Chapter 189: Seventeen

Tuesday, January 17th, Morning

(Song lyrics in italics)

She closed the door to her office behind her and took a seat behind her desk. Checking her watch, she needed at the time and turned on her laptop. After the laptop was ready to go, she clicked on a bookmark, and came online. Next, she reached under her desk for her lunch bag, so she can eat and watch the latest publication from the school's basketball website.

Ashlyn turned to her Keurig and started a cup of coffee. Once the cup finished brewing, she turned back to the screen. Putting in her earbuds, she clicked the link for today's videos. She also finished unpacking her lunch.

The video loaded up, and the blackness, of the video player, was replaced with several scenes of several basketball games. The highlights of several players, it was stock footage, and was from several different years, they were also the same images from the previous episode. That was when she heard the refrain.

I

Will

Be

I will be heard

The show's logo finished the scene, and this episode was subtitled Seventeen. A fade cut left the Tree Hill High School Television Studio as a backdrop, with the host dressed as always, sitting behind the desk. Ashlyn wondered how many episode intros they filmed in the same session.

"Hello, I'm Trey Terthero, and this is Be Heard; A Championship Defines. We're switching gears today, with this episode. The last episode we covered one of the Wonder Freshmen, today, we're covering one of the starters. As the Power Forward, she was the enforcer of the team, on the court, and most of her fights were under the hoop. Off the court, often referred to as Barbie Girl. For the better part of two seasons, she was the leading rebounder for the team, and the only starter to sit for non-injury reasons this season, as she had the flu. Today we profile her on Seventeen," Trey said.

The screen changed, with another fade cut to show Angela sitting in her hotel room. "Barbie Girl," she said and laughed.

The next transition brought Ashlyn on the screen sitting behind her guidance office desk. "Barbie Girl," she said and chuckled.

The next person was The Doctor in her office. "Barbie Girl," she said and chuckled.

The woman dressed in the livery of a European Basketball team was next. "Barbie Girl," she said and shook her head.

The scene cut to show the Coach's Office and the various plaques and trophies, and the camera finally settled onto Coach Sinclair sitting behind the desk. "We had plenty of offense that year, so we didn't ask for a lot of scoring out of our four and five. What we got out of them was great. Their job was rebounding and defense, that's what we wanted from them. What we got was leadership on the court and mentoring off the court. We couldn't put a price on, and by the way, she was a junior when she was doing this," Coach Sinclair said.

The screen changed to show Coach Scott sitting in the field house. "There is an old saying offensive gets the glory, but defense wins championships. The offensive weapons generally develop first, so when I get these two players that could play defense, I was head over heels," he said.

The screen changed to a well-appointed living room. A woman who looked like she was in her thirties, and by the way she carried herself, she was comfortable in the room. The woman is blonde and beautiful, dressed well, and seemed manicured from head to toe. Everything looked like it was perfectly in place.

The camera focused in on her. She had this tentative look on her face. "It's been years since I've really talked about this," she said.

"It's okay, just go slow," a young man's voice said.

"Alright," she said, "In a less politically correct time, I was called Barbie Girl, Blonde Girl, or Pin-Up Girl. On the court, I proved I was anything but what they called me. My name is Devyn Rich; back then, I was Devyn Brice. I was the starting Power Forward and wore jersey number seventeen."

The screen transitioned through several pictures of Devyn when she was younger and with the montage ending with her in high school. The last one transitioned to an older woman in the same living room. "Devyn was the middle of my three children, and the only girl," The woman said, "I'm Shannah Brice, and I'm Devyn's mom."

The scene changed to show more stills of Devyn as a young girl. Several of these also showed her playing basketball; several of the more informal basketball shots showed her playing with the same two boys. Shannah Brice returned to the screen. "Devyn had a brother two years each side of her. Growing up, she was always just one of the boys," she said.

"Mom," Devyn said, and the camera turned to show Devyn was sitting next to Shannah.

"It's true," Shannah said.

"I just don't think people would believe it," Devyn said.

"They better," Shannah said, laughed, and turned to the camera, "As I was saying, she was just one of the boys. No one expected her to grow up and looked the way she does. She was truly the ugly duckling, but one thing didn't change. On the court, that little girl I raised was tough as nails and wouldn't back down."

The screen transitioned to a man sitting by the River Walk, with the river in the background. "Devyn was tough as a kid. She would go at you, no matter how big you were," he said. He nodded, "I'm Duncan Brice, I'm Devyn's older brother and a former Tree Hill Raven Basketball player," he nodded, "What to say about my little sister, she was in my face whenever we were in the driveway playing. We both drew blood; that's how hard we played."

Shannah was back on the screen. "There were quite a few games I had to break Duncan and Devyn apart in our driveway," she said, and smiled, thinking of memories of the past.

The next transition brought Angela on the screen in her hotel room. "I met Devyn in AAU summer ball. She's a year younger, so we weren't on the same team. We played a few pickup games here and there," she said, made a face, touched her nose, and nodded, "I'll admit I underestimated her based on her looks."

