#something's wrong

Azzi walked off the court and grabbed her water bottle and bag before quickly making her way over to her mom. There was something wrong and she needed to talk to her mom about it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the problem followed her.

“Azzi!” The skinny blonde girl called out behind her. She tried to keep walking but her mom made her stop and wait.

“Azzi, be polite.” Her mom whispered as the girl ran up to them. “Hi.” Katie smiled at the blonde girl.

“Hello ma’am. My name is Paige Bueckers.” Paige held out her hand to Katie to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you.” 

Katie looked over to Azzi and shot her a small smile before grabbing Paige’s hand to shake. Clearly her mom liked this girl. This was going to make the problem even harder to deal with. “It’s nice to meet you Paige. I’m Katie Fudd.”

Paige looked over at Azzi expectantly. After Azzi just stood there silently, her mom spoke up to break the silence.

“Is there something we can help you with Paige?” 

Azzi groaned internally. Curse her mom’s need to be polite. She just wanted to get out of here and get away from this girl. Something was wrong with her.

“Yeah… um…” Paige turned her body to face Azzi. “I, uh, just wanted to say that you played super well today. I’ve never seen anybody who’s as good as me. And you might even be better than me.” Paige smiled at Azzi with seemingly her whole being. 

When Azzi didn’t say anything her mom nudged her. Rather rudely Azzi thought.

“Oh, uh, thanks.” Azzi shot Paige a small forced smile.

After another awkward moment of silence Paige cleared her throat.

“Uh, I was just wondering if I could get your phone number? I’d love to talk to you some more. Maybe get some tips about my form?” Paige looked shy for the first time since she walked into the gym this morning. It made Azzi’s stomach feel funny.

She really just wanted to get out of there.

When Azzi didn’t respond right away her mom jumped in to save Paige from the awkwardness. “I’m sure Azzi would love to talk some more.” Katie sent Azzi a look that Azzi read as be nice but chose to ignore.

Azzi pulled her phone out of her backpack anyway and handed it over to Paige. “You can put your number in.” She mumbled.

Paige just grinned and began typing. She handed Azzi back her phone. “It was nice to meet you Mrs. Fudd. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” 

Katie began to correct Paige and tell her to call her Katie, but she skipped away too fast. 

Katie looked at Azzi curiously but Azzi just began to walk out of the gym, expecting her mom to follow. Katie didn’t say anything until she and Azzi were in the rental car on the way back to the hotel.

“Sooo… what was that?” 

“What do you mean?” Azzi questioned.

“I know that you don’t like people that much, but you’re usually polite anyway. Paige was trying to talk to you and you ignored her.” 

“I needed to talk to you. She was holding us up.” 

“Ok. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“There’s something wrong with that girl.” Katie just laughed at that. 

“What?” Azzi was confused.

“What do you mean there is something wrong with her? She’s good at basketball, she clearly knows you’re good at basketball, she’s polite, and she seems to have a lot of energy. Maybe she could balance you out nicely.” 

“No it’s not that.”

“Ok so what is it?” Katie was confused.

“I don’t hate her.” 

Katie paused for a moment, trying to process what her daughter was telling her. “Azzi you’re going to have to explain to me what you mean. Because I’m lost.” 

“I don’t hate Paige. She’s annoying, sure, but, like, that doesn’t make me want her to go away.” Katie kept quiet, prompting Azzi to continue. “Like you said, I don’t like people that much. I mean it took me like 8 months to warm up to Jon and Jose and they’re my brothers.” 

“So something’s wrong because you like her?” Katie questioned slowly.

“Yes.“ Azzi confirmed. 

“Maybe you’re just maturing. You are starting high school soon.” 

“No it can’t be that because I hated all the other girls there. It’s just Paige.”

“So it’s not you. And it’s not the other girls.” Katie said.

“Exactly. Which means Paige is the problem. Something is wrong with her.” 

Katie stayed silent for a minute, trying to figure out how to word her question.

“Have you thought about the possibility that you might just like her? That she’s not a problem, but she’s special?” 

Azzi paused. She hadn’t thought about that. She supposed it might make sense. Paige was good at basketball (shockingly good for a skinny white girl), she’d made Azzi laugh during tryouts when she was trying to focus, and while she was a skinny white girl, she was really pretty for a skinny white girl. Then Azzi remembered her stomach feeling funny before.

“What do butterflies feel like?” She asked softly.

“Well, for me they feel a little bit like a tummy ache, but not in a bad way. It feels like fluttering.”

“That’s why they call it butterflies?”

“That’s why they call it butterflies.” Katie confirmed.

Azzi thought about it some more. Katie stayed silent the whole time, probably sensing that this was a big moment for Azzi. 

“Well, shit.” Azzi finally said.

“Azzi.” Katie warned. 

“Sorry.” Azzi paused for a moment. “I just… I think you might be right. I think I might like her.”

“Thank you for telling me. Is Paige the first girl you’ve liked?” Katie spoke carefully. She knew that conversations like this could go really well, or really really poorly. She wanted her daughter to know that she loved her and accepted her.

“…I think Paige is the first anyone that I've liked.” 

“Oh.” 

“Can we not make a big deal about this please?” Azzi asked.

“Of course sweetie.” 

A few more minutes passed with soft music playing in the background.

“You should text her when we get back to the hotel though.” Katie suggested with a slight lilt to her voice.

“Moooommm.” Azzi shoved her face into her hands to try and hide the blush creeping up her neck.

“Sorry. Sorry. I’ll let you decide what to do.” The car was silent for the last few minutes to the hotel. Just before Katie opened the door she heard a very quiet, “what should I say?” from her daughter.