The New Team in Town

By Ada Stone

Freshly arrived in the little town of Gold Creek, all Claire really wants is to find her place here—a place where she can live happily, as the woman she is, without everyone judging her for being trans. The last thing she expected was to join the local women’s football team, the Broncos, but it’s hard to say no to a chance to make a new group of friends… and star player Annie is one friend who Claire hopes might become more.

Annie has lived her whole life in Gold Creek, and she’s ready for the big leagues. Her team has a shot at the championship this year, but when a last-minute offer from the coach of the men’s football league lures her away from the Broncos, Annie’s only solace is the hope that she’s finally getting her due. When things don’t turn out the way Annie planned, is it too late to go back to the Broncos? Or can she rejoin her old teammates — and her former lover — and help them win the championship game?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Jan 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094427614

Ada Stone

Ada Stone is a queer and trans book-obsessed human from the Pacific Northwest, where they live now. They love spending quiet time among trees and mountains, listening to their favorite albums on repeat, and receiving “your holds are ready for pickup” alerts from the library.

Book preview

Part One

Chapter One

The house looked more rundown in person. As Claire eased her hatchback down the potholed gravel driveway, she peered through her bug-splattered windshield at the sagging edge of the roof, the disconnected downspout, the peeling light blue paint. The pictures the landlord had posted online must have been more than just a few years old, she guessed. Next to the porch, the driveway ended in a heap of cinder blocks and Claire braked to a stop.

When she stepped out into the dry summer heat, Claire could barely hear the whoosh of the occasional car passing on the highway. To even reach her driveway, she’d navigated a mile-long paved private drive, winding through forest then clearcut, forest then clearcut. That was another thing Claire hadn’t quite known about the rental: how isolated she would be. Well, at least out here it would be easier to avoid unwanted attention.

The branches of mature evergreens waved in the slight breeze, casting dancing shadows on the house and the clearing around it. Leaving her trailer untouched for the time being, Claire walked up the front steps, which groaned under her weight. As she’d been promised, a lockbox dangled from the handle of the faded green front door. She rotated the numbers until they showed the correct code, extracted the key, and inserted it into the lock.

Inside, the house smelled like salt and the pages of an old paperback. The wallpaper and finishings, which at least mostly matched what she had seen in the pictures online, confirmed that the home had not been remodeled since the eighties. Claire dragged a finger across the kitchen counter, which sat just to the right of the entrance. Her skin came back coated in a layer of gray dust. She couldn’t remember where she’d packed her vacuum in the trailer but she hoped it was accessible. There would be cleaning to do before she brought anything inside.

Down the central hall, Claire confirmed the presence of a bathroom, a laundry nook, and two small bedrooms. Claire’s attention caught on her reflection against the glass door of the second bedroom’s closet. She turned to the side and admired the width of her hips and the slight curve of her chest under a white T-shirt. Time spent in the sun had brought out the freckles across the bridge of her nose and along her forearms. She rearranged the part of her dirty-blond hair, correcting the tangle the wind had created. Relaxing her focus on her body, Claire noticed the smudges on the glass and made a mental note to buy some Windex.

Across from the kitchen, the living room was spacious with large single-pane windows that faced south and west. She could already picture how she would arrange her furniture atop the tan carpet. But Claire wasn’t quite ready to begin her arduous tasks yet. Out in the driveway, she backed the trailer into a flat spot in front of the porch and unhitched it from her car. She removed a few items from the trunk and set them in the entryway. Then she drove away, off to see the sights.

Section Break

Claire got her first real sense of how small the town of Gold Creek really was from the top of Willman’s Butte. A T-shaped area cut through the trees was occupied by the two arterial roads (one the highway on which Claire had arrived and one called Main Street), which met in a four-way stop. The town possessed not a single stoplight. She could make out what appeared to be a school and its surrounding athletic fields a bit further in the distance. The stand of covered bleachers looked comically large for the apparent population of the town. On the nearby hills, a few dozen homes could be spotted, spread out on acres of their own property. Counting the buildings to the left of the intersection, she thought she could make out the small grocery store from which she’d bought herself a pre-made turkey sandwich for dinner.

Claire had learned the nearest supermarket was a half-hour drive to the west from the older Asian woman working the register. She’d also been given a recommendation for the best place in town to watch the sunset. Ask and you shall receive. It had only taken her a few minutes to drive the winding road to the parking lot of the overlook. Now she sat on a bench, facing west and waiting for the sun to descend toward the mountainous horizon. Because it was late July, she still had over an hour to wait.

A group of teenagers argued melodramatically to Claire’s left, a ruckus of laughter rising up every few moments. She didn’t pay them much mind, hoping they too would leave her to herself. It was only once she had dropped deep into her own headspace that a voice jarred her with its proximity.

Excuse me, ma’am, but would you happen to have a light? Claire turned to see one of the teens holding out a joint, his long blond locks tucked under a camouflage cap.

No— Claire began instinctively, before realizing the answer might actually be yes. Well, let me check. She reached into her purse and dug around, procuring a mini red Bic. The teen lit the joint expertly before handing it back with a small bow.

Thank you, ma’am, he said, maintaining his formal air.

