---

Previously...

‘You, Susan, will tell the media that you are unhappy with the way you have been dealt with and hint that you might quit football because of it. You have had thoughts along those lines, haven’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I said, removing some pink fluff from my skirt and then flicking the hair from my fringe away from my eyes. ‘I have thought about it–lots lately. I miss the games that I played over at the playing fields; it was all so simple then. Look at me now, a so-called soccer star, stuck indoors and afraid to go out in public. That’s no bloody life–’

‘Susan!’

‘Sorry, Mummy; to tell you the truth, this all needs to be sorted out once and for all. I don’t mind the fame bit, it’s the price I have to play for being an above average player; but it hurts when people say malicious things about me, or accuse me of being a druggie and other lies. If I was a mad, bad girl–into drinks, drugs and the high life–I would understand it, but I’m not; I’m just a girl–who, incidentally, used to be a boy–with a bit of talent. If I do do something wrong, then I am fair game for the media, it’s them saying that I’m doing dreadful things when I’m not that makes me feel like I want to throw it all up and go and live in a nunnery.’

‘Don’t you dare go to live in a nunnery!’ chirped up Andrea, looking decidedly alarmed.

‘Yeah, like, it’s a bad habit!’ said you know who.

We all started laughing at that and it relieved the tension. Just then Daddy came in looking puzzled and sat down at the table.

‘What is it, Jeff?’ asked Mummy.

‘It’s the Football Association,’

‘What about them?’

‘They…they––’

‘What?’

He looked around the table and then his eyes rested on me. Had I done something wrong? Had the drug test been doctored? Was I going to be banned from playing? Butterflies were rampaging in my tummy, my spine had shivers going up and down it and my heart was thumping in my breast as I asked, ‘What’s wrong, Daddy?’

‘They…they say that no drug test was ordered on you yesterday and they know nothing at all about it––’

And now the story continues…

There was complete silence and you could have heard a pin drop; and then everybody started speaking at the same time. I just sat there, sort of dumbstruck. There was something about that scumbag of a so-called doctor that bugged me at the time and I didn’t know what it was. Call it woman’s intuition (yeah, well I am a woman, aren’t I?) but I knew that he was a bit fishy. He didn’t act like a doctor or look like one and where was his stethoscope; they all have those don’t they?

I shook my head. I was being silly again–

‘QUIET!’

I jumped slightly as my brand, spanking new media expert, Sheila, exercised her lungs. It had the required effect as I stopped my ridiculous thoughts and everyone else shut up. She looked around, a slight smile played on her very pink, very shiny and expertly made up lips. I wondered in passing if she had had collagen–

‘Thank you. Well, Jeff, did you get any more information from the FA?’

‘Just that they will instigating an enquiry and will deal very strongly with any and all the people involved.’

‘Mmm, that means nothing. It’s obvious to me who is behind this and I shall–’ she glanced towards me and smiled, ‘Susan, will you give me a free hand?’

‘Erm, yeah,’ I said intelligently–I don’t think.

‘Thanks, love–nice top by the way–now, where was I? Yes, we must stamp on this immediately. I will inform the media–in private–that anything written about this matter will get them into serious trouble. I know all the editors who matter. In addition, I shall speak to the various TV and radio station bosses and give them the run down on this occurrence. My legal team will take over that aspect of the case and slap any writs that need slapping. We have one great thing on our side, Susan’s age. That means a gagging order on anything not cleared by my office. Are we all agreed on this?’

I gazed upon her with something akin to awe. She was a powerhouse and I wondered what she fed herself on–or did she just plug herself into a wall socket when she needed charging?

‘I don’t want Susan hurt in any way,’ said Mummy, ‘she’s been through enough and if we feel that this is going too far, we are going to pull the plug on the whole caboose and end it. I don’t want my baby to have another year like she’s just had.’

‘Awww, Mummy,’ I said as I went to her and gave her a great big hug–ignoring the sick-making noises from Claire, but poking my tongue out at her in an adult and sensible fashion.

‘You do agree to that, don’t you, honey?’ she whispered.

I just nodded and felt tears welling up.

In a few moments, I returned to my place and sat down again, restarting my footsies with Andrea while Sheila continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted. ‘Okay now, what I want you to do, Susan, is to ignore completely anything and everything to do with this problem. If you are asked anything by the media that you don’t want to answer, just either ignore the question, say “No comment,” or refer them to me. The same goes for all of you. Jeff, can you organise the security side and bring them into the loop?’

‘Yes, I’ll get on to that straight away. We have to make sure that our backs are covered and Susan’s security is watertight.’

He smiled at me, gave me a wink and left, whipping out his ever trusty Blackberry as he went.

‘Josie and Monica, will you ensure that Susan and the other girls here don’t go out without some sort of cover and above all not go shopping or anything by themselves till all this dies down?’

