Serendipity - Paige Bueckers

Chapter One - Come back

PAIGE POV
It's been five years.
Five years since the divorce.
Five years since I've seen her.
Serenity Parker/Auriemma.
Or what I call her; Rei.
My Rei.
My best friend since I beat her in a 1v1 basketball game when we were four- well maybe she beat me but still. Rei and I had been best friends all the way until our sophomore year of high school when her dumbass mom took her away to fucking Iowa after Coach and her got a divorce. Oh yeah- Rei is Coach Genos daughter by the way and he hasn't seen or talked to her in five years either. Rei and I were the best basketball players in the school- we basically carried every game for our team in high school and middle school. We had the best chemistry on and off the court, we could practically read each other's minds. I told her everything and she told me everything- but I never got to tell her that I was madly in love with her for our whole lives.
And now she's gone- practically erased from my life. Sometimes I watch her games on Iowa but I never really get that far before one of my friends tells me to switch the channel. I can tell she's changed- she seems more serious and mature than she did in high school, which makes sense of course. She's still a great baller, especially when she plays with #22, Caitlin Clark, from what I can see from the two minutes of a game I've seen. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Reis mom put a restraining order on me and everyone I know for Rei. I can't look her up, I can't call her, text her, watch her games- nothing. Every time i try, it always comes up with the ERROR screen. I hate Reis mom more than anyone on this fucking planet.
Today is February 21, 2024. It's Sunday morning I couldn't be happier that theres no practice today. I've been working my ass off all month because March Madness is in about three weeks. I hear a knock on my bedroom door and I sit up in bed. The door opens to reveal Azzi Fudd, one of my best friends, teammate and dorm mate.
"Morning P," Azzi says, leaning on my doorframe.
"Morning... what's up?" I say casually. Azzi takes a deep breath.
"Coach wants to see you... now," Azzi says. Seriously? This fucking early in the morning on A SUNDAY?!
"Fuck Azz, tell him Im tired," I groan as I lay back in my bed again. Azzi rolls her eyes.
"No, he needs to see you now. It's about someone named, Serenity-" SERENITY? REI? I sit up.
"Wait- Serenity? As in Serenity Parker?" I ask, my eyes wide. I feel my heart start beating faster. Azz shrugs.
"I don't know, probably," Azzi says. I stand up and run past Azzi and out of the dorm. I run down the dorm house hallway and into the parking lot. I run across the parking lot and into the sports center. I open the door to Coach's office and run in. Fuck, that was a work out. And I'm still in my PJs, that's great. I catch my breath as Coach looks at me, slightly concerned.
"Morning to you too, Bueckers," Coach says, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Azz told me you wanted to talk to me about Rei- Serenity-"
"Yes... Serenity is coming here to UConn tonight. She's staying for a week to see if she likes the school and the team. I want her to transfer and play with us for March Madness this year-"
"HOLY SHIT ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" I yell. Rei coming here?! To UCONN?! TO POSSIBLY TRANSFER AND PLAY ON THE TEAM?! HOLY SHIT.
"First of all, language, young lady, second of all, yes," Geno says. Coach Geno has always been a father figure to me because of my friendship with Rei and when she got taken away, we cried together. After high school, he moved to UConn with me after I signed. He decided to start a new life, and try to forget about his past in Minnesota with Rei- which is impossible of course. I knew he loved Rei more than the world and I knew it broke him when she was gone because I felt the same.
Rei was my everything- and she still is.
Somehow.

SERENITY POV
    It's been five years.
    Two years of torture.
    Three years of happiness.
Now im getting on a plane to Connecticut to reunite with my dad and her....
Paige Bueckers.
My bestest friend.
My girl.
As I sit in my seat on the plane, I take out my phone and scroll on my socials. I somehow managed to make an Insta account even though my mother restricted everything even though Im fucking 20 years old now. I manage to get to Paiges insta account and I follow her. I hope she gets it. Damn she has 1.8M followers. I guess she's popular now. I mean she always was but even more now. I wonder if she's dad's favorite player. Im not gonna lie, Im jealous of Paige. She's living the life Im supposed to be living. She gets to spend practically everyday with my dad while I haven't seen him in five years. She's on UConn women's basketball team and she's the star player- that's supposed to be me. Being one of Iowas top players isn't enough for me. Caitlin constantly steals all the fame and even though she's my best friend, it gets a little annoying sometimes.
Finally, the plane takes off.
I hope Paige still remembers me.

PAIGE POV
After talking to Coach for a little while, I go back to my dorm. When I open the door I see Azz studying with Nika and KK. "Hey guys," I say, announcing my arrival. Everyone grunts in response, clearly very concentrated on their studying. I sit next to them.
"How was your talk with Coach?" Azz asks, not looking up from her computer.
"Great; this girl Rei- Serenity is coming to UConn to see if she might transfer," I explain, taking out my phone. I open instagram and I have hundreds of thousands of likes on my most recent posts per usual. I look through my notifications casually- holy crap. Serenity Parker has started following you. Holy fucking crap. I try to open her profile but it says ERROR. Fuck. I hate that. That mother fucking restraining order.
"Wait- Serenity Parker?" Nika says suddenly, sitting up. I nod. "I trained with her in Iowa during the summer. It was a basketball camp. Gorgeous 5"5 ish girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes?" I almost laugh. 5"5? Last time I saw Rei she was that height and so was I. Now Im 6"0. Rei always said she would be taller than me. HA. On the other hand, gorgeous? I mean, it's been a while since I've seen her so I have no opinion but GORGEOUS? Being called gorgeous by Nika Muhl is a crazy compliment.
"Sounds like her... what was she like?" I ask, intrigued. Nika shrugs.
"Super sweet, had a good sense of humor, a hella good but aggressive baller though," Nika replies. I nod. Sounds like Rei.

Authors Note
Heyyyyyy! I hope youre enjoying the story so far. Don't worry, theres gonna be more interesting stuff and drama ahead. Also, this is my first time writing a Wattpad story so sorry if it's bad lol.
Anywaysssss enjoyyyy :)
-YNROSEMIRACULOUS
Chapter One: 1270 words