A Single Daffodil

Eleanor and Perrie were very similar to me and Sophia.

Eleanor was very blase about most things (me), while Perrie loved being loud and less-than-apathetic about all things (Sophia). Eleanor loved food (me) and Perrie loved pilates (Sophia).

So it made a lot of sense that the four of us would become good friends quite quickly.

“Woo!” Perrie cheered excitedly as we were helped out of the black SUV. Two security guards dressed in black suits were waiting by the back entrance to the arena. When we started to approach them, they opened the doors for us and lead us inside. “This is my first real basketball game! I hope there’ll be some fitties waiting for us tonight!”

“Ay, Mami! You have no idea!” Sophia responded with delight.

I turned around and gave them both a look. They were so similar, it was crazy.

While the three girls behind me giggled and talked excitedly to one another, I walked a little faster to catch up to the two security guards who were escorting us to the basketball court. When I was quick enough to walk between them, I put my hands on their shoulders. “Thanks for waiting for us, guys. Has the game started yet?”

“No.” The one on my left smiled warmly at me. He was American, and has escorted me to previous games. “There’s still fifteen minutes before the ball is thrown.”

“Perfect.” I grinned, now looking over at the other guard. “Now, I know you two aren’t cheering for the British today, right?”

My American friend on my left laughed, shaking his head. Of course not. He was American! The guard on my right, however, let out a sigh before responding. “Look, I’m from Manchester so I should be cheering on my team. But what can I say? Lebron James is in the building.”

I laughed, giving him a friendly pat on the back. I liked this guy. “That’s what I like to hear!”

“Oi, Vita!” Perrie called behind us. I stopped walking and turned around to let Perrie, Eleanor and Sophia catch up to me. “Your gams look stunning in those heels!”

Before I could even respond with a thank you, Sophia reached around my back and grabbed my butt really hard. “And get a load of dat ass in that dress!” For emphasis she jiggled it.

Mortified, I swiped Sophia’s claws off my behind. This wasn’t the first time she’s done that. “Sophia!”

The three of them giggled and snickered, holding onto each other like they didn’t know how gravity worked.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. The three of them were such girls. Their hair was styled to perfection, their makeup flawless, and their dresses were tight and hugging their curves in all the right places.

Usually I scoffed at girls who got super dressed up at games (Sophia especially). I never understood why they thought going to a basketball game was like going to the club. You were suppose to wear the team’s jersey and sneakers! How else were you suppose to jump up and cheer when your team scored?

But I couldn’t talk or judge any girl that did that today.

Because today, I was going to be one of those girls.

Listen, when I’m challenged, I get aggressive. I get intense. And when you grow up with a father like mine and play sports all throughout middle school and high school, it’s practically impossible to not display a strong desire in beating someone else at a game. And while this particular basketball game between the U.S.A. and Britain wasn’t my game to play, the game between me and Tanya was.

After our pleasant encounter at Liam’s party, I got a little too...riled up. She pissed me off so much, in fact, that I spent the rest of my time at the party plotting. Scheming. Deviously calculating how I was going to get back at her.

And I came to one final conclusion: I needed to look good.

No, scratch that. I needed to look incredible.

All my life, I never cared about makeup or clothes, or shoes. If it fits, I’ll wear it. If the shoes are comfortable, sure! I’ll put them on. Makeup? No thank you, it’s too humid in Miami to put that kinda crap on my face. Maybe some mascara for a date or event I’m going to.

But today was different.

I needed Harry to see just how goddamn good I can look when I actually care about my appearance. And when he sees it, so will Tanya.

So what did I do? I recruited two London natives and a fashion-obsessed best friend to help me look my best for today’s game.

We spent all morning shopping the high street. What I thought would only take a quick hour of shopping, actually turned into a four hour trip. All I wanted to do was go to Topshop, try on some dresses, and get some votes from Sophia, Eleanor and Perrie. That plan clearly went to shit when the three girls had to pull me back by the elbow as I started walking towards Topshop when we met up in town.

“Uh, where do you think you’re going?” Eleanor inquired as the three of them tugged me backwards.

“Um.” I was confused. “Topshop?”

They all let out a hearty guffaw like I made a funny joke, which, just to be clear, I wasn’t. In fact, the joke was on me because ten minutes later, I was pushed into a House of Fraser and was getting zipped up into my first real designer dress.

