Blood, Sweat, and Tears (Camren)

Chapter 34

Camila crutched her way over to the bench and sat down on the sixth seat at the end of the line next to Taylor. The blonde placed a hand on her thigh and smiled almost sadly. Camila smiled back and shook her head, not wanting Taylor or any of their teammates to feel bad for what they were about to do.

"Alright we'll start off in a man defense. Once Tori gets a better hang of playing with you guys and a feel for how you work together, we'll switch to a zone. Tori, you can call the plays we covered if you feel comfortable enough but don't force it. I'm proud of you guys for not quitting so even if we lose this game, I'm happy you're going for it at all."

"Thanks Coach! How about a good luck kiss?" Dinah said stepping up in front of him and puckering her lips. Normani and BB each grabbed a shoulder and pulled her back, causing the rest of them to laugh. "Come on, he was totally gonna do it that time!"

"He wasn't," Steph commented with a shake of his head. "Okay, now that Dinah's daily pass at me is over, let's get out there and play some basketball. Hands in!"

She preferred to sit at the end of the bench, but BB pulled her out of her seat and into the huddle. She reluctantly put her hand into their pileup and took a deep breath. "Alright! Red Hots on three! One! Two! Three!" she shouted.

"RED HOTS!" She luckily went unnoticed when she didn't participate in the tribal whoop and then held her crutches under her armpits as they dispersed. They had to wait a minute for Normani to meet up with Selena and Ariana in the center of the court with the referee and she stood awkwardly waiting to go back to her seat in the bleachers with her sister and Lauren.

"Hey, you sure you're okay with this? We really don't have to play in this if it makes you uncomfortable," Dinah said, squeezing her shoulder supportively.

She shook her head and pretended to laugh. "No, you needed to replace me. Playing by yourselves was a total train wreck. I've never seen a game so horrible." She said it like a joke but it was totally true. They tried to replay the first game of the finals with just the four of them since they decided for Camila that they didn't want to get a replacement. They lost by thirty one points and had so many turnovers Camila lost count after the first half. In order to keep them from embarrassing themselves in front of the scouts she knew were present in the crowd, she told them they had to get someone to step in for her. She had to practically force them, and even then they only told her they would play with someone she had chosen.

Her first choice was Kristen for obvious reasons, but Kristen was the one who had reservations. She had pulled Camila aside and said she didn't want to betray her own teammates by playing in the finals because if they won, she'd be guaranteed a contract because of an opportunity she was awarded that they weren't. At first she had been annoyed by Kristen's moral ethics, but she knew if she had been faced with the decision she would have declined the offer as well. No one could have gotten her to abandon her team.

Tori however wasn't nearly as close to her teammates and actually offered to play for her. She was Camila's second choice but she didn't mind because Tori was an incredible player and she got along really well with her teammates. Especially Taylor, and since she was the shyest on the team that spoke tons for her. She figured they didn't have much to lose. The rest of the members of her team had already gotten approached by team representatives and they all had gone to lunches and dinners to discuss contracts so really they had already won. And to them, the Championship title wouldn't mean all that much if it wasn't the five of them who had won it together, so really they were just playing the game so the Black team wouldn't win by default.

When Normani returned and relayed the message from the referee, Camila turned to leave the bench and get to her spot on the bleachers. They of course wanted her to sit on the bench to watch the game but she really didn't want to. It felt weird to her when she sat there for the first one, and on more than one occasion she had to grip the bottom of the seat to keep herself from rushing out onto the court, bum ankle and all. Maybe she could have blocked the basket with one of her outstretched crutches or something. Anything to help the team she had let down.