Offside

Nyah Cole has never believed dreams were free.

Growing up with empty cupboards and parents who worked themselves to exhaustion, she learned early that survival comes before ambition. But when she discovers that the only full scholarship to the elite Aurelian Institute is reserved for boys' football, Nyah makes an impossible choice-she becomes one.

Disguised as Nico, she earns her place on the team and moves into the boys' dorms, carrying a secret that could cost her everything. Every goal, every late night, every breath is a risk. Because being found out doesn't just mean losing school-it means losing her future.

Kairo Vale already has everything Nyah doesn't. Wealth. Status. A guaranteed path forward. Cold, distant, and effortlessly gifted on the pitch, he keeps people at arm's length. But when Nico joins the team, Kairo is unsettled by a familiarity he can't explain-a presence that feels like a memory he never stopped searching for.

As forced tutoring sessions bring them dangerously close, lines blur between friendship, fear, and feelings neither of them are ready to face. Kairo struggles with an attraction he doesn't understand, while Nyah battles the growing cost of living a lie.

At a school built on tradition and privilege, truth is the most dangerous rule to break.

OFFSIDE is a slow-burn, dual-POV story about identity, sacrifice, and choosing love in a world that tells you where you're allowed to stand.