"Not having a shower, Celyn?" asked Erica, in a challenging way. "No," I replied," I usually shower before going to bed" "Each to her own....by the way, what did you say the school was that you go to?" she asked very slyly. The Price to Pay - Vol. 4.11 - Proof by Alys

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Jean Williams," I enquired of the busy looking young man in a tracksuit on the reception at Canolfan Mileniwm* in Casnewydd.

He looked briefly up from his computer, let his eyes wander from my face to my breasts and then looked over to my right.

"Jean!," he shouted at a very fit looking woman in her thirties, who had just entered the building," someone to see you", before turning back to his computer.

I muttered thanks and then turned to face the approaching football coach. I had looked up the list of local woman's football teams on the Welsh FA website, the previous week. A brief email from me giving a brief outline of my experience, apart from the international caps, had resulted in aninvitation to a training session.

"Hi," she said, smiling, as she put out her hand to greet me," you must be Celyn"

"Yes"

"I must admit I am intrigued to see how you shape up, I've not come across any other girls who have played in boys' teams until your age," she remarked.

"I hope I can fit in," I ventured, quietly.

"I hope so, we need some new young players if we are continue to improve and hopefully one day challenge Caerdydd," said Jean a little wistfully, as if she knew how unlikely that was to happen since Caerdydd Ladies played in the top women's division in the UK with Liverpool and Chelsea.

"That would be a huge achievement," I commented, diplomatically.

"Well you can only dream," said Jean, chuckling a little," come on, the club room is this way, you're a bit early so maybe we can have a quick kick about before the others arrive."

She turned into a narrow corridor, off the main concourse, I followed her, past the fading posters of former men's teams that lined the walls.

It was nearly a week after getting Franklinstein's apology and I was feeling very positive. I had quickly caught up with the assignments I had missed, I had made good progress in school netball and football training. On top of that I had spent the night with Siá´n on Saturday, after going to JJ's. As I followed the football coach to the changing rooms my mind relived a few of the pleasant moments.

"Here we are," said Jean, pausing outside a door with a plastic sign, 'Casnewydd Ladies FC', attached to it.

I followed her in and after putting my bag on a vacant bench, changed into my football kit.

"If you have any valuables, I can put them in the office," said Jean, after we had both changed.

"Thanks," I said, handing over my purse, keys and phone.

We jogged out onto the pitch, which was empty apart from a few young boys having a kick about in the far corner. Jean ran me through a range of exercises, before testing me with some difficult passes. The level of skill involved was fairly basic and I didn't want to give too good an impression of myself, so I did only the routine things. Despite this, by the time the team members started to arrive, I noticed that Jean was obviously appreciative of what I could do.

"You have some nice touches," She said to me as we ended our little practice," you might fit in quite well"

"Thanks," I said.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the girls," she said before jogging back to the changing room.

Inside there were about twenty of the team, ranging from, I guessed, late teens to early thirties. The coach introduced me, naming each of them in turn. I forgot nearly all the names as soon as I heard them, apart from a rather sour, stocky looking thirty year old who's name I remembered, Erica, since she looked at me in such an unpleasant way. I remembered the name Alison, Cerys and Eifiona, but wasn't completely sure which name fitted which face.

We all followed Jean onto the pitch and soon we were working through some intensive training activities. I felt comfortable with the pace that was being set, but I noticed one or two others, including Erica, who were struggling to keep up.

The coach put me in what was obviously the 'B' team, composed of the younger, inexperienced and the older, slower players. She put me on the right wing, but I was more or less a spectator as the 'A' team dominated and none of my team felt passing to me to be a useful practice. Soon we were down two goals. I decided to go and search for the ball, if no-one was going to pass to me.

I tackled on the 'A' team midfield players near the half way mark and took it forward. There was a crowd blocking my progress in the centre of the pitch so I quickly took it out to the left wing, where I noticed Erica waiting to either tackle me cleanly or if necessary, if I read her facial expression correctly, to hack me down.

"You won't get past me girlie, you might as well pass," she hissed at me.

My response was to quickly feint right, then at the last moment, when Erica was fully committed to move in that direction, I transferred the ball to my left foot and was past her bearing down on the goal. I was tempted to hit it into the right hand corner, but i saw a team mate free in the centre so I just took the ball near the goalkeeper before flicking it to my fellow 'B' team member who then had the simplest of tap ins into an empty goal.

