Grow As We Go

Through Sickness and Health

Still reeling from her conversation with Harley, Azzi knew she'd be lying if it didn't make her sad that she hurt Harley so badly. In her head, Azzi figured that she could end up with someone like Harley as the safe choice in her venture into romance in general. But there was that thing called her heart that trumped what she thought was right for her, and her heart had already been set on Paige from the moment they first met. Feeling as if she had to stay with this new sense bravery that she had worked up, Azzi knew her next destination was to go see Paige. Nearly on a mad dash across campus, Azzi would do her best to work her way past the fans that still wanted to sing her praises, she was determined more than anything to not let this feeling go. Running up to Paige's apartment, Azzi immediately knocked on the door, nearly breaking down the door with the power she possessed before the door eventually opened up with Caroline on the other side.

"Azzi, what are you doing here so late?" Caroline asked, still half asleep, before Azzi made her way inside the apartment. "Is everything okay?" she asked concerned about her friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little eager is all" Azzi smiled as she continued to look over at Paige's room, trying to see if she was in her room.

"I bet; you had another monster game tonight" Caroline told her.

"Is Paige here?" Azzi asked as she looked over to see that Paige's door was left open.

"No, she left about a few minutes after the game" Caroline told her.

"Oh, is she out with Nika?" Azzi questioned as she walked over towards Paige's room to see that she had straightened up before leaving.

"Not that I'm aware of, Nika is asleep in her room. I believe she's gone for the weekend; I just remember the Amanda girl coming by to pick her up" Caroline said as Azzi froze for a moment at the mention of Amanda's name.

"Oh, she went with Amanda" Azzi concluded as a piece of her heart broke at the thought of Paige and Amanda together.

"She may come back, but I'm almost certain that she said that she'd be gone for the weekend" Caroline told her.

"No, it's fine. I believe that. I know she has rehab with McKenna back in Arlington" Azzi lied as she didn't want to see like she didn't know what was going on with her best friend. Azzi would play it off as something she just forgot about, while stifling her declaration of love for another time. When that time would be, that would be in doubt she feared as Paige was still clearly seeing Amanda.
***

UCONN was riding a 13-game winning streak, beating some of the top ranked schools in the nation with Azzi leading the way as the new star of the UCONN Huskies. While Azzi wasn't big on getting all the attention from the media, there was nothing she could really do to defer the attention either. Every practice, she'd have a camera stuck in her face. Every day, she'd have a camera in her face asking her what she felt about the upcoming opponent. Every NIL deal that she'd be linked to, she'd have a million questions to answer on how that fit her brand. It would be a little too much at times for her, especially when Azzi felt as if the media were blurring the lines between basketball and a bit of her personal life. With the upcoming tournament, UCONN would be facing some of the storied programs such as Tennessee, UCLA, Stanford, and USC, which only meant that things were going to get worse going forward.

Wanting to give her a break from all the stress of the media, Nika had proposed a team night out in the town since they'd be in New Orleans for the tournament. The key thing that the girls had to remember about this girl's night out was that none of the coaches could find out that they were skipping curfews for a night out on Bourbon Street. Appreciating the chance to get away from all things basketball and just enjoy herself for a bit, Azzi greatly appreciated Nika's idea along with the other girls on the team. Once they had secured their dummies that each of the girls would put in their beds in place of them, the team successfully headed down to Bourbon Street.