I went through twenty outfit changes in the dressing room of House of Fraser. Twenty. I tried on Tom Ford, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Balenciaga, and even Givenchy. I was living every fashion bloggers dream.

A couple of glasses of champagne and voting rounds later, the four of us decided on a beautiful sparkly emerald green dress from Balmain. It was so rich in color and intricate in detailing, I almost felt guilty wearing it. It had structured shoulders, making me look fearless, with a hem that stopped a couple of inches above the knee. It was a short number, but it was perfect. It was exactly what I needed for tonight’s game.

“Vita Spoelstra, eat your heart out.” Perrie nodded approvingly behind me as I looked at myself in the mirror. I caught Sophia clutching her heart and getting teary eyed. Her own dreams were coming true too: me buying a designer dress.

When the two security guards directed us down another hallway, the crowd’s cheering slowly got louder. I could feel my nerves bubbling at the pit of my stomach. It was game time.

“Wow! This is incredible!” Eleanor looked up, her lips slightly parted as we left the backstage area and into the main arena.

It was endearing to witness Eleanor and Perrie’s reaction to their first game when we walked out to our seating area. They were genuinely in awe of the atmosphere surrounding us. Going to big games like this could never get old, not even for me. It’s difficult to fight the mesmerizing feeling when you witness the anticipation and eagerness coming from the stands, where fans from the US and UK were repeatedly stomping twice and clapping once in unison. Even in a different country entirely, I felt like I was home.

After thanking both of the security guards, I lead the three other girls past the line up of cameramen sitting by the court and pass my dad and his assistant coaches. I didn’t dare look at the other side of the court, where the UK’s basketball team were located. I knew Harry and Tanya were most likely sitting over there, so I kept my shoulders back, my chin up and grinned when I spotted Jayden, Liam, Louis and Zayn sitting next to our four reserved seats.

“There you guys are! Where ha--” Jayden started to greet us but he stopped, his eyes widened when he noticed me. “What...is happening?”

“Holy moly!” Liam stood up to greet us. “Vita Spoelstra! You look fantastic!”

I blushed and shrugged like it didn’t just take the most expensive part of London and a herd of girls to make me look like this.

“Vita.” Niall said. “I know we’re friends, but can I just say, damn.”

I laughed and pulled him into a hug.

“Should I be concerned?” Jayden put a hand on my shoulder, looking legitimately worried. I didn’t blame him. I was wearing a damn dress to a basketball game. That never happens. “Have you officially crossed over to the dark side?” He leaned in and added in a whisper, “The Sophia side?”

“Only for three hours.” I whispered back, looking over at the others to make sure they couldn’t hear us. “This is all just part of the plan.”

“The plan?” Jayden repeated, making a pained expression immediately. “I don’t like the sound of that. Whatever you’re up to, Spoelstra, leave me out of it. I want none of it!”

I didn’t say anything back. Instead, I smirked. Jayden’s look of concern amplified immediately.

“Where’s Harry and Tanya?” Perrie piped up, taking a seat next to Zayn. He immediately sat back and draped his arm behind her chair.

“Sitting over there with the rest of the traitors.” Niall jerked his chin to the opposite side of the court. I finally let my eyes skim across the court to see Harry in all his glory, shaking hands with Andrew Sullivan, Tanya’s brother and UK’s supposed best basketball player. Tanya, dressed in a tight red crop top and high waisted skirt, stood obediently by his side. Her outfit looked like it was made out of cheap polyester. I had to bite my lip to prevent the Cheshire grin from appearing on my face.

“Wouldn’t we, technically, be considered the traitors?” Louis thought out loud.

“No way!” Liam answered, pushing the flaps of his black leather jacket back to bear his USA jersey. “We got a game to win!”

Never have I been so proud of Liam Payne as I did in that very moment.

“I’ve taught you well.” I grinned at Liam before taking two steps backward. “I’ll be right back.”

I turned around and headed straight towards the other side of the basketball court, tactically walking around the USA players, who were practicing their jump shots.

My heels made a loud click with every step I made across the court. And with every step in my brand new five inch high heels, came a pinch, a pull, and an uncomfortable chafe against the balls of my feet. But I didn’t care. I embraced the pain. It fueled the strong desire I felt for putting this plan into action. It made everything feel more real. The last time I approached Harry at a game was last summer, when it was the NBA finals. I remember feeling so nervous then, trying to approach him.

