eleven
Last Tuesday, August 15th, 2021, during the preseason exhibition match up between UCLA and Long Beach State, Booker went down after a hard tackle. The sophomore was taking a shot from the top of the 18 yard box when a LBS defender collided with her. The striker's shot went in, scoring the game winning goal but she was unable to celebrate due to the agonizing pain in her knee.
The record breaker was unable to get up, holding her right knee, screaming in pain, and staying on the ground until the Bruins' trainer helped her off the field. Booker was unable to place any pressure on the leg, immediately being rushed into the locker room, and leaving her teammates to be concerned for the 19 year old.
Coach Jones was unavailable to provide any information on his star player after the game, stating, "We just have to wait and see what the trainer says."
Booker was later spotted around campus using crutches to help to her movements. The 5'9 striker didn't tell anyone what she had done yet, but 3 days later, August 18th, she announced on her instagram story that she tore heranterior cruciate ligament, ACL, and would be out for the remainder of the year.
She thanked her family, coaches, teammates, and fans for all their support and quoted Abby Wambach, a USWNT legend, "Injuries are part of the game, but that's not how you fall—it's how you get back up that matters."
The loss of the defending national player of the year is brutal to the Bruins, as Booker was their top goal scorer the previous year, and leading them to the final four in the NCAA postseason tournament where they fell to the reigning champs, FSU.
It is unknown when Booker is assumed to return but confirmed she will be out for the remainder of the upcoming season. The team can only hope that it will be soon, and her return live up to the standard she set in the year she's played.
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Athena was currently sitting on her bed, with the full leg brace on her right leg. She was doing school work when her best friend sent her the link to the article. Reading over the name, she was annoyed. There had been multiple articles written about her the past year and a half she's been at UCLA, most about her record breaking performances, and how she went from a "nobody" to "the best player in college soccer" in months.
She had basically became the face of women's college soccer, which was super invasive. People followed her around on campus, asking for pictures and autographs, which she agreed to, of course. Athena was a private person, never wanting to go out her way to gain likes or fans, just wanted to do what she did best, and that was playing soccer.
What she didn't know was that when along came the trophies, came the fame. The articles, both student and company, the followers, the interviews, the staring, the constant wanting to know where she was, what she ate, what time she went to sleep. It was too much. She just wanted to play the sport she loved, for her mom.
She had to admit it was kind of cool at first, the first article she had wrote about her describing her like she was a superhero. Then as the attention grew and she had one off game, she was torn apart by 15 different newspapers wondering, "what happened to the goal scoring machine?" To which, Athena would yell at her laptop screen, "WELL THE MACHINE HAD TO STAY UP LATE STUDYING FOR A STUPID TEST AND DIDN'T GET MUCH SLEEP!"
Her teammates teased her about the attention, all in good fun though. Although this once player, Brittany, was extremelyjealous of Athena's fame and made sure Athena knew it, "she's not even that good...I should be the one with 2 million followers instead of her." Then the other teammates would tell her to shut the hell up and sit back down on the bench.
Athena knew Brittany didn't like her very much, along with half the country, but she just killed them with kindness, never responding in a rude way. It killed her inside though, stirring the thoughts of not being good enough to play here and thinking everyone here hates her for being a good player.
When she tore her ACL, Brittany was over the moon. She would finally get to play and show everyone that she is way better than that, "waste of a roster spot." That didn't work out in her favor as she wasn't even starting in the next match.
Athena opened her phone to check her instagram post, the one of her post surgery, still high on the drugs they gave her. She was laying in her hospital bed, eyes half open, a smile on her face, and a thumbs up next to her with a caption of "It's a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, but if you trust the process, you will come out stronger.- Kobe Bryant."
Her best friend, Emma, made her get instagram, claiming, "it's a must because the people want to know about the next Alex Morgan." Athena hated social media, not wanting to get sucked into it. She gave Emma her username and password and let her deal with it, the only rule being she had to show her what she posted before doing so.
That worked for a total of 2 months, then Emma got bored of it, "you say no to everything i want to post."
"Because you want to post a mirror pic of me with my shirt off, brushing my teeth."
"It's what the people want!"
Athena opened the comments, something she did once a day just to look. Majority of them were fans telling her she would get through this and come back stronger then before, others were insecure men saying "nobody cares" which was interesting seeming as they followed her, and the rest, thirsting over her for some reason.
Her breathed hitched as she scrolled through, her eye catching on the blue check next to someones name.
Paigebueckers: You'll get through this hat trick 3
Athena closed the app after that, not even liking the comment, and getting back to her school work.
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Following the 2022-23 season of the Bruins' soccer team, Athena Booker announces she is entering the transfer portal.
