Only Her

Good Game

JAYDIN

"JJ! Lay up!" 

I dribbled the ball down court and shot one last bucket before the timer went off to signal the end of our game. The girls cheered and held up their hands for me to hi-five as I walked off court. Coach slapped me on the back.

"Nice work, Jaydin," he said, giving me a small nod of approval.

"Thanks," I replied, grinning to myself. Praise from Coach was very rare, so I must have done awesome out there.

Our team, the Stormers, just beat the Hornets, and we continued to stand undefeated. This was our 6th game of the season. I flipped my braids to my back and picked up my bottle and wiping the sweat from my forehead.

"JJ! You were awesome!" my Dad congratulated. "Grab your gym bag and we'll go out for Ice cream," he whispered, so that Coach wouldn't hear that I was eating things I wasn't supposed to.

I sipped from my bottle while I headed towards the locker room. My eyes wandered to where our boys team was playing their game. I watched as the Hornets boys team snatched the ball and passed down court, only to be intercepted back into the Stormers' possession. They passed to Jemaine Edwards, and he shot a 3 pointer with ease. He was probably the best player on their team.  And probably the best player relationship wise.

Well, not really. He was known for leading all the girls on, only to leave them disappointed. He never went out with anyone, probably only a couple of girls, and even those relationships didn't last long. 

The girls on the team talked about him a lot, usually swooning over how good his hair always looked or how pretty his eyes were. I knew Amber Swayne, a girl on my team, liked him. Amber and Jemaine usually played ball with me and a couple of other kids at the hall on Thursday evenings, and I usually talked to Jemaine then. I always defended him as well because he was good competition and it could really boost my defence.

 Otherwise we were just friends.

People asked me why I didn't find him attractive.

I just didn't.

I grabbed my black gym bag and slammed the locker door closed. I wiped my matted forehead again and heard some whispers from the back of the locker room. Stuff about Jemaine.

I sighed. I think I was the only one who wasn't interested in him.

I walked out the locker room and came face to face to none other but Jemaine Edwards. 

"Hey," he said, grinning at me.

"Hey," I replied, giving him a small smile. I swung my bag round my shoulder.

"Are you leaving now?" He asked. I nodded in reply.

"Oh, well you played a good game today." I grinned.

"I saw you score that last bucket. Nice work." He winked and gently patted me on the arm.

Oh.

That's why they fell for him.