A/N: Hello everyone! Over the past few months, I have recently gotten back into the fandom. South of Nowhere and all of its fanfiction helped me out so much when I was younger and so many of the stories still hold so much weight with me today. So, I started writing some. I'm in between a ton of stories at the moment, just holding on to them. So I thought I would test the waters a bit by publishing one. So here we go.

The story starts a bit slow and juvenile, but picks up intensity along the way. Let me know what you think!

Chapter 1: Game Time

The gym was filling up quickly. A smile crossed my face as I watched people from all walks of life jam into the metal bleachers on either side of the court. A smile that grew even wider when I saw the familiar faces of my father and brother sitting at the very top of the rows of bleachers, a large green and gold banner in their arms with my name on it.

Hundreds of people were claiming the seats, chattering so loudly that it was difficult to even think. The distracting noises, conflicting smells, all of it would make anyone suffer from sensory overload. But not me. This was where I could concentrate the most, where I found the most focus. This was where I found the most quiet.

Both teams' cheerleaders stood at either end of the court, stretching to prepare for the long night. I caught myself gazing a moment too long at one of the girls bent over and smirked when she met my eyes. She blushed before bending over again.

Too easy.

It was absolute madhouse in there. And I loved it.

"Carlin!"

My head whipped around to Coach Blue as she shouted, the large vein in her forehead appearing with a vengeance. She was a burly woman with wiry grey hair and wrinkles painted across her entire face. And she had a special skill of putting the true fear of God in you.

"Sorry, coach," I muttered before focusing back on warm ups. It appeared I got distracted and missed my spot in the layup line…twice.

No matter, I'm back on my game now.

Sprinting ahead, I caught the pass from Dom in the other line, and tapped it off of the backboard easy in reverse. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body already, before hearing a familiar icy voice.

"I can't believe they make us show up here to cheer for these dykes."

My body halted all movement before turning to face the source.

"Takes one to know one," I said, smirking.

The perpetrator's eyes went dark before she seemed to fully grasp what I said, throwing her poms poms onto the wooden floor.

"Bite me."

"Is that an invitation?" I asked, enjoying the widened eyes that appeared on her face.

"Seriously, Sher. Let it go, you're so annoying," another voice interrupted our argument.

A smug smile appeared on my face at the person coming to my defense but before I could celebrate too much, I heard the voice again.

"And don't you even look like that, you love egging her on."

And that smug smile turned to a pout.

"She started it!" I yelled and pointed at the enemy like a 5-year-old.

The Latina just rolled her eyes before pushing me back toward warm ups.

Madison. Sexy, crazy Madison.

Mads and I had a long history filled with loving and fighting and ice cream and Justin Timberlake.

What? We met when we were 5.

Anyways, luckily for us, we only became closer as the years passed. Well, her, and I and –

"Aiden!" I exclaimed, noticing the tall boy who had just walked over to the side of the court.

"Hey, Cricket!"

I rolled my eyes at the lame nickname he had insisted on using since we were ten punched him playfully in the shoulder.

"You're late! I started to think you wouldn't come!"

"And miss your LAST first game? Would I ever?!" He gasped dramatically.

"Well, I'm glad you're here. Dad and Glen are sitting up there," I said, pointing to the stands.

He nodded and turned, starting to make his way up the stairs of the bleachers before he stopped, and instead turned in the direction of the cheerleaders.

"Damn, that girl is so fine."

My eyes followed his, unsure of who he was speaking of, before landing on the face of a vaguely familiar brunette.

"I didn't know she was on the squad."

"Yeah, I think Mads asked her to join after seeing her dancing in a club or something."

I nodded wordlessly, my eyes following the long, tanned legs that stretched in ways that no one should be able to stretch.

"Spence, you're drooling."

"Wha? Huh?"

"I said, you're drooling," Aiden laughed. "Yeah I'm totally gonna try to tap that this year."

"You're such a perv," I joked, actually moving my hand to check if there was drool anywhere on my chin.

Couldn't be too sure.

Thankfully, I was clear.

"Have you talked to her yet?" I asked, glancing back at Blue who was thankfully distracted by a heated exchange with the opposing coach.

