November 8, 2013
Rupp Arena
Outside the stadium, the atmosphere was deafening with several students heading in the direction toward the arena on this day.
The basketball season had finally started, and the Wildcats play at home against the Asheville Bulldogs from North Carolina, who were a simple rival since their basketball team was not any powerhouse.
Being Friday, the majority of the student community of the University of Kentucky had made plans to be able to come to see the game or watch it from their dorms or in some local restaurant in the city along with the rest of the people who also paid attention to the sport.
The state of Kentucky, by not hosting any NBA franchise, caused the majority of the people of the state to be fans or support the Wildcats team under the command of Coach Calipari.
After all, as one of the historic powerhouses of college basketball, the inhabitants felt a mixture of pride when speaking about the team and how several players from the university become players in the NBA or other basketball leagues just as important.
The last great player who came out of this team was the star power forward of the New Orleans Hornets, Anthony Davis, who was also selected for the NBA All-Rookie First Team and being a finalist for the Rookie of the Year award alongside Damian Lillard.
"Man, finally the season started," a guy said to his group of friends, who were heading straight toward the entrance of the stadium with tickets in their hands, ready to be able to enter.
"I still can't believe that you got tickets for the first game of the season," his companion told him with a tone of respect and incredulity in his voice once they had presented their tickets at the entrance and the security personnel let them enter.
"Someone owed me a favor," the guy said with sufficiency, while he unconsciously puffed his chest toward the rest of his friends, who tried to hold back their laughter at their friend's antics.
"You're still wearing that jersey," the third member of the group asked with curiosity, seeing the jersey that the guy in question was still wearing.
Like all the jerseys of the Wildcats team, this one was pearly white along with blue details, with the name of the state of Kentucky stamped in the center and below the number 23, with the back carrying the last name Davis in capital letters.
"I'm telling you guys, nobody will make me change this jersey," said the guy in question while he pointed with pride to the jersey in question, which despite everything remained in perfect condition.
"Dude, Davis left here like 2 years ago," his companion responded to him while he pointed to his own jersey, which was one of the new editions of this season. "Besides, this new edition looks better," he responded to him.
The guy in question rolled his eyes at that. "You guys don't understand, Davis was the best player who stepped foot in the university, so until I see someone who is better on this team, I won't take this shirt off for anything in the world," he finished saying while the group finally took their seats in their chairs, seeing how little by little the stadium began to fill up.
The Rupp Arena had a maximum capacity for 20 thousand people, and with each minute that passed, the stadium was filling up more and more, with the majority of people wearing white and blue jerseys.
While waiting for the match to give its start, conversations about the players and expectations about the season could be heard in every corner of the arena.
With the arena increasingly full, the university's cheerleading group began to perform their routine in front of the crowd, causing the noise inside the arena to become more deafening and the spirits to rise.
In one of the corners, people could be seen placing and adjusting cameras on tripods, while in a corner was a man dressed in a grey suit while at his side a person fixed his hair.
These people were part of the Fox Sports South network, which had made itself with the rights to be able to broadcast the first game of the Kentucky team to all the viewers who wanted to watch a basketball game.
One of the advantages of being one of the most important basketball programs in the country was that they had greater exposure in comparison with other programs, which in other words meant that the players of the team had greater exposure.
And greater exposure meant that more people could see them play and know their names, and the most important thing of all was that the general managers and scouts of the 30 NBA teams would be able to give a better follow-up to the players.
"And here we are at the Rupp Arena, minutes away from the first game of the Kentucky Wildcats starting in this new season," the commentator said once he received the go-ahead from the producer and the light of the cameras turned on, giving to understand that they found themselves recording.
"After generating a great stir following the arrival of several 5-star recruits to Coach Calipari's team, the team generated a lot of stir around the team in the recent months," the commentator said to the camera, generating much more suspense toward the team.
"The main names who joined in this season are Aaron Reed and Julius Randle, who arrived to make Kentucky's defense something very difficult to overcome for several of the SEC teams this season," the commentator said.
After a few more comments about possible lineups and expectations that the main analysts and commentators had about the Wildcats team this season.
Queens, New York
Meanwhile, the Reeds' apartment in New York found itself made a chaos with several people crowding against the sofa.
"Did it start already?" asked Melissa, who found herself in the kitchen preparing the popcorn for the encounter that was going to take place in a few minutes.
"They are still talking about the expectations of the team," said Hector, who already found himself seated on the sofa while he had the remote in hand and found himself with his attention completely fixed on the living room television screen.
From the hallway of the apartment, Paola came out from there along with a small Mia, who was restless between the arms of her mother, trying by all means to break free from there.
"This little one has been very restless since Aaron left," said a tired Paola, who did not find herself as dressed up as other times since ever since Mia woke up every night crying in the early morning, Paola carried dark circles in her eyes and had changed heels for comfortable sports shoes.
