty about it. A couple of tears squeezed out of my eyes and down my face. Did I want all this and wouldn’t I be happier just playing park football and living over the café. Things seemed a bit simpler then. It was getting so complicated and I didn’t know if I was strong enough to cope.

I began to understand how much pressure young players with any talent received. The media spotlight, no privacy and everything you do, being scrutinized and reported upon. No wonder so many turned to drink, drugs and other nasties.

I was unable to sleep, so using the remote, I switched on the TV. There was the usual rubbish so I channel hopped and nearly went past it. Turning up the volume slightly, I caught the end of the Evening News.

The reporter was standing outside Melchester’s ground, it was raining; well it usually was in Melchester.

“…Thanks Jackie. Well rumors are rife here that Melchester’s legendary midfielder Dave Winston is retiring due to the recurring injuries that have plagued him this season. A club spokesman said that no decision is being made until Winston comes back from the USA where he has gone to see a specialist. It seems likely that new wonder boy Mark Hurst will have to fill the boots of one of the most revered and talented players ever to put on a Melchester shirt. Only time will tell if his explosive entry onto the Melchester team the other day was a onetime thing; a fluke or if he is someone who comes close to filling Dave Winston’s boots. Kevin Sargent…ITN…Melchester.”

I switched off the TV Dave Winston may have to retire! I couldn’t believe it. One of the greatest players around; a legend, loved by all Melchester fans and everyone who supported England. Then I shivered as I recalled what else the reporter said…about filling his boots. I would never be as good as him.

It was quite next door now and I couldn’t see a light under the door so Jeff and Josie had probably gone to bed. After the news that I had just heard, it was harder than ever for me to go to sleep. I tossed and turned and then turned the TV back on. There was a chick flick on and I started to watch it. I think it must have helped me to stop thinking about things as I didn’t remember anything else until I was gently woken up by Josie.

“Come on sleepy, looks like you had a late night TV thing going.”

“I couldn’t sleep so I turned it on and caught the news about Dave Winston.”

“Yes we just listened to a thing about it on the radio. It doesn’t look good. Anyway, they don’t really know the results of his tests yet; it might all work out okay.”

“I suppose.”

“Now you had better get up, have a quick shower and get dressed. We want to be out of here as quickly as possible so that we can avoid Ferris.”

Yawning, I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Taking off my nightie, I sat on the loo and did the necessary and then putting on a shower hat, I went into the shower. The warm jets soon helped me to wake up and I was soon toweling myself dry. Feeling a new girl - sort of, I padded into the bedroom and chose a white cotton smock top and boot cut jeans to wear today.

Putting on my panties, bra and falsies was a matter of moments; then my top and jeans. I slipped on some knee high stockings and my black boots and that was it; I was dressed. I used some lippy and blusher not bothering with my eyes as I didn’t have much time. Finally, I brushed my hair, tugging at some tangles, but finally making it look nice.

Grabbing my case from the corner, I packed my clothes as best I could and then I was ready. I looked up as Jeff knocked on the door.

“Are you decent?”

“Just about,” I said as he walked in.

“Ah good, you’re ready. I wish Josie would be that quick. She’d be late for her own funeral. Look, we are going to check out straight away and find somewhere else for breakfast, Then after nine, I’ll ring the estate agent and see if we can bring the viewing of the property forward. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes, daddy.”

He smiled.

“Good; well I’ll chivvy along Josie and the kids and we’ll see you in a minute.”

Half an hour later, we had squeezed everything into the car and were on our way. By the way, for those that are interested, my dress came back as good as new with no sign of staining so I promised myself that I would wear it again as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
 
 

3
 
 
We found a Little Chef restaurant after about twenty minutes next to a roundabout.

I was hungry so I had eggs, bacon, sausage and chips with a cup of tea to wash it down.

I reflected on last night and the spoiled meal.

“How did Ferris get to know where we were?” I wondered.

Jeff looked up from feeding one of the twins.

“The only people to know where we were going were a few people at the club. I have a feeling that someone leaked it from there.”

“That’s not good.”

“No; I’m going to have a few quiet words when we go there next. We can’t afford to have this happen again.”