"Yes!," she shouted," I've scored!"

I ran over to congratulate her. We gave each other a brief hug.

"Thanks Celyn, that was a great run, thanks for that pass, it was very unselfish of you, I'm Cerys by the way," she said as we jogged back to the centre circle for the restart.

"My pleasure, Cerys," I said," let's see if we can get a few more. Listen, as long as you can be unmarked in the box, I'll get you some scoring passes"

The 'A' team were a little more wary of me after the goal and put more players in defence. As a result for the next ten minutes the game was fairly even. Suddenly though I saw my chance, there was a loose passacross the field and before anyone else could react I had run with the ball forward. Once again Erica stood in my way, this time I feinted right, then left and finally went right to go past her.

"You little bitch," she hissed and lashed out with a leg, but she was hopelessly slow in trying to bring me down as I was well past her before she reacted.

The goalkeeper rushed out to try and block me so I just lobbed the ball over her head to where Cerys had managed to get into an unmarked position. She gratefully accepted the easy header into an empty net.

She ran towards me and we high fived.

"Brilliant, Celyn, thanks," she said in her joy at scoring.

"Again, my pleasure," I said.

"Last minute, ladies!," announced Jean before blowing the whistle begin the game again.

I sprinted forward and stole the restart pass off the 'A' team attacker, before they realised the danger, and, after skipping through a couple of half hearted passes, was soon closing in on the goal. I heard Erica lumbering after me from the side but instead of upping my pace to escape her challenge, I did an unwise thing given her attitude towards me. I turned and faced her onslaught. As she tried to scythe me down I beat her on her left side and then when she turned to confront me again I beat her on the left side before speeding to the right of the penalty area andunleashing a fierce drive into the left top corner, with my left foot.

Jean blew the whistle to end the practice game. I turned and jogged, with the rest of the players, into the changing rooms.

"That was amazing," said Cerys," where did you learn to do that?"

"Oh, it's not that good, I guess I've had quite a bit of practice," I replied.

I noticed, as we approached the changing room, that I was getting quite a few glances, a lot more than at the start of the training session. Some were appreciative, others seemed more intrigued, while a small number gave the impression of being underwhelmed by their newsiest recruit.

We walked into the club room and I got a few more nice comments about my ability. I was aware that Erica seemed to be giving me a lot of glances, I felt it a little embarrassing. I started changing into my street clothes, while most of the others stripped off to shower.

"Not having a shower, Celyn?" asked Erica, in a challenging way.

"No," I replied," I usually shower before going to bed"

"Each to her own....by the way, what did you say the school was that you go to?" she asked very slyly.

"I didn't say, but it's Cwm Wysg," I replied.

I turned to face Jean, who had just come out of the office with my valuables.

"How did I do, coach?" I asked.

"You did extremely well, Celyn, I can see the makings of a fine player in you," she replied smiling," as long as you don't do too much showboating as you did tonight"

"Sorry about that but................"

"I know who you are!" interrupted Erica.

"What....who are you talking about?" I asked.

"Don't deny it, you're that tranny thing that is allowed to wear woman's clothes at his school," she said accusingly.

"No, don't be silly, I'm a girl," I countered.

"What are you talking about, Erica?" asked Jean.

"My cousin Eunice is there, she told me all about you, and you used to captain the boys' school football team, oh yes, I remember now, she said that you were even Welsh schools' captain last year," Erica pronounced triumphantly.

"Is this true, Celyn?" Jean asked with a look of shock on her face.

I hesitated.

"Hey girls," yelled Erica at the others," you'd better cover up, this is a boy!"

"Listen it's not like that at all, I am a girl, legally in all ways, I was a boy, oh it's so complicated," I said, flustered and beginning to feel like crying in despair at my past once again chasing after me.

Jean, looking a lot less friendly than earlier, ushered me into her little office. I sat down on one of the hard chairs there and she stood in the doorway.

"I'm going to lock you in here and I'm afraid, if you can't get someone to come here, in the next hour, with documentary proof of your legal gender I'm going to have to call the police," she said abruptly.

* Millenium Centre