Chapter 1

Submitted for the Yay Team 2026 challenge.

—–

"Hey, Shell? You awake?"

"Mmm"

"I, uh, I wanna ask you a question."

Though Shelly was still half asleep, her ears perked up as Gina spoke.

"Mmm, wha?"

"How come you never, you know, you've never come on to me?"

The half-asleep Shelly went to a full five-alarm alert status in the blink of an eye. She had found herself snuggled up to Gina's back as the outside spoon with her one hand nestled between Gina's fabulous boobs, and, as she roused further, Shelly could feel her own nipples tighten and her pelvis fill with tension.

—–

Shelly had met Gina at walk-on tryouts for the Downstate U's women's soccer team back when they both were freshmen. Shelly was from a medium-sized city in the Midwest and was an accomplished soccer star on her high school team, a team which had lost the state championship in a heartbreaking shootout a few months before. In spite of her prowess, she never attracted much attention from college scouts who were seen at some of her games and at two of her summer camps. She did get a small academic scholarship to Downstate and was encouraged to at least compete in the walk-on tryouts. Maybe, she was told, she might impress the coach and get a slot on the roster.

Gina, on the other hand, did get a soccer scholarship, but to a small, expensive private college where the tuition costs were so prohibitive that the scholarship barely made a dent in the total. She elected to attend Downstate which was far bigger, less expensive and had many more educational opportunities. She, too, decided to attend the walk-on tryouts.

Both Gina and Shelly were aggressive and gutsy forwards who found themselves in competition with a third freshman for the one remaining position. After several days of intense tryouts, the coach pulled the three aside and told them her choice for the position was the other girl. Disappointed, Shelly and Gina left the pitch and walked dejectedly back to the freshman dorms together.

"I thought she was going to pick you," sighed Gina.

"Me? No way. You were a shoo-in. You're way better than me or Becca."

"Thanks, but it's the coach who gets to choose. Anyway, we're out. So, tell me a little about you."

"I, uh, well, not much to say. Thinking of veterinary medicine as a career, so going to do the biology major thing. You?"

"Undecided. Kinda like kinesiology. Maybe aim for being a physical therapist."

"Cool. Maybe we'll have some of the same classes. What are you taking this fall?"

After comparing notes, the two realized they would have two classes together.

"See there," said Gina, "We can study together."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Can't hurt the grades at all." After a slight pause, Shelly went on, "Ah, you involved with anybody?"

"No, not now. My boyfriend back home dumped me when I told him I was coming here instead of going to Geyser College, where he's going. Probably better that way. Now I can check out some of these hot guys. You?"

Shelly stopped walking, looked Gina in the eye and said, "I'm kinda into girls, so, no boyfriend at all."

"Oh, OK. You have anyone special right now?"

Shelly was pleased with how easily Gina accepted the news. "Ah, no. Kinda like you, just got here and don't know many people yet."

"OK, then we need to make a pact."

"Pact? Why?"

"We gotta help each other out. You steer any good guys my way and I'll keep my eyes open for any girls you might be interested in. Simple."

"Lot more guys for you than girls for me, though."

"You never know. I heard some girls like to experiment in college."

"Yeah, but I'm not interested in LUGs."

"LUGs?"

"Yeah. Term I heard at my high school's gay and lesbian support group. Lesbians Until Graduation is what they're called. I don't want to be an experiment just to be dumped in the end when she runs back to the guys."

"Yeah, I can see that. Anyway, care to join me for dinner in the cafeteria?"

"Sure. Let me get showered and I'll meet you here in thirty."

And so began their casual friendship, a friendship which deepened a few weeks later.

"Hey, Shell, guess what I just saw."

"What?"

"We can still play soccer!"

"Are you kidding?"

"No. It's six-man coed intramurals. Sign-up sheets are over in the student union."

"Could be fun, I guess, but I'll sign up with one condition."

"What's that?"

"You and me gotta be teammates."

"Hey, I like your idea. Wonder if they'll allow it."

Not only was it allowed, it was encouraged. In some cases, the entire team consisted of people who knew each other from the previous year's league. Shelly and Gina were placed on a team with six other players. The general scheme had a goalie and five players on the field while two subs waited on the sidelines. Their team, quickly named "The Fleet Feet," consisted of four men and four women. They had no official coach, but one of the men named Jason, who had been cut from the university roster, volunteered to help lead the team.

