Jade

Chapter 3

Jade Chapter 3, a romance fiction |

Warning: coarse language in this chapter, mostly toward the end. If that offends you, I apologize. If not, then happy reading!

Mrs. Bernard was a seventy-some year old woman who owned New Haven, a shelter that served food and provided necessities for those who couldn't afford it as well as a place to spend the night. It was a nonprofit shelter which was run by mostly volunteers and where everything was donated. Mrs. Bernard and Mrs. Wilson, Jade's mother, worked together before Mrs. Bernard retired to run her family shelter.

Jade arrived at the shelter around 3:30. She had been there a few times before to drop some things her mother wanted to give away so she knew her way around. She walked in and easily spotted Mrs. Bernard who was walking around greeting people left and right. Jade made her way toward the older woman who had already spotted her. With a big smile on her face Mrs. Bernard walked toward her. For being in her seventies, she was still relatively healthy. Though she walked slowly, she didn't need any help from a walker or cane.

"Oh, Jade how nice to see you again," she wrapped her arms around Jade and pulled her in for a hug. "I was so happy to hear your mother saying you be volunteering for us. We can always use an extra hand around here. Come with me." Jade let the old woman lead her toward the kitchen area where she was introduced to some of the other volunteers and shown around. "Now, we don't start serving until 4, and we keep going till 7:30. It takes us about an hour or so to clean so by 8:30 you should be good to go."

Great, Jade couldn't help but think.

Mrs. Bernard went on about such and such and Jade was given an apron, set of gloves and place to stand where she could serve the rolls and corn. There was girl on her right who kept looking at her.

"Hi, I'm Reina." she finally said smiling at Jade.

"Jade." She muttered back.

"I know, we go to the same school."

Even Greater, Jade thought again, someone who knew the real reason why she was there.

"I'm a sophomore." Reina added.

Jade just nodded watching as people started to line up with their trays.

"Are you here just for today?" Reina kept asking.

"No." Jade answered a bit begrudgingly. How she wished it was only for that day.

"Oh, cool! I volunteer three days a week." Jade didn't say anything. The girl seemed nice but Jade didn't feel like being bothered. She just wanted to serve the food, clean up and get the hell out of there.

"Don't worry, it goes by fast. Before you know it, it'll be 7 and the clean up doesn't take long since everyone works together."

Jade was glad to hear that and Reina was right. As more people came in line, time went by and before she knew it, they were cleaning up, wiping tables, sweeping the floor and bringing the dishes in the back.

"Thank you so much for your help today, Jade," Mrs. Bernard said to her. "I'm glad to have you as part of the team, it means a lot."

"Sure." Jade said absently. She was tired and just wanted to get home to a hot shower. "See you Thursday." Jade made her way out toward her car.

"Bye Jade!" Reina waved at her as she walked toward a car that had pulled up.

Jade slightly waved at the strange girl she had just met before hopping inside her car and finally speeding home.

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Ryan made his way down the hall toward his locker, reminding himself to thank Wendy for posting the flyers about the bake sale and for making sure it was announced during the morning announcements. He liked that she took initiative when it came to their projects.