Emma's POV
I wake up Monday morning to loud knock on my door, slightly annoyed, I say "Come in" and Gabbie skips in and says "First day Em! Are you excited?" I give her a look and say "Gabs it is 7 in the morning, why are you waking me up so early?" she smiles and says "Well practice starts at 10:30 so I thought we could get and early start! Now get ready and let's go out for breakfast, I'm starving!" I let out a laugh as she leaves and I get up to do my morning routine, I'm feeling lazy today so I didn't want to go all out for my outfit, as I was searching through my closet and I find a simple Iowa basketball t-shirt that I stole from Gabbie and some nike shorts.
After breakfast we start driving to Carver and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, I'm a shy person so I don't socialize that much and meeting new people always made me nervous, sensing the tension Gabbie grabs my hand and says "Em stop stressing yourself out so much over this, everyone is going to love you just as much as I do" I give Gabbie's hand a reassuring squeeze and give her a smile.
After about 10 minutes of driving we finally pull into carver, Gabbie grabs her bag and says "Emma you'll love this I promise." I smile and say, "I know I'm just overthinking that's all, I'll be fine." she smiles and we walk into Carver together, we start walking to the locker room and Gabbie points to a room down the hall "Over there is the coaches office." I smile at her as she walks into the locker room and I continue down the hall, when I reach the room I knock, "Come in!" I hear from the other side, I open up the door and I'm immediately welcomed with a warm smile "Hi Emma! We are so excited that you're here, we think you'll be a great addition to the team, I'm coach Bluder!" she says as she sticks out her hand, I shake it and say "I can't thank you enough for having me coach, I'm really excited to be here!"
After coach Bluder gives me a brief tour we walk out to the court and we see the girls stretching. "All right girls bring it in." she yells and everyone jogs to half court, I immediately recognize some of the players, like Jada Gyafmi, I knew her because she came over to me and Gabbie's apartment often, and I obviously recognize Caitlin Clark, she's the biggest athlete in the world right now, even if you don't follow basketball, you probably know her. Coach smiles and says "This is Emma, she's going to be filling the manager position this year." I smile and wave and coach Bluder introduces all of the girls to me, but the last one caught my eye "And that's Kate Martin, she's our captain." I give her a shy smile and say "Hey." she gives me a tight lipped smile back and says "Hi." Coach Bluder claps her hands and says "Alright ladies let's get started we've got a long day ahead of us, baseline." they all let out a groan and jog to the baseline, but I can't help but overthink the interaction I had with Kate, maybe she was just as shy as I am? But I soon push those thoughts away and I start helping out with practice.
After practice, Gabbie comes up to me and says, "Just wait out here, I'm going to go change and I'll be out in like five minutes." I smile at her and wait for her to come out of the locker room, I'm distracted on my phone and get a bit startled when I her a unfamiliar voice "Hey, sorry I didn't mean to scare you, Emma right?" I was kinda star struck for a moment because THE Caitlin Clark was talking to me, after a few moments I say "Yeah, sorry it is Emma." she smiles and says "Can I have your number? The team hangs out a lot and I want to add you to our group chat." I give her a simile and take her phone and put my number in it, she smiles at me and says "Thanks Em, I'll see you later?" I give her a warm smile and say "Definitely." with that she gives me a smile and walks away, a few moments after Gabbie finally walks out of the locker room and we start heading to the car. When we got in Gabbie smiles at me and says "Soooo how was your first day?" she asks "Really good, I think I finally found the right fit."
Once we get back to the apartment we both go to our rooms and take a shower, when I get dressed and brush my hair I walk out and see Gabbie on her phone, I take a seat next to her on the couch and she finally says "Hey, Caitlin rented out this really cool place and she's throwing a party to celebrate the season beginning to start, do you want to go with me?" I give her a smile and say "Sure! Who's all going to be there?" and smiles and says "Just the girls, nothing to crazy." I give her a look and ask "Will Kate be there?" she gives me a confused look and says "I would assume so, why?" I give her a nervous look and say "I don't know, I kinda got the vibe that she didn't like me at practice today." Gabbie frowns and says "Em I'm sure she likes you, she just gets an attitude sometimes around new people, don't take it to heart." I give her a smile and say "Sure I'll go, what time are we leaving?" she gives me a huge smile and says "Well Caitlin said it starts at 8 so maybe 7:30?" I give her a smile and say, "Okay, I'm excited!"
chapter 2 how we feeling 😝
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Accidentally in love- A Kate Martin story
FanficEmma Moore is in desperate need of a job, that is until a manager position for the Iowa women's basketball team opens up, she meets a lot of cool people but finds herself rather interested in a particular blonde on the team.