Gray. It was a common enough surname; according to one of those online profiling sites, both Gray and Jackson were prevalent surnames in Pottiswood and, to a lesser extent, Birmingham. Therefore, it was entirely plausible that Jody's sparring partner, Miss Gray, was just another local girl with no connection to her, her brothers or Kingsley Gray and his family. However, because she knew so little about the girl, there was nothing to definitively rule her out as a potential half-sister either. All in all, she had some serious digging to do when she next went to the gym.

"Jody!" Aliyah hissed from across the bench.

"Yeah?" she responded, not looking up from her phone.

"Tyler's been trying to get your attention for, like, the last five minutes!"

She stopped what she was doing just then, proceeding to spot Tyler and his mates on the other side of the quad. The boys appeared to be up to no good, as per usual, but Tyler himself was standing a few steps away from the others, beckoning her over. She muttered an 'I'll be back' to her friends before making her way towards him.

"Hi," she greeted, shoving her phone and hands into her pockets.

"Hi," he replied quietly. "How are you?"

Jody sighed inwardly. She hated the cycle of mundane small talk they'd devolved to following his departure from Ashdene Ridge; the deepest conversation they'd had since was about what they'd had for dinner the previous night. Now, she liked talking about food as much as the next person, especially since she was learning how to cook, but they couldn't go on like this; sometimes, she felt like she was talking to an acquaintance rather than her best friend.

'"I'm alright... What were you up to yesterday?"

What she really meant was 'why haven't you texted me yet?'. Judging by the sudden sheepish expression on his face, he understood her double entendre. "I went down to help Kamal and Mum out with the street food outlets. Basically, I ran out of credit last week and Mum told me that if I helped out with the business every Sunday, she'd get me a new phone on a monthly contract. And she did. It arrived today, actually." He paused, pulling a gold iPhone XS out of his inner blazer pocket. "I've got unlimited data, minutes and texts. What do you think?"

Despite not caring much for overly expensive luxuries, she couldn't deny that she was a tiny bit jealous. Mike and May-Li only bought phones for new care kids who didn't already have one; everyone else had to pay out of their own pockets if they wanted a new one and as a result of the recent cut in allowances, some couldn't even afford top-ups let alone the latest models.

"Uhh, yeah, it's great," she answered, clamping down on her envy. It was hardly Tyler's fault that his mother had the means to get him a new phone. He hadn't even received it for free, though she found it curious that Sally had baulked at the idea of her son mopping floors at Ashdene Ridge but was fine with him working for her husband before he was even sixteen. "You should probably give me your new number."

"I've still got the same number." She nodded slowly. While she now knew why he hadn't texted all week, she still didn't understand why he hadn't visited her. How hard was it for him to walk down a few roads when he had some free time? He'd done it multiple times back when he'd run between the birthday bashes she and his mother had respectively thrown for him. "Where were you yesterday?"

She blinked, taken aback by the otherwise casual question. Telling him about the trials she'd signed up for yesterday and had been deliberating about since last Friday hadn't even crossed her mind once. She was somewhat shocked by the sobering realisation, and a little disheartened too; just ten days ago, he would've been the first person to know. As for telling him about her maybe sister, she had no idea where to start. Before she could even think about how to phrase her answer, the bell rang.

"History," Tyler said dryly, rolling his eyes. "I'll text you later, yeah?"

She smiled weakly and nodded before watching him disappear into the crowded doorway at one end of the path running down the middle of the quad for what felt like the billionth time.

.:. QK .:.

Later that day, Jody found herself at the gym as per usual, only this time she was officially trying out for the regional team and was, therefore, a rival to all of the other hopefuls, including her supposed half-sister. After warming up to engage in a sparring session with the said girl, she approached Brandon, determined to find out what, if anything, he knew about her. After all, he had been the one to reveal that Miss Gray was trying out in the first place.

"Hi Brandon," she began, ignoring the raised brows she received from his mates. They probably thought she was interested in getting back with him and while she didn't fancy confirming that theory, she had to take him aside lest the boys told Miss Gray that 'the other Gray' was asking questions about her. "Can I talk to you?"

