Perseverance (Book 2 of Jade and Nika)

Chapter 33: When I See You Again

Nika

Right now I'm with my team getting ready for the first round of the NCAA tournament. We are the Big East Conference champions so we are a first seed and they predict that we will go pretty far in the tournament. Especially since we are the reigning national champions, but we are not going to let that make us too cocky. We are going to take it one game at a time and not underestimate any of the teams.

The first round of the tournament is here in Connecticut and we will be facing High Point. We are so happy to be playing the first round here, because we will be playing in front of a lot of our families, friends, and fans. Which brings me to Jade. She just flew here with her team, because they have a game tomorrow against UConn. Which is the only reason she was able to come see us play tonight, but I am so glad our schedule worked out this way.

We are at shoot around right now, and we are all looking solid. I was knocking down shots, and I do feel confident about tonight. After a while I went over to get a drink, and Paige followed me.

Paige- We are definitely looking good and united today.

Nika- That's because we want to win this game.

Paige- You can say that again.

We take a drink before starting to talk again.

Paige- So Jade is here?

Nika- Yeah she messaged me this morning when they landed. Plus Maddie and Hana are coming with her to the game.

Paige- I am so happy for you and Jade.

Nika- But?

Paige- No buts. I am truly happy for you.

Nika- Come on Paige I can see something is bothering you. So what's up?

Paige- I haven't really talked to Carson since the engagement party.

Nika- Well she did say that she doesn't do relationships.

Paige- She also says that she is super busy with assistant coaching the softball team and her classes.

Nika- Which is very valid.

Paige- But she should have some days off.

Nika- Well I am going to the softball game tomorrow after practice. You could go with me to the game if you want, and you could just say that you came with me to watch Jade play.

Paige- That sounds like a plan.

Nika- Now that we got that settled let's focus on this game.

So with that we went back to shooting around. We watched as fans started to fill the stadium, and Geno told us that shoot around is over. I was walking back to the locker room with my teammates, and that's when I heard Jade screaming my name.

Jade ran into my arms and I honestly wanted to freeze this moment in time. She whispered good luck into my ear, before kissing me on the cheek. The moment we released each other, Paige and Aaliyah yelled at me to come on. I looked at Jade once more and told her that I loved her, and she told me that she loved me too.

When I got to the locker room my teammates gave me a little bit of a hard time, before becoming serious and focusing on the game. Geno gave us a pep talk and told us what we needed to do to win this game. We all listened to him and knew what we needed to do. We were ready. We broke out and ran out of the tunnel as a team. Now it's game time.

The energy in the stadium feels amazing and I definitely wasn't the only one who felt that way. Aaliyah won the tip for us and it landed in my hands. We passed the to create space in the paint. I finally made the final pass to Aaliyah who lays it in.