XXIV. Shang, October 9

Shang Li had to admit that having Mulan on the football team had thrown him a bit. The idea of a girl playing high school football—or any football, for that matter—was just absurd in his mind. He didn't think of himself as a sexist person. He was all for equal rights for women—there was no reason for women to be discriminated against in the workplace or expected to be subservient to men or anything like that. But… this was football. The football field was no place for a woman. It was a violent, dirty, and physical sport, and women's bodies were just not made to handle that kind of activity. That's what Shang had thought as he begrudgingly played alongside Mulan for the first couple of weeks. It just wasn't right. And surely it would damage the team—both in winnings and in reputation. Slowly, though, he had to admit that she wasn't half bad—in fact, she was a pretty good addition to the team. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that, though, after he had been so standoffish. Instead he kept pretty aloof, acting only as a stern mentor and not in much of a friendly manor.

Last night had been the fourth game of the season, and Shang had finally realized that Mulan was truly a valuable player, and without her, the team would probably be sucking pretty hard right now. He hated to admit that, even to himself, but it was true. The season was almost halfway over, and they had to step up their game if they wanted to make it into the playoffs, but… with Mulan's help, Shang thought it might just be possible. Which was why he was sitting in Carioca's, a coffee shop in downtown Marceline, waiting for her to show up. He had invited her last night after the game. She had been celebrating their win by talking ecstatically to her friend and teammate Chien-Po. Shang had approached her cautiously, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned with a big grin on her face, but when she saw him her expression quickly turned serious. She wiped a wet piece of hair away from her forehead.

"Oh, hey Shang," she said.

He felt bad for a moment that his presence caused her to change her tune so completely. But he didn't feel that bad about it.

"Mulan," he said, nodding curtly. "I was wondering, ah… if you could—I mean, if you would want to—meet me tomorrow to talk about the, uh, strategy for the rest of the season and… stuff?"

Shang mentally kicked himself—he had intended to come across sounding much more authoritative than that, and instead he sounded like he had no idea what he was trying to say. Even though he did know. Totally. Mulan raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Um, sure, Shang," she said. "Around noon would work for me. Where did you want to meet?"

"I was thinking Carioca's?" Shang said, and kicked himself again—why did he have to make it sound like such a question? Usually he was pretty good at giving instructions and directing people in what to do, but for some reason, that wasn't going so well for him today.

"The coffee place?" Mulan asked.

"Yeah," Shang said.

"You want to go for coffee to talk about football," Mulan gave him a strange look. "Sure, okay, whatever. I'll be there at noon."

"Good," Shang said. "I'll… see you then."

Looking back on the conversation, he cringed. He was supposed to be a sort of leader for the team, but that little conversation didn't seem to convey that very much at all. He felt a bit foolish, but he tried not to think of it. He cradled his mug of hot coffee and looked at his watch. It was past 12:15. He wondered if Mulan was even coming. Perhaps she had forgotten, or perhaps she never had intended to come in the first place. For a moment Shang wished they had exchanged numbers at some point, but he probably wouldn't call her now anyway. He would feel ridiculous if she knew that he had shown up and she hadn't. Just as he was thinking this, the bell on the door jingled and Mulan hurried in, looking around quickly. Shang lifted his hand a little to get her attention and she came over to the table.

"I am so sorry I'm late," she said, pulling the chair out and sitting down.

"It's okay," Shang said. "Did you want to get something to drink?"

"No, I'm fine," Mulan said, putting her bag down next to the chair. "I had to make up an excuse to come here and my dad just kept asking a million questions about where I was going, it was impossible to get out of the house."

"You lied to him about where you were going?" Shang was surprised—it seemed strange to have to lie about it. His own father was so encouraging about football. In fact, football-related things often were his excuse when he was actually going somewhere else, like a party or something.

"My parents… don't really approve of the whole football thing," Mulan said, forcing a smile.

"Oh," Shang said, nodding as if he understood.

