Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Everyone's attention turned to the doors of the gym as soon as they heard the voice. Standing at the entrance was an interestingly dressed Rudy.

He was dressed in grey sweatpants and a gray hoodie. Normally that wouldn't be all that interesting. But Rudy's gray hoodie also had different manga panels from various different series.

But that wasn't all. His high top sneakers were bright white around the body with a solid black tongue in the middle.

He also had on a white headband that had a Ying Yang symbol in the middle along with small red Oni horns that stuck out on the sides.

With his sports bag slung over his shoulders he paused for a moment before waving at the guys "Yo. Did I miss out on something?"

Jason turned back around to walk away from Monty. He then put up a peace sign toward Rudy with his usual cold face.

"Sup man. You didn't miss out on much. Just short lesson on how to beat the brakes off of shit talkers."

Rudy was silent for a second as he processed what Jason said. Then he took a quick look around. A moment later it was like a the pieces finally clicked together for Rudy as he began to laugh.

"Hahaha! You cooking dudes up before the camp even starts? You a different level of savage man hahaha!"

Monty's face contorted in anger as he rushed out to catch up to Jason who had walked back to his group.

While Jason was facing away from him he reached out to grab Jason's shoulder. But before he could grab on to him he felt someone else grab on to his wrist.

Without him realizing it Kyle had moved his tall and thin frame to his side. Kyle had a scowl on his face "Leave it alone Monty."

Monty moved his head up slightly in order to look Kyle straight in the eyes "You feelin tough huh? You best get out my face bruh. Or do I have to remind yo light skin ass how to act?"

He then shook his arm in an attempt to free himself from Kyle's grasp. To his surprise his wrist was still locked in Kyle's hand.

Kyle stared Monty down "I know that your dark skinned and I know that I'm light skinned. But I also know that you want to mess with my friend.

So I can't get out of your face until you decide to just walk away." Monty was caught off guard. His mouth opened and closed a few times without him being able to form a word.

The awkward silence was broken by Rudy's laughter and voice "Hahaha you might want to take your black air force energy somewhere else Monty.

Jaya Don't look like it but he got some real connections bro. Some of my OGs know a couple of his people and they for real bout that life."

Monty hesitated for a moment "I-I don't give a fuck. I'm from H-Town man, you think you can scare me with something like that?"

Rudy laughed again before answering "Yo that shit might work on people that don't know you but you can't pull that shit on me Monty.

I don't get why you always gotta act like you from The Tre or The Nickel. You from River Oaks my guy.

You ain't gotta get your fam out the hood bro. Your granddaddy did that shit for you hahaha!" Monty, Jig, and Stax both went quiet after hearing Rudy say that.

After a moment Monty opened his mouth "Fuck it! This shit ain't worth our time. Let's head out." Monty turned as he tried to lead his guys out of the gym.

But after taking a step he stopped. He turned around and saw that Kyle was still holding on to his wrist.

The vein on his head looked like it was on the verge of busting open "Why the hell you still grabbin up on me bruh!?"

Kyle's eyes went wide after he realized that he was still holding on to Monty's wrist. He let go "I-I'm sor-"

Before he could finish what he was going to say Monty turned around and lead Jig and Stax out of the gym.

After they left Mojo and Mike awkwardly looked at each other and then at the other guys that were still in the gym.

Mojo put up an awkward smile "Hehe well.... Umm... Good game y'all." The two of them then left through the doors of the gym. 

After everyone from the Texas team had left Danilo and Alex ran to Kyle. Danilo slapped him hard on the back as he smiled.

"Damn Kyle! That was so badass bro!" Alex nodded his head as he nudged Kyle in the side with his elbow.

"Totally badass bro. You stared the dude straight in the eyes and said 'Leave it alone Monty.' Hahaha I thought I was watching a movie for a second."

Kyle laughed before scratching the back of his head "Hahaha was it really that badass? I couldn't tell honestly. My body just kinda moved on it's ow-"

As he was trying to finish his sentence his legs wobbled before giving out on him. Luckily Danilo and Alex were close by.

The two of them caught him before he could fall. Kyle laughed as he looked at his trembling legs "I knew something was off.

I was wondering where all my fear went. For a second I thought that I was finally starting to learn how to be brave."

Danilo and Alex helped Kyle as they set him down on one of the benches in the gym. Jason sat down next to Kyle and gave him a thumbs up.

"You're wrong Kyle. You are changing and you are getting braver. Being brave doesn't mean that there's nothing that scares you.

Being brave means being able to do what you think is right despite your fear. Bravery is the act of action in the face of fear, not the lack of it."

Kyle was silent for a moment. Then he began to murmur Jason's words back to himself "Bravery is the act of action in the face of fear, not the lack of it."

He then turned to Jason and put his arm over his shoulder as he pulled him into a bro hug. He then began to ruffle Jason's hair.

"For someone with such a mean face you say some of the corniest movie type stuff you know that?" 

Jason had his usual cold face as he pretended to struggle "This is what I get for trying to cheer you up? Man, my karma must be off wack."

Their touching moment was interrupted by Rudy's laugh "Hahaha damn bro. That was such a anime thing to say.

You almost sounded like an MC for a second. For a full score you should have mentioned how you would have his back no matter how many Admirals tried to keep you from breaking him out."

Everyone almost fell to the floor after hearing Rudy's tone deaf comment. Jason sighed heavily before face palming.

'I feel like he's a good guy but he just has his head screwed on wrong. I hope I'm right.'