After missing the 2021-22 season due to injury, Booker returned to the team in August of 2022. The star athlete was expected of great things, following her record book freshman season. The first half of the season was great, Booker starting to look like her superstar self. Although she was on minute restriction, she was still making an impact, earning her way back to full health.
The Bruins started the season strong, going undefeated the first 6 games. Then on October 15th, when Booker was dribbling the ball down the field, she brutally got tackled. The culprit being former teammate, Brittany Mitchell. Mitchell went studs up into Booker's left leg, sending them both down hard. Mitchell was sent off with a red card, and Booker was stuck down on the ground for minutes, holding her ankle.
Concern washed over the sold out stadium, everyone hoping to see the superstar get up and continue playing. But when the ref called for the trainers, murmurs spread through the stands.
Later it was announced that Booker had a grade 2 ankle sprain, leaving her out of play for 4-6 weeks.
Mitchell was unapologetic when asked about the tackle, stating, "soccer is a physical sport, if she can't handle it then why is she playing."
Booker was marked available for a total of 10 matches that season, missing the rest and postseason tournament to complications of injuries.
Saturday, April 14th, 2023, the, now former, UCLA Bruin, announced she would be transferring to the University of Connecticut, "It is with great sadness that i announce i will be transferring to UCONN. I am grateful for the love i have received from my years here but i need a fresh start. Thank you to my coaches and teammates, you will forever be in my heart. #3 out. 3"
The superstar received mixed reactions, ranging from fans hating her for moving, to people being excited for this next step in her career.
When asked, "Why UCONN?" The striker responded, "I need a fresh start. Some place that is different from the environment here, and Connecticut is nothing like California. Plus i want to be able to experience snow again."
Fans responded to the commitment, "UCONN is so lucky, they have two of the best athletes in the world playing for them," referring to the 2021 basketball AP national player of the year, Paige Bueckers. Who was found out to be Booker's best friend in high school, fans finding old photos of the two together.
Bookers' coach and teammates responded by wishing her luck in new chapter, and hoping she continue to break records.
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Paige was in her dorm room, playing Fortnite when KK busted through her door, "PAIGE!" She took off one side of her headphones at her shout, "YOU NEVER TOLD US YOU KNEW ATHENA BOOKER!"
Paige froze at the mention of the girl. The girl she thought about daily, the girl she hurt so badly, "how did you know about that?" She curiously questioned KK.
"This article. At the end it mentioned you and showed a picture of the two of you back in high school." The freshmen shoved her phone in front on the blondes face, trying to show her.
Paige grabbed the phone and saw a photo of the two of them, post game celebration. Paige had her arms around the girls waist, leaning her head on her shoulder with the brightest smile on her face. Athena had the same smile, with her arms around the taller's neck. Paige remembered that exact moment, they had just won the state championship in her last year of high school, and as soon as the buzzer sounded, she found her best friend in the crowd and hugged the life out of her.
Paige lightly shrugged, "oh yeah we knew each other, not that well but we were friends." Lie.
"Well you should dm her, offer to show her around when she gets here," KK took her phone back from Paige, "and mention me"
Paige was confused, what did she mean 'show her around' Athena was in California, where she has been the past 2 and a half years, "what are you talking about? Booker is in California."
"Uh yeah, at the moment. Wait do you not know?"
"Know what?"
"She's transferring....to UCONN."
Paige's face fell. That was the last thing she expected to hear on a random Sunday, "what do you mean she's transferring? She's playing at UCLA, like she always wanted to. There is no way she would transfer out of there. That's fake news."
"Well the article has some pretty reliable sources, including a literal quote from her saying she's transferring here so..."
"Oh."
"Why are you acting all depressed girly? Y'all can reconnect and shit, become besties again. Most importantly, you can introduce me to her."
Paige never told anyone what happened between them, how they went from 'best friends' to never speaking to each other again in a matter of days. Except for Azzi, everyone was clueless as to why Paige never showed any interest in talking about the superstar athlete, leaving the room when the team would watch one of her games, switching the topic or not speaking at all when they were gushing over the girl.
It seemed as if Paige hated her, had some one sided beef with her the way her face changed at the mention. It was her own fault they weren't talking, she hurt Athena so bad to the point she said she never wanted to see the blonde again. Paige didn't have a reason to do what she did, just the fear of the future controlled her actions.
After dreaming about seeing her again, Paige's wish was finally going to come true. Part of her wanted to scream with excitement of seeing her again, the other part of her wanted to crawl into a hole. Their last conversation wasn't even a conversation, more like a screaming match between the two, saying the most hurtful things to each other.
Maybe they won't even see each other, UCONN is a big campus, big enough they shouldn't run into each other....right?
