"Okay men, gather round," ordered Coach Nix, as he surveyed the field behind Moon Lake High School that was going to be set up for the Thanksgiving Day Flag Football Exhibition Game. "I need to discuss a few things with everyone first."
The junior and senior grade students all paid attention as the Boys' Gym Coach continued.
"First off, the field will be totally different by game day," he promised. "The school is promising to have the grass cut soon, but we won't be laying down the chalk lines until game day, so until then we'll be using the gym pylons," said Nix, pointing to a pile of orange cones by his feet. "Feel free to tell your parents and anyone else you know who will be attending that it's BYOS, which is short for Bring Your Own Seats."
The assembled teenagers giggled a little as Coach Nix continued.
"Now then, mixed news about the roster, so listen up," which got everyone's attention.
"First of all. Enrollment is still open until Friday, but so far no regular humans have expressed an interest in participating. Yet even if it remains that way, this will still be only a flag football game, and I have been asked to remind everyone that the daytime were rules apply," he added, which everyone knew meant that no one could display their fursona during the day unless it was either at an authorized event or a life threatening emergency.
"Second, even though everyone here is a were, we're still short two complete compliments, so I may have to assign some predator weres to the prey team or vice versa."
"How many are we short coach?" one student asked.
"A minimum of 5, although ideally up to 10 more players at least. So if any of you know someone who hasn't signed up yet that might want to, feel free to suggest them see me about joining. Otherwise, some of you might have to do double duty on both defense and offense for whichever team you're on," explained Nix.
"With Moon Lake being a small school district to begin with, I'm surprised we've gotten this far," whispered Ben Twist to his friends Alex Ramsey and Nate Anderson.
"I know what you mean," Nix said to Ben, since he was a were too and heard every word. "But if it's any consolation, the school band's offered to play during half time, and we may even wind up having some cheerleaders too, but that last part is still in the planning stages."
The thought of cheerleaders at the game got some thinking about other things besides football, since a were's libido even as a teenager was higher than a normal human being's. But Coach Nix focused on the upcoming game itself.
"Now, as you can see, in the boxes on my left are two sets of colored flag belts. A blue group and a red group. It doesn't matter which you take right now, but come game day, red will be the Predators and blue the Prey," to which everyone nodded in acknowledgement.
"I want everyone to take a belt now and put them on while I explain a few of the more basic rules for this exhibition, like no tackling or physical blocking," announced Coach Nix.
"Err, coach? Which side will you be coaching during the game itself, and who will be leading the other team?" another student asked.
"I'm hoping my assistant coach takes the other team, but he hasn't come back to active duty from that auto accident he had in Seattle last night."
"What happened?" Nate asked, since this was the first he was hearing of it.
"Coach Smith went to check out print shops up there after school yesterday, wanting to get prices for the possibility of commemorative player t-shirts for the game. Another car tried to beat a red light and rammed the driver's side of his car."
"Is he all right?" asked Alex.
"So far. The hospital there doesn't know he's a were, so the man has to be careful and play it by normal rules. Thankfully he didn't need blood, and EMTs are always extremely cautious around the wounded with their rubber gloves and everything, but they did keep him for observation since Smith was unconscious when the ambulance arrived. With a broken leg, they won't even be releasing him until tomorrow. I'll be going up there in the morning with his wife and help get him home, so I'm afraid anyone with a morning PE class will be with Coach Johnston and her ladies in the gym."
That got a few moans from some of the older students as Nix said, "It can't be helped. But once his leg is healed by were standards, Smith will still have to wear the cast and use crutches in public so no one who doesn't know about us will discover he's a were since normals take longer to heal. So I want absolutely no one to make fun of him, or face me. Understood?"
Every student present instantly agreed.
"Good," said Nix with a smile. "Now that everyone has a flag belt on, we'll start going over some basic plays."
But unbeknownst to anyone at the practice, they were being watched.
Leaning against the corner of the school building, waiting for his ride home, a lonely teenager stood and watched the boys in the field as best he could.
I wish mom would let me play, but she's afraid of me getting hurt, let alone becoming a were. I don't know why. I think weres are cool. Just wish I knew which one I wanted to be, although mom would kill me if I did go furry. If only I had a father instead of mom being a widow, then maybe...
Just then a horn beeped as he saw a familiar car pull up to where he was waiting.
"Sorry I'm late son. Got held up at work. Everything okay?" asked the lady behind the wheel as she leaned forward and opened the passenger door.
"Sure mom. Just got a lot on my mind. Homework and all," replied her son, taking one last secretive glance at the football practice before getting in the car.
"That's my son," the lady said proudly, waiting for him to secure his seat belt. "You keep getting great grades like you are now and you can write your own ticket to any college you want," before driving off and heading for home. None of this were crap or anything that goes with it. You were born a normal and you're going to stay a normal, no matter what!