Without A Doubt

Chapter 44.

Emma and I walked outside to the parking lot to try and find Jackie. What the hell even started that fight between them. I'm sure Mariah stared it but why didn't Jackie fight back, or just end it all together. She just stood there and took whatever Mariah was saying. It almost made me feel bad for her. Emma and I walked to Jackie's car and found her sitting in the front seat on her phone. I knocked on the window for her to unlock the doors. She rolled her eyes, shook her head a bit, then unlocked the doors. I got in the passenger's seat and Emma got in the back seat.

"What do you want?"

"Don't be so friendly." Emma said from the back. I wanted to laugh but I didn't. This is how I'm used to Jackie being. Her friendly somewhat vulnerable version of herself made me uncomfortable.

"We came to check on you. Are you okay?" Jackie rolled her eyes again and looked out the window.

"Mariah may be a lying bitch, but she was right about the fact that I outed myself." She looked down then up again. I thought it'd be a lot harder to get her to talk. Guess not.

"I didn't care if everyone at school knew. I still don't. But somehow my parents found out. I think Asher might have told them just to spite me." The air in the car got heavy. I don't know what to say. I don't think Emma did either.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. It was all I could think to say.

"I did it to myself."

"I was jealous. And I outed myself to get back at you, and I'm sorry for that." We all stayed quiet.

"Well what did your parents say." Emma chimed in from the back seat. Jackie took a breath.

"My dad yelled. My mom wouldn't look at me. Still won't. They're not even coming to our last game tonight. I don't know if it's because they just can't or if it's because they can't stand to look at me." By now she was tearing up. It made me uncomfortable. I was just happy Emma was here and I wasn't alone in this situation.

"Coming out is hard." I started.

"When I came out my mom sort of just shut down with me. I knew it was her way of trying to figure out how to come to terms with it, but that didn't make it hurt any less. My dad, well, he did better than my mom, but it still wasn't easy." I just kept going. Hoping in some way she'd understand that she wasn't alone in this.

"The first few weeks I felt like I was walking on egg shells. Sometimes I'd over hear my mom talking to my dad about it. Saying that maybe it was just a phase. But we worked through it."

"It's not going to be easy and it's not going to be pleasant. But you're tough. I mean, you beat the shit out of some girl on the court for running her mouth. You go up against girls a foot taller than you and somehow you still get to the basket. The Jackie I know doesn't take shit from people like Mariah." She's tough. I should know. She rammed me down in practice for saying the wrong thing. I'm not saying these things because I like her or because in some subconscious state I want to be with her. I'm saying them because I respect her. I respect who she is, and the fact that she doesn't take shit from anyone. She stands up for herself. It's something I hadn't learned how to do until recently.

"Alright." She said. She didn't let herself completely break down. She let a few tears fall but that was it.

"Now let's get to the gym before Hall skins us alive." We're 30 minutes late to practice on game day... again. Eden's already text me about 15 times telling me to get my ass to back to the gym. Can't wait to get yelled at by Coach Hall again.

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I'm having so much fun. It's the beginning of the 4th quarter and we're ahead by 15 points. Since Bell View only plays in the paint we've been running a zone defense, but it's a weird zone defense. Bell View has one good player on their team. Her name is Jacey. She's also my ex. She's a fast lefty who will take it to the hole every time she gets the ball. Because she's their leading scorer Hall has everyone else in a 1-3 zone while I'm playing her a hard man. Jacey and I left things on good terms, so me guarding her as hard as I am isn't personal. We've actually been joking around the entire game. When Bell View's coach called a timeout, Jacey looked at me and said

"We're already losing by 15, what's the point?" She didn't say it bitterly though, she said it as she laughed. Her main sport is softball, it's why she moved to Bell View, so this is just for fun to her.

During the timeout, Hall told me to cut the chit chat and to not let Jacey touch the ball. She then told went on to tell us what we're doing right or wrong and whatnot. I had stopped listening when I saw Liv next to Emma in the stands. She smiled and waved at me. I just smiled back.

When we got back on the court it was our ball even though Bell View had called the time out. They had called it because they thought their girl had the ball but Eden ripped the ball out of the girl's hands before the ref heard the coach yell timeout. Jackie and I ran to the sideline so that I could throw the ball in to her. I passed her the ball and ran down to my spot on the box behind Ashlyn. When Jackie came down I broke out to the wing, but Jacey was right on my tail so I V-cut to try and shake her. Jackie saw me coming back and threw the ball to me. Out of nowhere I saw Jacey's hand come and snatch the ball out of the air. Jacey switched over to the left side of the court and ran as fast as she could towards the basket. She's not as fast as I am, but she's pretty damn close. I ran besides her the entire way down the court. We were almost at the basket when she picked the ball up to go in for her layup. When she picked the ball up, for a split second she looked at me then smiled. We both leaped into the air. She jumped to go for the layup. I jumped to try and block the layup. Once I was in the air though, she rammed into me sending my flying. As the ground came towards me I did my best to just tuck and roll. I had so much momentum that my feet flipped over my head and I continued to roll about three more times, and somehow landed sitting up. When Eden and some Bell View girl came to help me up, I couldn't help it, I started laughing.

"I didn't know you could fly." Eden laughed at me.

"Me neither." I was cracking up. Once I was up I heard the ref yell,

"Foul! Number four! Block!" Totally worth it. I turned around and saw Jacey who was already on the free throw line. When we made eye contact we both just started laughing. She gave me a high five as I passed her. I walked to the other side of the court for the free throw. I looked over at Hall as I walked by. She just cocked her eyebrow at me and shook her head as she laughed a little to herself. I then looked into the stands to find Liv. When I did she was holding up her phone mouthing

"I got it." I just smiled and laughed a little bit more. This has been one of the most fun games I've ever played.

We won, 60-46.