Rebound: A 2nd Chance

The sound of music mixed with the busy chatter as the crowded bleachers were packed. All of the people in attendance were watching and cheering on the players who were currently playing.

Jasmine lead the boys as they walked through the gates of the park. Immediately their eyes went to the courts as they saw a familiar face.

Jason had the ball in his hands as he crossed half court. The crowds cheering got louder as he walked toward the three point line.

But only a portion of the cheers seemed to be for Jason as the others yelled out "Lock him down Trae!" "Defense! Defense!"

The defender in front of Jason seemed to be a young adult probably in his early twenties. He clapped his hands before getting into a defensive stance "What you got?!"

Jason began to rhythm dribble bringing to ball to the left and then to the right. Despite the slow speed of the dribbling the defender was clearly nervous as sweat trickled down the side of his face.

Out of nowhere Jason suddenly exploded to the right as he quickly did a crossover bringing the ball from his left to his right hand.

The defender slid his feet as he gave chase to Jason. But before they could make contact Jason came to a stop with a hesitation move.

The hesitation move caused the defender to freeze right in his tracks as he tried to ready himself for Jason's next move.

He saw Jason raising his head and looking toward the hoop. It looked like Jason was going to get into his shooting motion so the defender rushed toward him with his hand up in order to contest the shot.

Unfortunately for him he had fallen for Jason's head fake. As the defender rushed toward him Jason simply bounced the ball through his legs before moving past him.

After making his way around the defender Jason caught the ball and began to attack the paint as he sliced through the middle of the court.

One of the other defenders ended up leaving his assignment open in the corner as he made his way to Jason in order to try and contain him.

The two of them made contact just as Jason had stepped past the free throw line. But with a quick spin move Jason managed to lose the defender.

As the defender continued to go right Jason had spun to the left. As he finished his rotation Jason found himself facing the basket as he threw up an open floater.

The spin move got the crowd excited but after he made the floater is when the entire crowd jumped to their feet and started clapping.

A deep voice boomed out from the speakers at the park "Young Buckets with anotha one! The score is 6 to 3. First to 11 wins."

Jasmine turned to the boys "Make sure you stick with me." The boys nodded their heads as they followed Jasmine as she walked further in to the park.

Standing in front of the bleachers was a large and round man who had a microphone in his hand. Jasmine walked up to him.

"Yo Mr. Green. How you doin? I hate to bother you while you doin yo thang but I had a quick question."

Mr. Green took a towel out of his back pocket and wiped the sweat off of his smooth bald head before turning to Jasmine with a big smile on his face.

"Ay Jazz! Been a minute since you dropped by. Don't worry bout botherin me. You know I always got time for New York's princess."

Jasmine continued "I wanted to ask you about the Asian kid that's playing right now. He's actually a friend of mines that came in from California.

I thought that tonight was only for the regulars? How did he manage to get a spot in a game?" Mr. Green shrugged his shoulders.

"The kid walked up to me out of nowhere. You know for a fact that I was confused like nobodies business.

I damn near thought that I was havin a fever dream. Ain't no Asian kids about to be walking through this part of Harlem this late at night.

But what the kid had to say next confused me ever more. He looked at those full grown dudes on the court and asked me 'How do I get in?'

I dropped the mic on my foot after hearin him say that! I was like 'Boy! Don't you see that it ain't kiddy time? These is full grown men playin tonight. Your twig of a body would snap as soon as you stepped in.'

He just shook his head and told me not to worry about him. He kept asking about getting into a game but I told him that tonight was for locals and regulars only.

I told him if he wanted to play then his best bet would be to come back tomorrow and try to get into a game during the afternoon.

Lil dude wouldn't take no for an answer. Just as I was runnin out of different ways to say no RJ and his boys pulled up.

I thought that lil dude was in trouble because RJ don't ever get involved unless it's his business. But surprisingly RJ just asked the kid for his name.

After the kid introduced himself RJ nodded his head and looked at me. Now my ass was the one that was scared.

I thought that RJ would start talkin crazy but all he said was to let the lil guy get a spot in a game. You know me, I ain't tryin to play no games with Jesus. Nuh uh, nope, not today, not me.

So I ended up givin the kid a spot in the next game. So if you want to know more I would ask RJ. He's with his boys up on the bleachers."

Jazmine felt a headache coming on as she listened to Mr. Green finish what he had to say 'This don't sound good. What the fuck does RJ got to do with this?'