After finishing the meal, Jeff was on his phone again. The reception was bad so he went outside. I helped to clean up the twins. It’s amazing how messy they get at feeding time!

A few moments later, Jeff came back in.

“It’s okay, we are meeting the agent at the house in about an hour; time for another coffee then.”

Thirty minutes later we were on our way. I sort of wondered what the house was like. Jeff had explained what it was like but it isn’t the same as actually looking at it.

We drove along a dual carriageway for several miles and then took a turning. After going down several roads, we turned into a lane. It wasn’t very wide and, thankfully, we didn’t meet any other traffic. On the left and right at wide intervals, we passed several large houses set back behind walls, trees and fences. This was obviously an area where serious money lived!

After about a mile, we turned into a driveway and stopped. In front were some large metal gates that were closed. Jeff got out of the car, and keyed some numbers into a keypad. The gates slid silently open and then Jeff got back into the car and drove through. Looking behind me, I could see the gates closing behind us.

I couldn’t see the house yet as we drove down the long winding drive. There were plenty of trees lining our route and I could see lawns and flowerbeds behind them. Eventually, we went around a wide bend and there it was.

The house was quite large, detached and by the look of the number of windows, there were no shortage of bedrooms. I had been told that it was about a hundred years old and was originally owned by someone who ran a textile factory. It had changed hands several times and the present owners were living abroad. I remembered Jeff saying that the house had been up for sale for a while, but now was not a good time to sell, so it had been up for rental for some months.

There was a Beemer parked outside the house and a smarmy looking man in a shiny suit was standing there with a smile on his face. I didn’t like him much, I don’t know why, women’s intuition, I supposed.

“Stop it,” hissed Josie at me as we pulled up next to the other car.

“What?” I enquired as Jeff got out and walked up to Mr Shiny-Suit.

“You’re scratching your chest, it’s not very ladylike.”

I didn’t realize I was doing it.

“Sorry, Mummy, it’s a bit sore; oh, I called you Mummy again!”

“You call me Mummy if you want. I know your real mum doesn’t mind and we consider that you are near enough our child any way. Give me a hug!”

We hugged a bit and it was lovely, then the twins started getting a bit restless.

“I’ll have a look at your chest a bit later, okay?”

“Mmm.” I said, a bit sniffy, as we got out of the car and unhooked the kids from the car seats.

After a bit of a struggle with the buggy, we joined Jeff and the estate agent.

“Ah, nice to see you both,” he beamed. “I’ve unlocked the doors. Would you like me to show you
round?”

“No, that’s all right,” said Jeff. “I can show them.”

“Right, I’ll wait for you here then.”

He sat back in his car and started writing stuff on a clip board as we walked through the impressive double doors and into the large hallway.

Inside it was quite cool. The high ceilings and impressive central staircase gave the impression that this was a house made for someone who had it and wanted to flaunt it. It was a bit cold inside as the heating was off and it was still winter. I hated to think how much it would cost to heat this place!

I was like a little kid as I rushed off and looked in the various rooms. I texted Claire and snapped photos on my phone as I went. The kitchen was humungously large with modern cooker, dishwasher, fridge and stuff like that. There was a utility room attached to the kitchen containing a washing machine and tumble drier, together with a sink and… I just realized that this is beginning to sound like an estate agent advert, so I’ll stop by saying the house was neat with a couple of large sitting rooms with the usual TV’s and stuff; lots of bedrooms with en suits and views.

I kept getting texts back from Claire saying things like cool, great, wow and stuff, so she was impressed too!

The was a large extension on the back that included a sunroom, gym (great!) and an indoor swimming pool (super great!).

After looking around inside and outside–the grounds were large with plenty of places to go for a morning run–we all met back in one of the sitting rooms and Jeff called in the estate agent.

He smarmed in all shiny suit and glittering smile.

“Well, how do you like it? Not many houses like this come on the letting market, with its views and well appointed…”

“Yes it’s very nice,” said Jeff a bit sharply. I don’t think he liked the estate agent much either. “Look, we still need to discuss things; can you give us ten minutes?”