On their first day of 'practice,' they ran some three v. three games and practiced free kicks until Jason called it quits. "Hey, guys, let's meet up and make some plans. Our first game is next Tuesday and I'd like to recommend a few things."

"Ooh, the Big Coach speaks," teased one of the other men on the team.

"Quit flipping shit, Trev. We're here for fun, but winning is more fun than losing, right?"

There were a few nods of agreement before Jason went on. "I think we've got two great forwards here and if we build a defense behind them, we should do pretty good. Shelly and Gina, you're our forwards, Trevor, you'll be our midfielder and Suzette and I will be defense. We'll rotate Jose and Brenda in and out depending on who shows up and how we're doing. Guy's the goalie. Any questions?"

"So, if one of us can't make it, Jose or Brenda will start, right?"

"Right, and with a team this small, we're gonna get tired, so they can expect to play pretty much most of the game while one or two of us catch our breath."

"No limits on subs?"

"No. This is for fun and we all wanna play, right?"

After they finished up, Trevor made his way over to Gina and Shelly. "I'm Trevor, but call me Trev. It should be fun playing with you two."

"Yeah? Why?" asked a wary Shelly.

"Cause you two rock. Are you sure you're not on the college team?"

"Yeah, we tried out, but didn't make the cut."

"Downstate's loss is Fleet Feet's gain. Take it easy and I'll see you Tuesday."

After he left and as the two walked back towards the dorm, Gina asked, "You seemed uneasy with him. How come?"

"Maybe I'm paranoid, but I thought he was going to say something about playing behind us and watching our butts or something."

"Yeah, he acted like a smart ass early on, I agree. Cute, though."

"Aha, so you're already on the prowl," teased Shelly.

"Not on the prowl, but a girl can look, can't she?"

"Sure can."

"You see anything you like?"

"Now that you mention it, I did."

"Yeah. Who?"

"Suzette."

"She gay?"

"Probably not, but a girl can dream, can't she?"

"You ever, uh, you know, try to seduce a straight chick?"

"No. Well, I'll approach someone and kinda let 'em know that I might be interested, but if they say they're straight, I back off right away. I don't wanna be a predatory dyke."

"And you use that term?"

"Sometimes. It's like 'queer.' If you accept a slur and take it on as a mantle, it loses its power over you. So yeah, I'm a dyke."

"Just so you know, you don't look like a lesbian."

"And how's a lesbian supposed to look?"

"I don't know. You know, kinda butch. Half shaved head, tats, you know."

Shelly had long before decided she wanted to wear nice, feminine clothes and had kept her wavy brunette hair long enough to barely reach the tops of her modest breasts. When playing soccer, she would tie it up, but otherwise she let it hang freely. She usually wore attractive slacks and tops, occasionally even wore dresses, and had the required ripped jeans and T-shirts.

"Well, I like how I dress, though there is one problem with it."

"What's that?"

"I get hit on by guys all the time."

"What do you do?"

"I just tell them 'No thanks,' and they usually leave me alone."

"Now you know to send them to me," Gina giggled.

"Nope, I'm not your wing woman. You gotta get 'em on your own."

Later, as Shelly was taking her shower, she kept thinking about Gina. Gina was seriously attractive. She was slightly shorter than Shelly, but packed some very nice curves. Breasts had never been an important part of what attracted Shelly to a girl, but somehow, Gina's boobs did. She had to wear an extra supportive sports bra when she played and had commented to Shelly about having sore boobs after a long game. But they sure drew Shelly's eyes as did Gina's curvy ass, shapely legs and her long, straight blonde hair.

As the hot water cascaded over her and she thought about Gina, Shelly found herself paying far too much attention to her girl parts and even rubbing little circles over her pearl. 'Dammit, stop,' she scolded herself, 'She's straight and not available.' With a pang of guilt, she pulled her hand free, did a final rinse and stepped out of the shower.

When they had dinner that evening, Shelly forced any thought about Gina's sex appeal to the deep recesses of her mind and kept the conversation light and friendly. But as Shelly slipped into slumber after an evening of studying, images of Gina's face and sexy body kept flitting through Shelly's mind.

Fleet Feet's first game was a smash. Both Gina and Shelly had an uncanny ability to read the other's mind and each seemed to know when to expect a pass or when to fall back without any verbal communication. Early on, Shelly took a forward pass from Trevor and, without dribbling, she shot it immediately over to Gina, who pounded it home. Several minutes later, Gina returned the favor with a nice cross-pitch pass to Shelly who was racing up the sideline. From there, she was able to nutmeg the ball through a defender's legs and shoot the ball over the tips of the goalie's fingers.