Brandon appeared to be a little surprised but nodded, following her to one of the benches. The very same bench they'd had their first proper conversation on, in fact.

"What's up?" he asked kindly. "Do you want to start sparring with me again? I think I've got a lot better since... you know."

Since before they'd started going out. It felt like a lifetime ago. "No," she answered, watching his face fall slightly. She scrambled to rectify herself. "I mean, I'd love to spar with you again but that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"What then?"

"I was just wondering what you know about my sparring partner." He made a bit of a funny face then, prompting her to rack her brain for a less creepy approach. "I want to get to know her but she insists on not telling me her first name. How well can you really know someone if you don't even know that? You know what I mean?"

"Oh right, I get you," he said, chuckling. "But you might be better off asking someone else; I think I heard Bernadette calling her Bella once but I'm not sure."

Bella. It sounded like a good sibling name for Benji. Or the other way round, rather, considering that she was born before said boy. "Oh, so you don't go to school with her or anything?"

Brandon bit his lip before saying, "I go to an all-boys' school, remember?"

Jody blushed, mentally berating herself. He may have only told her that tidbit of information once but what kind of ex-girlfriend forgot something like that? Oh God, what did he think of her?

"Rubbish memory," she muttered, exaggeratedly rolling her eyes at herself. She wished she could just disappear.

"It's okay," he assured her, though she could tell it most definitely wasn't. He probably remembered what school she went to. "She might go to the girls' school if she lives anywhere near me."

She didn't dare ask him which area he lived in. She knew full well that she'd broken up with him just before he was going to introduce her to his parents.

"Yeah," she simply replied, catching sight of 'Bella' entering the gym. She stood up, smiling down at her ex. "Thanks for the help... Let me know when you want to spar, yeah?"

"Will do."

As she walked towards her sparring partner, her mobile phone vibrated in her pocket. She wasted no time in pulling it out, beaming when she saw that she had a message from Tyler. Since she'd recently changed the settings to hide the contents of notifications on her lock screen—Floss had been particularly nosey as of late—she had to unlock her mobile to read it.

Hey, want 2 come down 2 my place? There's a sick air crash documentary on at 5.

Her first instinct was to grab her gym bag and run out of the door but upon glancing at the girl who was possibly her only living female relative (that she knew of), she quashed the urge as quickly as it came; if she was ever going to determine whether they were related or not, she was going to need more than just a possible name to go on. Besides, she had priorities; the trials were in just under two months and she'd signed up on the self-set condition that she train from Sunday to Friday and do her homework on Saturday.

I can't. I'm training. Y don't u come down on Saturday after ur shift?

"Is it the boyfriend?" Miss Gray asked as she strapped her headgear on, her tone reeking of condescension. "The new one, I mean."

Overcome by the familiar need to prove herself, she ignored the beep that indicated Tyler's reply and switched her phone off, proceeding to toss it into her gym bag. If this girl was indeed her sister, she couldn't let her think she was a total loser. 'Bella' Gray already had the love and attention of their father; Jody would be damned if she let the daddy's girl be the best boxer too.

.:. QK .:.

The next few days whittled by in a repetitive manner with her spending every day at the gym, getting to know Miss Gray, and texting Tyler sporadically, usually just before going to bed. However, come Thursday, he abruptly cornered her during lunchtime and asked her why she'd ignored his texts the previous night. She winced, realising that she'd forgotten to reply to him; after turning her phone back on, she'd briefly read his messages before calling May-Li to pick her up but had been too tired to do anything other than shower and have dinner before turning in for the night.

"My eyelids were literally drooping by the time I went to bed, Tyler," she stated truthfully. "I did read the messages though. You still haven't told me why you can't you make it on Saturday. Come on, it'll be like the old times: the two of us hanging out after you come back from work and I come back from boxing. Well, I don't box on Saturdays anymore but same difference."

"It's like you said," he answered. "I'm too tired after a shift to walk down to Ashdene Ridge."

Unable to help herself, she snorted, and the words were out of her mouth before she could even comprehend them: "I'd hate to see what you look like after a couple of hours at the gym!"