“Certainly, I’ll be in my car just let me know when you’ve decided…”

He left us and we looked at each other.

“Talk about Uriah Heep” said Jeff.

“Who?”

“Never mind, Susan. Well you’ve seen the place. What do you think, it’s your decision.”

It was a great place and if I had to hide away somewhere, it would suit me fine.

“What about the security thing; is that okay?” I asked.

“Well it has high walls and no one can get in without us knowing. They have CCTV and a central alarm. They even have a security company come and check on things at night and during the day. I don’t think we can choose anything better.”

“What do you think, Josie, will it work?”

“As Jeff says, it’s your decision love. But you need to be safe and not looking over your shoulder all the time. We will still have to be careful when you are out and try to make sure that we aren’t followed, but at least you can sleep easy knowing that you are safe from prying eyes here, anyway.”

I thought for a moment.

“Can I afford it?”

“On your wages, no problem. You could afford it even on the reserve team wages but now you are on the first team squad, well let’s say you won’t go short.”

I thought for a few more seconds. It was a nice place and we could have some fun here, I hoped.

“Okay, let’s take it!”

Jeff smiled and then went and got the estate agent in and after a few minutes, the documents were signed. A phone call to the bank and a hefty fee ensured an immediate transfer of funds to the estate agent’s bank account. This meant that we could move in straight away. It’s true what they say, money does talk.

We finally got rid of the estate agent and were able to start to get things sorted. Jeff phoned my agent, John and told him the news about the house. He also told him about what had happened last night with Ferris. John evidently said that he would speak to the club and find out who blabbed. Also John was going to put off my meeting with the club until Tuesday afternoon. John had said that they shouldn’t complain as some idiot at the club had shot his or her mouth off to a reporter, making us do all of this in a hurry!

Jeff went off in his car to collect some bits from home and the flat over the café, leaving Josie, me and the kids at the house. We did some household things that I won’t go into and got ourselves settled in. It wasn’t until the evening that we were able to relax. Jeff went to get some fish and chips–there was a nice place about ten minutes away in the nearest village.

After sorting things out and while the twins were asleep, Josie got me to take off my top and bra.

She inspected my chest and prodded me a bit.

“Ouch!” I said.

“ Hurts?”

“Mmm.”

“Well, you’re definitely developing buds. How long were you on those pills?”

“About six months.”

“I still think those pills were more than just blockers. We will have to ask the doctor when we see her. Don’t worry about it now though.”

“Okaaaay.”

But I was worried and wondered how much more I would develop. It didn’t make any sense that my breasts were growing and itchy. I had been taking blockers to delay my starting male puberty and hadn’t had an erection for ages, not that I ever had many of those anyway, but the pills weren’t supposed to turn me female. I wanted time to make the right decisions. I was 95 percent sure that I wanted to be a girl, but what with my football career and everything else, I needed time.

I won’t go into much more detail about the day as I’m sure most of you have moved house sometime and the details are not that interesting. I phoned mum and chatted to her for a while; she was happy that things were going well and I promised to ring her in a few days after things had settled down a bit. We didn’t talk about my step dad, but I know that he was at the back of our minds.

I talked to Claire too several times and she sounded a bit off. It wasn’t until I was tucked up in my new bed that I rang her again to find out what the matter was.

“Hi Claire.”

“Hi.”

“Can you talk?”

“Mmm, I’m in bed, are you?”

‘”Yes, what’s up you do sound a bit down.”

“My mum has to go into hospital tomorrow for tests.”

“Oh, sorry—erm, what’s up with her?”

“They don’t know, something to do with plumbing, I think.”

“How’s your dad taking it?”

There was silence.

“Claire?”

“He died a few years ago.”

Then I remembered, Andrew, her brother told me something about his father but it was a long time ago and I’d forgotten.

“Sorry, Claire, I forgot.”

“That’s all right.” She sounded a bit tearful.

“Where are you going to stay while your mum’s in hospital?”

“I’m being shipped off to an aunt, down south. She really doesn’t want me and I don’t want to go. Andrew’s okay as he’s gone camping with the scouts.”

“Come and stay with me!”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because….Can I?”

