Behind The Cameras

Chapter 53

Paige POV:

"I love you" Peyton says hugging me

"I love you too, i'll see you in a few days" I tell her as I'm getting ready to get on the bus to the airport for a game verse Marquette.

"Be safe" she says pulling away from the hug and looking at me

"Always" I say kissing her before making my way onto the bus

—

It's the next day and the game just ended. We beat Marquette 87-58 and I had 30 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.

Nika and I are getting ready for our post game interview and are waiting for them to ask us questions.

"Hey guys, it seems like you two just have really good on court chemistry, off the court too, but with Nika now getting more playing time and in the starting lineup, you could just see that you were able to find each other really well, Nika hitting Paige's 3's, could you kinda take us through what it feels like to play with each other on the court and how you think it's going, especially with Nika playing more" a reporter asks

Nika and I both look at each other and laugh not knowing who should speak first.

"Um, I'll start" Nika says "I mean this is my slime, this is my twin" she says wrapping her arm around my shoulder

"Yea we might not look alike, I might be blonde, but she's my twin" I say

"Yea we're twins, it's not that hard to play together and Paige was on fire today, so whatever pass I would throw her she would just hit it, so it wasn't that hard honestly" Nika says which makes me laugh

"Nah, Nika's a really good passer, she sees me before I'm even open sometimes and she does really well screening for me, so a lot of my points are credited to her" I say

"Hey guys, Paige with your shooting in recent games from the outside, your team has been dominating inside 46 points in the paint, can you talk about how those two go hand in hand?" another reporter asks

"Yea, I mean, I feel like if I'm more aggressive from the outside, I know coach has been on me about shooting the ball more, but it opens things up on the inside and especially in the pick and roll people might jump out on me more because if I'm shooting more they may pay attention to me, but then it opens up people in a lane, and so I think that kinda plays hand in hand" I respond

"Hey Nika, you discussed your defense and kind of how fouling was a big adjustment for you" a reporter says which makes me laugh and Nika hit my shoulder laughing too. "with the different brand of basketball over here, how has that kind of evolved and Geno seemed to mention that you have been a big part of the teams improvement on defense, I just wanted to hear how you have acclimated on that end" the reporter continues

"Yea, well, I mean I feel like from game to game I'm starting to feel more comfortable and realize more and more what's a foul here and what is not and also in practices, the coaching staff and my teammates have been helping me a lot and telling me how to play defense and how defense is played here, and I've been getting more comfortable with it"

"Has that been a playing time thing, since now that you're starting?" The reporter adds on

"No I don't think so, I think it's just from practices, trying to transfer how I play defense in practice to games and that's it" Nika replies

"alright thanks" the reporter says unsatisfied which makes Nika make a face so I turn to her and whisper "that was good" so no one hears.

"Hey guys, for Nika, along with those same lines, Coach actually said tonight that you being in the starting lineup changes the defense and knowing how much pride you take in that, what does that mean to you" another reporter asks