‘Ooh, like that’s like, so not cool,’ said Claire, standing up in a hissy fit.

‘CLAIRE, SIT DOWN,’ said Monica in a voice that belied her slightly enfeebled state. Claire sat down as if she had been poleaxed and just stared at her painted nails with a somewhat pained, put-upon expression.

‘Right,’ Monica continued, ‘Both Claire and Andrea will do as they are told, won’t you, children?’

I could see both Andrea and Claire wince at the “children” remark but they just nodded. Monica’s temper had been legendary, and up to the time she fell ill, she wasn’t above throwing a pot or pan about in anger. It seemed that she was getting a wee bit better.

Mummy and I sort of stifled our laughter as Sheila continued á  la juggernaut. She looked at me and smiled. I wondered if sharks smiled, if they did, they would, I think, look a bit like her.

‘I will be your spokesperson and I will sanction interviews only with carefully vetted members of the media; remember to only answer questions which you’re comfortable with. We don’t want a repeat of the set-ups that you have been experiencing of late; okay?’

‘Yes, that’s okay, but I don’t understand something; perhaps I’m being a bit thick, but–’

‘–You’re not thick, Susan.’

‘Well, anyway, why would anyone want to take the piss out of me?’

Claire was drinking Coke at the time and she exploded. I know I shouldn’t have said it, but it was funny to see the Coke spray out of her nose like that! Everyone laughed but Mummy … well it did break the tension, which was getting a bit heavy…

‘SUSAN HURST!’ Mummy yelled, looking as if she was about to burst; I wasn’t sure whether it was from laughter or anger. ‘I will not have you bringing home that training ground gutter talk here. You have been swearing a lot lately and you and I are going to have quiet conversation later.’

‘Sorry, Mummy,’ I said, but not really meaning it. I needed to vent and that was as good a way as any.

‘In answer to your question, Susan,’ Sheila said, with a slight glint in her eye and smile on her lips, ‘I think The Globe were setting you up again: they would have gone ahead and printed something about drugs being found in the sample that had been acquired independently or some such nonsense. They may have published it too and to hang with the consequences. They may even have been prosecuted for contempt of court, but their feeling may have been that the paper has deep pockets and would have thought that the extra papers sold would make it worthwhile. That brings me to the pre-emptive strike that we are going to initiate.’

‘Pre like, what?’ asked Claire.

‘I’ll tell you later, dear,’ said her Mum, rather condescendingly, I thought–parents, eh?

‘In a few minutes I shall go to Jeff’s office and he and I will prepare a statement to the press and broadcasting media expressing our disgust at what has occurred. We will repeat the statement that the FA is putting out and will threaten all and sundry with writs if anything derogatory against Susan–or the family and friends–are published or even talked about …’

My iPhone chirped and I picked it up.

‘Hello,’ I said going over to the corner by the window and sitting down.

‘Hi, lassie, it’s McPherson here.’

‘Oh hello, Boss.’ I said moving my ear away from the phone as I didn’t want to damage my hearing.

‘I just heard aboot this bluidy f*****g, s***faced, och sorry, lass, I shouldnae talk that way. Anyway, I am seriously annoyed at my staff for letting that, that, impostor person, come on our property and dae somethin’ like that. I want ye tae know, that we’ll get tae the bottom o’ this and I’ll flay whoever did it.’

‘Thanks, Boss. It’s not your fault I’ve been targeted for some reason.’

‘It’s because ye’re a bluidy star. I’ll no hae it and if I fin’ oot that anyone here’s involved I’ll cut his bollocks aff … sorry…look I’m still just a wee bit annoyed lassie, can ye come tae the club i’ the morning, the chairman and I want t’ talk tae ye aboot it. Bring Jeff and anyone else ye want; aboot ten, okay?’

‘Hang on.’

I called over to Mummy and the others.

‘Mummy, Sandy McPherson wants to see me tomorrow; he said bring whoever I need to. They want to discuss things.’

‘I’ll be there and so will Daddy. Sheila?’

‘Yes, I’m okay in the morning.’

‘He said aboot–I mean, about, ten.’

‘Fine.’

‘Boss? Ten’s okay; I’ll bring my mum and dad, my agent if he’s available and media advisor if that’s okay.’

‘Fine, lassie. See ye the morn’s morn.’

The phone went dead. Sandy wasn’t into long goodbyes on the ’phone evidently.

Things were breaking up: Sheila had to go and sort out the world and Mummy–the twins. I wasn’t too sure which was the harder job but was pleased that everyone was fighting in my corner.

Claire went off with her mum to see if they could remove the cola stains from her black, Goth-like t-shirt and knowing the chemicals that go into that sort of drink I did wonder what colour it would finally end up.

