Rebound: A 2nd Chance

A few days later Jason and Kyle were sitting at their usual spot during lunch with some of the other boys on the team.

They were excited to finally have a free weekend. A lot of their recent games had either been on Fridays or Saturdays.

But this week they played two games back to back as they played them on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But not only did they not have a game today, considering how well the team had been playing and how much effort they showed in both practice and games both Coach Swendel and Jason had decided to give the guys a day off.

This was the first Friday that they had had so far this year where they didn't have to go to early morning practice or after school practice.

Jason was chatting with Kyle and the rest of the guys while inhaling the food from the two trays that he had picked up from the cafeteria line.

Kyle excitedly showed a clip on his phone "They got the angle just right! You can see the dunk perfectly bro!"

Vince laughed "I can't believe you two actually did that in the middle of an actual game. An off the glass alley-oop? And you didn't just slam it in. You did a fucking two handed tomahawk!"

Kyle smiled "I have to thank Jaya for this sweet highlight. He put the ball in just the right spot." Jason swallowed the food that was in his mouth before looking up at Kyle.

"Bro, all I did was toss the ball. I didn't expect you to throw down a dunk like that. You should be thanking your crazy bounce instead of me."

Matt chuckled "You brought the ball so far back I thought you were trying to scratch your back with it Kyle. I don't know if there's another middle schooler alive that can dunk the way you do."

DJ smiled as he nodded his head "Matt's right. I don't think I've ever seen another kid our age jump the way you do Kyle.

Not only can you jump high but you make it look so effortless. And you're so fucking quick at getting off the ground.

You barely have to load up or anything. Didn't the sports scientist over at Nike say that you broke a record or something?"

As they were all laughing and having a good time Nick saw something as he was playing around on his phone.

An ugly expression shifted on to his face as he passed his phone over to Jason "Not to kill the mood or anything but I think you should see this Jaya."

He took the phone from Nick and pressed play. The smiles on everyone's faces turned in to solemn looks as they gazed at the video that was playing on Nick's phone.

On the screen you could clearly see Jason as he wore a long dark cape with fake blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth.

"What have I done? Maybe they were right all along. I am a monster, a plague upon this world who has allowed his hunger for blood overtake the yearnings of my own heart.

I am but a wretched animal! Nay! I am a savage beast for whom none else matters except for my own desire to feed!"

It was a video of Jason practicing his scenes in costume after school. Judging from the angle it was taken from the front of the school's indoor amphitheater.

After the video played Jason went over to the comments. The video had been up for less than a few hours but it already had over five thousand views.

The high view count was most likely because of all the tags that were on the video #JasonYang #Jaya #ThroughTheHoops##YoungBuckets 

There were more but Jason had stopped paying attention after the first few 'Looks like someone really wants people to see this.'

Not only were there a ton of comments talking about the video but it had even started to blow up on social media.

LameloTheGoat: Haha. Ngl it was pretty funny to see Jaya acting like this. I didn't realize until today how perfect he is to play a vampire lol

BigBenDPOY: @LameloTheGoat Right? I feel like we only ever get to see the serious Jaya that's a killer on the court. Seeing like this was pretty refreshing.

RodricGetsBuckets: I knew there was something wrong with the kid as soon as I saw him. No wonder no one wanted to listen to him last year. Dude is a theater kid fruit cake lmao

If someone like that tried to tell me what to do I would smack the **** outta him and tell him to put his little costume back on #FruitCake #Pansy #Jaya 

MendozaOG: This the kid everyone was hyped about? Bet y'all feel real stupid right now huh? Haha at least the guy found somewhere where he belongs LMAO

Suns4Life: @JasonYang This why you got knocked out early at the state tournament my guy. Shoulda spent more time polishing your game and working out instead of dressing up and playin pretend XD #FakeBaller #Poser #TakingItEasy

ChristianWu_000: I honestly don't get why all of you are hating on the kid for doing something other than basketball.

If you've watched a single episode of Through the Hoops you would know that Jaya is the definition of a workhorse with how much time he spends training and practicing.

Are you telling me that just because we got to see a glimpse of what he does when he's not working on his game all of a sudden he's a slacker now?

I don't know if you guys know this but it's literally impossible to spend all your time in the gym. Hell, just the amount of time that Jaya already spends training and practicing is insane smh.

Although there was a mixture of positive and supportive comments the large number of negative comments directed at Jason infuriated the rest of the guys.

DJ slammed his fist on to the table "What the fuck do those dickheads know!? They talking hella shit right now but I bet they wouldn't a word to Jaya's face."

Kyle ground his teeth as a ferocious expression covered his face "Why the fuck do they care so much about what Jaya does on his free time!?

And being in the drama club and playing a role in a play makes you fruity? What kind of sense does that make?"

As everyone was seething with anger they turned to Jason expecting to see him boiling over with rage. But to their surprise all they heard was laughter.

A strange feeling swept over the boys as they watched Jason laughing with a huge grin plastered across his face as he took screenshots of the comments on Nick's phone.

Kyle asked "Uh... You okay bro? What are you doing?" Jason turned to face Kyle as the grin remained on his face.

"Oh, I'm just taking some screenshots so that I can send them to my phone." Matt looked over at him with a confused expression on his face "Why though?"

He had just sent the screenshots to his phone as it began to vibrate in his pocket "This shit is great! This is what I was looking for!"

Instead of providing clarity Jason's answer just worked to confuse the boys even more. Jason's hands were shaking as he handed the phone back to Nick.

"I had to make sure that I got the screenshots before those cornballs deleted them. I want to be able to see them whenever I want.

This is the first time that I've felt like this." Jason pointed at his heart "I can feel it bro! Those comments lit one hell of a fire in here!"

This was the first time where the amount of negative comments were almost the same as the amount of positive comments.

Jason's hands were shaking as he held them out in front of him "I honestly don't know how the fuck I'm supposed to get through the rest of the day guys.

I feel so fucking hyped right now I just wan to hit the gym!" To Jason this was an unexpected jackpot that he had hit!

He didn't think that helping Samantha out with the drama club would yield more results compared to everything else he had done so far this season.

Compared to trash talking Zhaire, letting the bench players play major minutes, and then switching it up by playing the starters a large majority of the minutes, this whole thing with the drama club was trending way more.

But not only did this video of him practicing his lines create a story that would help to get their name out there even more.

All of the negative comments had actually helped to fire him up in a way that he had only experienced a few times before in his past life.

All of the boys were stunned as they watched Jason behave this way for the very first time. He had always been the type to be the first one in and last one out at the gym.

But this level of motivation was completely new to them. They all gulped as they shared one collective thought.

They all felt bad for the next few teams that they would have to play against. Even without having seen him step on a court they knew that their next few opponents would have the misfortune of experiencing a version of Jason that no one had yet to see.