𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐥 ◜ 𝚙𝚋. ◞

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

FUCKING IT ALL UP.

THE CHEERS OF THE FANS MADE QUITÉRA EXCITED. It made her stomach turn in a way that no type of romance or disgust could do. It made her feel all kinds of nervous yet excited. The UConn vs. Notre Dame game was her great comeback and she was prepared to take home a win. Geno was letting her play and Quitéra was more than happy to get back out there her first game back.

he put her in during second quarter, the huskies up by seven points. Quitéra was the limelight of the court as she scored like crazy, her moves seemingly effortless. She was proving herself to the fans, to the people that watched her waiting for her to slip up. Everything was going well.

Quitéra stole the ball from Notre Dame again as she blocked a shot to the goal, sprinting to the other side and dribbling the ball. The player from Notre Dame was on her tail, running so close she was basically Quitéra's shadow. She felt a sharp kick to her shin, causing Quitéra to lose her footing and fall to the ground. She felt pain shoot through her leg when the player from Notre Dame's foot stepped on her leg as she hit the ground, causing her to trip and fall as well. She ignored the pain when she saw that the collision wasn't called as a foul, Quitéra quickly got up to go grab the ball again. But the second she found her footing, she went back down to the ground, her right ankle hurting like hell and not having the strength to hold her up.

Quitéra groaned in pain as she turned her body to sit on her butt, the sound of a whistle sounding like sweet music to her ear. She looked at her leg, her eyes widening when she saw as plain as day that her ankle was sprained, the bone in her foot being totally disfigured. Her face scrunched up as tears welled in her eyes, the pain really starting to set in and the humiliation hurting worse.

"Hey, hey, don't cry," Paige's soft voice reached her ears, the blonde crouching down next to her quickly, holding her face in her hands. "Where does it hurt?"

"M-my ankle." Quitéra pushed out, sniffling as she tried to fight back the tears. "I can't w-walk on it. It hurts too much."

"It's okay, it's okay." Paige hushed her and stroked her hair gently.

It was all a blur to Quitéra after that. The paramedics tearing her away from Paige's grasp to set her in a gurney, the cheers of fans as she was taken off the court, and the slam of the doors as she was taken out of the gym completely. Her heart, her ego, everything she had worked for was broken down by that single moment where Quitéra B. Castillo cried on the court over a sprained ankle.

Quitéra laid back on the couch, her UConn hoodie and sweatpants on with Ashlynn standing over her, behind the couch putting two braids in her hair. She stared down at the brace around her ankle propped up on the coffee table, a look of disdain in her eyes. As the entire team sat, gathered in the living room of she and KK's dorm, they could feel her energy.

"You okay, Quitéra?" Azzi finally spoke up, making the girl turn to face her.

Quitéra nodded silently with a smile before getting back to glaring down at her boot. Azzi sighed and turned away to watch Love Island on the TV with everyone else. In truth, Quitéra wasn't okay at all. Just a few days ago, she had sprained her ankle her first game back, and on top of that, UConn ended up losing said game. She couldn't help but blame herself for it all and she knew the entire ordeal would just give people something else to say about her. She hated it.

Paige was sitting next to Quitéra, arms crossed as she stared at the TV. Her blue eyes wandered over to look at Quitéra. She let out a sigh and nudged her arm.

"It's gonna be okay." She whispered to her.

"I know." Quitéra nodded before looking away.

It wasn't going to be okay, Quitéra thought to herself. She knew her ankle wasn't a season-ending injury, but she knew it'd put her out long enough to give people reasons to continue to hate on her. Plus, the timing of the injury only added onto the piling of never ending reasons as to why she was a bad basketball player. Her parents came to visit her in the hospital. They showered her with compliments and praise but she felt like it was all a lie. She wondered if she did as good as her teammates and family said she did. She wondered if she had done anything differently maybe she wouldn't have been sitting on that couch with a sprained ankle and a loss to Notre Dame.

Ashlynn finished up the braids and gave Quitéra's shoulders gentle pats before walking to sit on the floor next to KK and some of the other girls. She touched her hair and nodded to herself in approval at the clean work Ashlynn had done. Paige put her hand on Quitéra's thigh and rubbed it comfortingly.

Quitéra looked down at her hand, then looked at Paige. The two of them shared eye contact, it's like she could hear Paige's thoughts. She was saying that she was there and that she cared, it felt like. She knew Paige had her own experience with an injury like that, a worse injury even. She sighed and laid her head on Paige's shoulder, looking up at the TV to watch the reality show. The blonde gave her thigh a comforting squeeze as she rested her head on top of Quitéra's. Paige shut her eyes and let herself drown into Quitéra's warmth.

( VAL'S NOTE )

the ending was cute guys don't be mad at me pls <3

are we rockin w torturing quitéra?

also what do you guys think of the new cover made it myself 🤗