Jade

Chapter 5

Jade chapter 5, a romance fiction|

Joyce took the shot again and missed, letting out another frustrated groan. Jade put her hands her hips and sighed, the little hope she was holding onto quickly dissipating. Joyce wasn't making any progress with her practice and basketball tryouts for the local elementary school girls team was coming up in a few weeks.

Jade knew that she wasn't the best person to coach her sister and she was right. She didn't know much about basketball, except that her ex-boyfriend played it well but hell would freeze over before she would have allowed herself to ask him for help.

They hadn't spoken in several weeks and she actually liked it that way. Sure life had become a bit boring without him around but she was making the most of it. Between student council meetings, volunteering at the shelter and attempting to coach Joyce, her time had become pretty limited, but surprisingly she was ok with that...to a certain extent. She knew it was going to take some time to get used to.

Aside from Mark, the only other person she could think of that played basketball well was his best friend, Byron McNeal. Jade wasn't really friends with him but at this point she was getting desperate. Her sister needed the help and if Jade had to get it from Mark's best friend then she could manage to put her ego aside for once.

"I'll be back. Keep practicing." she told her sister before dashing inside the house to grab her phone, which was sitting on the kitchen counter. Being acquaintances it was only right that Jade had his number on her phone and vice versa. She scrolled through her contacts until she found his name. Without any hesitation, she clicked it and pressed the phone against her ear.

As it rang, she observed Joyce through the kitchen window as the younger girl tried to make another shot. Once again, she missed and Jade could see the frustration clearly displayed on her little sister's face. Something about her stance when attending a lay up was off and Jade had no idea how to fix it. Hopefully this phone call was the miracle they both needed. He answered after the third ring.

"Hello?" his voice was cautious.

"Hey, Byron! It's Jade. What's up?" Jade winced. Could she sound anymore awkward.

"Uh, not much. What's up?" he asked. She knew what he really wanted to ask was why she, his best friend's ex-girlfriend, was calling him.

"Are you busy?" She asked.

"Kind of, but I can talk for a bit." He answered.

"Oh ok." Jade considered how to word what she needed to say. Or ask. "I kind have a favor to ask of you."

"A favor?" he repeated.

"Yes. You remember my sister Joyce?" She didn't give him time to answer because she knew that he did. "Well she wants play ball and tryout for the team so she'd really like some pointers but I'm not really the best person for that. So I was wondering if you could -"

"You want me to coach her?" Byron asked, getting to the point.

"Um, yeah, basically if it's not too much trouble. Yeah."

There was a moment of silence and Jade could hear some muffled background noises as if Byron had put his palm over the mouth piece and was having a side conversation with someone.

"Byron?"

"Yeah, still here."

"You're with Mark, aren't you?"Jade knew the answer before she even asked.

"Yes." He didn't hesitate.

Of course he would be. They were best friends and it was a saturday afternoon. It only made sense. And of course she knew Byron wouldn't agree to coach Joyce unless Mark was ok with it but why would he be ok with it? Jade let out a sigh deciding to end the conversation.