( 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘹 𝙁𝙀𝙈!𝘖𝘊 )
When a season-ending injury strikes UConn's star, Paige Bueckers, she finds herself using one of her teammates as an outlet for all of these emotions racing through her mind.
◜ THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
LIKE YOU DO.
PRACTICE WAS THE MOST GRUELING THING QUITÉRA HAD EVER FACED. At least, that's what it felt like after being out of commission for a few weeks. She was practically wheezing as she ran another lap around the court, Geno shouting at her to keep pushing. As her shoes beat against the gym floor, legs growing sore and tired, she was really regretting not just sucking things up and staying with the team instead of leaving for a vacation. She wished she was stronger.
Paige and some other girls were doing shooting drills, feeling fairly tired as well, but the blonde's eyes followed Quitéra's body. She noticed her growing more tired by the second. Paige walked over to Geno, the older man furrowing his eyebrows.
"If you're about to ask to go to the bathroom, it's a no." He said immediately.
"No, it's not the bathroom." Paige chuckled breathily, putting her hands on her hips and walking to stand next to him, watching Quitéra. "Coach, you're being a little hard on her, don't you think?"
"She needs to build her endurance." Geno shook his head.
"I know, Coach, but this is just insane. She's been running for almost half an hour now." Paige rubbed the back of her neck.
"She likes running." Geno shrugged. Paige realized that Geno was referring to the whole ordeal that happened before Quitéra left. She remembered it clear as day. It's the worse she'd ever seen the girl and it honestly broke her heart to watch.
DECEMBER 2023.
It was the usual practice, the girls running shooting and blocking drills like always. Quitéra and Paige were partnered up — Paige's task being to try and block Quitéra as she tried to make a shot from behind the free throw line. This particular day, Quitéra had been bombarded with hate comments on Twitter talking about her performance at the game a few days prior to this practice along with more messages from her parents and other family members regarding the divorce. With everything going on, Quitéra could only think about how bad she was doing. With basketball and with how she was handling her current situation.
As Paige tried to block her, the blonde made slight remarks to try and humor the girl, but Quitéra remained dead silent the entire time, a dead look plastered on her face. Her eyes were glued on the goal behind the taller blonde. She finally decided to try her chances and shoot a goal, but paige was quick to slap the ball away, cheering for herself as the rubber ball rolled off. Quitéra just stood there for a moment and stared at the ground before she turned on her heel and jogged over to retrieve it. Quitéra's zombie-like behavior didn't go unnoticed by Paige obviously, for the girl inspected Quitéra's every move like it was her job.
