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I’d seen the clips of her playing online, found her featured on the social media pages of sports news outlets and fans. I’d seen how many people followed her online and the number of comments she’d get that were people talking about flying out from all over the country to see her.

But seeing her shirt in person made it all suddenly very real. I was in way over my head with her.

Iris waved for me to follow, showing off our tickets and our student IDs to some guy in a vest checking them by an entrance to our seating section. He let us through and Iris cut down, heading closer to the court.

“This is the student section,” she said, raising her voice over the noise of the arena.

There was music pounding and everyone’s voices echoed and carried through the whole building.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever been in a room with nearly fifteen thousand people before but it was overwhelming to say the least. “No assigned seating, so we had to get here early.”

“Early?” I asked, looking at how many people were already in their seats and walking around. The student section was less crowded, but it was obvious who the superfans were—people were mostly crowding down by the court, leaving the upper row seats of the section empty .

Iris found a spot only a few rows up from the court. She waved at a group of people. “Oh, Tamara’s already here!” she said.

“Go say hi, I’ll hold our seats.”

Iris smiled appreciatively. “Thank you.” She climbed up from the seat and hurried over to a group of people to say hi.

I turned my attention back to the court and the people filing in. The energy was like nothing I’d ever felt before. Maybe I was just buzzed, but I could see why people liked coming out to games so much. There was something intoxicating about the excitement bubbling up in everyone.

Not much later, after doing some googling with my phone screen dimmed to understand what exactly a point guard was, Iris came back to greet me.

“It’s about to be showtime,” she said.

“Did you want to sit with everyone? We can move over there,” I offered.

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to overwhelm you,” she said. “It’ll be all basketball speak over there. You need to at least learn the basics first before I start throwing out assist-to-turnover ratios and field goal percentage.”

“Thank you for that,” I said.

“I’m realistic with who I’m teaching,” she said. “I’m going to grab a soda before the game. Do you want anything?”

“I think I’m okay.”

Iris got up and headed back up the stairs, leaving me alone again—and leaving me with my thoughts in the process.

As I sat there, I reminded myself that I was here with Iris, and Iris was so excited that I came with her.

I wasn’t here to see the rising basketball superstar on the team or to shoot my shot with her.

I was here for my friend, so there wasn’t a reason to be embarrassed.

But even so, I felt a little bit like I had a glowing sign hanging over my head that said, This idiot is here because she thinks the basketball captain actually meant it when she asked her to come .

The lights suddenly dimmed, and the court was lit up with streaks of green and white, completely pulling my attention away from my pity party.

“Coyotes—make some noise!” The DJ shouted, and the crowd erupted, making me jump.

It felt like the walls and stands were practically shaking from the sound alone.

I knew with confidence I’d never been in a room that loud before.

“Okay, enough. Let’s not get too excited because before we can bring out our team, we have to introduce Holden University. ”

The crowd booed, and my lips perked up in a small smile. Scattered throughout the arena, I could see orange shirts floating in the sea of green. Their cheers were swallowed by the booing.

The announcer then took over the DJ. “From Holden University, we have senior Naomi Rich, junior Margot Vega…”

The players jumped up from their seats one-by-one, running onto the court. They clapped hands with coaches and players standing in rows on either side of them.

“Here,” Iris said as she sat down next to me again. She had two cups in her hand and handed one off to me. “I got you one too so you won’t drink all of mine like usual.”

“Your drinks always taste better than mine.”

“Amazing considering we always order the same exact soda.”

I shrugged. “Some people get all the luck,” I said and then took a sip from my straw. “Thank you.”

“Of course, my treat—since I convinced you to come in the first place,” she said.

The crowd suddenly got loud again, cutting off our conversation. I realized all of the Holden players were out on the court now, which meant the announcer was about to introduce Lakeside Green.

The players were huddled in a way that made it hard for me to see the details of their faces. I knew Theo was there, hidden in the mix of bodies and in the shadows away from the flashing lights, but it was like I couldn’t process that she was really there until I saw her.

My mouth went dry. For the first time since the party, I was about to see Theo McCall in person. And actually in person this time, not just someone who vaguely looked like her from a distance.

Nervous was unfortunately and annoyingly an understatement.

The announcer went through the team, the players running from their chairs to the court to the sound of everyone cheering and stomping their feet.

The entire student section rose, and I rose with them.

Iris, who was normally pretty soft spoken, was cheering so loudly that I couldn’t help but laugh in surprise.

Just like with Holden, the players ran out to their names, lit up by the lights of the arena. We were now close enough and the lights were bright enough that we could see the details of everyone’s faces—the excitement and determination.

With every name called, I knew we were getting closer to Theo. Every single time someone new was about to come out, I braced myself for seeing her live and in person again.

Part of me hoped that maybe when I saw her again, I’d realize that I’d made it all up in my head.

There was no way she was as hot in real life as I remembered her being.

I’d seen pictures and videos, but I blamed it all on the uniform effect; I was inevitably going to think she was hot because she was any kind of uniform—basketball included—was hot.

It didn’t require me being a sports fan to admit that to myself.

“And our captain, our multi-time All-American, our top scorer of all time here at Lakeside Green—Theo McCall!” the announcer called out, dragging out Theo’s name.

I inhaled sharply and watched as Theo ran out in all her glory. Initially, I could only see her back, but as she turned back toward the student section, it was confirmed—she was one-hundred percent, without a single doubt in my mind, as hot as I remembered her being.

The crowd was going absolutely nuts over her.

I’d never seen anything like it before. And unlike the version of Theo I’d seen at the party—somewhat more reserved and laid back—this version of Theo fed into it.

She lifted her hands to her ears and waved them up and down, encouraging everyone to cheer even louder.

“Three-o! Three-o!” the crowd sang out.

“What are they saying?”

“Three-o, it’s Theo’s nickname,” Iris explained over the roar of the crowd. It suddenly clicked for me—I’d seen people commenting that on her social media posts.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. From rows back, I could see the cocky smile her face had broken into. Her eyes were lit up with a specific kind of fire.

And it was so, so incredibly hot. With the way my body was responding to her, just looking at her might as well have been foreplay.

Even after Theo had gone over to join her teammates, the crowd was still going.

I looked around at all of the signs and t-shirts.

My body fluttered at the realization that all these people were here for her.

It was partially in awe, and also partially the sinking realization that she was essentially a budding celebrity.

Not only did she probably meet a million people in passing a day, but she also definitely didn’t have any reason to mean it when she invited people to games.

It was probably a reflex for her. She wasn’t actually inviting me , she was just inviting a new random person who she could maybe get to buy merch with her name on it .

My stomach knotted. It’d been obvious from her social media how big she was, but this was something else entirely.

Unlike anyone else I’d been attracted to before, I didn’t feel like I was just competing with people in my immediate vicinity.

It felt like I was competing with anyone who vaguely liked the sport and knew her name. Everyone wanted a piece of her.

Eventually, the crowd calmed down, and the game was able to start. I tried to stay in it, but it was hard to shake the crushing feeling that I’d known was going to be inevitable—I wasn’t anything special to her.

But when I turned to Iris and watched her shout and groan and cheer as the game progressed, I refused to let Theo get in my head.

I could think Theo was hot, and that it was.

That was how it had always gone. She was just any other hot person—someone for me to flirt with. No harm, no foul. No hurt feelings.

The game moved surprisingly quickly. I knew only about as much as I’d ever seen in pop culture about basketball, but the rhythm started to make sense to me pretty quickly. I liked that it was quick—the players never stopped running, the ball never stopped moving.