Aubrielle Bueckers

4

"Get up," Paige says, ripping the covers off of me.

"Paige stooooop!" I say snatching the covers back.

"Come on, you said you would come hoop with me." Paige says, pulling the covers again.

"Its like 5 am!"

"Exactly," she says, flopping down on my bed next to me, "come on, it'll be fun."

"Paige, I'm tired," I whine, covering my face with my pillow.

Paige pauses for a moment before moving the pillow to reveal my face. "Azzi will be there," she says, a slight smirk on her face.

My eyes widen as I immediately sit up. "What? She's here? Since when?"

Paige's smirk transforms into a full-on grin as she sees my excitement. "She flew in last night."

We walk into the indoor gymnasium immediately, getting hit with the smell of sweat and stale air. We make our way over to the bleachers, sitting our stuff down before taking a seat.

"She'll be here in 5." Paige says taking her hoodie off. She's wearing loose basketball shorts and a tight-fitting white, cropped tank top.

She looks my over at me. "Crocs, really?" She asks, looking unimpressed.

"Yes."

A few minutes later, Azzi walks in.

"Azzi!" I scream kind of loudly, causing a few heads to turn. I run up to her, taking her in a tight embrace. She hugs back, smiling ear to ear.

"I've missed you so much; I haven't seen you in forever," I say, cheesing hard.

"I missed you too."

Paige walks up, smiling, "Hey Az." They hug before Paige speaks up.

"Alright, let's put this work in."

Paige makes us run drill after drill before deciding to play a game of h.o.r.s.e.

"Okay, so Azzi has h.o.r.," Paige calls out after she misses a shot. "Aubrie, your up."

"I can't make that," I say, dribbling the ball a bit.

"Come on, you got this," Paige says, patting my shoulder.

I take the shot, missing horribly.

"Aww!" Azzi says, patting my back.

"It's fine, just beat her," I say, looking over at Paige, who's spinning the ball on her finger.

She's so cocky.

Paige and Azzi continue to play for a while, with Paige eventually winning.

"Lets goooooooo!" Paige shouts, running around the gym.

Azzi and I laugh at her arrogance.

"That's what I'm talking about; I'm too nice," Paige says, jumping up and down.

Azzi rolls her eyes. "I swear, she's a giant child," Azzi laughs.

A group of girls walk into the gym, laughing and giggling. They sit on the far side of the bleachers.

Paige walks up. "Do you guys want to ask them to play?" She says, looking over at them.

"What? Paige no," I say in a pleading tone.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Paige says, already walking over to them.

I turn to Azzi, who's answering a text.

"Can you stay here with me?" I ask, my tone pleading.

"It'll be fun, I promise," she says, not looking up from her phone.

Why does everyone keep telling me 'it'll be fun' like that will change anything?

Paige walks up, the girls following close behind her. They all look around college age, except one girl, who seems a bit younger.

"They said they want to play," Paige says, smiling.

I groan as Azzi gets up, waving to the girls before turning to me. "Are you playing?"

I shake my head, pulling out my phone. Why would I want to play? I'm not even that good, not to mention it's boring asl.

Paige and Azzi look at me smirking as they shake their heads before walking away. I watch as they step over the bleachers, going over to the court.

They play for a while as I mindlessly scroll through Instagram, liking and saving pictures. Before long I get bored and put my phone down, deciding to watch the game. Paige and Azzi are on different teams, and from the looks of it, Paige's team is losing.

"Shoot it!" Paige calls out as one of the girls dribbles to the hoop. She takes the shot and misses. I guess that was the end of the game because they all started to make their way over to the bleachers.

"Who won?" I ask as Paige takes a seat next to me.

Paige rolls her eyes. "They cheated," she grumbles.

"How?" Azzi laughs, taking a seat on the other side of me. "Yeah, she lost bad," Azzi teases.

The girl, who I thought looked younger than the others, walks up; she's tall with light eyes and a pretty smile. "Hey, my sister and her friends wanted to know if they could take a picture with you guys before we head out."

"Yeah, of course," Paige and Azzi say in unison as they get up.

The girl looks over to me and says, "Do you want to join?" She asked, tilting her head a bit.

"No, I'm good," I say, looking over at the other girls.

"Why not?" she asks, seeming genuinely curious.

Before I can answer, Paige speaks up, "Aubrielle, just come on real quick." She says a bit of pleading in her tone.

I sigh, getting up. "Fine." I respond dryly. We walk over to where the other girls are waiting as Paige hands her phone to someone who was at the gym but not with them or us, to take the picture. I stand next to Paige, who puts her arm around my shoulder.

"3, 2, 1," the guy counts down before snapping the shot.

After he gets the shot, the girls say their goodbyes before making their way out of the gym.

"My name's Layla, by the way," the light-eyed girl says as she runs up.

I turn to face her. "Oh, um, I'm Aubrielle," I say, a bit confused as to why she's telling me her name.

She took a breath before smiling a bit.

That smile.

"Can I... Can I have your number?" She asks fidgiting a bit.

Hello?

"Um," I say, a bit unsure of how to answer. On one hand, she is pretty, and she seems nice. On the other hand, she's a stranger and could be using me to get to my sister...

I take a breath before responding. "Yeah, sure," I say, taking the phone and putting in my number before handing it back. She smiles, pocketing the phone.

THAT SMILE.

"Thanks... I'll text you," she says before walking out.

What. just. happened?

Paige and Azzi, who had been watching the whole interaction, walk up.

"Okay," Paige says in a high-pitched tone. "I see some of my rizz is rubbing off on you," Paige says, pushing my shoulder a bit.

"She got that unspoken rizz," Azzi laughs.

I roll my eyes, grabbing my stuff before we head out of the gym.

"I'm starving; you guys want to get Chick-fil-a?"

A/N: AAHHHH what r we thinking???

this is a longer chapter... i think i have some good ideas for my next chapters👀

pls vote 🥺🥺

i love you guys💖

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