moon river | paige bueckers

chapter three

My alarm blared—loud and awful.

I groaned and rolled over to check the time: 6:00 a.m.

My head fell straight back into the pillow.

After Thursday, we had all decided it was best to stay in for the weekend. Regrettably, last night we forgot that idea and went out again.

I only had two drinks this time, but everyone decided to stay out until 3:00 a.m., so the three hours of sleep were already hitting me like a brick.

It didn't matter, though. Today was Monday—the day we got our sport assignments.

If I remembered correctly, you could get assigned two sports, depending on what was available. If you got basketball, though, you'd stay with the team for two semesters.

Everyone had an idea of what they were getting except for me. I still hoped for basketball, but I didn't know if there were any spots left.

My alarm went off again.

I sighed and made the executive decision to start getting ready.

As soon as I dragged myself out of bed, my phone rang. I thought it was another alarm going off, but it was just Nazzy FaceTiming me.

"Girl, there's no way I'm gonna be in that training room by 7:15," Nazzy mumbled. I gave a weak laugh, still exhausted.

"Uh, y'all were the ones who wanted to roam the streets," I shot back, my voice groggy.

I trudged into the bathroom, propping my phone up on the counter. The moment I flicked the lights on, I winced at the brightness. "You need to learn how to stop us and lead us home. I'm tired of alcohol. I'm making a change."

I could see her now, thanks to the glow of my bathroom lighting up her face. I stared at her through my screen. "Somehow, I don't believe that."

"Shut up," she muttered, her face disappearing into her pillow.

I opened my closet, searching for something to wear. "Nazzy, what are we supposed to wear today? Nazzy?" I called out, still rummaging through clothes. No answer. I walked back to my phone and heard faint snoring. I rolled my eyes.

"NAZARETH!"

"Huh?" She jolted awake, eyes wide.

"What do we wear?" I stretched the question out, making sure she was actually listening this time.

She started rubbing her eyes. "Girl, I don't know."

I chuckled. "Seeing as you've been here for four years, I thought you'd know some stuff."

I heard her groan as I walked back to my closet. I threw on a gray Nike shirt and black joggers. Admin said our gear was on the way, but considering how little UConn stuff I had (which was none), I needed the gear to arrive today.

"Nazzy, get up. I'll see you in 30 minutes." I heard a "mhmm" from the other side and hung up.

-

We all looked rough.

There were more trainers than just the eight of us, but they had us divided into small groups. Our group stayed together—plus two extras: Milo and Crisdeana.

From my frequent café discussions with Nazzy and Kyla, there were apparently a lot of reasons why those two were excluded from our group.

The main training room was inside a building whose name I still hadn't bothered to learn. Not that it mattered; most of our time wouldn't be spent here anyway. Each sport had its own center, complete with a training room.