I felt different now as I advanced toward Harry. I felt tall, confident, poised. This was the moment I’ve been craving all week.

Tanya was the first one to notice me approaching. All traces of humor fell from her face the second we made eye contact. A surge of adrenaline infiltrated my veins when I noticed just how disappointed she looked to see me heading towards her. I grinned.

Harry’s back was facing me, but once he noticed Tanya’s look, he turned around to follow it. When his eyes caught mine, he took a double take, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“There you guys are!” I greeted both of their stunned expressions. I tried to prevent myself from sounding too giddy but it was proving difficult when I realized how much of a success my getup was. We still had another five minutes until the basketball game started but in my opinion, the game had already begun. “For a second, I thought you two weren’t here. Such a shame you can’t sit with us on the other side though.”

Harry was silent. Apparently he was at a loss for words. Good.

Tanya cleared her throat, eyeing up my dress. “Is that--”

“Balmain?” I finished the question for her. I placed both hands on my hips and shrugged. “Yeah, I picked it up this morning. Thought it looked pretty cool.”

“You look great, Vita.” I guess Harry finally found his voice. I looked away from Tanya and directed them over to him. Our eyes locked and for a brief moment, I forgot Tanya had her arm hooked around Harry’s.

“Thanks.” I replied, giving him an honest smile.

“Anyways, you excited for the game?” Tanya’s voice was loud and annoying. “I should probably apologize now since, ye know, we’ll be beating the USA tonight.”

Her last remark was delivered so aggressively, I pulled back with a look of surprise. Harry was horrified.

“Tanya--” He started, but I cut him off.

“No, no.” I stopped him before grinning at Tanya. “I like a good smack-talking before a game. Gives it that extra competitive edge. Right, Tanya?”

“Indeed.” She narrowed her eyes at me.

I giggled, because this whole conversation was suddenly humorous. I looked over at the clock to see we only had two minutes before the ball was thrown. “I guess we’ll have to see what happens.”

I didn’t give Harry or Tanya a second to respond. I quickly turned on my heels and headed straight for the USA team. Placing the tip of my thumb and index finger at the edges of my lips, I whistled loudly to get the team’s attention.

“Lebron, Wade, Bosh!” I shouted, marching over to our side of the court. “Front and center!”

At the sound of their names, the three of them jogged over to where I was standing. My dad, who was only a couple of feet away from us, looked up from his clipboard and raised an eyebrow at me. I ignored it.

“Whoa, Miss. Spoely!” Dwayne Wade said as the three of them huddled around me. Even in five inch heels, they still towered over me. “You really turned up tonight, looking all flawless and shit!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lebron added.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I waved them both off before reaching high up to get my arms around their shoulders. Thankfully, they crouch down slightly to get on my level. “Listen. We need to have a little pow-wow before y’all open this game up.”

“What’s on your mind?” Chris Bosh asked.

“I need you guys to do me a tiny favor and--” I quickly looked up to glance over at the UK team. Andrew Sullivan was stretching on the other side of the court. I ducked back down to look at my big three, “--annihilate these assholes.”

Lebron James laughed. “Come on now, Vita. You know that should go without saying.”

“No, but like, I’m serious.” I replied. “It’s really important we beat these guys by a lot.”

“Who you talking to right now?” Chris Bosh feigned a hurt expression. “You’re acting like you’ve never seen us play before!”

“Can someone remind me how many times our team won the NBA finals?” Dwayne Wade asked.

“Five times.” Chris and Lebron answered in unison. The three of them then turned to me and gave me a pointed look.

I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Relax, little Spoely.” Chris clapped my back at the sound of the buzzer, signaling it was game time. The three of them stood up and jogged over to the middle of the court. “We ain’t worried ‘bout nothin!”

I should have believed them, but something about Tanya’s certainty in her brother and his team had planted the seed of worry in the pit of my stomach.

I backed off the court and strolled over to the empty seat next to Jayden. For the past couple of minutes, I’ve been trying to hide how painful my shoes were causing. I couldn’t wait to sit down and give my squished toes a break.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sit very long.

The second the ball was thrown, I knew something was wrong. The British were much quicker than I expected. I guess they were a lot quicker than my team expected too, because before we all knew it, the British scored a three pointer. And then another one. And another one, and another one.

