Vanilla Kisses Chapter 1

It wasn't much of a football match. They were losing badly. One of the players had injured been injured by a rough tackle from the opponents. He smiled to himself. 'This is where I shine!' he grinned to himself.He took the free kick quickly, running the ball forward into open space. As he ran, he kept his eyes open, looking for an open player. There were none.

'I'll take it myself then,' he thought.

He baited the defender, teasing him with a look at the ball then pulled it deftly behind his dribbling leg. Then he kicked it forward, leaving the off balanced defender with a mistimed tackle and himself with yards of space. There was nothing between him but the keeper and himself.

'Go A levels!,' he heard some one shout. He risked a quick glance, to see who it was. His jaw dropped a little. She was something to look at. Short jet black hair that fell to her shoulders. And a short flowery blue skirt.

'Gosh, what a short skirt!' he thought looking appreciatively at her legs.

'You IDIOT! What are you doing! Run for goal,' some one hissed.

His mind snapped back to the football game. He had stopped running to look at her and defenders were gaining ground on him quickly. He raced forward and dribbled.He pushed the ball to his best foot and prepared to shoot.

'Go A levels!' said the voice again. Distracted he looked up. And miskicked it horribly. To his suprised he barely missed. The corner flag that is.There was a groan from the A level's crowd.

'Even a blind man could have shot better than that! What were you doing you idiot,' said his new friend Kenny.'Sorry! I got distracted! We'll get the next ball!' he replied. He looked up again for the girl. But she wasn't there anymore. He sighed.

It began to drizzle slightly. They were 3 – 0 down. ‘Three goals,’ he thought to himself. ‘This should be fun!’ he grinned. ‘We’ll start with this ball!’ he shouted to his teammates and ran towards the opposing defender with the ball. Watching his opponent’s hips carefully, he predicted the side step and tackled him neatly.

Not watching his opponent stumble awkwardly after the tackle, he began running towards goal again, he heard Kenny call his name, ‘Jason! Cross it!’ Slowing down his full strides, he nudged the ball onto his best foot and stroked it on the sweet spot. The ball traveled swiftly and true to its aim, straight into the path of Kenny’s run towards goal. Kenny chested it neatly and volleyed it on his second touch, right into the back of the net.

‘That’s the way it should be mate!’ Jason screamed, running in joy towards his teammates.

Then it began pouring.

Soaked from head to toe, he lit a cigarette up and began taking deep drags. His breathing was heavy and his lower torso was covered with mud.

‘Man, I thought you were good. Dribbling like a mad man past a few defenders and then that assist after a great tackle. But that was it! You moved like a dying slug after that!’ said Kenny.

‘Dude! Give me a break. Its been months since I’ve had any exercise!’ Jason said exasperatedly.

‘The cigarettes aren’t doing you any good either!’ Kenny laughed.

‘Shut up. I know you want one. Just ask, instead of bitching at me,’ Jason grinned, passing him a cigarette. ‘Anyway, did you see that chick? The one who was cheering for us?’ he asked.

‘We had chicks cheering for us? I didn’t see anything,’ Kenny replied, lighting up.

‘Too busy checking out the guys eh?’ he teased and avoided a sweeping kick from Kenny. ‘Man, I’m too tired to play footsie with you. Give it a rest.’ Jason complained.

‘Well you have half an hour to get ready for your birthday party. Can’t have the birthday boy looking like a mud pie now can we?’ Kenny chuckled.

‘Crap. It’s that late already? I need a change of clothes and a shower!’ Jason groaned.

‘Lucky for you, my house is right down the road. You can take a shower there. But as for clothes… well I guess I could find something that fits you,’ Kenny grinned impishly.

‘I don’t like that look on your face mate. You’re up to something. I can feel it!’
‘What the fuck dude! What kind of get up is this?’ Jason demanded. ‘Oversized pink shorts and a body hugging purple T-shirt? Are you trying to all the fags in town to hit on me or something?’

Kenny laughed for a good five minutes before admitting, ‘Yea, something like that! Besides, it your fault we lost 5 – 1. If you had just lasted the full 90 minutes instead of 15 minutes, we’d have won. Think of it as a birthday present! Let’s go bro. We’re gonna be late!’

Jason grumbled and whined all the way to Subang Parade about the clothes and it just sent Kenny into bigger spurts of laughter.