That left Andrea and me. Not ones to take an opportunity lightly we went up to our special room, shut the door and did a bit of biological experimentation as to how long two people could be lip-locked together without dying of asphyxiation …

That afternoon, I was by myself in my bedroom–everyone else was doing something. I was on babysitting duty and the twins were both in the land of nod. I had the baby monitor thingy in my room and could hear the little darlings breathing. I couldn’t have my music loud or put my earphones on, just in case one of them decided to test their lungs or something.

For something to do, I painted my nails a fiery red colour and didn’t like the effect much as I was more one of your pink glitter type of girls, but it made a change. I would probably use the nail polish remover later.

I opened my trusty laptop and fired her up. I liked Windows 7, much cooler than buggy old Vista. Soon I was on the crest of a wave, surfing the internet and looking for things to buy for Andrea because it was her birthday the next week. I found some great boots, but footwear was a bit funny as you would need to try them on to see if they were comfortable and looked nice, so I dropped that idea. Then I remembered that she sort of lusted after my iPhone so I decided to buy her one. I could afford it as I was not short of a few pennies, so I just looked around, found the best deal and ordered it online. I would have to ask Mrs Moon to sign for it if I wasn’t there and make sure that she said nothing to the birthday girl.

I smiled at that thought, birthday girl. I was getting used to the fact that Andrew was more or less in the background now and Andrea was blossoming into a lovely girl. There would be hard times ahead for her as she would have to go back to school as a boy. It had been decided that there would be too much angst to do a sudden change of gender at that school. I remembered what it was like when I was there. There was a bullying element there that hadn’t been totally crushed by the headmaster and anyway, after school, there were plenty of places where she could get ambushed. I wanted her to move school or something, but what with exams coming up and everything, it was impossible.

On a whim, I went on the fan site. I was a bit uncomfortable with it, as if I was some sort of peeping Tom, or I suppose Thomasina, Tammy or something equivalent for the female gender.

Checking the number of hits on the site, it had increased to over a million. I wondered if that was just a thousand people that kept on coming back or more than that. Then I looked at the site stats at the bottom and I saw that the number of members on line at that moment was more than a thousand! This was seriously weird. Looking in the forums, there was plenty of posts about the games that I had played or the ‘infamous’ interviews. There was even a YouTube link to recordings of me. I didn’t want to go there so I then clicked on the link that said ‘Chat.’

I had to sign in either as a guest or as a fan site member. I think Claire had put me in as a member, but I couldn’t remember the details. Anyway, I just signed in as a guest–I didn’t want to advertise my presence.

There were loads of people talking in the chat room, some of it was a bit heated but it took only a few moments to realise how heated.

Sharon29: –How dare you call Susan a drugs cheat, you moron!

Eclipse Man: – she is, there’s proof

Harry 32: – what proof?

Eclipse Man: –she just failed one. See the papers tomorrow. She is a naughty girl.

Sharon29: –I don’t believe you.

Eclipse Man: – just wait, you’ll see

Melissa T: –why are you on here, moron, you don’t like our Sue, do you?

Eclipse Man: – I’m here because you need to know the truth about your precious deviant…

There was more like this and it left me seething. I was so angry that I threw the pink rubber stress ball Andrea had given me across the room, hitting a small plastic trophy that I won for the egg and spoon race some years before.

I grabbed my phone and called Claire.

‘Hey, girl, wos’up?’

‘Some moron is trying to have a go at me in the chat room. I think that he has something to do with that hate group as he calls himself Eclipse Man.’

‘Hang on, we are like, nearly home. Don’t go on and say anything–eh mum?’

I could hear a muffled conversation; Claire must have put her phone on speaker as the next person I heard was Monica.

‘Susan, call Sheila, she’ll know what to do. We’ll be home in a few minutes.’

‘Okay, Auntie Monica.’

I disconnected and immediately speed dialled Sheila.

‘Hi, Sheila, it’s Susan Hurst. Houston, we have a problem.’ I told her what had happened and she said that she would get on it and get the security team to trace the whereabouts of Eclipse Man.

‘Don’t worry, honey, get Claire to bounce him off the site and ban his IP address if she can and then we can do damage limitation afterwards. Whatever you do, don’t respond in the chat room, just get out of there and we’ll sort it.’

‘Okay,’ I said, just as Claire and Monica came in.

Claire rushed over to the laptop and her fingers started flying across the keyboard. Monica looked at me and I looked at her and we just left Claire to it. I took the baby monitor out with me; then had a quick look at the little darlings, who were doing their impression of sleeping beauties and after a few ‘aah’s’ and ‘aren’t they sweeties’, I followed Monica downstairs.

We sat at the kitchen table with mugs of steaming hot chocolate and jammy doughnuts, brought back from the shops and still soft, fresh and slightly warm.

‘How are you coping, honey?’ asked Monica.