I was on my feet in a heartbeat.

It was that damn Andrew Sullivan. Tanya’s brother. He was stealing the ball from my players and even managed to dunk on Kobe Bryant, which I didn’t think was possible. To make matters worse, he blatantly made an offensive foul by pushing Chris Bosh when he was shooting the ball and the referee didn’t even call it.

I paced the side of the court with anger, yelling at the referees violently. Even the US fans in the stands started booing. I could see the blase attitude that Lebron, Dwayne and Chris once embraced evaporated into thin air when they realized they were in trouble: they were down 12 points.

As if I wasn’t seeing enough red, I made the mistake of looking over at the corner where Tanya and Harry sat. Tanya was looking right back at me, with a triumphant grin on her face. Harry, on the other hand, tried to look indifferent by avoiding my gaze.

The second my dad called a timeout, I made it my mission to talk some sense into our players.

“What do you think you’re doing, Vita?” My dad demanded when I waved the players towards me.

“Not now, dad.” I held up a hand to him before turning back to the team. My cheeks were flushed with frustration and anger. “I have a couple of questions to ask the team, like why the hell we’re playing like some bitches tonight?”

“Whoa, little Spo-” Chris started, but I stopped him.

“No, don’t ‘little Spo’ me. What are you guys doing out there!?” I was officially going off. “I thought I came here with the Dream Team, born and bred from the U.S.A., not a couple of tired grandmas.”

The team stayed quiet. I needed to kill their egos and bring them back to reality.

“Listen,” I started again, “all of you need to look at your jerseys. We’re the USA. Home of the brave, land of the free. It’s time to demonstrate what we, as a country, came here to do.” I was standing in the middle of the circle that the team had formed around me. I carefully rotated as I talked, so they could all hear me. “Acknowledge the score, reflect, and move on because it’s time to instill fear in the British right now. Make them fear the names on your backs. Bring them to their knees.”

“Jesus.” Kobe Bryant spoke up. “You’re terrifying.”

I turned to look at him before responding. “Wait until you hear my plan of action.”

I carefully, but quickly, went through the game strategy I conjured up in my mind while watching the first quarter of the game. I gave them the play by play, describing the defense, offense, and the ball possession tactics I wanted them to make. The whole team nodded as they listened. Clearly, I caught their attention. When I finished, I was practically out of breath.

Lebron James grinned at me before turning to my dad. The rest of the team and I quickly followed. “What do you think, coach?”

My dad was silent for a second, mulling over my words. He looked down at his clipboard, rubbing his chin roughly before looking back up at us. “It’s not a bad idea. Do what she says.”

The time out buzzer rang so I stuck my hand out. “The British are coming? Nah. Not today!” I exclaimed excitedly as all the players piled their hands on mine. “USA on three. One, two, three!”

“U-S-A!” The team chanted, pushing down on my hand.

Before Lebron ran back out on the court, he pulled me into a quick hug. “We’re gonna make you proud out there.”

“Wait, LB.” I stopped him. “Remember back in the 2013 season, when the Celtic’s Jason Terry started talking smack about our team and then you did the thing to put him in his place?”

Lebron’s menacing smile appeared on his face. “Yeah, why?”

“Just wondering.” I innocently shrugged before turning off the court to stand near my dad and his assistant coaches. When I turned back to face the court once again, I could see Lebron whispering in Wade’s ear. A beat later, Dwayne Wade was nodding and grinning at me.

“I’ve never seen you take such initiative before.” My dad said as he scribbled over his previous plan of action on the clipboard. He sounded almost...proud? That was rare.

I let out a sarcastic ‘Ha!’ before responding. “That’s because you’re never around to witness it.” It was a cold blow, I’ll admit, but I was still so upset with him that the guilt was nonexistent. That was just a battle I’d have to fight later. Before my dad could respond, I clapped loudly and cheered the team as they lined up against the British team. “Come on, boys!”

I’ll admit, I was nervous how the rest of this game was going to play out but I think something clicked after I talked to the players. They looked different somehow. They didn’t appear to be just basketball players anymore. They looked like animals. Like predators.

And the British team was their prey.

The second the referee blew his whistle and threw the ball up in the air, I knew there was a shift in the game. Lebron was quicker on his feet, Kobe was jumping higher, Dwayne was paying more attention to the footwork of the opposing team.


