𝕿𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓, paige bueckers

𝟎𝟎𝟐, sansa the enigma

CHAPTER ONE
❛ sansa the enigma ❜

don't be a silent reader please !

⤿ ⁺ ̥ ⋆.♱ location ─ 2019, minnesota: the bueckers residency *˖ ✶ʾʾ

NARRATIVE !

Paige Bueckers knew she was better than everyone she played against. This wasn't just her ego talking (maybe a little); it was a fact. She walked the walk and talked the talk, with no one ever coming even in touching distance of her level of skill or technique, making her the best by default.

Still, she had respect for her opponents. From the teams she faced who thought they had a genuine chance to beat her, to the ones who knew they were already beaten long before even stepping onto the court. And contrary to popular belief Paige respected the rivalry between Hopkins and Ridgeway, if anything she enjoyed it. It was entertaining, the tense games had quickly become a personal favourite. Not to mention the bragging rights and the showering of praise was a nice added bonus.

Paige would never admit it, but she respected the Ridgeway High team. They were good. Arguably one of the best teams she had faced in her high school career still not good enough to beat her, but they were still a cut above the rest of the teams she had faced.

But if there was one person she would never learn to respect, it was Wren Bardot. The winey annoying dirty cheat, who relied on her team to pull her dead weight. Someone who seemed to talk more shit than points actually scored by her, the same girl who seemed to throw a hissy fit on Instagram every time she lost a game. She was insufferable, and she was the only player that Paige genuinely hated playing against. Not because she was better than her, but because she was so goddamn aggravating.

Now Paige would be lying through her teeth if she said she had never heard the name Sanaa Solaris, she was pretty sure everyone in the country had at this point. The daughter of an NBA legend and a former pageant queen, and also the younger sister of a rising star in the form of her older brother who also happened to captain the Ridgeway men's basketball team. Paige had heard all about her, the whispers of how good she was, how she was the next challenger to attempt to knock Paige off her throne. And she was interested.

She had seen clips from some of Sansa's games, and Paige would be inclined to agree with the whispers. Sansa was good, but was she high school varsity good? That was yet to be seen. Though aside from the girl's obvious skill, Paige also took note of how Wren Bardot seemed to stick to the girl like a leech, clinging on for dear life.

Paige didn't know Sansa personally, their social circles didn't overlap. But that shouldn't have come as a surprise, as mingling with anyone from the opposition camp was taboo and met with mass scrutiny from your peers, regardless of what side you stood on. It was the law of the land and must be followed at all costs.

Despite that Paige had seen the girl at multiple games supporting the Ridgeway Saints, the two had never interacted with each other for obvious reasons. However that didn't stop Paige from taking notes from afar, and she learned a lot. Sansa always seemed to be lost in thought, her focus never straying from the game, as if she was dissecting both teams' strategies from the stands. Picking them apart in real time to reveal the pros and cons to both sides of the coin, and creating better plays in her head to use during her own games.

Another interesting thing Paige had noticed was she seemed to have a small circle of friends. Sansa knew a lot of people, that was clear by the hoards of people who greeted her wherever she went which was no surprise. Sansa was a talented athlete, and given the fact she was the daughter of two very famous people and the sister of a basketball player from the same school. She was bound to be instantly popular, but that didn't make all those people her friends either, as she only seemed to exchange silent acknowledgements and one-word responses with most. Keeping most of them at arm's length.