Forever and A Day | one tree hill

one.

Valentina Scott bit her lip as she glanced at the scoreboard. Despite the amazing game she was having, her team was down, and the fourth quarter was nearing its end. She could see the boys team lining up by the door. 

"Alright ladies, there's a minute left and we're down by seven points. I don't want to see any glum faces because there is still a chance that we can win this, do you hear me?"

"Yes coach," the girls say in unison.

Her eyes land on one girl in particular, "Scott?"

Her attention shifted from the doors the led to the locker room and looked back at her coach, "Yeah?"

"I want to move you to point. Think you can handle it?"

"Yeah," Valentina agrees, eyes drifting back over to the boys' team, "I can handle it."

The referee whistle sounds, and Valentina places her hand at the center of the huddle, her teammates piling theirs on top of hers, "Ravens on me, Ravens on three, one, two, three."

"Ravens!"

Valentina's eyes scan over the crowd and she locates her mom with ease. She always sat on the back row, waving blue and white pom-poms with vigor. She was Valentina's biggest fan and was present at every game.

It was Raven's ball and Valentina glanced at the scoreboard once more as her teammate inbounded the ball to her. She turned and surveyed the court, searching for any gaps in the offense. She found one right in front of her. Despite hitting six threes, her defender was sagging off, leaving space for Valentina to pull up and hit the three.

The crowd went crazy, and Valentina smirked as she waited for the other team to inbound the ball. The post passed it in, and Valentina moved quick, intercepting the past and scoring a quick layup, sending the crowd into another set of cheers.

She looked at the scoreboard to see that they were only down by two points and there were still forty-five seconds left in the fourth quarter.

This time she backed off, allowing the other team to inbound the ball. She put pressure on the guard, who quickly passed it off to one of her teammates. Valentina knew that they were gonna try to waste the time off of the clock.

They continued to pass the ball around and Valentina watched, noticing a pattern. The ball would touch the hand of two guards before going into the post who would kick it right back out. She let it happen once more before jumping into the passing lane and stealing the ball.

"Time out!" her coach quickly called. The referee blew his whistle and Valentina and her team rushed over to the sideline. One of her teammates slaps her on the back and Valentina smiles at them before focusing her attention on her coach.

"There's ten seconds left. Two to tie, three to win. Scott, you're hot tonight. Think you can hit the shot?"

"You know she can," Sophia, one of her teammates says, causing everyone to laugh.

"I am feeling it," Valentina says cockily and her coach smiles.

"Alright. Win on three ladies, one, two, three!"

"Win!"

The teams take the court and Valentina stands by the half-court line. There were two girls guarding her and Valentina took a deep breath as she wiped the palm of her hand on her shorts.

The referee blows their whistle, handing the ball to Sophia. Valentina runs toward the other teams' basket and Sophia lobs it to her. She catches the ball and calmly dribbles past half-court. She looks at the clock to see the time trickling down quickly. There were still two defenders on her, waiting to trap her.