With the score two-nil, things settled down and the other team's defense tightened up significantly. Towards the end of the game, Gina passed the ball back to Trevor, who took a long shot from well outside the box, surprising everybody, including the goalie.

The final score was three-nil and the Feets, as they jokingly called themselves, were ecstatic. After the post-match handshakes, Trevor casually asked the two if they would like to celebrate the victory back at his apartment.

"My roommates are older and get me beer and wine, if you're interested."

"Uh, not for me. I've got a paper to work on tonight," answered Shelly as she secretly winked at Gina.

"You in, Gina?"

"Yeah, maybe one, but I have some homework to do, also."

After Shelly took off, the two walked over to Trevor's apartment which was a few blocks off campus. Since he was on the soccer team, Gina didn't worry about going to a guy's place so early in their acquaintance. The apartment was reasonably tidy, something she commented on, and she was surprised to hear he had two roommates, both juniors, one male and one female.

"Yeah, Penny rides us if we don't keep the place picked up."

"How'd you three end up together?"

"Online roomie service. She's pretty cool and since she bats for the other team, there's nothing going on between us. Wine or beer?"

"Wine, I guess."

The two spent time talking about themselves until Gina realized she needed to get back to the dorm for dinner. Right as she went to excuse herself, Penny came in the door. After the two were introduced, Penny turned to Trevor and said, "Dammit, Trev, no fair showing off your cute girlfriend."

"Oh, I'm not his girlfriend, we just play on the team together."

"Really, hmm? Then maybe I gotta chance with you, after all."

"'Fraid not. Very straight."

"Rats. Oh, well. Nice meeting you, anyway."

After Penny went to her bedroom, Trevor volunteered to walk Gina back to the campus. At the dorm, he took her hand and gave it a tiny squeeze before leaving. On the way to her room, she stopped at Shelly's.

"Oh, Hi. How was your time with Trevor?"

"OK, yeah, it was OK. Had a glass of wine. We talked, nothing more."

"You interested in him?"

"Mmm, maybe, I guess. We'll see."

"Try to get into your pants?"

"No! And he didn't even try to kiss me. But there is something you might want to know about him."

"What's that?"

"His roomie."

"You know I'm not into guys."

"Who said it was a guy? Her name is Penny and she was happy I wasn't Trevor's girlfriend. Said something about having a chance with me."

"So, lesbian, huh?"

"Yeah. Apparently met her through a roommate service and they get along. She's cute. You might like her."

"Interesting…"

Their next game the following week was also a cakewalk. The other team had two players who hadn't been active in the sport since they were in middle school and it showed. Once the score hit four-nil, Jason switched up the players by putting defenders up front, benching Shelly and putting Gina in the goal. The other team scored a couple of goals, but so did the Feet, resulting in a final score six-two.

After the game, Trevor casually asked if Gina wanted to come over again.

"Sure. Shelly invited?"

With a hint of disappointment on his face, Trevor nodded 'yes' and the three walked over to his apartment. There, Shelly was introduced to Penny, and the four of them sat around talking. It didn't take any time at all, however, for Penny to invite Shelly to her room.

Once the door was closed, Trevor whispered to Gina, "Wow, that was fast. And I didn't even know she was lesbian."

"That's why I wanted her to come along. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. What do you think they're doing in there?"

"Dunno and don't care. What's it take to get invited to your room?"

A couple of hours later, when Shelly and Gina walked back to campus, there was an initial awkward silence between them until Gina broke the ice.

"She nice?"

"Yeah, she is. Trevor?"

"Yeah. What'd you two do in there?"

"You know, talked, shared stories about our lives."

"Any hanky-panky?" Gina laughed.

"Mo-om, nothing happened."

"Yeah, I bet."

"What about you?"

"Maybe we swapped some spit, maybe not."

"You did. I knew it!"

After some more teasing, the two went to their rooms to get cleaned up. As Shelly showered, her mind raced about Penny. She was a nice person, one Shelly could find herself getting close to. Not into anything too kinky and when Shelly went to kiss her goodbye, Penny deflected politely, saying maybe the next time. Shelly definitely wanted there to be a next time, but as she dried herself off, she found herself getting suddenly jealous of Trevor. Trevor got to kiss Gina. And, oh, what Shelly wouldn't give to be able to do the same thing.