College sweethearts Raegan and Jiles ended on rocky terms but when Jiles is traded to the Boston Celtics, the same city Raegan has just moved to to escape her old life, will they meet again and rekindle what they once had or will they let go of each...
We beat the Nets and went on to play the Bucks. The series was 3-2 right now and we were hoping to even things up. It was gameday and my nerves were on a ten. Raegan and I weren't really speaking and she was who I normally counted on to calm me down. I stood in the shower for a long time, letting the water run down my body. I had so many emotions lately. Normally I could keep them under control but it was like they were controlling me instead. I got out the shower and checked to see if Raegan was in the room and she wasn't. I lifted the mattress up, pulling the small bag of pills my teammate had brought me and popped two before placing it back where it was. I got dressed quickly, said my goodbyes to Rae and Dream and headed to the arena.
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This game could even things out or kick us out of the running all together but I was hoping we could pull through. I knew we had it in us, we just had to unleash it.
Coach gave us our typical pep talk and I let Issac lead our chant before walking out onto the court. We were back home and the fans had packed the arena out. The atmosphere was my favorite environment to play in. Intense but knowing the fans were going hard for you.
I got my momentum going early on in the game and could feel it would be a good one.
"Tatum hits a deep three,"
"Thybulle passes to Tatum and he sinks the three,"
"Another one from Tatum, we're seeing a new him tonight,"
By the second quarter most of the team's points had come from me. It was early in the game but I felt like we had set a good pace until I went up for a layup and came crashing down on one of the Bucks players. I tried to get up but felt a shooting pain in my leg. The longer I sat the worse it felt and my coaches and trainers quickly rushed to my side when they realized I wasn't getting up.
"My leg!" I yelled, holding it. A trainer applied pressure in a few places in my leg waiting for my reaction. When he hit a certain spot I winced in pain and he stood up.
"Can you walk off?" he asked. I nodded my head, thinking I could until I stood up and tried to put pressure on it. Isaac and Chi ran over and wrapped my arms around their shoulders, helping me off the court. When I reached the back room I hit the first wall I saw.
"FUCK!" I yelled. The team needed me tonight and of course something like this happened. More trainers came in looking at my leg. When Rae walked in she immediately grabbed my hand and waited to hear what they had to say.
"We're definitely going to need some x-rays. It looks like a torn ACL," the trainer said. I threw my head back on the table, hearing what no athlete ever wanted to hear.
The rest of the night moved in slow-mo. They wrapped my leg and scheduled an x-ray for the next morning. My mind just couldn't wrap around the idea that I was over with. Even if we won tonight I wouldn't be playing again. I walked back out on crutches and took a seat on the bench. I watched as the clock wound down on the fourth quarter. The series was now tied, 3-3 and the next game decided who went onto the next round. It was eating me up to know I had to continue watching from the sidelines in the next game.