Of course, he understood what she was saying—the concept of it. But it was so out of the realm of what he was used to. He felt himself sympathizing with Mulan, and he felt bad that he had been so rude to her about being on the team. He couldn't imagine not being able to do what he loved with his parents approval—and he was beginning to think Mulan was a lot more passionate about the game than he was. He could tell Mulan was upset about the fact that her parents weren't supportive, even though she was trying not to show it. It explained a lot—Shang had never seen Mulan with her parents after the games, while many of the players went to talk to their families afterwards. Usually, she was with Chien-Po, and sometimes he would see her sitting alone on a bench, looking a bit glum even after a win. He felt bad for blaming her female hormones and thinking it was just some kind of mood swing that he didn't understand. If his parents never came to any of his games, he would be pretty down as well. He was pretty sure he wouldn't play half as well as Mulan did under the circumstances.

He cleared his throat, "You're, um… Pretty good at football."

"You sound surprised," Mulan raised her eyebrows. "I did make the team…"

"Yeah, but, I mean, for a girl, you're…"

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?" Mulan asked.

Shang fumbled with his words a bit, then quickly changed the subject to the task at hand: discussing football strategy. He was surprised at the number of good ideas Mulan had. Not only was she skillful on the field, but she was proving to have a good mind for tactical matters. Shang listened to her suggestions closely, taking out a pen and writing some notes on a napkin when she made some particularly interesting suggestions. It was certainly better than anything Coach Hook would have come up with. For all his red-faced shouting and rather flamboyant jumping up and down, he didn't have much of a mind for the game when it came down for it, so those matters were left to the smartest of the players. Shang made a mental note to consult Mulan more often when making decisions.

Eventually, the conversation veered off in another direction. There was only so much to talk about in terms of planning for football, and Shang thought it would be a bit silly for the two of them to part ways so soon after meeting up, especially when Mulan had gone through so much trouble to be there.

"So… your family doesn't come to any of the games?" Shang asked, then cringed a bit, realizing it was probably a bit of a touchy subject. Mulan didn't show any signs that she minded the question, though.

"No," she shook her head. "But it's okay. I mean, I would love it if they came, but… I'm going to do what I love whether they support me or not. Maybe someday they'll get over it, but… I don't see that happening. They're very traditional. If they had their way, I'd probably be married by the time I turned twenty and about to start… continuing the family lineage."

She rolled her eyes.

"That's pretty old fashioned," Shang said.

"Yeah, they're a bit extreme in that sense," Mulan said. "But the idea that girls shouldn't play football… That's not an uncommon one."

She looked at Shang pointedly. He felt suddenly embarrassed, and looked down at his now empty cup.

"I'm sorry for being so rude before," Shang said. "And… what I said earlier. The team wouldn't be the same without you. I don't think we'd have had any sort of success, actually, if you weren't on it…"

"Hey! Shang! Mulan!"

Shang looked up, a bit startled, to see Kocoum Algonquin approaching the table with his arm around a girl. Kocoum smiled at his teammates and introduced them to his girlfriend, Nakoma.

"Mind if we join you two?" Kocoum asked, pulling up a chair from a nearby table for Nakoma.

"Not at all," Mulan said, smiling.

Shang minded a bit, but he wouldn't have said anything. He was having a pretty hard time understanding it himself, but he was really enjoying spending time one-on-one with Mulan.

"Cool, like a double date," Nakoma smiled.

"Oh, this isn't—we're not—" Shang stammered.

"It's not a date," Mulan filled in. "Shang and I were just discussing football."

"Mulan's a football star," Kocoum said.

"Yeah, I've seen," Nakoma said, turning to Mulan. "It's really impressive. And I think it's really cool that you joined the team even though… Well, clearly some people were a little opposed."

"Coach Hook was the only real opposition," Mulan said. "But… thank you. I don't think anyone should ever be prevented from doing what they love just because of society's conventions."

"Yeah," Nakoma said, and she looked thoughtful for a moment, apparently remembering something.