“Of course. I’ll just have a quick word with Josie, I’m sure she won’t mind, Ring you back in five.”

I got out of bed, put on my pink fluffy slippers and padded over to the door. They normally went to bed late so I was sure that they would be in the sitting room. I nearly got lost, the place was so big and I wasn’t used to all the doors and corridors. Anyway, I was feeling a bit chilly in my thin silky nightie and now wished that I had put on my robe.

Anyway, I soon found my way and walked into the sitting room. They were cuddled up, watching the TV.

“Hi,” I said came up to them.

They both looked up and smiled.

“Hi, honey, can’t sleep?”

“No, Mummy, it’s not that. I’ve been on the phone to Claire. Her mum’s going into hospital…”

I explained the situation to them.

“It’s up to you, Susan. After all it’s your house more than ours,” said Jeff.

“Don’t say that, Daddy; it’s everyone’s home and if Claire came, you would sort of be responsible for her.”

“Look, honey, if you want her to come that’s fine. Ask her mum to ring us in the morning and they can sort out the details.”

“Thanks, you’re both great!”

I sat on the sofa and gave them a big hug each, then rushed upstairs, jumped into bed and then rang Claire back.

“Hi, Claire, it’s on; just ask your mum to ring mine and they will discuss it.”

“Wow, like that’s really cool. We can have a sort of sleepover thing.”

“Yes, if we can get you here tomorrow morning…hang on, can you get off school?”

“Yes, compassionate leave of absence it’s called, I won’t have to go in for a few days.”

“That’s good. I’m sure that we can come and pick you up and bring your cases and stuff. I have to go to Melchester to do some more boring paperwork tomorrow afternoon but it shouldn’t take too long, then we can have some fun!”

“Like, that’s cool.”

I yawned. It had been a long day.

“Look, I’m a bit sleepy, I’ll speak to you tomorrow, ’K?”

“Okay and, Susan?”

“Mmm?”

“Like, thanks.”

“Right; night then.”

“Night.”

I switched the phone off as I didn’t want it to go off while I was asleep and settled down. In seconds I was asleep.

4

Tuesday morning I woke up early, feeling refreshed. Mind you, my feet were getting itchy. I had promised myself to go on morning runs when I could and I didn’t want that to slide. I got up and went into the bathroom as I was doing my usual morning wee dance!

After that I went over to the window in my bedroom and pulled the curtain back. It was about eight in the morning so it was quite light. It was cold, clear and frosty, ideal for a nice warming run.

I decided to get out there while I was still in this positive frame of mind. I heard somewhere that the hardest thing about going out for a run was putting on trainers. I could relate to that as you sometimes needed a bit of a push to put them on and get going. Mind you, I love running because it wakes me up and makes me feel good about myself.

Ten minutes later; after leaving a note on the kitchen table saying I was going out for a run, I quietly let myself out of the back door and started off. It was lovely out there as I went around a path, through a small wood and out the other side. The sun had no real warmth but it was cheerful and made everything look bright and new. The frost on the grass and the branches of the trees was so lovely and sparkled in the sunlight. There was no wind and I could see my breath in the cold air. It only took a few minutes for me to get my second wind and I was able to stride out a bit. I was a bit conscious of my wobbling breasts and it made me wonder what the doctor was going to say on Friday. I was glad that Josie was coming with me to that.

I turned my thoughts away from this as I remembered that Claire was coming to stay! That was great; having her around would make things interesting to say the least. Also this afternoon, I was going back to the club for the first time since Saturday. I hoped that I could just sneak in, sign the stuff that needed signing and then sneak out again. But I knew that that probably wasn’t going to happen. There were always reporters and cameras around the club and I kind of realized that I was part of the place and very newsworthy.

Following the path around, I could appreciate just how extensive the grounds were. I wondered in passing if the place was up for sale, how much it would cost. Then I laughed at the notion of a fifteen year old kid owning something like this. Mind you I think I needed to be eighteen for that sort of thing!

I found myself at the side of the house. It had taken about twenty minutes to run around the grounds. It was still quiet and I was enjoying myself a lot, even though I was a bit out of puff. Letting myself back in, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. It felt quite warm in there compared to the frosty cold outside and I was soon sweating freely. After my breath returned to normal, I went back to my room. I met Josie coming down the corridor.

