Fatal Redemption | J.J.K.

CXI

PAIGE;

"Good luck Ping" Chance says as he brings me in for a hug, I sigh and hug him back.

"I'll be sitting with your parents," He says as I nod and look around one more time. "Hey," he says, at my lack of an answer.

I look back at Chance, "It's okay"

"I know, I have to go now," I say and give him the most reassuring smile I can give him. He smiles in return as I give him a final nod and walk away.

I walk over to my team and begin stretching.

"Ah, Paige" Coach Casey says once he approaches me with a man beside him, "Meet Coach Ray, he's the head coach at BYU"

A smile makes its way onto my face, it's not genuine but it was enough for them to smile as well.

"Hello, nice to meet you," I say and shake his hand. I had to be professional if I wanted him to like me.

Ray smiles as we pull away, "I've heard good things about you Paige. It seems that every college wants you to play for them"

I nod, "Hopefully you as well?"

Burns nods, "My assistant coaches and players have been begging me to watch you play. They think you'll be the first freshman starter we'd ever had"

That sentence has me getting amped up for our game. Today we were playing Lee High for one final time.

I heard from other friends on that team, that Sydney was talking crap about me and my team. She always did this with every second game we've had.

She was always onto me but I always ended up on top.

"Well then I hope you have a good time watching us play tonight," I say with a friendly smile that has my future coach smiling big.

"Of course," he says before the warmup buzzer goes off, signaling the start of the game.

"Duty calls," I say before he nods and wishes me good luck. I sit down on the bench and look at the big crowd that occupied the bleachers.

I sighed, I wish Jungkook was here.

—

I kept to the side of Sydney as she moved with the ball, I had my hands up not wanting to take my last foul for granted.

Yeah, I only had one more foul left before I fouled out.

I pressed my chest against her hoping she'd lean towards the out of bounds sideline and it would be an automatic turnover.

I saw that she stepped out but no referee bothered to call it out, it pissed me off.

I stayed to her side and stopped when she did. I stepped towards her and squared her off.

Right when I was going to take the ball, Sydney ran straight towards me and took an illegal charge.

Her shoulders hit my chest and I fall back onto the court, hard. As I did, my right knee gives in and I hear a loud,

'Pop!'

I gasp in pain and cry out. One of the refs blow their whistle and the game is immediately stopped.

I hear various footsteps approaching me before they're kneeling down beside me.

"Paige!" My mom calls out as she and my dad appear beside me. My mom grabs my hands as I continue to cry.

"It hurts," I say through my sobs.

"What hurts, honey?" Our sports medicine trainer asks.

"My knee" I whimper as I try to point at my right knee only to cry out when they try to move it.

The sports medicine trainer begins to touch and prod my knee until he looks up at my coach.

"How's it looking?" Coach Casey asks.

"Not good" They state as they all frown. He looks at me with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Paige but you can't continue playing the rest of the game like this. We have to take you to the hospital"

A few tears stream down my face until I nod in understanding. It's for the best.

They all move out of the way as my dad leans down and helps me stand up. When I do manage to, everyone on and off the court clap and cheer.

"Come on Paige," My dad says before he's picking me up and holding me like a baby. My brothers and Chance all catch up with us as well.

I sigh and rest my head against his chest. I close my eyes as we make it out of the gym.

So much for my last game of the year.

—

I sit on a hospital bed in a gown they made me change into. I was waiting for the MRI results of my injury.

When we arrived at the emergency room at the hospital, the locals who worked tonight were shocked that I got hurt.

They knew how careful I was when it came to playing the sport I loved. I couldn't help but feel disappointed in myself.

I set examples for younger kids and now I broke that by being ignorant of my surroundings.

I also couldn't help but feel embarrassed when I remembered that the head coach from my dream college was there to watch me, specifically, play.

I sigh and cover my eyes with my arm to try not and cry again.

When my emotions start to get the best of me, there is a knock at the door then it's opened.

"Hello Paige, and Mr. and Mrs. Rhyder," the doctor says as he rubs hand sanitizer over his hands.

He shakes their hands as I sit there, already dreading the results.

The doctor looks at me and sighs while he clamps his hands together in front of him.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news" he starts as my heart begins to hammer in my chest. I unconsciously hold onto the necklace Jungkook gave me.

"Your results from the MRI scan came back and we saw that your ACL was partially torn on your right knee" he finishes with a sad look as my eyes start to water.

"The estimated time for it to heal would be less than nine months, and that's only if you do therapy and rehab during that time"

I lean back into the bed again and cover my face with my hands as I begin to cry.

Everything that happens after is a blur.

I don't remember the doctor leaving, I don't remember my dad carrying me to the car, and I certainly don't remember arriving home.

It felt like I wasn't there. I wasn't in my body when it all happened.

I just wanted to see Jungkook, but dread set in when I remembered that we weren't together anymore.

He left me... and now I'm all alone with my pain.