The four chatted for a while, mostly about trivial things and small pieces of gossip. Shang and Kocoum weren't what one might consider close friends, but they got along well enough. Everyone on the football team, with the obvious exception of Gaston, got along pretty well. Of course, the conversation wound up turning to Gaston at one point—it was the topic on everyone's mind and that everyone was discussing. It didn't seem likely that he'd be back on the team, which no one minded, but that meant that they'd need a new member. Fortunately it wouldn't be too hard to find someone, based on how many people had tried out and not made the team. Gaston had never been a particularly vital member of the team, anyway. He certainly had the brute strength required to be a good football player, and the potential was there, but he was too absorbed in his own self-image to be what might be called a "team player." When he was around, it was always the Gaston Show, and that didn't bode very well for the team. The four unanimously agreed that the team—and the school—would be better off without him. They didn't directly discuss the incident which led to Gaston's likely impending expulsion, but most people avoided that topic. Though it was on everyone's mind, it seemed too horrible and too personal a thing to discuss publicly.

"I should probably go soon," Mulan said, looking at her phone. "My dad will be getting suspicious soon, I think."

"You're not doing anything bad," Nakoma said, looking puzzled. "Your dad isn't okay with you… what, drinking coffee?"

"It's not that," Mulan said. "Although… He'd probably rather I was doing homework. It's just that my parents don't like that I play football. I don't think they'd let me take the car if they knew I was coming here to discuss football matters. I told them I was going to the library—kind of a cliché excuse, but I couldn't think of anywhere else that they'd surely let me go."

"You shouldn't hide it from them," Nakoma said, looking at Mulan with sympathy. "Maybe if you keep bringing it up… let them know it's a big part of your life… they'll start to warm up to it?"

"Maybe," Mulan said, though she sounded unsure. "I don't know about that though… I wish it was so simple."

"They'll get used to the idea eventually," Kocoum said. "They'll have to."

Shang felt like he should offer up some words of encouragement, but he couldn't come up with anything that hadn't already been said. Instead he tried to give Mulan a reassuring smile, but he just felt silly. He kind of wished Kocoum and Nakoma weren't there so that he could show her that he was actually capable of being supportive. He wished he could have spent this time having a more meaningful conversation with Mulan, rather than the somewhat stilted conversation of four acquaintances.

"How about I walk you to your car?" Shang suggested.

"Sure," Mulan agreed, standing and gathering her things. "It was nice seeing you, Kocoum… And nice to finally meet you, Nakoma!"

"You too," Nakoma smiled, and Kocoum gave Mulan a nod.

Mulan and Shang headed out to her car. They stood awkwardly by the driver's side for a few moments while Shang looked around, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. He stood straight as always, but he didn't quite feel the confidence he was projecting.

"Ah… I had a lot of fun talking to you today," Shang said, and Mulan gave him a strange look. "I mean… it was very, uh… productive. You have a lot of great ideas."

"Yeah," Mulan said, looking at Shang like he had three heads. "Um, you did too."

"What I mean to say—you, um, I think you're really awesome," Shang said, already mentally kicking himself. "I just mean… you're not like other girls. Not like any girl I've ever met, actually, and… Well, I just wanted to see if maybe you wanted to hang out sometime. Some other time. And not to talk about football."

"Are you trying to ask me out?" Mulan asked, looking amused.

"Um… well, yes," Shang said, nodding assertively.

"I would love to go on a date with you," Mulan said as she took a pen from her pocket and took Shang's hand to scribble some digits on it. "Here's my number… Text me or something and we'll make plans. See you Tuesday!"

She got in the car and drove off, and Shang was left all but gaping after her in the parking lot. He tried to stay composed, but he couldn't help but feel surprised at the turn of events. He had not expected that this meeting would end with the promise of a date with Mulan. It hadn't even occurred to him to ask her out until those last few minutes. It was completely spur-of-the-moment, and he wasn't even sure why he did it. It made sense, though. In a sense, Mulan seemed to Shang to be the perfect girl, she just didn't fall into his normal "type." But what was his type, anyway? All he could think of was that he wasn't used to girls being so intelligent and strong, but this girl in particular was beginning to change his mind about just what girls could and couldn't do.