Blood and Basketball

Chapter 1: The Initial Encounter

 It was late, and I strolled into Cameron Indoor Stadium to begin my evening cleaning shift. Students usually are'nt allowed in Cameron, but i have to have a job to pay for my Duke education, and I got assigned to clean up the gym after practice every night. I grew up in a poor family from Orlando, so I couldn't afford to pay for Duke on my own. When people hear me say I'm from Orlando, they usually say I'm lucky because they think of Disney World, and Universal Studios, but that's not the part of town I'm from. I've never even gotten to got to Disney or Universal because my family couldn't afford it. It's usually just me, my dad, and my little brother because my mom left us when I was really little.

As I push my cleaning cart into the gym, I hear the familiar bounce of the basketballs. There's still one person in the gym. But he's seems to alwyas be here when I get here to clean. I don't know his name, but to be honest, I don't know much about basketbsll at all. Even though I don't kno his name, I immediatley recognize him since I see him here every night. He always seems so serious and focused. He's always in the gym practicing long after everyone else has left. I'm convinced this boy doesn't sleep, he must just stay up all night shooting basketballs. I would say it's just to help him get better, but call me crazy, I feel like he also enjoys the isolation. And I've gotten to know his tall stature, his broad shoulders, his dorky brown hair, his spicy brown eyes and his serious facial expression. I wonder if he's ever noticed me.

I dragged my mop along the baseline, careful to not get in his way. He was practicing half-court shots, and he must have been so strong in order to shoot the ball so far each time. I tried to turn my head away from him so I wouldn't start staring. All of a sudden, a large round object hit me in the head and I blacked out.

~~~

"Wake up. Please Wake Up" a deep voice pleaded.

I opened my eyes and thought I saw a pale angel leaning over me. Was i dead?

I blinked a few more times and then realized that the figure leaning over me was not quite an angel, but instead the boy who was always practicing basketball when I came into clean the gym every night.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry if I hurt you."
"W-what happened?" I said as I tried to orient myself.

"I guess I misfired a little bit on one of my half-court shots and I hit you in th head and I knocked you out."
"Oh, it's okay." I said now sitting up. He brushed a strand of jet black hair back behind my ear.

"My name's Grayson." He said, looking into my shining emerald green eyes.

"I'm Klarissa." I said blushing.

"Nice to meet you. It's so crazy we hadn't talked before even though I see you every night."

"You notice me!" I practically exclaimed.

"Yeah, you do such a great job of cleaning up the gym every night from the gross sweat that my teammates leave behind. I always mean to thank you, but you usually scurry out before i'm leaving."

"Oh, it's no problem. I mean, I kind of have to. It's the only way I can pay for Duke, since I'm from a poor single-dad family in Orlando."

"No, way, I'm from Jacksonville!"
"Omg we're Florida buddies! That's so cool!" I giggled.

"Very cool indeed." Grayson said as he helped me to my feet.

"Well, I'll see you around!" I smiled and waved goodbye before gathering my mop and heading back to my dorm. 

A.N. Hey guys! Just started writing this... hope you like it, I don't really know where this is going haha, but I wanted to try for a different fandom, although I'm still loyal to my 1D boys of course! :P I will be writing Save You Tonight at the same time is this one! <3