"It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters." - Evander Holyfield
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Kado's POV
"Aight boys hit the showers!" Coach Mike yelled.
We had just got done running our last set of suicides, and I was dead tired. I took a gulp from my water bottle and grabbed my towel. As I was rubbing the sweat from my face, I felt a hand slap my back.
"Thanks for practicing with us bro even though all we did was condition." One of the players, Elijah said.
I shrugged it off, "No problem, and y'all and Duke are the only teams, that I've seen, who actually condition like this."
He grimaced once I mention Duke, "You went to visit them?"
"Yea, I got a full ride from here and there." I explained.
"Damn nigga you on ya' grind. You tryna play professionally?"
"If I can get there yea." I said changing into my regular clothes. I decided on taking a shower when I get back to my hotel.
Eli's eyes widened, "Bro have you not seen the way you play? You better than half the guys who actually on the team!" E exclaimed.
I chuckled, "I mean I have seen myself play, but I try not to sound too cocky 'cus it's always someone better than me."
"I guess you right, but forreal though I think you'd make a good shooting guard. You got a good form."
I frowned, "Never thought about that position, I've been a small forward pretty much my whole basketball career."
"You should ask your coach if you could move up."
I nodded my head in agreement, "Yea I'll talk to him when I get back."
Once we finished getting dressed Eli and I exchanged numbers and headed our separate ways. For some reason he thought that I was going to choose Kentucky, but in reality I really don't know where I want to go. Both Duke and Kentucky are beautiful campuses and they both have amazing basketball programs.
Once I got outside, I spotted my mom and pops sitting in their car waiting on me. I opened the door and the cool air hit me.
"Hey how was the workout?" My mom asked.
"It was good. They have similar training like Duke." I said as I closed the door.
Pops looked at me through the mirror, "But Kentucky's was better right?" My dad has been wanting me to attend University of Kentucky since he found out that I wanted to play basketball. He went the Kentucky as well and even played for their team. However my dad blew out his knee and was unable to play again, so he had to give it up.
Most people would say that he's trying to force his dreams onto me, but I don't think he is because 1. I'm the one who chose to play basketball and 2. he said himself that I can choose where I want to go.
I rolled my eyes, "I just said it was the same. As in same drills, conditioning, everything. The only thing that was different was that Kentucky is a little bigger than Duke. Other than that, they have great basketball programs."
My mom finally pulled off and we made our way back to the hotel. The car ride was silent minus the music that was playing. When we made it back to the hotel, I made sure all my clothes were packed before I hopped in the shower.
"Hurry up Kay! We have to leave in 30 minutes!" My mom yelled outside the door. I turned on the shower and waited until it was warm enough and got in. I didn't wait to start washing up since I had a limited amount of time.
I finished my shower in 10 minutes and I got dressed in 5. When I came out of the room, we all headed to the car. When we were finally settled, I grabbed the AUX cord, but my phone rang right when I was about to plug it in. It was Izzy.
"Yello."
"Hello!" She chirped. It sounded like she was in a good mood.
"Someone's happy?" I said laughing.
"Yea! I got another offer from University of Nebraska!"
"Damn, that's good. You think you gon take it?"
"I don't know. Probably not. I really don't wanna be up there and I know nothing about Nebraska. I mean they have a really good team but it gets cold up there and there's no black people."
I laugh at her last comment, "I mean that is true, but you got a full ride?"
"Yup! For volleyball, I got one from Nebraska, Louisiana State, and University of Illinois, and for grades I got one from Xavier."
"Dang you grindin' forreal ."
"I know right? How did everything go at Duke and Kentucky?"
I shrugged but then I realized she couldn't see me, "It was aight. They both worked me out good though. I just don't know which one to choose." I said rubbing my face.
"Well you have enough time. You can't just think about the campus though you have to think about the weather, is the area safe, can you have a car as a freshman, all of that. Ya know?"
"Yea, I hear you."
She laughs, "Good. Okay enough about this college talk. What cha doing?"
"We on our way home now. I'm kinda tired too." I rubbed my eyes and yawned, "What about you though?"
"I'm over Mya's house, but she's on the phone with Rodney and I got bored so I called you." I could hear voices in the background and it sounded like yelling.
"Are they arguing?"
"Yup. Mya saw a girl on Rodney's Snapchat again."
"Oh. Do they always argue like that?"
"Nah, not as much as they used to. Before they used to go at it every time they saw each other, but thank God they stopped that." I laughed and we continued to talk about any and everything. When I went to plug up my phone, I saw that we were on the phone for almost 3 hours which was half of the car ride home.
After saying our goodbyes, I hung up the phone and set my phone in the cupholder and laid back in my seat.
"Was that your friend?" I heard my mom ask.
"Yea. I met her my first day of school."
"Her? Is she your girlfriend?" My mom asked excitedly.
I chuckle, "No mom, she's just a friend. And besides, we agreed that we wouldn't go too far since we're both going away for college, and it would be a distraction." It was true. Yea I liked her, but I didn't want to get in a relationship and have to break up because of us going to different schools. Surprisingly Izzy agreed. She didn't want to have to worry about the other girls at my school
"Awn." I could tell my mom was upset. She'd been wanting me to get a girlfriend for a while, but my focus was always and will be basketball.
"Mom don't worry about that now. Maybe I'll get one when I get to college, but not right now." I reassure her.
"Okay Kay."
*
Mya's POV
"What was she doing on your Snapchat then Rodney?" I yelled at him.
Rodney sighed, "Mya, for the hundredth time, I don't know. I was trying to take a picture and she just hopped in."
I still didn't believe him, "Then why was that bitch smiling all in your face?"
"My- you know what? I'm not gonna be arguing with you about this right now. It's late and I'm tired as hell aight? Call me back when you calm." With that he hung up the phone. As much as I wanted to throw my phone across my room, I didn't because I love my phone too much for that.
Iz came back in the room with a bowl of popcorn, "Y'all done arguing yet?"
"Yea. He said he wanted to talk when I was calmed down." I said rolling my eyes.
I know Rodney and I aren't together officially, but everyone knew that he was mine. I was all over his social media and he was all over mine.
"I don't know why you be al on that boy when y'all not even together. That boy is 21 Mya, he grown. We still kids to him in his eyes. He told me he's not ready for a relationship, and I know he told you the same thing."
I frowned, "He did, but that doesn't mean he don't want on at all. "
"And you believed that? Geez Mya I warned you about him multiple times about him and you still didn't listen. How long is is going take you to figure out that he doesn't really love you?"
I rolled my eyes, "That's not true. He promised that he'd wait for me. I'm even thinking about going to UNLV to be there with him."
Izzy huffed and said something inaudible, "Are you fucking kidding me?" She was yelling now, "Mya as smart as you are, why would you make a stupid decision like this?" She paused ad looked at me, "You know what, do what you want but when you get hurt don't come running to me." She picked up her jacket and phone, stormed out of my house.
I sat on my bed and sighed. Am I really making the right choice?