Clueless, kate martin

THREE. carver to kinnick

saturday, october 7th, 2023:
iowa city, iowa
homecoming

"Tate, can you check my phone to see if Gabbie texted?" Jada called from her room.

Her roommate was in her bathroom applying her makeup. They were supposed to meet up with their friends and teammates soon down at Carver Arena. Tatum was already dressed and ready but Jada, who had ignored Tatum's suggestion of getting ready early, was practically racing against time.

"Yeah, I got it."

Tatum hopped up from the couch and went to grab Jada's phone from the kitchen counter by her abandoned Starbucks drink from earlier that morning. She tilted the screen towards her to scan her messages, mostly expecting to see Gabbie blowing up Jada's phone. Tatum herself has already received a few texts from Caitlin, AJ, and Kate.

They were told to what wear the Iowa colorblocked sweatshirts as a team to show out at the football game, so Tatum had no idea what was taking Jada so long.

To her surprise, Jada's only notifications were from social media. "There's nothing!"

"Really?" There was a loud rustling of small containers. "Okay, I think I'm done."

Jada walked out and Tatum instantly frowned. "Jades, honey, you're wearing the wrong sweatshirt."

"I am?" Jada looked down at her body. "Oh crud," she said as she sprinted back into her room.

"Did you just say 'crud'? Who the hell our age says that?"

"I do!"

"Well don't," the junior snickered.

"You're just a hater," Jada told her as she rushed back out from her bedroom. "Okay now I'm ready. I literally forgot I hadn't changed into this sweatshirt so thank you."

"Yeah, I saved your ass." Tatum swiped her keys off the counter as she followed Jada out the door, laughing at her. "And to think, you're out here calling me a hater."

"Don't worry I forgave you instantly."

Tatum waved her hands in front of her, like she was about to raise her hands in worship, "Well thank God."

The girls were headed to the football game to acknowledge their journey last season and to promote their exhibition game that they would playing in that exact stadium. Bluder liked to call it the Kinnick crossover.

Jada and Tatum walked into Carver Arena to get their Final Four rings, discovering that some of their teammates were already there, along with a camera operator to document their reactions.

By the time everyone arrived, Coach Bluder was able to tell all the girls about their highly-anticipated gifts of memorabilia. Their Big Ten championship and Final Four rings were handed out and some of the older girls joked about being able to add to their collection.

Kate had fully disregarded the display case for the Final Four rings, instantly sliding it onto her hand.

"One, two, three, four," Kate counted her ring-cladded fingers. The camera zoomed in on her upon her bragging to Tatum sitting across from her. She instantly got shy at the sight of its attention being redirected from Caitlin.

"She got that bling on her!" Taylor joked.

"Studded up," Tatum whooped, joining in.