The Fire and the Phoenix

THREE | ROSALIE

I grunted as I attempted to pivot around the chick that was guarding me to sink a two-pointer, and had the ball stolen from me again. Damn, this girl was fast and could jump. She took off down the court and made an easy layup at her basket for another two points, high fiving her teammates on the way back to center court. A roar of approval rose from the guest bleachers.

I looked over at my friend Dani and shrugged as the buzzer sounded, marking the end of the quarter. As we walked over to our bench, I saw Coach Bess staring at the scoreboard with her mouth half open. I didn't blame her. We were 10 points behind, and it was only the end of the first quarter. We were usually ahead by that amount at the end of our games, not after one quarter.

I sat down on the bench and put my forehead in my hands. Dani patted me on the back as she sat down. "Only three more quarters to go!" she said cheerily.

"Gah," I moaned. "These people are on steroids or something!"

I had never seen girls play like this team was playing. They looked normal. Heck, they weren't even that tall - the tallest one was a head shorter than me. But they could play, and they were quick. I was exhausted.

I glanced at Dani. She sat back with an exasperated sigh. "I guess we know now why they're undefeated," she muttered.

"Yeah," I whined. "But so are we."

Dani groaned. "You mean 'were undefeated', right?"

"Girls?"

I looked up to see Coach Bess standing over me with her hands on her hips. She smiled. I knew that look. She had a plan.

"Jenkins, I know you're used to using your height as an advantage, but that's not working here," she said as she kneeled in front of us.

"No kidding," I mumbled.

"Well, what else do you have?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I can hit a three-pointer with my eyes closed," I murmured.

She looked at Dani. "And you?"

Dani grinned. "I can fake a turn like Michael Jordan!" she exclaimed. "Well, not exactly, but good enough."

We laughed.

Coach looked at both of us. "What can you do with that?"

We looked at each other. My eyebrows shot up. "They focus on the area around the basket, not outside," I said.

Dani's grin widened. "Pass to the outside!"

I nodded. "Confuse them. Make them think she's going for a two-pointer then pass the ball to me on the outside so I can sink the three-pointer."

Coach nodded. "We won't be able to do it much before they catch on, but it just may help us catch up," she said.

The horn sounded and we stood up. Coach put her hand out. We circled around and put our hands on hers. "Go Springers!" we shouted.

~*~

Somehow, we had managed to close the point deficit to 2 points by the time Coach called the last time out in the fourth quarter with 10 seconds left on the clock. The rest of our players and I trotted over to our bench to shouts of approval from our bleachers.

"Great job out there, girls!" Coach exclaimed. "Y'all kept them confused and on the run, and we just have to finish the job." Coach pointed at three of our teammates that had sat the last quarter out to rest. "In," she said. She looked toward Dani and me and motioned for us to join her for a conference.

"Ok you two," she said, and winked. "I know you're beat, but it's time."

Dani glanced at me, her chocolate brown eyes wide. I looked over at the other bench, where the girls from Crescent Academy were pacing back and forth on the sideline, glaring at us. It almost reminded me of how animals pace in a cage. I shuddered a little and looked back at Dani. "Piece of cake," I choked.

Dani wiped her glistening forehead with a towel and grinned, her white teeth standing out against her deep brown skin. "Michael Jordan time," she giggled as she shimmied her hips back and forth.

Coach grimaced slightly as she gave us both a low thumbs up. "Go get 'em," she whispered.

Dani and I walked out to center court and joined our teammates. The other team had scored last, so we started with possession. Jen, our point guard, trotted to the sideline and the ref handed her the ball. She looked my way and nodded as she passed the ball to Dani, who took off towards our basket. I followed a little behind. The other team was so focused on Dani they were ignoring me. As Dani passed half court, one of the opposing girls reached for the ball and was stymied as Dani deftly rotated around her and continued down the court. The spectators on both sides of the gym were going crazy as Dani pivoted around two other girls and reached our basket. I took a steadying breath and waited. As Dani spun towards our basket, the girl that had been guarding me earlier jumped up to block her shot. Dani looked towards me with a glint in her eye and passed the ball.

I watched the ball careen towards me almost like it was in slow motion. I barely heard the screams of the crowd as I caught it, dribbled once, and let the shot go. C'mon, I thought. Go in there!

Two of the girls on the opposing team leapt up trying to deflect the shot and missed. Just as the buzzer sounded, the ball reached the basket and ricocheted off of the back rim before swooshing through the net and bouncing loudly on the court floor.

There was a half second of silence before our bleachers erupted in celebration and surged onto the court. Dani nearly bowled me over as she grabbed me in a hug. "Oh my gawd!" she squealed. "We did it!" Jen ran over and high-fived me as Coach Bess ran on the court and tousled my hair which had long since mostly fallen out of the haphazard bun I had put it in at the beginning of the game. Grinning, I pulled the elastic out of my hair and shook it out. After several minutes of celebration, I stepped out of the melee and looked for my parents. They were still on the bleachers with Chris, who had put his noise cancelling headphones on and was sitting with his head between his knees. I hated that - the noise of the crowd always bothered him. I waved at my parents and pointed to the locker room. Daddy gave me a thumbs up and pointed at the doors leading out of the gym. I returned the thumbs up and trotted towards the showers.

The girl from the other team that had made it her job to be the bane of my existence during the game walked over, smiling. "Great game," she said, and stuck out her hand.

I smiled back. "You too," I stated, and shook her offered hand.

"Listen," she said. "I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but my brother wants to meet you."

"Really?" I asked. She pointed over to the opposing team bleachers to a guy I could only describe as a mountain. He towered over nearly everyone else he was around, and I could actually see the swell of his muscles underneath his sweatshirt. I swallowed. "Him?"

She grinned. "Yes. His name is Johnathan." She sauntered off and looked back over her shoulder. "Don't keep him waiting," she added.

"Um," I stammered as she walked off.

Great, I thought. Don't keep him waiting? What the hell?

I turned and looked at him again and found him staring at me. I narrowed my eyes and stared him down, giving my head a quick shake.

Not happening, I thought, and turned back towards the locker rooms.

"Wait!"

I felt a gentle hand on my arm and turned to find Johnathan standing right behind me. I gasped and jerked my arm out of his grasp. "What?" I asked. "Can't you take a hint?"

"Rosalie? Rosie?" he asked. His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at me.

I turned more so I was facing him. Damn, he was gorgeous. I swallowed and gritted my teeth. "What, are you a stalker too?" I challenged.

He actually looked contrite as he dropped his hands by his side and shrugged. "You don't remember me, do you?" he asked quietly.

I studied him - I mean really studied him. Wavy dark brown hair, light brown eyes, chiseled features...why did he look familiar? I c****d my head. He grinned and pulled out a baseball cap with the words "12th Precinct" emblazoned across the red fabric.

My eyebrows shot up in recognition. "John?" I questioned excitedly. "Firefighter John?"