valerie martin was used to being upstaged. as the younger sister of a college basketball star, she never had a chance. nevertheless, valerie martin kept her head held high, she learned early on that she needed to have thick skin to survive in her position. the younger martin girl was notorious for having her walls built high, letting only a select few people into her personal life. the person who knew the most about her was her older sister kate. the 22 year old guard for the university of iowa's women's basketball team was the sole confidant of valerie's secrets. she was the only one who knew about valerie's weird obsession with the game show jeopardy, the only one who knew that she had been admitted into eating disorder treatment at age 14, but even kate martin did not know that her little sister liked girls. hell, valerie didn't know she liked girls until she met a girl named sadie in ed treatment and was confused why her heart skipped a beat every time sadie walked into the room. it's not that her family wouldn't support her queerness, but valerie still lived in fear of prejudice and homophobia from others. iowa wasn't exactly the most accepting place in the country.
"val, i swear to god if you don't get out of bed and go to class, i'm calling mom," mornings like these make valerie regret having her sister as her roommate.
"jesus, okay! im getting up."
valerie drug herself out of bed and threw on a matching sweat suit. she couldn't even bother to brush her hair, just pulling it up into a claw clip messily. as she shuffled into the kitchen, valerie took note of the 4 girls lounging around her apartment. she recognized the girls as her sister's basketball friends, gabbie marshall, molly davis, caitlin clark, and kate herself of course. they must've had morning practice today valerie thought to herself. she slid on her ugg slippers silently, still attempting to blink the tiredness out of her eyes.
she said her goodbyes to the girls and made her way to her 8am class. valerie was friendly with the girls on the basketball team, often tagging along on their hangouts. on her drive to campus she received a text message from an unknown number.
(xxx) xxx-xxxx
hey