“Morning, Susan.”

‘Hi, Mummy.”

“Had a nice run?”

“Brilliant; the gardens are wonderful. I don’t mind running there and it felt sort of like safe.”

“Mmm, it is lovely here. I’m just going to sort out the terrible twins, they need feeding and changing. You’d better change out of those clothes and have a shower before you catch a chill.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

I stripped off quickly and had a nice warm shower, the water hit my body like needles, especially on my sensitive breasts, but I felt really clean afterwards. After drying myself off with a towel, I dried my hair with my hairdryer. It was taking longer to dry it, now it was getting longer. Once I had combed it through, I was pleased how nice and soft it felt.

After slipping on my panties and bra, I put on a navy cotton skirt and Oasis V-neck jumper and some sandals. I was now ready for the world–well breakfast anyway. I didn’t put on any makeup except some lippy and blusher. As I got near the kitchen my mouth started watering at the smell of yummy bacon!

‘Morning, Daddy,” I said kissing him on the cheek. I gave Josie and the milky mouthed twins the same treatment and sat down at the kitchen table.

“You were up bright and early this morning?” Jeff said as he munched his toast.

“Yes, I had a great run around the grounds; this place is big!”

“I agree. I couldn’t believe it when I came on Sunday. Anyway, we are picking up Claire at nine. I take it you want to come?”

“Of course I do. It will be great having her here.”

“Aren’t we enough for you then?” asked Josie with a straight face. I knew she was joking. I poked my tongue out at her and we all laughed, even the twins!

After breakfast, I helped to clear up and then it was time to go and get Claire. Josie stayed behind with the twins as there wouldn’t have been room for everyone in the car.

It took about forty minutes to get to Claire’s house. We pulled up onto the drive and Claire came out of the house before we had actually stopped.

“Hi,” she said in a small voice as we hugged. I could see that she was worried about her mum so I tried to be as cheerful as possible.

“That’s a nice top Claire, where did you get it?”

“Next, you know the one in the High Street.”

“Well, we have to go there…”

I chatted on, trying to make her smile but losing the battle. We all walked into the house and Claire’s mum was there. She didn’t look very well and had dark circles under her eyes.

“Hello, Jeff and Susan, Claire’s said lots about you. Thank you both for looking after my baby…”

“Muu-um!”

“Sorry,” she said tiredly, “You know how it is, Jeff. Well your twins are still tiny but even when they grow up you still worry. I bet you’ll still think of them as your babies like you do with Susan here”

“Yes, I know what you mean, I think I will…”

They went into the lounge and Claire just grabbed me and we went upstairs.

Going into her bedroom I could see how girlie it was. All pastels and pinks with some dolls sitting on a shelf and several soft toys on the bed. It was a lovely room, the sort of room I would have loved growing up in.

“Nice room.”

“Do you like, think so?”

“Mmm.” I nodded, “shall we take your bags downstairs?”

“Okay.”

We went downstairs and after Claire said a rather tearful goodbye we got in the car and were off.”

As we left, Claire broke down then and had a good cry on my shoulder.

“S..she didn’t want me to go to the hospital with her as it would be too upsetting. She said that I should ring the hospital tonight an…and they would let me know how it went.”

“It’ll be okay, I’m sure,” said Jeff from the front, but I could see that Claire wasn’t too convinced.

5

Showing Claire around the house took her mind off her troubles for a bit and she loved the place, especially the swimming pool! She had the bedroom next to mine and it had a connecting door so it would be cool at night time when we could visit each other. Nothing sexual there as I had no sex drive and she was heavily into boys and no way did she consider me anything other than a girl. No I was her ‘sort of’ sister and that was nice as I had someone my own age who I could talk with about girlie things. Josie was great, but it was different if you know what I mean.

Reluctantly, after lunch I got changed into Mark. It was getting harder and harder to dress as a boy. I had to tape up my chest. It felt a bit restrictive even though my breasts weren’t that prominent–yet.

