AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in the past shortly after Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 passed. Before this, girls who were interested in high school sports could only join the GAA (Girls' Athletic Association).
If you enjoyed this story, please check out Shari Holds A Torch...there are also a few more stories featuring the same characters! As always, this story features large age differences and butch/femme dynamic. I really enjoyed writing this one, and I really hope you enjoy reading it!
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Winter is known as the season of drawn out darkness and cold. Lighter clothes are packed away and exchanged for bulky sweaters, long pants, and turtlenecks. The world outside lies dormant; hibernating beneath a blanket of sparkling white snow. The air is bitterly cold and eerily silent while the weak winter sunlight casts a soft golden glow on the campus of Talcott High School.
January is one of the longest months of the year. For students and teachers, there is no escape, no light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas vacation has passed, and summer vacation is still too far off to think about. It was the second Friday of the month. Miss Velma Blount was sitting alone in the girls' PE office finishing up her lesson plans for the following week. She heaved a gusty sigh and pushed the spiral bound book aside before reaching for her cup of coffee. That's done! In about 20 minutes or so, the whole school will be gathering in the main gym for the winter sports pep assembly. Miss Blount took a sip from the paper cup and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Damn, she thought. It's stone cold! I thought I just poured it!
Miss Velma Blount has been teaching PE at Talcott High School for over 25 years. She is a 51 year old athletic butch woman who towers over her students at 6'2". Many of her students respected the veteran gym teacher, but some of them actually feared her and thought she was pretty intimidating. They weren't wrong. Miss Blount's fitness, stature, and her boyishly cropped light sandy hair and short, blunt bangs made her look pretty alarming. And truth be told, she kind of enjoyed intimidating her "high maintenance" girls, the princess types who refused to put effort into anything and often disrupted her classes.
Miss Blount took another sip of her tepid coffee, and her mind began to wander just as the din of students and teachers filing into the main gym began to fill the once empty space. She couldn't wait to get home to Shari. Things had been so hectic these last couple of weeks, and this morning, she barely said a word to Shari before speeding off toward school through the bitter early morning cold.
Shari Keefer is a Social Studies' teacher at Walker High School. Before that, she had graduated from Talcott and had been Miss Blount's former student. The pretty, often rebellious teen is now an alluring 24 year old woman with lustrous light blond hair and dainty features that gave her an innocent, doll-like appearance that never failed to melt the towering gym teacher's heart. Today though, Velma felt pretty guilty for not speaking to her lover this morning. She probably thinks I'm angry at her about something, Velma thought. She wasn't angry at Shari at all; she just felt so rushed! But soon things were about to get much better...
Velma's cold blue eyes glanced up at the wall clock beside the door of the PE office. The chaotic din grew noticeably louder now, and the sounds of the concert band tuning their instruments snapped the Amazon woman out of her daydream just as Coach Linley stuck his head in the doorway before stepping inside the cramped little room.
Ike Linley, known affectionately by the whole school as "Coach" has been teaching PE almost as long as Miss Blount. The two of them had been classmates at this same school decades ago, and they were often prone to teasing each other regularly. Coach Linley is a tall, cordial looking man with dark ebony skin and a strong aptitude for football. And his aptitude paid off almost as soon as he took over as Varsity coach 20 some years ago. Talcott and North Haskell have the top Varsity teams in Thatcher Blake for the past 13 years!
"Hey there, Vel, why are you looking so down? It's our big day—Coach of the Year! Look, I even brought you something!"
Miss Blount caught sight of a blue and white streak, and suddenly her eyes widened comically while Coach Linley stood there laughing. A soft object collided with the gym teacher's rugged face before falling into her lap.
"Goddamn it, Ike..." Miss Blount sighed, exasperated.
She picked the object out of her lap and stared at it for a second or two before setting it on the desktop next to her lesson planner. It was a small plush blue and white dog, the Talcott Harrier. Velma saw members of Student Commission selling the little plush mascots during lunch hour in the cafeteria.
"I just wanted to get a little something for my favorite tennis coach!" Coach Linley said. "I thought you had a ton of those things at home anyway! Don't you like it?"
It was true. Velma Blount remembered the first time Shari Keefer had come to her house. It was the first or second week of July; only a month or so after she'd graduated. The poor girl looked so upset! Velma figured her ex-student only wanted to talk, and for a little while they did. But soon after, the two of them were caressing and kissing each other deeply, so the gym teacher decided to take the girl to her bedroom.
Shari stood there, frozen from a mixture of raw teenage arousal and fear while she stared at the pile of stuffed animals piled on top of the hastily made bed. At the time, it was pretty obvious that the blond beauty didn't know what to make of it. Several days later, Velma explained that the stuffed animals were gifts she'd received over the years, mostly from students and a few parents starting back when she was adviser of Talcott's GAA.
Miss Blount rolled her eyes at the grinning black man. She reached for the little plush mascot, and kissed the top of its head.
"It's lovely, Ike." She said. "Oh, before I forget..."
Miss Blount tapped the spiral bound lesson planner she'd set aside. Besides being the Varsity football coach, Ike Linley is also the PE department head. He glanced over his shoulder and shouted a greeting to a couple passing students.
"Hey, I gotta get going, Vel." Coach said. "I'll come by and pick that up on my way out the door tonight. See you in a few!"
Velma Blount sat alone at her desk for a minute or so as more people filed into the gym. Pep assemblies are always seen as a welcome break. And today the student body was particularly loud and boisterous—bursting with school spirit! Velma had a feeling that today's assembly would be rowdier than usual. The boys' Varsity wrestling team is competing against North Haskell tomorrow afternoon, and the winter semi-formal is next Saturday.
Miss Blount got up and stepped outside the PE office. In all these years, pep assemblies never failed to amaze her. And today the principal, Mr. Bowen, is announcing the Coach of the Year award sponsored by the school district and the Talcott Fans Association.
"Oh Vel, there you are! Mr. Bowen wants you and Ike up front as soon as possible!"
Velma glanced over at her colleague, Diane Lusby, who stopped the masculine giantess just as she was about to shout a hello to a few of her 1st hour students. Miss Lusby had something in her hand. It was red, and she could see the pearlescent head of a straight pin sticking out of it. Velma mashed her thin lips together and scowled. It was a corsage!
"Diane, you know I don't wear stuff like that!"
Miss Lusby seemed to ignore her colleague. Velma stood still and did her best to look away while the dark haired gym teacher pinned the corsage to the front of Velma's shirt.
"Yeah we all know, Vel. But Coach of the Year is kind of a big deal around here...the biggest, actually."
