Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason woke up to the sound of his alarm blasting some J. Cole. He got up and walked over to his phone to turn off the alarm.

As he held his phone he noticed that he had a few missed calls from Coach Swendel \'Why would Coach be calling me so late?

Oh, last night was the first game huh? He probably tried to call me after the game finished. I bet he didn\'t actually think that the Bulls would win.\'

He tossed his phone on to his bed before letting out a yawn \'I don\'t think it\'s anything urgent. I\'ll just talk to Coach Swendel after morning practice.\'

After getting cleaned up and dressed Jason grabbed a few handfuls of protein bars and stuffed them into his backpack before meeting up with Kyle in front of the apartment complex.

Kyle yawned before fist bumping Jason "Sup dude." Jason chuckled as he returned the gesture "Not much considering that the days just started."

He then sleepily rubbed his eyes before looking at Jason "You look better now. A goodnight of sleep help to clear your head?"

Jason shook his head smiling "Nah, you might be surprised but Coach Swendel can actually act like an adult every once in a while.

After we talked it helped me work a few things out in my head. Now let\'s get going, don\'t want to be late for morning practice."

The two boys talked as they rode their skateboards to school. After about fifteen minutes the boys arrived at Jefferson as they joined the rest of their teammates from the varsity team for morning practice.

After Jason walked out of the locker room in his practice gear Sam rushed up to him "Morning Jaya, have you seen the video yet?"

Jason had a confused look on his face as he turned to his head to the right where Kyle was standing "Video?"

Kyle shrugged his shoulders "No idea bro. Since you stayed behind to get a few more shots up I decided to treat myself a bit and played Glorious Dungeon for like five hours straight."

Jason shook his head as he smiled weakly "You and your games bro." He then turned his attention back to Sam.

"Sorry, me and Kyle are a little out of the loop like always. What video are you talking about?" Sam flipped his phone around to show Jason.

"It was posted late last night on the student\'s forum of the school website. Judging from the number of views that it already has I would say that just about everyone at the school has seen it at this point."

Jason was shocked as soon as the video loaded up. On the screen was Karla, and judging by the ruined makeup on her face and how red her eyes were she had just finished a serious round of crying.

She rubbed her eyes and sniffled a bit before speaking "I-I want to apologize sniffles I-I never meant to lie to everyone.

And I never planned for anyone to get hurt. B-but because of my stupid decisions I ended up lying not only to everyone at school but to someone that I really wanted to get to know.

Sniffles I-I made up the rumors about me and Jaya. We were never anything more than partners in a group project.

But I manipulated him and others to make everyone else believe that we were something more than that.

I know that what I did was stupid and that it\'s impossible to make up for it. But I just want to clear out the rumors so that I don\'t bother anyone else more than I already have.

Even though it\'s too late to ask for forgiveness I still want to apologize. I really am s-sorry sobs."

Jason sighed as the video came to an end \'Shit, even though she did me dirty seeing her like that doesn\'t make me the least bit happy.

Even if you didn\'t watch the video you could tell just from listening to her voice that she had been crying up a storm before she started recording.\'

The more he thought about Karla and the video that she had posted the more he thought about the talk that he had with Coach Swendel.

\'And while it might not have meant anything to you try to cut the girl some slack will you?

I know that you don\'t care about popularity Jaya, and you probably think that people who do care about it are vain or immature.

But she\'s an 8th grader. Most kids at your age care a lot about what their peers think. Social image is something that can even ruin some kids\' lives.\'

Jason slapped the sides of his face with both hands in an attempt to shake off all the negative emotions that had started to sprout up.

He then turned towards all of the boys before shouting "Alright guys! Let\'s get this practice started! We only have a few games left on our schedule and I\'ll be damned if we mess up our perfect record now!"

Morning practice was as hard as usual as Jason pushed himself and all the others to their limits. After practice was done Coach Swendel pulled Jason aside to his office as soon as he had changed out of his practice jersey.

After Coach Swendel slammed the door shut Jason laughed "Haha What\'s up Coach? Does this have anything to do with you trying to call me in the middle of the night?"

Coach Swendel was sweating bullets as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He turned it on and flipped it around to show Jason.

"We woooon!!!!" Jason saw that the current number of funds available in Coach Swendel\'s betting account was now at 2,500 dollars.

He had originally given Coach Swendel 500 dollars to bet on the Bulls last night. Jason scratched his head nonchalantly.

"So the bulls were plus 500 last night huh? That\'s good for us. Thanks to those odds we were able to make 500 dollars for every 100 that we bet."

Coach Swendel grabbed Jason by the shoulders and began to shake him "H-how did you know!? How did you know that the Bulls would win last night!?"

Jason felt a wave of mischievousness fall upon him as he got the urge to act like one of the anime characters from Kyle\'s favorite series. 

He shook off Coach Swendel\'s grip and took a seat in one of the chairs that he had set up in his office.

Jason lifted his right leg as he crossed it over his left. He then raised his hand up to his face to cover it partially.

He then began to laugh evilly, or as evilly as he could considering his teenaged vocal cords. He then looked at Coach Swendel.

"When it comes to things about basketball there isn\'t much that I don\'t know. These eyes don\'t just see things unfolding on the court that I play on.

They can see through the vale that covers courts all around the world. And now you will help me use these eyes to make me and yourself even more money."