Distrust//Kyle Kuzma

E I G H T

Alivia's POV

I sighed as we sat in our locker room listening to Coach Cori give us a pep talk. After she finished talking, the girls and I jogged out onto the busy basketball court. Mili passed me a ball as I stepped back and shot a perfect three. I turned around to talk to Mili when I looked over to the courtside seats. My eyes instantly caught his. He was seated beside Zo and Melo smiling. Mili called my name before throwing me a lob. I instantly sprinted up to the rim and slammed it in making the student section go crazy. I laughed as Mili high fived me. We were called over to the bench and the announcer started to name off the starting line up.

"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome your starting point guard for the Lady Bruins. Number 5 Alivia Rooney." I smiled as I ran through the tunnel of cheerleaders and onto the court.

The crowd went wild as we prepared for the tip-off. We were playing the Oregon Lady Ducks tonight. They were big rivals of ours because they are really good. The Lady Ducks got the tip and I backed up to my defensive position.

***

I looked up to check the shot clock as I dribbled towards the Lady Ducks that were in their positions to guard us. The score was tied and we were down to 10 seconds in the game. I quickly passed the ball to Japreece who quickly passed it back to me. I took off running in an attempt to drive the lane, but I was stopped by the Ducks' biggest player. She charged me knocking me down instantly. I groaned as I hit the floor with a thud. The girl grabbed the ball and sprinted to the hoop. She laid it up finishing the game. I jumped up in pain to argue with the ref.

"What the hell was that? She charged me." I argued as the UCLA student section booed at the girl and the ref.

"Game is over, no changing after that buzzer goes off. She was just playing defense." He spoke making me roll my eyes.

I sighed and walked over to Coach Cori who was arguing with another ref. I groaned and limped a little due to my hip throbbing from landing on it. As I walked up to them Coached pointed to me as she spoke.

"Sir, my best player was charged and you and your asshole friend didn't say a damn thing about it. What do you think the schools pay you to do, stand around and let our players get hurt?" She yelled as the pale skin on her face turned red.

"Ma'am the girl was just playing defense and the buzzer rang before we could call it." He told her making her madder.

"Just leave it I'm fine." I grabbed her arm as she tried to argue more.

"I'm so sorry sweet girl. Go shower, you have a press conference after this." She hugged me before walking away.

I turned to see Mili talking to Kuz, Zo, and Melo. My hip throbbed as I walked up to them. Kuz looked as me obviously concerned. When I made it up to them he instantly pulled me into a hug. I smiled because he didn't care that I was sweaty.

"You ok? You put a dent in the floor over there." Zo joked making me laugh.

"I'll get some ice for it. I'm going to go shower and I'll meet you guys for dinner after the press conference." I said before walking away but Kuz grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"I'm driving you to dinner after your conference." He spoke still holding my wrist.

"You don't have to do that. I can just get a ride with Mili." I instantly snatched my wrist away when I saw the people who were giving us weird looks.

"I'll see you after your press conference." He smirked before walking away. That boy is going to be the death of me.

I dodged the paparazzi as I walked back to the locker room. When I got in there we were playing music but none of the girls were singing or dancing. The first loss of a season will put you in an upset mood. I grabbed my clothes and walked to the showers. I took my jersey off and pulled my hair up in a bun before getting in the shower. My hip kept pulsating as I washed the sweat off of me. I threw on this outfit and some makeup before walking out to my locker.