His eyebrows nearly flew up into his hairline. "Wow," he uttered, a deep frown forming on his face. "Why don't you try walking down to my place after a whole four hours of running around doing errands for my boss?"

Her heart leapt up into her throat. "Tyler, I didn't mean—"

"Nah, I think you did," he interjected dryly. "We can't all be like you and Brandon but that doesn't mean I don't work just as hard as you do!"

Her desire to apologise vanished as soon as Brandon's name left his lips. "What's this got to do with Brandon? Why are you bringing him into this?!"

"He's got everything to do with it! You're back with him, aren't you? That's why you've been at the gym like every single day, turning your phone off so that I don't get in the way of you two!"

She exploded with fury. "Back with him?! I'm the one who broke up with him! You know that! And I've been off with you? Seriously?!"

"Jody!" April hissed in the background. "People are staring! And listening!"

"I don't care!" Jody snapped, staring straight at Tyler with what she hoped was a piercing gaze. "I've been at the gym every day because I'm trying out for the Junior Regional Team and I turn my phone off because my sparring partner—a girl—doesn't like distractions!"

She vaguely heard April muttering something about privacy from somewhere behind her but kept her eyes on Tyler, relishing in the expression on his face as realisation dawned on him. How dare he accuse her of hanging out at the gym just to see a boy? He knew that she'd started boxing to curb her anger, not pick up a boyfriend.

"You—You never said!" he spluttered, his face growing red. "Since when were you considering making a career out of boxing?"

"I'm not," she responded, though she had to admit to herself that she had been thinking about it a lot lately. College deadlines were fast approaching and she still hadn't decided on A-level choices because she didn't have an affinity for any particular subject, let alone three or four. The college fair she was attending with Sasha next month was her last bet; if she still didn't know what to do after that, she was seriously going to consider boxing full-time. It was why she took her training so seriously. "And how was I supposed to tell you? We never talk properly anymore!"

"We text!" he exclaimed weakly, throwing his arms out. "I know it's not the same as talking face to face but what more can we do? I'm free after school but you're not. You're free on Saturday but I'm not... I can't do Sunday either."

"Neither can I," she said flatly, her heart sinking. "We're just going to have to carry on as we are!"

At this rate, she was never going to be able to tell him about her latest family drama.

.:. QK .:.

"Focus, Gray!"

Jody blinked, rolling her shoulders and preparing to throw another punch. Despite resolving to put her issues with Tyler aside until after she left the gym, snippets of their lunchtime conversation, or rather screaming match, kept seeping back into her mind, flooding her with a flurry of emotion. She was disappointed in him for degrading her boxing to man-watching, ashamed at herself for thinking so lowly of his work but, most of all, she was distraught at losing her partner in crime. She nearly felt as if she was thinking of two random kids when she reminisced about the boy and girl who'd conspired together to nick Gina's poorly hidden biscuit tin.

Swinging at her sparring partner, she couldn't help but feel, for the first time, that she'd made a horrible mistake by allowing Tyler to go back to his mother. Although she couldn't be sure of a lot of things between them, one thing she knew for certain was that he would've stayed had she not essentially bullied him into accepting Sally's offer. Knowing she only had herself to blame, she didn't even try to block Miss Gray's punch.

"What the hell are you doing?!" 'Bella' barked. "If you don't get your act together, I'll have to swap sparring partners!"

"Go ahead," Jody spat, her cheek smarting as she ripped her boxing gloves off. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a few onlookers scattered outside the ring. "But I doubt anyone will want to since you're practically broadcasting"—she almost laughed sardonically at her word choice—"how bad of a partner I am."

'Bella' looked around for a few seconds before uncharacteristically sighing in defeat. She turned back to Jody. "Right," she started through gritted teeth. "If I can't get rid of you, then I might as well fix your damn problem so that you can stop moping around!" She snapped her head towards the uninvited audience. "What are you all staring at?!"

The small crowd almost immediately dispersed and Jody followed her maybe-sister out of the ring, secretly impressed by the girl's display of... whatever it was. Pursing her lips, she lowered herself onto a spot on the bench next to her partner. "So..."

