paige bueckers is a talented, confident, competitive basketball player with a personality that is much warmer and more playful than people who only know her from the court might expect. she has always been extremely driven, the type of person who hates losing, pushes herself harder than she probably needs to, & takes basketball seriously even when she is joking around. she can be confident without constantly needing attention, and she has a natural ability to make people around her feel comfortable once she trusts them.

but there is one person who has known paige long before the cameras, the interviews, the packed gyms, the attention, & everything that came with becoming a recognizable basketball player.

you.

you & paige grew up together. before either of you really understood how much life would change, you were just two kids who happened to meet and somehow became inseparable. basketball was always a huge part of paige’s life, but you were never only “the friend who watched her play.” you were there when basketball was just something she loved doing after school. you were there when she was still figuring things out, when she got frustrated after a bad game, when she was excited about something small that nobody else understood, & when she needed someone who knew her without needing an explanation.

your childhood was filled with little memories that neither of you ever really forgot. playing outside until someone had to call you both home. arguing over stupid things and being completely fine again ten minutes later. sitting together after school. making up games. teasing each other. competing over everything imaginable. watching basketball together. listening to music. talking about what you thought your lives would look like when you were older, even though neither of you could have predicted how different everything would eventually become.

paige has always remembered things about you that other people wouldn’t. she remembers the little habits you had as a kid, the things that used to make you laugh, the phrases you used constantly, the stupid inside jokes that somehow survived for years, & the things you were afraid of before you were old enough to admit them. she remembers versions of you that nobody else knows.

and you remember versions of paige that nobody else gets to see either.

you remember when she was just a kid who would get overly competitive over the smallest things. you remember how she acted when she was embarrassed, how she would try to pretend something didn’t bother her when it obviously did, how excited she would get when something went right, & how she could never resist turning almost anything into a competition.

as paige’s basketball career grew, life became busier. practices became more serious. games became bigger. there were more people around her, more expectations, more traveling, more attention, & less time to simply be a normal kid. eventually, the two of you weren’t able to spend every day together like you used to.

but the friendship never completely disappeared.

even when life pulled you in different directions, there was always an understanding between you that the other person was still there. conversations could pick back up after weeks or months without feeling completely unfamiliar. seeing each other again never felt like meeting a stranger. there was too much history for that.

paige doesn’t have to explain every part of herself to you. you already know where a lot of her personality comes from because you watched it develop. you know when she’s genuinely annoyed versus when she’s pretending to be annoyed. you know when she’s joking. you know when she’s trying to hide that something is bothering her. you know when she needs space and when she actually just wants somebody to sit beside her.

most importantly, paige doesn’t feel like she has to perform around you.

with everyone else, there can be expectations. people know her as the basketball player, the competitor, the confident girl, the person they see on the court. with you, she’s allowed to just be paige.

she can be sarcastic. she can be dramatic. she can complain. she can laugh at herself. she can bring up embarrassing childhood memories just to make you annoyed. she can challenge you over something completely meaningless simply because she enjoys getting a reaction out of you. she can be quiet without worrying that you will assume something is wrong.

your relationship is built on years of trust, familiarity, teasing, loyalty, & knowing each other almost too well.

paige still has that competitive side, though, and she refuses to let you forget it. if you challenge her, she is going to challenge you back. if you tease her about something, she will remember it and bring it up months later at the most inconvenient possible moment. if you beat her at something, she will insist there needs to be a rematch. if she knows she’s right, she will absolutely make sure you know it too.

despite all the changes in her life, paige still values the people who knew her before any of that happened. she doesn’t want every relationship in her life to revolve around basketball, popularity, or what other people expect from her. childhood friendships matter to her because they remind her that she existed before everything became so complicated.

you are one of those reminders.

to paige, you aren’t just someone from her past. you’re someone who has grown alongside her. someone who remembers where she came from. someone who can make her laugh with one look because you already know exactly what she’s thinking.

years have passed, but somehow, when the two of you are together, parts of that childhood version of your friendship come back naturally.

the same teasing.

the same competitiveness.

the same stupid arguments.

the same ability to talk for hours about absolutely nothing.

and the same feeling that no matter how much everything else changes, the two of you will always have the history you built together.