Walking throughout my school building, I couldn’t help but feel a hint of anticipation for what was going to come soon.

  It was Tuesday and classes had already ended for today.

  You must be wondering, why are you still at the school if you already finished your last period?

  Well, that was because that day, I was going to watch a school basketball game. A basketball game in which Aurora would be participating in.

  Over the weekend, as Aurora and I texted, she brought up a basketball game that happened to be scheduled for that day.

  And since I had nothing planned, I figured I’d be supportive and come watch.

  ‘I wonder what she’ll be like while playing. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her in action since I only saw our middle school basketball team play once. Plus, I never had a reason to go out of my way to see her play at this school until now.’

  With that thought, I slowly entered my school’s gymnasium.

  It was a familiar sight. Nothing had changed about the gymnasium after all.

  It was a large area with an orange floor that had tap markings to represent basketball lines and hoops at each end. On one of the walls, bleachers were lined up and already had a few students sitting down.

  The basketball team was already warming up and practicing their shooting.

  Walking over to the bleachers, I found an area to sit in the front row. I placed my bag down and sat down myself.

  For a few minutes, I watched the team practice. Although, I was mostly focusing on Aurora.

  Her brown hair flew along with her body’s sudden yet precise movements. The expression on her face was filled with focus, unlike her usual laid back attitude.

  ‘She looks like she’s ready. Hopefully, she’ll do well in the actual game.’

  Once a few minutes passed by, I began to see other students begin to enter the gymnasium and take their seats on the bleachers. Soon after, the team from the other school began to enter.

  That’s when our school basketball team finished practice and began to prepare to begin for the game.

  While they did, Aurora glanced over to the bleachers for a moment. And we locked eyes.

  ‘Try your best.’

  With that internal thought, I waved to her.

  Turning her head away from me, the game soon started.

  It started off pretty slowly, the first few plays didn’t really have a lot of urgency.

  However, the pace of the game began to slowly pick up.

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  With Aurora as the point guard, she was leading the main plays for the offense and she was doing a pretty good job at it.

  Her style wasn’t overly technical or methodical, instead it relied on Aurora’s naturally exceptional hand eye coordination.

  That with her above average speed, allowed her to ignite certain plays excellently.

  The other school didn’t let them get easy shots off though.

  The high school was called Modr of Computer Science and Engineering, which was known for their unique defense.

  The girls on their team were extremely flexible and quick on their feet, which allowed for a lot of the offensive plays to be intercepted.

  In the end, the score of the first half was 34-28 in our favor.

  Then, it was half time.

  For most of half time, the team discussed new plays and strategies while they drank water so there wasn’t a lot of time to speak to Aurora.

  Fortunately, I did have a chance to speak with her for a few moments.

  “You okay?” I asked Aurora who was sitting on the ground near the bleachers.

  “I’m good,” She responded, taking a sip of her water.

  “You worried?” I questioned.

  I didn’t really know much about what went on inside Aurora’s head as she played so I couldn’t resist the urge to pry a bit.

  “Nah. Why would I be? It’s just a game,” Aurora answered nonchalantly.

  ‘Just a game? I thought she would’ve shown more care about it. After all, she loves sports.’

  I shrugged.

  “Fair enough,” I said.

  Soon after, Aurora had to go back to playing and I gave her a few insignificant words of encouragement before she left.

  For the second half, Aurora was switched to the shooting guard position.

  This position was where Aurora truly shined.

  She did well as a point guard but due to her lack of heavy planning or preparation for her plays, that limited the team.

  But as a shoot guard, Aurora used her exceptional control of the ball to the fullest and was able to score almost every shot she took.

  The other team, who were beginning to adapt to Aurora’s offensive style, were taken aback by the change and were unable to effectively disrupt her shots.

  They’re offense did improve as a result though, since they felt the need to focus more on shooting since they couldn’t stop Aurora.

  Unfortunately for them, their new improvements weren’t enough to stop Aurora.

  One of them ended up fouling Aurora in an attempt to stop her shot, but she ended up making the free throw so it didn’t matter anyway.

  Once everything was said and done, the score was 67-50 in our favor.

  Meaning that, Aurora and her team had won.

  Since the game was finished, many of the students that came to watch began to exit the gymnasium. However, I stayed and waited until Aurora was ready to leave.

  When she finished everything she need to do, she came to me and we ended up leaving the gymnasium.

  “How’re you feeling? You just won a game,” I said with a smile.

  “I’m feeling great. I didn’t expect us to win by that much so it was a pretty nice surprise,” Aurora replied with a small smile of her own.

  “Well yeah, you played really well today,” I complimented.

  “Thanks,” Aurora responded.

  For a few moments, we walked in awkward silence. I didn’t really know what to say, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself by stuttering so I just stayed silent.

  But then I realized I had a question.

  “Aurora,” I said.

  “Yeah?” She replied.

  “Why do you love basketball and sports in general so much?” I asked.

  Aurora paused for a moment, perhaps to think. Then, she spoke once again.

  “There are a few reasons why I love sports. I like that it’s easy for me to do. I like that I can win even without money. I like…”

  Trailing off for a moment, Aurora continued her thought.

  “I like that everyone’s eyes are on me. That I have everyone’s attention. When I play, I’m being watched and praised more than I usually am. That feeling is something I love. I kind of crave it,” Aurora said, finishing her answer.

  Her face while speaking was one of pure bliss.

  Thinking about her answer, I had mixed emotions.

  ‘It’s kind of a weird thing to say out loud, but I understand what she means. Even though I can’t relate, I know I’d love that kind of feeling if I had that too. But if that’s her main reason for playing, how much does she actually enjoy the sport itself?’

  “That’s a pretty fair reason. I probably would play for that feeling too,” I replied.

  ‘Eh, it’s not that important. I’m just glad I got to learn a few more things about Aurora. And basketball too.’

  Ignoring any irrelevant thoughts, I walked and talked with Aurora until we exited the school building.

  Then, we went our separate ways.