You’re welcome, Claire murmured as he walked away. It wasn’t just the heightened politeness that had caught Claire off guard. She’d grown up in a midwestern town not much larger than Gold Creek and very well knew many people were raised to speak this way. It was the way the boy had used the gendered ma’am with no hint of irony or hesitation.

In the place from where she’d moved — another bullet point in the list of small communities which she’d inhabited in her thirty-two years — she’d only ever been read as a man, a crossdresser, a — insert your slur of choice. She had heard them all. Everyone in town had known her, or at the very least seen her, before she’d come out and started transitioning. But here (could it really happen as she had hoped?) it seemed she might just get to live as the woman she had always been.

Once upon a time, her previous home of Evansville had been Claire’s favorite place she’d ever lived; the tangy smell of the ocean, the winter months where she had the tourists’ spots to herself, the apartment she rented above the best bakery in Northern California (in her humble opinion). And then there was the fact that she had met her best friend, Miriam, in her first week there. Miriam and Claire spent five years filling Evansville with memories together.

Now, shading her eyes from the sun, Claire thought back to the night, just over a month ago, when she had broken the news of her move to her best friend. They were sitting in Miriam’s living room, in the house she had just moved into with her fiancé. As Miriam started to plan her wedding, she’d been less and less available to spend time with Claire. When the two friends were together, they got along as well as they ever had, and yet Claire could sense something slipping out of her grasp. It was the harassment she had faced in Evansville that was driving her out, but if she was honest with herself, Miriam’s changing life was the extra push she needed.

Claire finished off her fourth slice of pizza and slid her plate aside. I have something to tell you, she said to Miriam, reaching across the table to latch onto her friend’s hands.

Oh my god, you’re pregnant!? Miriam gasped, retracting one of her hands and bringing it to her mouth in mock awe.

Claire laughed politely at the joke, which she knew was just Miriam’s way to cope with her quickly mounting nerves. She hated surprises. And for her part, Claire hated drawing out the moment. So, she just went for it. I’m moving away, she said, looking Miriam in her deep green eyes.

No, Miriam responded immediately. Where? Why? Though Miriam never did come out and ask it, what Claire heard under the surface was what can I do to stop you? The answer, by then, was nothing. Once Claire made up her mind, there was no turning back.

Claire told Miriam about Gold Creek, the little town two states to the north that she had picked by closing her eyes and pointing at a map of the west coast. Sure, she’d landed in the Pacific Ocean on the first try, and in the middle of Portland the second (a big city just wouldn’t do), but the third time was the charm, she believed. Within reason, it didn’t matter to Claire where she was going, but rather that she was leaving Evansville behind. Even though her years here involved meeting her best friend and working at a restaurant where the busy summer months brought her enough tips to build significant savings, they were marred by a transphobia she couldn’t seem to shake, even three years into her transition.

Miriam nodded as if she understood but failed to completely contain her bewilderment. Maybe Miriam could have convinced anyone else but Claire had known her too well for too long. As someone who had never been forced to leave a place where she’d built a life, there was no way Miriam could really comprehend the decision Claire had been cornered into. Still, Miriam did her best to voice her support and the pair promised to stay in touch. They’d see each other at Miriam’s wedding the next summer, that was for certain. Claire was all set to be the maid of honor.

With her old life fresh on her mind, Claire watched the patchy clouds turn orange as the sun’s final rays burst over the top of the mountains. The teenagers went quiet as they took in the moment. Below, Gold Creek was already cast in the night’s shadow. Claire realized that her subconscious sensed that Miriam was down there in town, waiting to be invited over to check out the new rental. Like Claire had simply picked up all the important pieces of her life and dropped them down here in this new place, hundreds of miles away. If only.

Claire took out her phone and thought about replying to Miriam’s text asking how the drive had gone but decided that this night would be hers and hers alone. She finished the last bite of her sandwich and waited for night to envelop her.

Chapter Two

Heat wave’ll be coming through next week, Brian said from behind a stack of new inventory.

I saw that on the news, Annie answered, reading through the invoice to see if Brian had remembered to order extra ice cream. As the first stop for westbound drivers in fifty miles, the gas station made almost as much money off fueling people’s bodies as it did their cars. Annie found the ice cream surplus toward the bottom of the list. A case of variety packs of popsicles and one of drumsticks, too. Satisfied, she turned back to Brian. Just in time for practice to start up, she added.

Nah, the kids aren’t— Brian began before registering Annie’s glare. Oh, right, right, he muttered. When do you start?

It was just like him, and everyone else in Gold Creek, to forget that the Broncos existed. Sure, the women’s tackle football team was only entering its second year, but Annie’s jaw clenched every time someone ignored them in favor of the high school boys’ and recreational men’s teams. It shouldn’t have been so difficult to garner at least a little recognition in a town as football-obsessed as Gold Creek. But during each of the six games they’d played last season, Annie had never seen more than ten people in the stands at a time. She might not have paid such close attention if she weren’t scanning for her parents’ faces.

Next Tuesday, Annie answered as she drew out her X-ACTO knife and began opening the boxes Brian was unstacking. Tenth of August.

I feel for y’all being out there in all that heavy gear, Brian said, miming wiping sweat from