‘Not bad I s’pose. It’s funny, I’ve had so much happen to me, that now it doesn’t affect me so much; I thought it might, but it doesn’t. I have my moments, of course and these hormones seem to give me more mood swings than I ever had before, but I am beginning to realise that I am lucky in as much as I have a brand new family, including you, of course, Auntie Monica, and everyone is looking out for everyone else. The thought of all the money that I’m earning, disgusts me slightly, but at least I can use it to help my friends and family and get people around me that can help take the weight off my shoulders. Yes, I suppose that compared to a huge number of people, I am lucky and shouldn’t complain.’

‘Well, I’ve always said that you have an old head on young shoulders and I think that it’s lovely that you and Andrea are so much in love.’

‘You don’t mind Andrea being transgendered?’

‘No, why should I? She’s still the wonderful child I gave birth too, but I don’t want her hurt. If you decide that you don’t think that it’s going to work between you, let her down gently.’

‘Auntie, it is working and it always will. I love her and she loves me. I can’t imagine being with anyone else.’

‘Let’s hope so, love. Anyway, I need to go and have a lie down, doctor’s orders, although I feel better now than I have in years. It’s not boring here, is it?’

‘No,’ I laughed as she kissed me on the cheek, squeezed my arm and left.

Mrs Moon then called out that she would be taking the dynamic duo out into the garden for fresh air, so I was off babysitting duties. I thought of going with her, but as it was a bit cold, I thought that my leg might drop off or something if I went out. That was my excuse, anyway.

But I was bored and then I had a thought. I rang Danni.

‘Hi, Danni, are you at home?’

‘Of course, where do think I would be, sunning myself on the beach somewhere?’

‘Probably not in this weather. Look, we have this great fitness room downstairs and I haven’t played with any of the toys yet.’

‘What about your leg?’

‘That’s what I was coming to. Do you know any decent upper body exercises that I could do without turning me into an all-in wrestler? I need to work off some sweat and angst.’

‘I zink I can arrange zome pleasant punishment for you mine dear,’ she said in what I took to be a pseudo Transylvanian accent.

‘Oh great, a comedienne, that’s all I need at this moment!’

Shortly afterwards I was in a rather close fitting purple leotard that showed my figure off quite well. Well if you’ve got the bod, flaunt it. The fact that the bod in question looked slightly lacking in some departments, I chose to ignore because I was certain that I’d inflate to the correct proportions given time–and possibly extensive plastic surgery.

The fitness room/gym/torture chamber was a massive room in the basement. It had all the cool equipment you would find in a professional gym and Danni soon had me glowing–girls don’t sweat.

One particular evil thing that had me on my back pushing up on a bar with weights attached somewhere, had me gasping for mercy.

‘Miss Goldfinger,’ I gasped at Danni, who was smirking a bit too much for my liking, ‘Do you expect me to talk?’

She laughed evilly.

‘No, Miss Hurst, I expect you to die!’

I collapsed in a heap at that and we both started a giggle fest.

After the workout and a quick shower, I changed into a Girls Aloud t-shirt and a rather short, blue cotton skirt, which would probably have Mummy reaching for her pills and went into the kitchen for a refreshing and healthy cola. Danni had to go and do some security-type things, and left me to my own devices.

I felt less antsy by now and more mellow. Good exercise does that for you, and for once I wasn’t too worried about things in general and my standing with my fans in particular. I didn’t think that anything coming from the potty-mouth Ferris and his huggable friends would be taken too seriously by them and that was the important thing.

Mummy entered, all smiles and came to me. ‘Good workout?’

‘Danni’s a sadist.’

‘No one is perfect, dear. I have good news. That Eclipse website has been shut down and the fan site has bounced that jerk off it. Your father has the security people on to the IP address and it looks like the idiot actually used a static one that can be traced, so things are looking up. Sheila has been busy too, and you have two TV interviews this afternoon followed by three radio ones and a couple of the papers want to speak to you. So, you have a busy afternoon ahead.

‘Oh great, so I have to dress up again?’

‘Oh, don’t get all huffy with me, young lady, you love dressing up, you are more girlie than the girliest girl I know.’

I looked at her and she looked at me and I just couldn’t hold a straight face and just started giggling.

After a moment I was back together again.

‘Right,’ said Mummy. ‘I’m coming with you this afternoon and Sheila will be there to make sure no one takes advantage of you. So we’ll have a quick lunch and then we’ll be off.’

‘Okay,’ I said getting up and smoothing down my cool skirt.

‘Oh and Susan?’

‘Yes Mummy?’

‘Don’t you think that skirt is a little erm, brief?’

‘Oh Mummy––!’

To Be Continued...

My thanks go to the brilliant and lovely Gabi for editing, making suggestions that I hadn't even thought of and pulling the story into shape.