"Nah, I don't think she's made many friends since coming out here. I have a few classes with her though. I hear her dad's a Rockstar or something."

I looked back toward the brunette in question, whose sparkling smile was spread evenly across her face as she talked to Madison.

"Maybe I can get Mads to introduce me?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah, for sure," I said, physically shaking any less than polite images from my mind, "I should get back. Thanks for coming, Bean."

Aiden frowned at the equally embarrassing nickname I had for him before giving me a loving tap on the head and ascending the bleachers.

Another sneaky glance at the sexy brunette and I was off back toward the team.

"I don't know how you always get away with skipping warmups," Dom laughed as I made my way back to the bench.

I wiggled my eyebrows. "Coach has got a big lesbian crush on me."

Dom looked at me with a raised eyebrow and laughed, pushing me gently. "You're a trip."

Dom and I met on the first day of basketball tryouts in our freshman year, and other than a minor drunken sexual experience last year – thank you jello shots – we were the perfect partners in crime.

A perfect mutual wingwoman, wingwoman pair.

Truly one for the history books.

Even if we had to ignore that awful night.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that Dom was unattractive. The exact opposite, in fact. Her shortened, wavy caramel hair and icy grey eyes made her a total knock out. Not to mention her toned body and ability to turn any statement into a sexual innuendo.

But the second we got our clothes off, we tried to top each other and it was just…awful.

The buzzer alerting the beginning of the game snapped me out of my thoughts. I quickly pulled off my track pants and pulled the long sleeve warm up shirt over my head before heading to my team's huddle.

Coach Blue's distinctive, gruff voice rang out in the now quieter gym.

"Alright ladies, I'm not gonna give a big speech. You know what you gotta go out there and do. So, go do it. Cobras on three. One, Two, Three!"

"COBRAS!"

The sounds of fans in the gym chanting our team's mascot, matched with the beat of my heart. I took a deep breath and made my way onto the court, giving Dom our signature hand shake before taking my place behind the center circle, waiting for the ball to be tapped neatly into my palms.

A player from the other team, lined up next to me, giving me a less than gentle shove. I ignored the gesture, not willing to risk my head being taken out of the game.

A moment later, though, I heard a familiar voice in my ear.

"Looking good, Carlin."

I turned to meet luscious green eyes and smirked.

"Not so bad yourself, Williams. What's it been? Like 3 months?"

"Wouldn't have been that long if you returned a text every once in a while," she said playfully.

Jess Williams and I had hooked up at the beginning of the summer during a basketball camp and though we had our fun, she knew it wouldn't ever be more than that. Even so, she was looking really good in her uniform. And I'm sure I would have some pent-up energy to expel after the game.

The whistle sounded clearly, alerting us of incoming tip off. I looked to Jess on last time before getting my head into the game.

"Maybe you should check your phone tonight."

"Fuck yeah, Spence! You were amazing!"

My dad shot Glen a disapproving look at his language but the smile teasing at his lips contradicted his eyes.

"You did really well, honey," my dad offered a more appropriate congratulations, pulling me into a warm hug.

"Damn, I miss it here. This gym was always so good to me," Glen said nostalgically, taking in his surroundings.

I laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure UCLA is soooo hard."

Glen just shrugged. "Yeah, we'll see if I even get to play. So far, I've just been riding the bench."

I could hear the pain in his words and knew that I would need to chat with him about it later, when we had more time to talk. So just for the moment, I offered a gentle squeeze to his shoulder.

"Pizza at Johnny's?" Aiden asked, walking back from talking to Madison and the gorgeous brunette from before, "Good game by the way."

"Do you even have to ask? And I know, but thanks," I smirked.

"Cool. I was just talking to Mads and I think we're gonna go out to Grey's after with the team, including Ashley."

"Ashley?"

"Yeah, she's the new girl," Aiden said, pointing behind his shoulder to where Madison and Ashley continued to talk. "You in?"

I opened my mouth to speak before catching the eye of Jess leaving the gym with a knowing smirk.

"Nah, I think I'll be busy," I said, sporting an equally devious smile.

Glen followed my eyes before letting out a chuckle.

"Yeah, you're definitely my sister."