Elements of Us /// Jimmy Butler

Chapter 34

Hey guys, its  Kendra and I just want to give a quick disclaimer: I ONLY own the plot  and characters that I have created. I don't own anything related to the  Bulls, thank you.

The first month of practice was going on rather slow. Since it was still pre-season, no games were being played yet they had about two months, and most of the guys were getting anxious. Allison was just grateful it had gone by sort of smoothly; she hadn't had to deal with much drama. And she hoped it stayed that way.

Todays practice was nothing out of the ordinary, she got there early, set up, gave out the day's work out, everyone whined, then eventually they did it, and now it was time to go. As she packed her stuff up, rather quickly, she decided to skip waiting for Andy and just to head out. Just as she approached the steps she noticed Derrick trailing only a few steps behind her.

"Hey, wait up," He called up to her, "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah," She shrugged, wondering what this was about, "What's up?" she questioned as the two made their way up the stairs together.

"Well I was talking to Fred yesterday," Derrick explained, referring to their new head coach Fred Hoiberg, "He wanted me to talk to you about me."

"What about you?" Allison asked puzzled

"He wants me to get the ball down the court in..." He began explaining as he started shuffling through his bag retrieving a piece of paper as the two reached the parking lot, "We talked about this yesterday." He said, handing over the folded paper.

Allison examined it for a moment; it looked to her like the new coach wanted Derrick to bring the ball up the court in a certain time frame so they could have extra time to make better plays.

"You think you could help me?" He shrugged

"Yeah, of course." She nodded, taken a final look at the paper, "You know it's going to take some extra time outside of regular practice." She said, making sure he was ready for this.

"I know." He confirmed, "I just wanted to make sure that'd be cool with you first, I'll come in whenever. I just wanna help the team the best I can."

Allison thought it over for a moment, "Okay how about this," She clarified, "Come in like an hour and a half early to our speed practices. And then, during regular practice I'll have you sort of recovering, but still working with the team. Does that work?"

"Okay," He agreed, "sounds good to me."

"Alright, then," Allison concluded, "I'll see you Friday, early, then." She smiled

"Thanks," He said, giving her a friendly hug, "you're the best."

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Allison had been working with Derrick early for a while and the first game of the season was tomorrow. There was still at least twenty minutes until the rest of the team would show up for regular practice, but, Allison decided to let Derrick rest since they needed an easier practice today to prepare for the game anyways.

"How've you been feeling?" She asked, taking out the rest of the team plans.

"Good," he nodded, "I'm ready." He said referring to tomorrow. Over the past few months of working one on one with Derrick they've become closer friends, which was nice for her since she sort of felt like she lost a lot of people over the summer.

"I hope so," She smiled, "It's gonna be a good game."

They went on like this for a while, laughing and joking with each other about practice and mostly making fun of Joakim, in a loving way of course.