CHAPTER ONE

"Serendipity"

The rain tapping softly on the windowsill woke her up. It was 6A.M. and was a damp early morning. Sleepily, she arose from her bed feeling her eyes sore because of lack of sleep. She did not want to go to school. Her new school that is…thinking everything would still be the same. A knock on the door came. Slowly the door creaked open and Lila, her nanny, peeked in.

"Ms. Jade, breakfast is ready. You have to hurry or you'll be late." She said with much concern.

Jade nodded and asked her to go. Lila obediently went. She felt sick. This was what she felt every morning. Every morning since she was fifteen and her parents died. She stood up and faced the full-length mirror studying herself. Circles formed under her eyes, her long black hair untidy, her lips pressed in a straight line, her complexion pale and almost out of life. This was not her- not three years ago before her unbearable loss. It had been very hard for her to loose something she considered her everything. It had made a traumatic experience for her and she had been broken ever since. Jade looked away shaking the memory off and headed towards the bathroom. Everything good about her had changed. She used to be cheerful, lively and had straight A's in her previous school. Now she was glum and weak. Like her trauma had sucked every life from her. Nevertheless, she still stayed very attractive. However, she couldn't care less. After taking a shower, she put on the uniform Lila had prepared for her and went downstairs to the lush lobby towards the dinning room. Her parents had left her a plush mansion and a fat bank account…but it was useless for Jade. After breakfast, Alfred, their butler took her off to school. The ride was very quiet and the drizzle outside was making the trip feel more still and lifeless. Alfred stopped in front of a big blue gate that read RYONAN HIGH.

"Ms. Jade, do you want me to-"

"No Alfred. I can manage." She said without letting him finish. She gave him a weak mile and got off walking slowly to her new school not minding the harmless drizzle upon her.

The school corridors were noisy and the students blithely filled each corner. However, almost all eyes were on Jade. Everyone knew the tragic death of her family. Who wouldn't? They were one of the most rich and famous families in the city. But that was not the reason they talked behind her back. It was because of what she did back in her old school- that fateful day when she could no longer take the pain. The day she dreaded she would never forget. Jade walked on looking down. She didn't dare look at their faces fear of seeing them pity and be disgusted of her. Thankfully, the bell rang and everyone rushed to his/her classrooms leaving Jade alone in the now forsaken hallways. She was about to turn around when someone stopped her.

"Hey! You're the new girl Jade right?" she looked up and saw a pretty blonde girl smiling widely at her. Jade nodded.

"Well, I'm going to be your tour guide today. Mr. Yokohama asked me to do so." The blonde said in a very sociable tone.

Jade just stared back in confusion. "Oh! Mr. Yokohama is our principal here. By the way, I'm Anna." She held out her hand for Jade. She hesitated for a while and then shook hands. The tour was quite long. And if Jade was her old self, she would've immediately liked Anna and enjoyed her company. But she wasn't in the mood.

"So that's the first half." Anna declared vivaciously.

"First half?"

"Yup, the second tour is this afternoon."

"Why can't we just finish all today?"

Anna chuckled, "We still have to go to class silly!" Without any hesitation, she quickly grabbed Jade's hand and led her to class.

"Oh, and by the way…I'm going to be your classmate too."

"Hey Sendoh! Hurry up or coach's gonna be furious!"Ren yelled after his co-basketball player who was late for practice. "Shhh! Don't yell or he'll hear you-"

"SENDOH!" CoachTaoka yelled annoyingly at his ace player. Sendoh sighed and approached his coach. He was a tall, handsome basketball player and ace of Ryonan high. But sometimes, he was the coach's pain in the butt.

"You're late again!" CoachTaoka angrily declared.

"Sorry coach…I got tired so I slept for a while-"

"Slept! Do you know we have visitors coming for a practice game?" he pointed out.

"Yeah but…"

"No buts mister! You'll be the one cleaning the gym after practice as punishment!"

"Aww..." he groaned slumping on a chair. His basketball friends laughed at him. "I think it's better for Sendoh to always be late so we won't have to clean the gym ourselves." Uzuomi, the tallest and biggest of the team commented.

"Ha-ha. Very funny guys. Hey, I had to at least get some sleep!" he said defensively.

"What! You've been sleeping the whole day Sendoh!" Everyone laughed. Suddenly their conversation was distracted when the gym doors opened and a group of tall guys in red uniforms came in.

"The Shohoku team is here." Ren said.

"Well, let's get started then!" Sendoh replied with a smile.

"What are we doing here?" Jade quizzically asked when Anna dragged her to the school gym. They had just finished their tour and Jade wanted to go home.