I decided to wear a plain white t shirt and loose hooded top over it. I swear my bum looked bigger too, but that may have just been my imagination. Slipping on my harsh boys jeans emphasized the fact that I was in boy mode. I didn’t like it but if I wanted to play football for the team, I had to make sacrifices. I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail, checked in the mirror for signs of makeup and then I was ready to go to the club.

Claire was coming too as she was going to take the tour while I was getting the paperwork sorted out. As I walked into the sitting room, Claire looked up from reading a magazine. She had a puzzled look on her face and then it cleared.

“Mark?”

I nodded.

“You look different, sort of like your own brother, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t like being a boy do you?”

“Not really, I feel sort of wrong.”

“Never mind, I’m sure that it will like sort itself out soon.”

We could hear the honking of the horn from outside so we said goodbye to Josie and the twins and were soon on the way to the ground.

“Oh Su…I mean Mark, I got a text from the club to say that there is a training session for the first team squad at the ground today and after the paperwork stuff, they want you to attend. I think it’s one of those first team against reserve games; thirty minutes each side and lay off the heavy stuff. They don’t need any more injuries!”

“Okay.” I said perking up a bit. Playing football made me forget my problems for a while and I hoped that I would enjoy the game. Now I knew that I could play okay at the top level, it didn’t seem such a daunting prospect playing with and against my heroes.

Claire and I chatted about lots of things on the way to the ground and I tried to take her mind off her mum, who would be going into surgery this afternoon. I don’t know if I was that successful but she seemed to cheer up a bit.

6

As soon as we arrived at the car park, we were waved through by the security guard. People were milling around, going into the huge club shop or doing the tour and it was strange the way people pointed at me as I got out of the car. One boy ran up with a photo in his hand; his dad puffing up behind him.

He was about eight and he looked excited for some reason.

“Mark, can I have your autograph?”

He held up the photo and pen. I did a double flip as it was of me just after scoring the goal on Saturday!

I Shakily signed my name and then all hell broke loose as I was surrounded by loads of kids and adults asking for me to sign things like shirts, programmes photos and stuff like that. After a few minutes of this and me, sort of on auto pilot signing everything in sight, I was pulled away by a security guard and led to the safety of the offices.

Claire was looking at me strangely but with a knowing smile on her face.

“Can I have your autograph, Markie, please?”

“Don’t you start.” I said, not finding it very funny.

Claire then went off with one of the office girls who kindly said that she would give her a personal tour while Jeff and I went into a conference room. Inside was John Prentiss together with the manager, Sandy McPherson, and assistant first team coach Roy Neake. There were a few other people there, part of the backroom staff, I think. I just said hello to everyone and sat down in the preferred chair.

“Right,” said Sandy, “Let’s get this bloody paperwork sorted out so that I can get back to sorting out the team for Saturday. By the way Mark, you’re playing against Manethorpe so I want you here at the ground on Friday at 5.00pm. You probably don’t know the setup, but we always stay in a hotel local to where we are playing the next day. It saves same day travel and it helps us focus on the game rather than anything personal; okay?”

“Yes boss.”

“Good….lets get this over with…”

I signed some forms and contracts. The figures given to me sort of washed over my head, but the gist of it was that even if I only played for one season, I wouldn’t ever need to work again, especially if we went up the league a bit and won the cup. It was obscene the amount of money I was being offered, what with the recession and everything, but football is a business and I was considered to be a valuable asset. I still think that my playing was a bit of a fluke and that the next game would show me up for what I really was–a talented park footballer, but until that happened, I would enjoy the ride.

“Right,” said the boss, “I think that’s about it. Oh, one thing, John mentioned the breach of security where you were hassled by that scum of the Earth Bob Ferris. He’s been banned from the ground and training centre. Also, one of the office staff here has been sacked. Don’t worry about him, it turns out that he’s been giving out information for money for the past six months. I go down heavily on anything like that. It’s hard enough in our game to have any sort of privacy and when this happens I don’t take prisoners. Okay, Mark?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Good, what are you still here for then, get down to the dressing room and change for the training match, you have eight minutes…scram.”

I scrammed.

To be continued...

Please leave comments...thanks

My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing and pulling the story into shape.