Jade wiped the sweat from her face into her t-shirt collar. She launched the ball into the goal, which landed with a swish and thunk. "Gotta try harder next time, Gigi," she grinned.

"So unfair," Regina laughed, though it was honestly more of a gasp for air. "My teammate was preoccupied."

"Mine was too! No excuses," Jade grinned as the two friends watched Faith and Eli flirting rather than playing. "Want to team up against them?"

Regina laughed and nodded. Jade dribbled the ball down the court and passed to Regina, who scored. They continued this way until Faith turned and realized what was going on. "Oh, that's what we're doing?" she challenged, quickly bodying Regina and stealing the ball. The game restarted with vigor, as Faith and Eli now had to save face. Jade and Regina barely won, even with the extra points they acquired- which did count, in Jade's opinion. The two gushy love-birds should have been paying attention.

By that point, the YMCA was about to close, so they quickly headed to the vending machines for a quick post-basketball pick-me-up. Jade refilled her water bottle at the fountain, then got a pack of sour gummy worms. Regina got herself a granola bar and Faith and Eli shared a bag of chips. They left the gym and were confronted with the chill night air. "Does anyone need a ride?" Regina offered, but Jade knew it was mostly for her. Faith had a car and usually drove her boyfriend where he needed to go.

"I'm good, thanks. It's a nice night," Jade replied and began to walk towards her house. "See you guys later."

Eli jogged up to her. "Let me walk with you."

Jade gave him a side-eye. "I can take care of myself."

Eli shrugged. "I know. But it's a nice night, right?" Jade looked back to see if Faith had sent him to watch her, but she could tell by the melty look in her friend's eyes that this was all Eli. Jade shrugged and offered him a gummy worm.

They had finished the bag by the time they reached Jade's house. "Are you sure you're good to walk home?" Jade asked, her voice sounding loud against the peaceful silence they had walked in.

"Oh, totally. My apartment's just a couple blocks away. Have a good night," he smiled and put his earbuds in. He watched her walk into her house, then walked away himself.

Her foster parents Pam and Jim were in the living room and Jade in the foyer, but Pam called out to her, "Hey, Jade. How was work?"

Jade had to walk through the living room to get to the stairs, so she had to engage with her. "I didn't have work. I went to the Y."

"Oh, that's right. How was it?"

"Good," Jade replied and began to walk up to her room.

"Who was that boy?" Jim asked with a certain humor in his voice.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jade groaned and turned from the stairs. "Faith's boyfriend. He's been hanging with us lately."

"Which one is Faith again?" Pam asked.

Jade rolled her eyes. They couldn't even be bothered to learn her friends' names after all these months. "Blonde, 'too much dark makeup', has been one of my best friends for, like, four years," she answered.

"Ah, yes, she helped with Felicity's hair for the recital," Pam recalled.

"That boy's sure a gentleman for walking you home. Tell her to hang onto him," Jim said.

"Okay." Jade hurried up the stairs to avoid anymore conversation.

She entered the room she shared with Felicity as quietly as possible. Jim and Pam set the younger girl's bedtime at nine-thirty on school nights and ten on weekends, but it was already ten-fifteen. Felicity stirred, not fully asleep yet. "Jade?"

Jade crept over to her foster-sister's bed. "Hey, Muffin. I'm here. Go to sleep," she whispered and gingerly kissed her forehead. The seven-year-old's sweet curls tickled Jade's nose.

"You smell like the gym," Felicity said, pinching her nose.

"Yeah, I smell, but I dominated the court."

Felicity sat up. "Will you teach me how to play like you?"

Jade smirked and threw her gym bag by her bed. "Only if you're okay with smelling like me."

"That's a tough one, but you smell worse than me anyways, so I don't think I'll ever smell that bad."

Jade rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at her sister. Felicity mimicked it and went back to bed. Jade hopped in the shower to wash off the sweat. By the time she was done, Jim and Pam had gone to bed, leaving the lights off and the house still. Jade went to the kitchen to get some leftovers, then laid on the couch to scroll through various social medias as she ate. A picture of the school's basketball team showed up with the caption announcing they were headed to state finals. Good for Regina, she thought. Even though she loved her friend, she couldn't feel any real happiness looking at the post. She quickly switched to streaming a movie until she fell asleep.

The lights turned on abruptly, followed by Jim's "Whoops, sorry!" and darkness again.The kitchen light was now on, with the noise of busyness coming from it. She checked the time on her phone: nine a.m.

"It's fine, I'm going to bed," Jade groaned and walked to her room. When she went to sleep the night before, she forgot everyone else had to be up early for this weird play-date-thing their foster parents had set up for Felicity. Apparently, they read in some article that it was important for Black children in white families to interact with other Black families to be fully immersed in their culture. It seemed nice, but Jade thought the whole thing seemed awkward. Pam explained that they would do the same for her, if Jade knew her culture. She knew her mother was white, but her other half remained a mystery. Some families said it was Hispanic, others claimed she looked Filipino, but no one really knew for certain. Besides, she didn't need to be dragged to some tea party full of strangers anyways.

Pam knocked on her door. "Last chance to go," she offered.

"It's okay, thank you," she replied. Pam looked like she was about the say something else, but she decided against it and headed out. Jade managed to fall back to sleep for another hour or so. On her way to get breakfast, she noticed Jim was still in the living room, reading some book about the Navy.

"Uh, hi," she said hesitantly.

He put his book down and smiled. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty. It's almost lunchtime, you know."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but what are you still doing here?" Jade asked.

"The party was just for mothers and daughters. Besides, this gives us time to hang out," he replied.

Warning bells went of in Jade's head. "Really?" she hedged.

"Yeah, I was thinking we could get lunch and go antiquing," he said.

Jade sighed, relieved she wasn't going to be on the next 48 Hours. "Sure, that sounds-" Well, not exactly fun, but "nice."