Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Camren)

Chapter 2

            Her alarm blaring woke her up almost frantically. Camila reached over and tapped the screen, shutting off the noise. Looking over, Dinah was still asleep, hair in her wide open mouth and snoring loudly. Seeing the image, Camila wondered what she looked like when she was asleep. She liked to think she was a peaceful, maybe even cute, sleeper. But for all she knew, she could be a mirror image of the unconscious monster laying across the room. Shaking the thought from her head, she got up and gathered her practice things for the morning session. Checking her schedule, she had a point guard practice from 7 to 9am and then another team practice at 2pm. 'Two vigorous practices a day, and then you can relax all you want,' she told herself as she stepped into the shower. The hot beads of water covered her and she lathered her hair and body with fruity-scented suds.

She got out and wrapped herself in a towel, leaving her hair to air dry after she failed to dry it completely with her towel. She slipped on a pair of boy shorts and a red Nike sports bra. She put on her black basketball shorts and a white t-shirt that had the Nike slogan on it. Looking in the mirror, Camila felt like a label whore with the signature swooshes on everything she was wearing, down to her not even visible underwear. She didn't mind though, Nike was and always would be her favorite brand and store. Sure it was expensive, but it lasted damn near forever in her opinion. She tied her hair up in a ponytail and finished it with a red headband. She laced up her sneakers and grabbed her Duke warm-up jacket before heading out the door, phone in hand.

Walking down the hall, she noticed a short girl in short pink shorts and her high ponytail bouncing from side to side with each step. It seemed like the girl noticed Camila's presence, because the minute her eyes went a little lower to shamelessly check the girl out, she spun around to walk backwards and face her. It was the same UConn girl from the day before and she stopped walking to allow Camila to catch up to her. When she did, the girl began walking beside her and smiled. "Good morning. Camila, right?"

Camila nodded, and pushed her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, anticipating the chill of the early morning once they stepped outside. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"I have my ways," she replied, winking at her. Camila's cheeks heated up, and she felt nervous thinking that this girl showed interest in her so soon. Normally, she was the flirty one who made girls blush, but so far, she was 0 and 2, with Lauren and this girl making her go red on the first day. "I'm Ariana by the way. Point guard for the black team."

"Aren't you all from UConn?"

"Yeah, but here, we're just the black team. Always being known as the UConn Connection is a headache all the time." Just when she said the nickname, it all clicked in Camila's head and she snapped her fingers.

"That's right! I remember reading about you guys, you went undefeated for three seasons straight. Congrats on your championship title." The girl blushed this time and pushed her black headband further up onto her head. Camila felt satisfied resuming her role as the driver of the conversation. "So you got your entire starting team accepted here, that's got to be cool. I noticed how intense you guys were yesterday, not talking to anyone. But I get it, you have each other. You don't even have to meet new people if you don't want to."

She girl giggled and put her hands in her pockets as the two stepped outside and began their walk to the main building. "I'm not like my teammates at all. They're all super serious and all 'eyes on the prize'. But, I'm here for the experience. I want to get better and get drafted and everything, but if I get to meet some really cool players and people along the way, that would be even better." Camila nodded, understanding the pressure to stay focused and serious.

"So are they all just going to train all the time, not even stopping to eat or sleep? Or do they just recharge their batteries whenever they find an open outlet?"