High School Fur - A gay furry coming of age story

Chapter 31

6 months later...

"Cooper" Phil shouts as a through ball comes flying up from the wing, I run forward past a familiar face, Justin one of their defenders as I slip the ball around his legs with ease pushing forward in a frantic run.

The first half had been a fight like no other, a fight we didn't seem to be winning, every run was met with a counter, and this was well ant truly stacking up to be one of the hardest matches we had ever played.

The second half was gruelling, but now in the closing minutes, im full of determination to convert this run into something meaningful, only the keeper stands between me and that net now, I catch sight of Jackson up on the left wing along with more defenders filling into the space.

Its now or never I say to myself as I line up for a shot trying to make the keeper commit to one side or the other, this match can't go to penalties.

Without looking behind me I feel the presence of defenders racing after me so I take my chances lining the ball up before booting it with all the frustration and determination to score I can muster.

The keeper lunges forward as the ball curls up and toward the right corner of the net, his fingertips grazing the leather on the ball as he is just out of reach, the ball gracefully sliding into the top corner and straight into the back of the net as the crowd cheers on

This is the county cup final, the crowds have come out in force ad sea of blue erupts from behind the net cheering in unison, mostly parents and the school year all out in force to support us.

I feel a rush of bodies as Jackson and Phil squeeze me tightly, I look up to the scoreboard and beam with pride as it reads Ravendale 1 – Brookdale – 0

In the distance I can see Kevin McKenzie, his face like thunder as he shouts at his team mates, my old team mates no less.

The writing was on the wall no though, and desperation was setting in, as the ball kicked off again Brookdale lost cohesion which meant we could pass the ball between us and waste the time, each one of us watching the game counter slowly rise up to the full 90 minutes.

We stuck to coaches plan to not take any silly risks, we worked as a team and made Brookdale run around the pitch for the last 10 minutes of the match until the final whistle was blown along with it any chance they had at the county cup

In the midst of the celebrations the golden trophy appeared onto the pitch and soon it was shoved directly into my hands, Eric picked me up my the hips and sat me between his and Bryson's shoulder as we paraded around the pitch, the trophy held as high as I could manage into the air.

The team chanted my name, "coo—per" filled the pitch like a fever from my team mates, like the pitch was alive breathing my name for all to hear.

My old coach stood staring on the sidelines, Coach Crawlow laughing and nudging him while pointing out to the pitch, I would have loved to know what he was saying as it was certainly making him angry.

And then it was time to be sportsmanlike, Eric lifted me back off his shoulders, a big tight hug ensued, Eric and I had come to this unspoken understanding of the last few months, I genuinely believed he was sorry and was trying his best to show that.

He no longer called me Samantha, and had almost become an advocate for anything gay at Ravendale, even though he himself was not out, not to everyone anyway, it was something he was working on and like an olive branch was something he often confided to me.

Tommy was right there was a whole different side to Eric and the more I knew him the more I understood why Jackson was friends with him in the first place, not that I had fully forgiven him just yet, but I wasn't far from it.

The teams mingled and we started shaking each others hands as we left the pitch, many of my old team mates were reluctant to take my hand, even less were able to look me in the eye, that was until Kevin McKenzie

"you're still a faggot" he snorts snubbing my outstretched hand, instead moving onto Eric's who clasps Kevin's hand into his huge paw by comparison and begins to squeeze it and I see the pain register on Kevin's face as Eric smiles, his other paw casually rests on Kevin's shoulder and I see his thumb squeeze hard.

To anyone else it just looked like a hand shake, but I could see what was happening here, I knew the familiar grip and fear I had when Eric had me in his grasp all that time ago, "his names Sam, and you only get the one warning, understood?" Eric bares his teeth as Kevin Flinches "yes! Im sorry" he cries out as Eric pats him on the back with a little more obvious force, releasing his grip on Kevin's hand.

Kevin snatches his hand back rubbing it with his other, and instead makes his way back to the changing rooms.

Jackson comes over and stick's an arm around my neck, "you ok?" he asks eyeing up the trophy, "yeah, it feels good" I say smiling from ear to ear knowing we won, and now my old team mates would be eating their words about 'gays don't play football' because the gays came and won the cup!

i wonder what the future holds, summer is coming and school term will come to an end, Jackson and i had both applied for college but we still hadn't heard back, but i knew one thing, there was one thing i could be sure of.

whatever it was, whatever the future held we could face it together, Jackson and me, together. 

Jackson gives me a look, and I know the look, our lips meet and his tongue slides in like its just a normal thing to do, we both kiss on the pitch and the world carries on spinning, "I love you Sam" he says our eyes locked together

"I love you too Jackson" I say my heart content and filled, my boyfriend, my lover, my soul, my world.