Disney High

Mulan

"Alright everybody! Line up!" The coach, Mr. Lightyear, says. "In line! Let's go!" Mulan looks around at the other boys and see that they are forming a line in front of the coach. She is at football tryouts after school. Earlier that day she had worked hard to try and make herself look as masculine as possible. Now, in her football uniform with her hair up, she was hoping no one would notice who she was.

Mulan gets in line next to some freshmen she doesn't recognize. Coach starts to speak again. "Look around. Observe your team. Knowing your teammates is possibly the most important part of football." Mulan looks to her right and sees Flynn Rider and Aladdin. To her left is Gaston, Shang Le, Tarzan, all three of the Prince Squad, and the freshmen. Not a bad team. And none of them said anything about her being a girl.

"Alright," Mr. Lightyear speaks up. "All of you were either on the team last year or on the middle school team. Except one. Ping! Step up!" Mulan walks up to the Coach. "This is Ping Sherman. He just moved here and goes to the private school up the street. He'll be on our team because they don't have one up there. Say hey, Ping."

"He-" Wait. Stop. She clears her throat and says in a lower voice, "Hey." The team starts the day with kicks through the goalpost. As the boys stepped up and kicked, Coach Lightyear gave them a 1-10 score. Shang went first. As he prepared to kick the ball she couldn't help but notice how in fit this boy really was. 'Wow.' She thought. She couldn't help but stare until she realized that she was supposed to be a boy. Shang scored a 9, impressive.

As all the boys stepped up they received pretty good scores but, none as good as Shang's. Finally, it is Mulan's turn. As she steps up, Mr. Lightyear mentions, "It's a personal goal of the team to get the football right into the tuba." He points to the tuba just behind the goalpost. Mulan nods and takes a deep breath. She can feel herself shaking, this is her chance to prove she was just as good at football as any of those boys. She lifts her foot back and kicks the ball through the center of the goal post, right into the tuba!

"Excellent job, Ping!" Mr. Lightyear shouts. "10!" Ping smiles and finds herself looking at Shang, who turns away. She didn't know
what to make of him.