Arriving at the living room, she immediately passed Mia to the arms of her father, who upon receiving his little princess began to make baby sounds and funny faces to a Mia whose lip began to tremble and her eyes to tear up.
"No, no, little one, not now please," Hector begged desperately, seeing how his little daughter was about to cry at a moment in which Aaron was about to debut with the Kentucky team.
"It's your turn to calm her down," said Paola, who found herself sprawled on the sofa and did not have enough strength to be able to stand up again or calm her little daughter, leaving that task to her father.
Don't take it the wrong way, Paola loved her daughter, but also with the last sleepless nights and being attentive 24/7 to her every day, they had worn her down more than account, reason for which she barely stayed awake by pure force of willpower, not wanting to miss her nephew's first game in college.
"WAAAH!" was the shrill cry that was heard throughout the entire apartment as Mia finally began to let out the tears, while Hector rocked her quickly, trying by all means to calm his little daughter.
"I'll take her to the room," Hector said with a tone of defeat while he stood up and took the little Mia inside, causing the crying to diminish a bit, leaving the two women alone in the room.
"Can you believe that in a few minutes we will be able to see our little boy play in front of thousands of people in that stadium?" Melissa asked suddenly, while she finished preparing the snacks that they were going to eat during the game.
"The truth is that I always believed that that basketball thing would be a phase that would end in high school," Paola said while she had her head leaned against the sofa, while the noise of the television was heard as a background in the living room.
"But look at him now," Melissa said with a proud maternal smile on her face.
Just at that moment, Melissa began to realize the repercussion that Aaron's decision to go play for a powerhouse like Kentucky had generated; of course she knew that Aaron was very well known in New York, and even his name could be heard in the news about high school basketball.
"It's crazy, everything he is living until now," Melissa kept saying without directing the word to anyone in particular, while she came out of the kitchen carrying two bowls with various snacks and took a seat next to Paola.
"And a new chapter is already about to start," Paola said while she immediately set herself to grab a bunch of popcorn from the bowl and took them to her mouth, while on the screen it could be seen how the court was ready and the players found themselves seconds away from coming out to give the game as started.
Kentucky Wildcats Locker Room
Returning to the Rupp Arena, in the locker room, the main team found themselves getting ready and mentalizing themselves, ready for what would be the first game of the season, debut of several of them in a stadium full of people.
Without anyone saying it, there was a certain pressure that some of the players felt due to being the opening match, knowing that a victory would be a good way to start the season and to make the experts not crucify them the next day about the plan being a failure.
In one of the corners of the locker room, Aaron found himself preparing while he put on the iconic jersey of the Wildcats team, and once he put it on, the number 15 appeared large on his back, while above in large letters was written the last name REED.
Finishing getting ready, Aaron heard the unmistakable sound of notifications on his phone, so that with curiosity he unlocked it and saw that it was about messages that had arrived to him.
Drew: Good luck in your match, brother, you guys must get a victory too.
Photo 📸
After the message, a photo could be seen in which Drew was seen wearing the Villanova team uniform along with the rest of his teammates, who found themselves celebrating their team's victory.
Aaron smiled at the photo; hours earlier he had watched the match, which the Villanova team had comfortably won with 30 points more than their other team.
Aaron: Wait and you will see the news of our victory.
That was the message that Aaron wrote to Drew, to then keep reviewing the rest of the messages until Coach Calipari entered the room followed by Orlando, and the moment both entered, Aaron stored his phone and concentrated on them just like the rest of the players present.
"Gentlemen, today is the first game of the season," Coach Calipari began to say. "And I know everyone exerted themselves these last months in training, but I can only start with 5 players on the court," the coach kept saying, while quickly Orlando wrote some names on the whiteboard that was in the corner.
Aaron did not pay attention to any other name until his eyes fixed on the one that really mattered to him. "Center: Aaron Reed." The moment he read his name next to the center position, he felt how his shoulders relaxed and the stress he didn't know he carried was released from his body.
Without being able to hear the next words of the coach, Aaron simply stood up as if he were on autopilot and followed the rest of his companions out of the locker room while the shouts of the fans were on the rise.
Authors thought's
I have decided to modify the update schedule to Monday through Saturday since lately I've been feeling too overwhelmed and I need one day of rest a week.
What did you think of today's chapter? Give me your opinions and thoughts.
Don't forget to check out my other fic on my profile
Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon to get more than 10 chapters in advance! https://www.patreon.com/c/merchant17
I created a Discord server! For those who want to join, the link will be here and on my profile https://discord.gg/fWZudwMkR I also added some character images on Discord, so go check them out!
For everyone subscribing to my Patreon: if you're using an Apple device, avoid doing it through the app! Apple charges a commission, and you'll end up paying more. It's better to subscribe through the website instead.
I would also love to hear your thoughts on both stories so far, and if you have any suggestions!