Testing My Feelings

Chapter 20

Tuesday was quite strange. All throughout the day I kept hearing gossip about what when down at soccer practice yesterday. In the halls of school I heard things like:

Did you hear? Andrew Neely is the new JV soccer captain.
Did you hear about the freshman that got roasted raw by Coach Lillian?
Did you hear about how Andrew Neely beat up a freshman at soccer practice yesterday?
Did you hear that Andrew Neely is a faggot?
Did you hear the Andrew Neely is gay?
Did you hear about the gay freshman on the JV soccer team?
Andrew Neely is on the soccer team?

Some of the things I heard were out right wrong, others, had some basis in truth, and finally, some were indeed true. But I wasn't having any of it. Heads turned to look at me all day long. At least I got a break from it during lunch when I went to go meet with Coach.

"Excuse me, Coach? Can I talk with you for a moment?" I said as I let myself into Coach Lillian's office.

She looked up and said, "Of course Andrew. Come on in."

"Thank you," I acknowledged.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?" she asked.

"Well first off, I wanted to talk about the team. What kind of formation do we usually use?" I started off asking.

"Well, usually we have two guys up top, four in midfield, and four in defense," Coach Lillian answered.

"What position did the old captain play?"

"Usually, he was a striker," she answered.

"Okay. So for the game tomorrow, I'm assuming I'll be acting-captain for the game as well?" I questioned.

"Well, with the way you're going about things, you won't be 'acting' captain for much longer," she said to me with a smile.

"Well for the game, who are we playing?"

"Central Valley Charter School," she answered.

"Home or away?"

"Away," she answered.

"Well, I'll be playing center mid for the game and I want Connor in the goal, as long as that is okay with you,"

"Connor? In the goal? He's not a goal keeper," she responded, confused by my suggestion.

"He really hasn't told anyone else yet, but, he spent his whole summer and all his free time since, training to be a keeper. He's pretty good. A lot better than I am, that's for sure. I want to surprise him and all. Besides if it comes down to it, he can always be subbed out. So if it's okay with you. I'd like to have him in goal," I explained.

"Okay," she agreed.

"I looked over the team roster and data, I figured that Eric and Dylan should be the two up top," I told her.

"Okay," she acknowledged.

"Aiden, Joseph, Mark, and I in midfield, and James, Alec, Alexzandre, and Owen in defense," I finished.

As reluctant as I was to have Aiden in the starting lineup, he was statistically, the best choice. Everyone I had suggested was the statistical best choice, except for possibly Connor and I. There was no statistical data on Connor's ability as a goal keeper and there were players statistically better than I. I was the acting-captain though, so I had to be in the starting lineup.

"Okay. They all sound like reasonable choices to me. You seem to be taking your position seriously," she answered.

"Yes ma'am," I agreed.

"You can let the team know of the starting lineup at practice today," she told me.

"Okay, thank you for your time. I have to go now," I said.