what happens if UCONN's most popular basketball player finds herself searching for one person in the crowd?
Jules knew who she was and what she wanted and when she gets offered a spot on the media team for UCONN's women's basketball team she takes...
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juliette
present; narrative
Paige had gotten her surgery two weeks ago. I was the first person there after her surgery. I helped her get home and took care of her. She still didn't want to talk much, staying in her own world most of the time. It got worse when she had to go to practice with her crutches. I knew she felt useless, watching her team while she just stood on the sidelines.
It was hard to see Paige in the state she was in. She looked devastated everyday. She didn't have the energy to go anywhere except practice she wasn't even required at. Somehow she managed to wobble her way just to help her team. Even if she couldn't play she would support them as much as they could.
Rose still hadn't come back so I spent most of my time alone. Paige still wanted her space, the team was working even harder having lost Paige for the whole season and those were my only friends. At some point I got tired of Paige getting mad, or pushing me away for just trying to help. I spent hours in that uncomfortable hospital chair just so she wouldn't be alone after surgery. I didn't want to be offended since she was injured but how long would this last. I spent every night doing research on ACL injury recovery timelines. The first 14 days after surgery being the most vulnerable. Thankfully today was day 14.
I was on my way to her dorm for the 5th time today. She always asked me to leave after I did what I needed to do and then I ended up coming back a few hours later. Obviously Azzi was helping but Paige wasn't treating her any better so I was the best candidate to deal with her.
I walked in and Paige was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in bed, in the bathroom, in Azzi's room or anywhere she was supposed to be. It clicked in my head where only she would go 8 days after surgery. I ran to my car, racing to find her before she hurt herself even more.
I got a few looks running into the basketball center but I found Paige attempting to shoot. She was supposed to be on crutches but now she was trying to put weight on both legs. Her shot missed and she threw her head back frustrated.
"Paige, you need your crutches." I grabbed them from the chair they were propped up against and gave them to the girl that was about to fall over. When she got her crutches under her arms she walked to the chairs and took a seat. I followed after, taking the seat next to her hesitantly.
"You know you can't just expect to be able to do everything right away." It was barely a whisper. I didn't want to upset her even more but it was true. Paige couldn't just expect her leg to be healed because she had surgery.
"Nine to twelve months." She didn't look at me. Obviously I knew what those numbers meant though. It was going to take her nine to twelve months to even recover. That didn't even mean being able to play again.
"You need to recover slowly. Ask Dorka, Azzi, Aubrey, Caroline they all know what you're going through P. You're not expected to just be okay." I tried to comfort her. So far it was going much better than it had these past few days. Usually she would get mad, or just brush it off but now she stayed silent, maybe even thinking on my words.