And then it happened. The thing.

Andrew Sullivan was passed the ball by his teammate and was speeding down the middle of the court and towards the basket. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t see Dwayne Wade sneak up behind him and steal the ball. He swivels around and drives the ball back to the opposite basket. Andrew Sullivan, clearly angered by this, runs after Dwayne. I clenched my fists and jaw, marching down the side of the court, hoping it would go as planned.

It did.

See, the whole time Andrew Sullivan was paying attention to Dwayne and the ball, he didn’t notice Lebron James coming up behind him. When they get closer to the basket, Dwayne throws the ball up high in the air, giving Lebron enough time to prepare his layup. Sullivan reaches up, trying to catch the ball but before he could even get close, Lebron came up in two long strides, jumps up, catches the ball and slams it down into the hoop with incredible power.

Andrew Sullivan falls backwards to the floor.

The entire arena erupts.

To my left, I could hear Liam, Jayden and the other guys jumping out of their seats and yelling with excitement. To my right, the USA bench exploded, waving their towels above their heads. They were finally getting their show.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” I clapped Lebron’s performance as he jogged past me.

From there, it was all downhill for the British team. The alley-oop dunk Lebron performed on Andrew Sullivan shook up their team a little bit because within two minutes, the USA took back what was there’s and leveled out the scoreboard to 20-20. Another three minutes and we were ahead with 30-20.

I leisurely walked back to the empty seat next to Jayden and gracefully sat down with a calm expression. I could feel Jayden’s eyes boring into the side of my head. Eventually, I turned to look at him and offered him a strange look.

“What?” I asked finally.

Jayden shook his head. “You’re a real piece of work, Vita.”

I looked away from Jayden and pointed my chin upwards. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Mmhmm.” Jayden’s tone was rich with sarcasm.

The USA ended up beating the British team with a groundbreaking 118-78. By the third quarter, Andrew Sullivan and the rest of his teammates seemed to have given up when they realized that Lebron James was unstoppable.

“Miss. Spoely knows how to hoop!” Lebron James came up behind me as I was giving Dwayne Wade a high five when the game ended. Locking my arms down, he picked me up from behind and swung me around.

I shrieked out of surprise. “Dude! Watch the dress! It’s couture!” Although, in all honesty, I didn’t really care if it got ruined by Lebron’s sweat or not.

“Why was it so important for us to win this game anyways?” Dwayne asked once Lebron put me down. “I’ve never seen you so determined.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with that familiar sucker I saw sitting over there, did it?” Lebron asked. I didn’t have to look where he was pointing to know he was talking about Harry Styles.

“No.” I answered stubbornly. “Can’t a gal be enthusiastic about a game?”

“I ain’t buying it.” Dwayne laughed before pulling Lebron away by the collar. “But we better get out of here. I sense that something’s a-brewin’”

I didn’t know what Dwayne was implying until I saw Harry walking towards me. Tanya was no where in sight.

“Quite a show that was.” Harry said, stopping a few feet in front of me. He looked gorgeous of course, wearing a plain black sweater, black jeans and a bright blue beanie that pulled back his curls.

Swoon.

“I agree.” I grinned, crossing my arms across my chest. I was delighted. I won. Speaking of winning, “Where’s Tanya?”

“She’s with her brother, actually.” Harry replied. “They’re worried he may have injured his back after that...play by Lebron.”

“Is that so? Shame.” It took everything in me not to roll my eyes drastically. Andrew Sullivan was just upset that Lebron James put him in his place.

Harry narrowed his eyes at me, watching me carefully. “I know what you’re doing, ye know.”

“Huh?” I faked confusion. “What am I doing?”

“Proving your point.” Harry fired back quickly. “Sharpening your claws. Showing your teeth. Whichever statement tickles your fancy more.”

I laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Vita.” He said my name like it was exhausting. “I know you better than anyone.”

I stayed quiet, hoping to save face. He took this as a queue to keep talking.

“I just thought you should know that proving her wrong isn’t going to change anything.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, his eyes glued to the floor. “You might want to get used to the fact that she isn’t going anywhere.”

With that, he looked up at me once more and then walked back to the British team’s side.

I was left speechless, watching his retreating figure with shock.

This was not the outcome I was expecting.