it's almost like you never left (Paige Bueckers)

Chapter 11

Y/n POV

Azzi has been out of the house a lot more. I don't think it's because she doesn't like me or anything, I think it's because she wants to spend time with Paige after that scare. I think she's afraid she might just disappear again. A benefit to that is I get to have people over more, like Taylor and Aubrey. Aubrey's actually on her way over right now. I figured I would give her a quick rundown of me and Paige's relationship since high school, that's how close we were getting. Yes I was close with a lot of people on the team but Aubrey and Azzi just got me like no one else. They were taller and shorter versions of me basically. I kind of also feel bad because I've been spending so much time with them and Taylor. I'm gonna invite Aaliyah over tomorrow to have our own day because after all she is the reason I came here in the first place.

Knock Knock Knock

"It's open!" I yelled to Aubrey who was knocking.

"What's good, twin?" She says to me as she daps me up.

"I gotta give you all the info about me and one of our teammates, twin" I say dapping her up.

"Is it Paige?" She asks. How the hell did she know?

"How the hell do you know?" I ask, repeating my thoughts.

"First off you guys never talk, second off you always give each other looks, and lastly whenever we hang out with the team you guys are as far away as you can be from each other" Aubrey says, laughing at her last statement.

"Well basically it all started in 2018. The FIBA U17 World Cup. Team USA vs. Team Canada. We were both the 2 top recruits for the class of 2020 and we both had something to show that game. I had Aaliyah on my team, but Paige's Team USA roster was stacked. Not that ours wasn't stacked but you would recognize the names of Team USA more. Stars like Hailey Van Lith, Cameron Brink, Aaliyah Boston, Haley Jones, Zia Cooke, and our very own Azzi Fudd." I chuckle.

"It was the semi-finals round and whoever won would go on to the finals. This game was very anticipated since we are so close on the map and because it's me versus Paige." I say

"The game started off slow, but once Team USA got a hang of it I kind of lost it. I went over to the bench and tried to hold my tears in because I knew we were gonna lose. I finally pulled myself together and decided I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I got subbed back in and the score was 30-43, Team USA winning. Me and Paige had to guard each other and she kept pushing me because of how good of defense I was playing" I say with a laugh.

"I had read on the website that Azzi had been shooting 56% from 3 during the world cup. After a while of Paige pushing me and her telling me that we were going to lose." I say, but then I get cut off.

"SHE WHAT?" Aubrey almost screams.

"Yeah she kept telling me we were going to lose and how she was better than me" I say.

"Oh my god i'm going to kill her." She says.

"Anyways after Paige got subbed out I was guarding Azzi. Which I kinda was happy about because I knew I could stop her from making all of those 3 pointers. So I guarded her and the game was very close, but we couldn't get the dub. Next thing I knew we were shaking hands with the other team and Paige damn missed my whole hand. I was so fed up with her. She was too cocky and they only won by 3!" I finished.

"Fast forward about 2-3 years later. Uconn plays Depaul in the big east championship."

"Yeah, back when you were still with Depaul." She remarks.

"Okay so after the game me and Aaliyah decided to go out to dinner to catch up."

"Oh yeah I remember. We roomed together on that trip and I helped her get ready" She says.

"So I was about to leave Wintrust..." I pause. (Wintrust is the arena Depaul plays in)

"Uh oh what happened?" She asks.

"Well I was walking out and I saw Paige very upset in the hall. She was banging the mats with her hand and I went to ask her if she was okay. She got all defensive saying how I ruined her chances of winning March Madness because Uconn was going to seed down. She ended up calling my team stupid and I was not about to let her disrespect my team. I told her to stop and she said back away. I was standing my ground until she pushed me into the wall. Unfortunately enough for me, there was a nail sticking out in the wall." I say. Aubrey gasps at the sound of the pain. I lift up my hand to show her the scar.

"Well apparently Aaliyah saw her in the hotel lobby as she was leaving to go get dinner with me. She was saying how she was really sorry but Aaliyah didn't know what she was talking about until dinner when I told her. The pieces got put together and Nika was so mad." I finish.

"Okay now I'm real mad" She says.

"Yeah ever since I transferred here she's been really awkward. I mean I did go look for her when she went missing because even if it was anyone else I wouldn't want them to be in danger." I finally finished the story.

"I don't know why she's such a bitch to you" Aubrey says.

"I thought she was so nice when I met her. Maybe we just need to hear her side of the story?" She asks, not sure of how I will respond.

"Yeah I guess you're right." I say. We hang out some more and talk about random stuff. We end up watching a movie and we both pass out on the couch. After sometime Azzi came home, with Paige. They both sat on the couch and put on a random movie. I felt the couch dip so I laid on whoever's leg was next to me. At some point around 3 am I saw that Aubrey went home. I also noticed who's leg I was sleeping on. You guessed it, Paige's fucking leg. She probably felt uncomfortable or something. I just now noticed that her hand was on my back. Uhm I hope she doesn't notice if I try to slip out or something. I quickly get out and make a break for my bedroom. I shut the door and go onto my bed and fake sleep.

"Hello?" I hear a voice say. I notice it isn't Paige's so I look up and it's Azzi my savior! I run up and hug her because I haven't seen her in forever. We hug for what feels to be 10 minutes but that isn't long enough. We each head to our beds, leaving Paige on the couch.

Growing up I moved a lot. I was born in Canada and moved when I was around 12 to Minnesota. Finally I moved when I was 13 to Illinois. I think my family settled once my dad was back in Depaul territory.

"Hey Azzi?" I ask, both of us staring at our ceiling.

"Yeah, what's up?" She says, sitting up. I pause for a second, debating if I should tell her this information or not.

"Me and Paige went to middle school together."

A/N: This chapter is short but the next 2 are going to be hopefully longer. ALSO I already know what I am going to write for next chapter and I just want to say again that it is nothing like how the uconn team is in person and the things I write are just for the story and they never actually happened in real life.