𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐃𝐈𝐃 𝐈𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐃? ,𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐆𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒

09

—- REAL LIFE

PAIGE BUECKERS

"Paige what are you doing?!" Coach Geno yells at me, throwing his hands in the hair as an act of frustration. I may or may not just have missed a wide open pass Nika threw to me because I was not paying attention. Practice was currently kicking my ass because of one thing. Leighton.

"Cmon Paige let's go!!" Azzi yells at me from the bench where she is sitting. She knows exactly what is going on. My teammates look at me with nothing but confusion. I don't blame them, I've never practiced like this. I do my best to snap back into what I really should be focusing on as I pass the ball to KK, who then passes it back, allowing me to hit a 3. Missed. Nika gives me another opportunity by getting a steal and passing it to me. Aubrey is guarding me, and I as soon as I dribble the ball between my legs, a turn-over is called on my part. Aubrey swiftly takes the ball running it down the court, making a layup.

"That's it! Paige, you wanna win games playing like that? What's going on kid?" Coach Geno asks me, the sweat on his eyebrow gleaming, most likely from me.

"I- Just a bad day Coach." I am aware of how embarrassing I sound, trying to make excuses. But the real excuse cannot be admitted.

"Bad days don't win games. Go get dressed, I'll be in there in a second. I need to speak to all of you about something." He rubs his brows.

"Yes sir." We all say in harmony.

We all enter the locker room with the sound of nothing but heavy breathing and sighs. I know they are upset with me, I am too. Azzi pats me on the back before sitting on the bench of her locker. She is the only person who really knows why I am off. Coach Geno enters in a swiftly, frustrating way. He stands in the middle of the locker room, as we all stare at him with wide eyes, wondering what he is about to say.

"Alright," he starts, "I have been informed that apparently it's that time of year. Unfortunately, all basketball programs have been the chosen team for the big exam that athletic training majors have to complete. Last year was baseball and softball. Basically, these students have been distributed among all basketball teams, girls for girls team, boys assigned for boys team. They will be sticking around with us for about a year, monitoring your every move, preforming all of the practices on you. Some of you will be free from an assigned student, considering this is usually just for athletes with previous injuries. However, some of you will be spending your free time making sure your student is doing a good job. This may not seem convenient, but I think it will be good. It will give you an audience at practice, maybe then you will all start to practice to your best abilities," he looks straight at me, "Any questions?"

"How do we know our assigned students?" asked Inês.

"Oh," Coach Geno pulls out a paper from his back pocket, unfolding it, and then continuing, "Aaliyah, you have some chick named Phoebe Barnett," an image of the curly red head coming to mind, "Ashlynn, you have Lily-Rose Mcconell, odd name, KK, you get Klaire Monroe, Inês, you get two girls. Beth Hudson and Lyla Parker, quite the lady magnet aren't you?" Snickers arose from around the room, I didn't budge. "Nika, you have Avery Foster, Azzi you have Blake O'Connor, and Paige," My head shot up, "You have Leighton Prince, sounds fancy. We got it? First meeting is in 2 days I believe. See ya later." He said in a thick Italian accent.

Oh you're kidding me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Azzi snap her head towards me, mouth wide open. "Coach wait up!" I stop him as he is walking out the door, "You said Leighton?" I pray he read wrong, he is getting pretty old.

He pulls the paper out, reading it over again. As he turns the paper around and points at my name, Leighton Prince is sure as hell right beside mine. I turn around not even bothering to say anything about my performance today. That is not at all what I am worried about anymore. I have no idea what this means for me, for us. But I do know that there is no possible way of ignoring her any longer. I have no choice but to use this as my advantage. However, the fear in the back of my mind is something that cannot be ignored. What if she never comes around? We are most-likely going to be with each other everyday for a whole year. I cannot spend another year knowing she wants nothing to do with me, and I am not sure I will be able to see it face-to-face. I sit with my head in my hands as I contemplate how the next 2 days are gonna go. 2 straight days of worry, cowardness, and despair. How will we approach each other, how will she even get near me knowing what I did? I walk back to the dorm with nothing but disbelief that this is actually happening.

—————————————————————-
sorry this is kinda sloppy but i really didn't know what to do with this chap

also prom is tomorrowwwww