Ashlyn was the next ex-player to be interviewed. "Devyn schooled Angela, and wouldn't give an inch. She was one of the few players that could do that. Before Devyn did it, her sophomore year, I've never seen anyone do that before, without fouling her," Ashlyn said, and waited as if someone asked a question, "Angela mostly beat herself, but against Devyn, she went all out. Devyn wouldn't back down, but Angela is like the ocean, and broke through, eventually."

The woman in the European basketball livery was next on the screen. "Devyn and I came up through junior ball together, and our freshmen year on junior varsity. We made varsity together as sophomores. After all those years of playing together, we could see or think like the other. Coach Scott and Coach Sinclair just refined us, cut off more of the rough edges. I miss playing with Devyn every game," she said.

Coach Scott was back on the screen. "One of the advantages we had, and no one thought about; we had with this team, as we had two pairs of players who were good friends, tight, and have played together for years. Even with a very young point guard and only a year together they meshed; the perfect storm," Coach Scott said.

The Doctor was the next to return to the screen. "All things being equal, Devyn was a great teammate. When she sat for those two games, due to illness, she was on the bench and gave observations on how we played, what the other time was doing, and just cheering us on," she said.

Angela was back on the screen. "All I can say about Devyn; more schools should've recruited her. Ashlyn was my best friend on the team, and in life, but Devyn was my best teammate," she said.

It returned to Ashlyn for her turn. "For three-season, we had the same position coach, worked on the same drills, and I can say one thing was her humor that got me through those rough days," she said.

Coach Sinclair was the next person on the screen. "When she got the flu that season, she still came to practice and did the conditioning drills without complaint, until she passed out. She even apologized for getting sick. Something she couldn't control, she apologized for," she said, "That's something most people don't write about."

The screen changed to a black-haired woman standing by the river. "Devyn, what could one say about her? She was so giving with her experience and knowledge but didn't suffer fools gladly. She helped me my freshman year learn the way we played power forward," she said, "But I was on receiving end of many of her cold stares or sarcastic comments."

The woman in European Basketball livery was next. "What is there to say about Devyn? She should be more well-known of all my teammates because except for Angela and Candi at Tree Hill, no one went harder or worked harder. She embodied the idea of Be Heard," she said.

Coach Scott returned to the screen. "Really? She said that Devyn embodied the idea of Be Heard? Well, I would say she would be an example I would hold up. They always underestimated Devyn, probably because she didn't look like a basketball player. I have a Devyn story for you.

"Her senior year, we had a transfer student come into tryouts. Poor guy thought Devyn was one of the cheerleaders. He was talking to Devyn, and I would guess bragging about how good he was at basketball. Devyn was being polite, which is just Devyn. I called the team together, and she jogged over. Next, we went through the drills, and Devyn was right there and showed him how good she was. The look on his face was pure gold, and I heard he said she did some of the drills better than he did. After he watched her the full practice, he was embarrassed as anything I've seen," he said.

"What happened to the guy?" a young female student asked.

"Tate Rich?" Coach Scott laughed, "I believe they met again after college, and he's now her brother-in-law."

Devyn returned to the screen. "What is there is say about my career at Tree Hill? My three years on the varsity team, we won one state championship and were spitting distance to two more. I went to college because of it and had a good life.

"My biggest weakness, some say was my looks, because people didn't take me seriously. That was never my weakness, that was their weakness. Mine was my own confidence; I wasn't confident like some of the girls on the team, not enough, I should say to keep going and pushing. Maybe I listened to them questioning how a good-looking girl can play basketball? I settled, and basketball passed me by," she said.

Angela appeared on the screen. "Devyn should be remembered as one of the best teammates and one of the best defenders on the team," she said.

Ashlyn was next on the screen, "Devyn should be remembered, one of the things was she started the whole Be Heard thing," she said.

The Doctor was next. "Devyn should be remembered for her giving nature and her willingness to share to improve the team and her teammates," she said.

The woman in sports gear was next. "Devyn should be remembered for her ability to keep us going with her humor," she said.

Devyn came back on the screen. "Do I have a bad life? No, I have a great family. A husband I love and a job I enjoy. Will I remember that year? Yes, I do," she said.

The screen changed to an old video of the Tree Hill Team sitting on the bench, looking nervous. Suddenly their faces light up, and they're cheering. Two girls standing next to each other looked at each other and hugged. Both wore black jerseys, one was Devyn with her number seventeen, and the other was taller and worn number four.

Devyn returned to the screen. She looked in the camera, smiled a happy smile. "Be Heard," she said.

Devyn faded away and replaced by a picture of her holding the trophy, and eventually, that disappeared into the distance for the Tree Hill High School Television studio.

"One of the starters, Devyn Brice, stood out for the wrong reasons. What they overlooked was her solid defensive play and being a solid teammate. We implied at the end of our last episode; she didn't play her part. That's true; she didn't; she exceeded it. So, tune in tomorrow for episode four of Be Heard: A Championship Defined, for a very emotional episode, Twenty-one. I'm Trey Terthero and have a good day," Trey said.

Ashlyn nodded, took a sip of her coffee, a bite of her lunch, and closed the internet browser.