8.

Anna went back home after a long day of work. She was happy for a lot of reasons at the moment.
First, she did not have work the following day, thanks to Allen making it official to not let her work on the weekends. She was still butthurt for having to work today, but at least he was apologetic and promised to never do that again.
Secondly, she was happy that no one had given her a hard time today. Allen was generous and made sure none of his friends, especially Aiden, bothered her. She was grateful for him stepping up and making sure nothing bad happened to her. She was worried that Aiden might have done something he would have regretted. But she never had to worry about him in any way anymore.
The biggest reason she was happy was because Allen gave her the opportunity of a lifetime by sponsoring her. She was glad that she showed off her skills in front of those rich and powerful men. Now, she was waiting for him to send her contract through her mailbox or email.
She checked her phone to see if he sent the email, but nothing popped up. That was fine since she just got home and was not expecting him to send it immediately. He probably had to prepare the contract agreement and get to do other thing me before it could be official. So she decided to take off her clothes, hit the shower again, and fall asleep. She prayed that the email would come through tomorrow. On Sundays, mail drivers do not deliver the mail. So she was going to wait for the email tomorrow.
It was now Sunday, 9 am in the morning was the time she woke up. The first thing she did was check her email to see if he sent it. Still nothing showed up. She did not think much about it, because the day just started and he would send it way later on today.
She decided to play basketball in her driveway and practice on her own. She decided to do the same thing she did yesterday, which was make a three pointer shot. The ball went inside the hoop again, she was amazed that she could make that type of shot. Three pointers was not really her strongest attribute. She was more of a close range and confrontational type of girl. Dunking on people was her favorite because it boosted up her confidence and let everyone know that she was the boss of the game.
However, she could not just be dunking all the time. She had to learn to take longer range shots. Close range, there would still be a lot of people blocking and trying to steal the ball. With long range, there would not be a lot of people blocking and it gave her a lot of space to take her shot. She practiced for an hour straight with no interruptions or people bothering her. She was in her zone and element.
Going back inside her house to see if he sent the email already. The time was 12pm, which was three hours of when she woke up. So she was thinking that he must have sent it by now. She checked her email and still nothing.
Before she was not worried or questioning anything, now, she’s starting to overthink. She was thinking why he hasn’t sent her contract yet. Was his internet not working? Is he busy? Was he still sleeping? So many questions she had.
She decided to call him to see what was going on, he did not answer. She tried calling him again and he did not answer at all. Decided to send him a text, she waited for thirty minutes to see if he responded and he did not. Her frustration was building back up again.
She began to wonder why he was treating her like that. First, he was all nice and generous whenever he saw her. But now, whenever he did not have the chance to see her, he switches up and treats her like she’s less than a human which was really messed up. He was messing with her mental health and she did not appreciate what he was doing.
She decided to relax since today was her day off before work again the next day. So she could be patient. Plus, he did say he could send the contract through her mailbox. She would wait until Monday. Right now, she was going to relax her mind and body.
It was Monday. Allen still had not sent the email, called or texted back or left anything. It was obvious that she was mad. But she was going to wait until the mail delivery comes through. She’s hoping and praying to the high heavens that Allen had sent the contract.
Hours later, the mail person finally arrived. She checked her mailbox to see if Allen had sent the contract. Opening all the mail and looking at them carefully. None of the mail were from Allen, most of them were useless stuff she did not care about.
Saying that she was mad was an understatement, she was livid to the bone. She could not believe that Allen did not send her contract through her email and mail.
She thought about calling and texting him again, but she decided against it. She did not want Allen to think she was desperate. Plus, he did not answer his phone or text her back yesterday. So there was no point of trying again.
Now, she was trying to figure out if the conversation they had on Saturday even happened. Was it all in her head? Did Allen tell her what she wanted to hear so that she would not leave his company? Did Allen do that just to get closer to her?
Now, she was truly overthinking things. There was no way in hell that Allen would do all this to make her fall in love with him. There was no romantic or sexual chemistry between them.
Probably, he did this to make her quit the company’s job. On Saturday, she was visibly frustrated that she had to work during her day off. So he had to make an excuse to keep her working at his company.
Or maybe, she was daydreaming and thought he actually would sponsor her. That could be possibility.
Whatever reason it was, it did anger her that she expected a contract but it never showed up. That crushed her spirits because she was waiting for this opportunity for the longest. Having the opportunity not come true was disheartening for her.
All she wanted out of life was to play for the WBA and become the best female basketball player of all time. She wanted to be up there with all the legends and to be an inspiration to all women who dreamt of becoming basketball players. It’s hard for women, especially women of color to succeed in sports. They had to work a billion times harder to get any recognition and success in the sport industry.
She respected male athletes as well since they had to work hard to get where they are. But as a woman, it was more like a matter of life or death to even be respected in a male dominated field like basketball.
Even the WNBA were not that respected or successful as the NBA. People always threw hate at the WNBA, saying that they sucked and they should not be playing basketball at all. Also, they did not get paid a lot of money unlike the men. The highest earning WNBA player gets paid half or even less than the men. The men get paid the millions and more, while the women get a couple hundred thousands, even if they were the best of the best.
Also, they did not get a lot of mainstream coverage. It was a rarity seeing any promotion for any WNBA match and the players were not in commercials or movies or tv shows. There were A’ja Riyadh Wilson and Sue Bird, who are the most popular WNBA Players, they made an appearance in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’. She felt that that was good, as they seemed to start to get the recognition and the flowers they deserved.
There was also Britney Griner, who was a WNBA player, that received a lot of mainstream attention but not for the best reasons. She was held captive by Russia during the war between Russia and Ukraine. A lot of people were scared for her life, but luckily, she’s doing well. It sucked that she had to be known for that by the world and not her amazing basketball skills. But there’s not of WNBA players that have received the mainstream attention, which was terrible.
Anna was still mad that Allen would treat her like she was nothing. She was thinking about quitting her job and look for a better one that would have the employers treat her with respect. But she began to think twice to not do that because she needed the money. Plus, he did say he was going to sponsor her. So she was in a tough predicament. Hopefully, everything would work out well for her because all she wanted was to live out her passion and succeed.
Thank you for reading.