"So, what exactly is it that's eating you up?" she asked roughly, not even bothering to pretend that she cared. "Is your boyfriend being a right dick? Is your family being shitty?"

Jody's eyes widened at the profanities. 'Bella' sure sounded like she'd been raised by someone like Kingsley Gray; Kingsley Jackson, who'd been raised by their father for at least eleven years, spoke the same filthy way. Then again, maybe his potty mouth was just down to their equally disgusting mother, and maybe 'Bella's' was down to hers.

"No and no," she answered dryly. "I don't have a boyfriend and I don't live with my family so..."

'Bella' turned to her, visibly surprised. "You live on your own?"

She laughed under her breath. "I wish." 'Bella' gave her a pointed look. Oh, why not? Maybe opening up about her family situation would, in turn, get 'Bella' to do the same. "I live in a children's home. Been in care for nearly eight years now. My brother lives with his girlfriend who doesn't want him to be around me, and my dad doesn't know me."

If 'Bella' had an inkling that her father might also be Jody's father, she didn't let it show. Not that Jody had provided enough information for that to happen, anyway. She wasn't quite sure that Gray's kids even knew that he had another set of children out there. They probably didn't. After all, what kind of parents would admit to cheating and homewrecking to start a family together?

"Well, what is it then?"

Apparently, 'Bella' was not interested in talking about her family. Or Jody's.

"It's my best mate," she confessed. "He moved out of the home to live with his mum and stepdad, and now I barely see him because I'm always here on weekdays and he works on weekends."

"Is that it?" Bella questioned, her voice dripping with disgust. Jody merely nodded, prompting the other girl to scowl. "I told you not to think about boys too much. Were you not listening?"

"He's not just any boy. He's been in my life since I got placed into care. I miss him. I was used to seeing him every day for years and now I only see him at school."

"Alright, well if he's really that important to you, why don't you just use one of the weekdays to see him?"

Jody floundered. "But my traini—"

"Training? Pining more like." She opened her mouth to clarify that she and Tyler were just friends but the other girl continued. "You're not helping anyone by sitting here dreaming about him, least of all me."

"I'm not dreaming about him," she insisted, her face growing hot. "We're just friends."

'Bella' looked at her as if she were stupid. "Yeah, right..."

"Shove off, Bella."

She frowned. "What did you just call me? My name isn't Bella! I'm not some brain dead vampire lover!"

"I've got to call you something," Jody stated matter-of-factly. It was nice to know that another girl hated Twilight as much as she did. "I can't just call you Gray; it's too weird." She received no response. "Bella it is then."

'Bella' flared her nostrils before closing her eyes. "Fine," she growled, her eyes snapping open again. "Call me Amy."

Jody refrained from smiling. She didn't know how Brandon had managed to mistake 'Amy' for 'Bella', but it mattered not. She'd made one crucial breakthrough during one short conversation. Who knew what she'd find out next time?

A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

Charlie—I didn't see the similarities between her and Ryan until you pointed them out. Interesting. I didn't have a particular person (to model her off) in mind when I wrote about her; I just knew I wanted her to be no-nonsense and blunt. She sounds like an older sister but she's not necessarily supposed to be older than Jody. We'll see ;)
Yes, summer is so boring. Have you considered looking for a job or voluntary work of some sorts to tide you over until school starts again? I worked the summer I finished sixth form because I wanted to feel useful for once (LOL).

yourfire—Remember when Bailey came home to find that Mo had gone back to his granddad? Mike told him not to contact Mo for a few days, to let him settle in, because Mo's granddad asked for that. That's what's going on here. May-Li didn't want to flat out say that Sally asked for no/reduced contact, in case Jody took it the wrong way. Yes, there's a difference in texting and constantly texting/visiting each other but May-Li wouldn't necessarily know that they're not of the latter category, would she? I mean, she can see that there's no visiting happening but she does think Jody was glued to her phone the day Tyler left. As for Tyler not contacting Jody, I believe this chapter has answered that.