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"are you sure this is what you want?" Athena's father asked. She facetimed him the second she announced the commitment.
"I think so. I just know that i can't be here anymore." Athena responded, while packing her bag.
"you know i'll support you in whatever you choose, right?"
"I know pa...I just have to get out of here, i can't take the reminders anymore."
The reminders being her mother. At first she loved it, it felt like she was a part of her, but then it started to remind her that she was gone. Everyday at practice when she saw the national player of the year with her mother's name under it she was hit with the horrible reminder that she was dead.
She thought following after her mom was her biggest dream, but it just turned into a nightmare. It didn't help that she was on crutches for basically 2 years straight, after that tackle from Brittany and the news that she was out, yet again, for most of the season. That was the push over the edge, everything around her was full of painful memories.
During her recruitment process, UCONN was persistant with her. Sending her emails weekly, sending her happy holiday cards, and coming to 4 of her games in 4 weeks. It was a tough choice between the two schools, but once she got the news she was accepted into UCLA, she called the coached and accepted their offer for her.
Paige was jokingly pushing her towards UCONN so they could go to school together, even though she wasn't committed there yet. Athena would've gone there if she didn't have her heart set out on UCLA since she was 11, and Paige understood that, still she hoped that by some miracle she would choose the East coast instead of the West. She never held any resentment towards her for picking UCLA, it was her dream school after all, but she was sad that they would be thousands of miles away from each other.
Athena reached out to the coach at UCONN, asking if she entered the transfer portal, would they still have that offer for her. The coach responded the same day with an immediate yes, then proceeding to sell Athena on the school and program. She explained the environment of each game, the campus activity, of course mentioning their top tier basketball teams, and the student life.
The coach invited her out for an official visit before committing, much like she did when Athena was a junior in high school. Athena enjoyed her time there, the coach personally showing her around. She met some of the girls on the team, who were shocked at her actually being there, but Athena liked them. They were fun and nice, and seemed like a family.
She later shook the coach's hand and accepted her offer to transfer there. Coach Anderson excited she was able to secure the top player in the nation to her program, and Athena, optimistic about a new start, away from the 50 degree Decembers.
"I'm proud of you, you know," Athena's father said, dragging her back from her thoughts, "You've overcome so much at such a young age and still have a very bright future ahead."
"I know dad, thank you," She sadly said. She did love it at UCLA for the first year at least. Now she wanted to be as far away as possible. Even if it meant transferring to the same school as....her.
She wasn't stupid, of course she remembered Paige was at UCONN. There was no way she couldn't with the girl being all over her for you page on tiktok. She grew more popular than Athena, gained millions of followers, NIL deals left and right, and being prospected as the number 1 draft pick whenever she decided to declare.
Athena wished there was a way to block her hashtag or something so she would stop seeing news about the six foot superstar. She saw when Paige tore her acl, that being the only thing on every social media platform. She felt bad, having gone through the same process, hers being earlier than Paige's. She almost commented on Paige's instagram post, but shook that idea when she remembered what the injured did to her.
"are you sure you're ready to face her again. You were pretty crushed when y'all.....broke up." Her father spoke again, careful with his word choice not wanting to piss his daughter off.
"We didn't break up. We never dated, dad."
"Whatever you say. Still, are you prepared?"
"I guess, and i might not have to talk to her, UCONN is a big campus. I'm sure she will be busy doing other things than to seek me out, and me the same. Except i won't be seeking for her, because i don't want to see her. Again."
Athena didn't tell her dad exactly what happened, just a short version, "We're in a fight and not talking, that's it."
Her dad thought they would get over it and go back to their normal selves, but when they moved to college and still weren't talking, he knew something more was going on.
He had a feeling about the two's....relationship? Whatever it was, it was notplatonic, like at all. No way, they spent that much time together to just be friends. He didn't push though, waiting until Athena came to him to share. And when his daughter did sit him down and tell her she thinks she is gay, he just smiled and pulled her into a hug.
The next time he had Paige alone after that conversation, he told her to treat his daughter right and if she broke her heart, he would break her hand so badly she would never be able to play basketball again. Paige blankly stared at him, not knowing what he was talking about but never got the chance to respond due to Athena coming back to the couch and settling in her arms.
"I mean, maybe if she apologizes then i'll hear her out but for now until forever. Nope."
"when are you going to tell me what really happened between you two."
"Maybe when you're older."
"Hey! I made you."
"ew." Athena said as she zipped up her suitcase, "anyways i'll see you when i get home, love you."
"love you too, be safe on the drive home."
Athena hung up the phone and took one last look at her, now empty, dorm room. She smiled to herself and walked out the door, leaving behind this chapter of her life.