Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Two weeks passed by in the blink of an eye. During which Jason and the rest of the team made more appearances on Through the Hoops.

After the first episode Jason's response had garnered a lot of attention online. The comments posted were a mixture of different opinions.

ChristianWu_000: Tell em Jaya! I love the confidence. Because of you I found the fire in me to join my high schools basketball team. #JV#Drake# Started from thebottom

BigBenDPOY: @ChristianWu_000 Congrats bro! Stay on the grind!

BrandonDuhGOAT: @JasonYang Talk your **** Young Buckets! We shooting for a national title this year! Jefferson all the way!

GKennedy: He really had one hell of a glow up! If I was still in middle school I would totally try and get his number lol.

JayasBiggestfan: @GKennedy Back off ****. And what do you mean by glow up? He looks the same as he did last year. The only thing that changed was his height. Someone needs to get their grandma off of the internet smh

GKennedy: @JayasBiggestfan Who are you calling grandma you brat!? I'm just starting my senior year of high school.

LameloTheGoat: @JasonYang You tell em Jaya! Jefferson gonna lift up that National trophy this year! I'm calling it now.

CertifiedCaliBaller: Look at all these delusional people in the comments haha I almost died from all the laughing I did.

KDstillAsnake: @CertifiedCaliBaller Delusional is an understatement bro. All these pretty boy fans need to be admitted to a coocoo house lol

RodricGetsBuckets: How they hell are they even going to make it to Nationals when this pretty boy is made of glass lol

He'll probably end up breaking his legs trying to sit down on the bench during the stat tournament hahaha

RIPYoungDripT__T: I think that the state title is a pretty realistic goal imo. But I don't know about Nationals.

CooperDaHooper: @RIPYoungDripT__T Same. With the addition of the Silva twins Jefferson's starting lineup is pretty stacked.

But their roster is too top heavy. I don't think they have a bench good enough to push them far at Nationals.

A lot of people were confident that Jason and the varsity team would win their scrimmage but a lot of people thought that Jason was being cocky in saying that their junior varsity team would win as well.

But after the next week's episode that showed the results of the scrimmages aired all of the doubters were forced to shut their mouths.

Darnell606: Yo I dig little dudes energy. He was hyped and yellin the whole ass game haha.

MendozaOG: @Darnell606 Nah bro. Dude was hella goofy for that. Like bruh, sit yo ass down you doing too much.

Road2Glory24: @MendozaOG Bruh you talking bout he doing too much you doing too little. Was you even paying attention to the episode?

Jaya was literally calling out defensive switches and rotations. He was being a whole ass coach from the sidelines smh

- - -

Friday afternoon. Sam, David, Frank, and Donte were sitting at the lunch tables with a few of the other 7th graders.

David turned to Sam who was in the middle of eating his packed lunch "So tomorrows the first official game of the season.

How are you feeling? Are you excited?" Sam took a sip from his plastic bag of chocolate milk that he had gotten from the cafeteria.

"Of course I'm excited for the team. But I don't think I'll get any playing time. The only reason I got to play in the scrimmage was because Jaya wanted to piss of the trolls online."

Frank took a huge bite out of his pizza before responding "Don't say that man. You got to play because Jaya thought you deserved to.

You know how he is. Sure he had a plan to annoy his haters but he always puts winning and the team first.

If he didn't care about who would play he could have put any other bench player in." Donte didn't say a word but he nodded his head in response to Frank's words.

David looked at Donte with a weird look on his face "Not to be mean or anything but uhh... Do you ever talk Donte?"

Donte nodded his head once again before taking a bite out of his slice of cheese pizza. Sam laughed.

"He's always like that bro. He doesn't really say much. The only person who can get him to really talk is Jaya."

Frank smiled as he nodded his head "He never says anything during morning practice or afternoon practice.

But whenever he has a chance he always walks up to Jaya and starts talking to him. I guess Jaya is just that special."

David turned to Donte and asked "Really? I just can't imagine it. What do you and Jaya talk about?" Donte looked up as he shifted his attention away from his food to David.

"Basketball." He then went back to eating. Donte's short answer made everyone laugh. Sam smiled as he looked at Donte "You know what?

Even though me and Jaya are both Asian I think that Donte is the most similar one to him. The both of you always have the same face on no matter what."

Frank and David both laughed as they heard Sam's joke. The boys continued to talk and laugh as they ate their lunch.

- - -

After school was over Jason and all of the boys changed in to their official Nike sponsored jerseys before getting on the bus.

Today would be their very first official game of the season. From now on all of the games would affect their record and standing.

All of the players that had just joined the team this year were slightly nervous. Well, except for a few. Some of them bit their nails while some of them put their earbuds in trying to get rid of their nerves with some music.

The bus ride was only about twenty-five minutes long as the middle school that they were going to play against was also in Riverside city.

As the bus came to a stop in the school's parking lot all of the boys were quiet. Kyle looked around at all of the boys.

He then nudged Jason with his elbow before leaning in and whispering "Yo Jaya. Looks like some of the new guys have first game jitters. You should say something as team captain."

Jason thought about it for a second before nodding his head "You're right Kyle. Thanks for the reminder.

Guess I'm still lacking when it comes to being team captain. It's times like this where I miss UD the most. He made it look so easy, he always knew what to say and when to say it."

As they were all seated Jason, who was sitting at the back of the bus, stood up and looked at all of the boys with his usual deadpan look on his face. He clapped his hands together to get the boys' attention.

"Today's the day where we play our first official game of the season. You might be excited and you might be nervous. But I want you guys to remember one thing."

Jason paused for a moment as all of the boys' eyes were on him. He then cracked a small smile "We are the reigning county champions.

We are the team that managed to make it to the top eight of the state tournament. But the most important thing is that we are Jefferson!

That means that we always play hard and with heart. We leave everything out on the court whenever we step it. So I don't want to see anyone taking it easy!

It doesn't matter if you play thirty minutes or thirty seconds. I want to see you guys playing with everything you have when you're out on the court."

Jason's words seemed to have had an affect as all of the boys' began to look more focused and spirited. They then began to walk off the bus as they made their way to the inside of the school's gym.