"I just remembered our basketball team is going to have a practice game with one of our fiercest enemies the Shohoku." Anna replied excitedly entering the gym with Jade in one hand. So what? She thought sarcastically. She was dragged all the way to the gym for a nonsense game of basketball.

"You're gonna love our players. They're totally good! Especially the one with the jersey number 7 Sendoh." She declared.

"I don't like basketball." Jade demanded.

"Don't be silly," Anna replied not minding her tone of voice. "Besides, it's still too early to head home."

The gym was now half filled with people. Anna decided to stay in the front row bleachers where she would be able to see all the anticipation very well.

"Isn't this exciting? Shohoku and Ryonan have been rivals for years. You'd be amazed at how good both teams are…" She said filling Jade in on what she didn't know yet.

But Jade wasn't interested. She wanted to go home and hide from all the people around. The game had already started when they had settled down. It went on and Jade was getting bored rigid. Shohoku was leading by 9 points and Ryonan seemed to be loosing hope. It was Shohoku's turn. They had the ball certain they would score this one and gain more leading points. Just when one of the Shohoku players was about to pass, Sendoh came out from nowhere and stole the ball from the opponent. Everyone cheered for him amazed at how fast he was. Nobody saw what how he did it but it undeniably was superb. Jade was amazed, but not that much to stop her from wanting to go home.

"That's him!" Anna pointed to Sendoh.

"The ace player! Finally, he's revived the game." Sendoh ran dribbling the ball to the other side of the court. The Shohoku was fast, but not fast enough to catch up with Sendoh. Yet, Akagi, the tallest and biggest of the Shohoku waited in defense for Sendoh under the ring. Without hesitation, Sendoh drove up to him making everyone else think he was crazy to go up against a huge center. With much force, he jumped for a shot and instantaneously, Akagi reached to block the score. But suddenly, as if it was humanly impossible, Akagi froze seeing the ball already behind Sendoh passed on to Uozomi who caught it in mid-air and gave a full dunk leaving the crowd and other players jaw-dropped and astounded. It was after a few seconds of silent awes before the crowd hollered and hooted for Sendoh and Uozomi.

"It's our turn guys. Let's show them what we've got." Sendoh relayed to his teammates uplifting their spirits after the fantastic play.

It was as if Sendoh had some kind of vibrant aura in him that made his team mates feel more confident and the crowd louder. Jade as well was enthralled by his highlight performance, which made her stare at the handsome player on court. And as if her stare was very obvious, Sendoh looked back at her. She knew it was only coincidence but still felt her cheeks redden and she quickly turned away. She was shocked she felt this way so unexpectedly. Immediately, she dismissed the thought and turned to Anna.

"I really need to go…" Jade finally said.

Anna frowned at Jade and nodded. "Ok, but you'll be missing all the action."

Jade wasn't listening. She quickly stood up and made her way out of the bleachers. The gym was almost full already and Jade had to go all around the court to get to the doors. Quickening her pace, she headed to the exit while the game was still progressing. Meanwhile, Sendoh focused on his play. It was their turn to lead some points. Shohoku had the ball and was having a hard time penetrating Ryonan's defense. Suddenly, when Shohoku tried to shoot,Uozomi sprang up forcefully and easily blocked the shot. When Sendoh caught the ball, the crowd went wild! Without a moment to loose, Sendoh did a fast break leaving his opponents panting behind him. However, Miyagi, the fastest of Shohoku caught up confident he would be able to stop him. Sendoh pushed on until he was faster than he expected. Giving one-step more, he jumped, laid the ball inside the ring and succeeded. But because he ran too fast, the landing became a problem. Loosing his balance, he crossed over the court to the audience nearby! In a twist of fate, Jade walked by and saw him coming to her. She didn't have time to react. The next thing she knew was that Sendo had pinned her to the wall, their faces just inches away from each other. Both of them just stared- shocked and embarrassed. But the aftershock was very painful. Jade groaned as she touched the back of her head which hit the wall hard. Thankfully, Sendoh was able to control some of the force by leaning both his arms on the wall with Jade in between them. That way he didn't crush her by the blow. The crowd became silent.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Sendoh apologized holding her hand that caressed the sore at the back of her head.

"I'm fine…" She smirked in pain.

Sendoh was about to explain when he was cut short by his coach. "Are you alright miss?" CoachTaoka asked.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What about you?" he turned to Sendoh who nodded in return. "Then let's continue the game." When the coach walked away, Sendoh apologized for the last time and followed his coach behind.

"Jade! Are you okay?" Anna exclaimed running towards her.

"Yes. I need to go home." She replied walking towards the exit with Anna nearby. Before she could walk out the gym doors, Jade looked back even if she didn't want to and saw Sendoh who by chance was looking straight back at her.