Part Six by Iona Laing.

Chapter Sixteen.

This is a paraquel to “Pawn …” as told by Dawn (Bill). (Since it isn’t prequel or a sequel it must be a paraquel)

At the beginning of my sophomore year I finally was ready to act. Perphaps not really ready but I had to do it this year. I had carefully researched the possibilities. This was the year to come out. Next year the conditions would be much worse.

The September sun beat down on Ethan's back as he lounged in Jordan's backyard, a half-empty can of soda warming beside him. It was one of those lazy weekend afternoons where time seemed to stretch endlessly, a welcome break from the first few weeks of their senior year that had already proven to be more demanding than expected.

It was a tennis match I was supposed to win easily, against an up and coming female tennis player from a rival high school. Since she is a junior and I am a sophomore we had never played each other before.

Due to a lack of tennis players in the state, there was no separate male and female teams. Just one team open to either a male or a female. This also applied to several other sports, golf also being one of the sports. In the sport of tennis, some of the best players were female, their agility overcoming any male advantage due to their strength.

Dedicated to Sephrena Lynn Miller, in the hope that this story fits her expectations. Thank you for all you have done for the group.

Frances and Jill were friends from a long way back. They had met in their nursery school and unlike many small girls, or boys for that matter, had not been selfish, but had played happily together with imaginative games like ‘Doctors and Nurses’ or ‘Mummies and Daddies’ for as long as they were awake.