Rebound: A 2nd Chance

As the days passed by Jason and the rest of the Jefferson team would play in three more games. But this time around they played a little differently compared to their first four games.

Instead of Jason and the rest of the starters only playing up to the third quarter they had them play for extensive periods of time and only subbed the bench players in for short stretches.

Not only did the larger amount of minutes mean that the opposing team would play longer stretches of time against the starters.

The unpredictability of their minutes rotation was almost to the point of being torturous for the opposing teams.

Not knowing for how long they would have to play against the starters coupled with wondering how long the bench players would be in the game for added another level of stress to Jefferson's competition.

The longer minutes also allowed Jason to post stats that were even more absurd than the stats that he had been putting up in his previous games.

In one game Jason was allowed to score at will as the opposing team focused on defending the other players as they defended him with just a single defender.

Jason would end up posting a season high of 47 points as he scored in every way possible against that team.

Jason made his defender look silly as he made him dance with his large arsenal of dribble moves. Crossovers, spin moves, behind the back, he showed off his ball handling capabilities as his defender just couldn't stick with him.

He also scored a large portion of his points by getting himself open off of screens as he dashed through the court.

Despite his defenders best efforts Jason's timing for running off of screens was just too much as he found himself cutting to the basket as well getting himself open for the three ball.

In the next game the team they were playing against tried to lock in on Jason by throwing multiple defenders at him.

However that just allowed him to showcase his playmaking and passing ability as he found the open man every time.

That would end up being the game where he posted a new career high with a staggering 16 assist. Combined with his 22 points Jefferson ended up with another dominant win.

But the third game would end up being the most demoralizing for Jefferson's competition as Jason would record his second double double of the season.

But not with assist or rebounds. That game Jason was so aggressive and locked in on defense that he would finish the game with 12 steals.

It seemed like it was almost every other possession that Jason would strip the ball away or poke it free from the other team.

Whether it was from jumping passing lanes, reading the opposing team's play ahead of time, sneaking behind an unsuspecting ball handler, or just plain out ripping it away from his defensive assignment.

Jason was just a flat out demon on that side of the ball as the other team simply couldn't run their offense properly because of him.

And even with such amazing performances his online haters still found ways to criticize and complain about him.

At first they were talking about how disrespectful it was that Jason would only play up to the half or maybe up to the 3rd quarter.

But now they were saying that he was bullying and beating up on weaker competition and that all he was doing was stat padding.

It seemed like no matter what he did he just couldn't win as people online and even some media outlets continued to speak negatively on Jason and the team.

For some people that would have been enough to demoralize them or chip away at their confidence.

But for Jason this was exactly what he wanted. Even if they didn't like him or the team by speaking about them all they were doing was getting their name out there even more.

And with Jason setting the tone for the rest of the team they grew accustomed to all of the negative attention that came with the positive attention that they received.

- - -

Monday after school. Jason was on stage as he practiced his lines with Samantha as they were surrounded by a few kids dressed up as farmers.

On the side of the stage were two boys who were checking on the props and other set pieces.

One of the boys was fairly tall for his age at 5'7 (1.7m) and he had wavy sand blonde hair and a tan while the other was shorter at around 5'5 (1.65m) with a bronze sun kissed complexion and short black hair.

The shorter boy ground his teeth as he looked at Jason standing close to Samantha "He already has everything! Why the fuck does he need to take this too!"

The blonde haired boy looked over at Jason "Who're you talking about bro? You mean Jaya?" The shorter boy slapped the box that they were next to.

"Of course I'm talking about that asshole Cody! Who else would I be talking about?" Cody pushed his hair to the side and out of his eyes.

"My bad West. I was like, kinda confused for a sec. Cause uh, I don't remember Jaya stealing or taking anything.

Is something like, missing or whatever?" West face palmed before turning his attention from Jason to Cody "Are you really that slow or are you just messing with me Cody?

I'm talking about the lead role! He's already the star of the basketball team, the most popular guy in the school if not the city, and now he took the lead role from me!

And why the hell do you talk like that!? You live in the fucking Inland Empire but sound like some prehistoric surfer from a old ass movie!"

Cody's eyes opened wide "Bro, you like totally need to chillax. Jaya's playing the lead role cause like Sammy and Boss lady asked him too.

They want to get more dudes and dudets to join the drama club so like, we won't shut down this year. And why're you bagging on the way I talk?

I can't help it. Both of my parents were pro surfers and they loved old movies with surfers in em. I think they were from Malibu but like either way I think it's pretty rad."

West took a deep breathe "You're right Cody. That was my bad. I didn't mean to talk shit about you. This whole thing with Jason just makes me super pissed."

Cody walked over and patted him on the back "It's cool dude. We've been friends for way too long for me to get bummed out by that.

But you should really chill it with your beef with Jaya. If you think about it he's the one that's like doing us a solid bro.

He's probably busy enough as it is shredding up other teams and practicing. I heard from Sammy that he has to practice his lines with her after he gets home."

Cody's words infuriated West as he kicked the box that they were standing next to. Unfortunately for him there seemed to have been something hard in there as all he accomplished was hurting himself.

He hobbled as his right foot pulsed with pain "Ow ow ow. Fuck! What did you say? Samantha goes to his place to practice their lines!?"

Not knowing what was wrong with he had just said Cody nodded his head "Yeah. Sammy told me last week while I was helping her with her props.

After Jason finishes basketball practice they head back to his place and like practice their lines for a bit. Kinda makes sense if you think about it dude.

Brosif only gets thirty minutes to go over his lines before he has to head to basketball practice. Gotta get more than that if you want to memorize a whole script."

West glared at Jason while his attention was on Samantha as the two of them rehearsed "That's it! I don't care if this stupid club shuts down this year!

I have to get that shit stain out of here! I only joined this stupid club to get closer to Sammy anyways."

Cody gulped "I don't know dude. I feel like dudette would be suuuper pissed at you if she found out that you did something to mess with the play.

And besides, what could you possibly to do make the dude want to quit? If you're planning on throwing hands with him you can count me out.

Jaya managed to fight against like 8 guys in the bathroom. Who knows what he would do to us? Not to mention that everyone at the school knows that broham has some serious connections.

Forget about the thugs that are cool with him. You heard about what happened to the dudes that jumped him in the bathroom.

A bunch of kids from our school and even other schools went out to fuck their asses up!" After hearing what Cody had said West went silent.

He knew that his friend was right. If he wanted to fight Jason he knew that even if Cody helped him they would probably end up getting the beating instead.

And trying to find other kids that wanted to join up and help him would be even harder as just about all the other boys looked up to Jason and respected him.

But as he watched Jason in his vampire costume with fake blood dripping down the side of his cheek an idea popped into his head.

He smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone "I have an idea Cody. Why should we get our hands dirty when we can have other people do it for us? Hehehe"