Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason ended up missing class on Monday as he stayed in the hospital. Luckily after three days of observation the doctors discharged Jason with a clean bill of health.

Jason had wanted to try using the Recovery Boost function but he decided against it. He wasn\'t sure if the concussion would fall under the umbrella of things that the Recovery Boost function could heal and he didn\'t want to waste any of his points.

Tuesday Morning. Jason slept through most of Mr. Rivera\'s class. Kyle only woke him up when the teacher started passing out a pop quiz. Jason glanced at the quiz and casually filled it out.

At the end of class Jason packed up his stuff and dropped off his quiz at the teacher\'s table on his way out.

Kyle walked next to Jason as they made their way to their next class. Kyle looked at Jason and shook his head "I don\'t know how you do it man. You always sleep in class, you never study, and you still manage to ace the quiz."

Jason asked "How do you know I aced the quiz?" Kyle smiled before pushing up an imaginary pair of glasses "You underestimate me. I saw your answers on the way out. And you had the same answers as me."

Jason rolled his eyes "And just because I have the same answers as you that means I aced the test? Maybe both of us failed the quiz."

Kyle laughed "I\'m a straight A student so there\'s no way I would ever fail a quiz. Besides that quiz was too easy. I didn\'t even need to power up into my next form!"

Jason could feel the attention of everyone gathering on him and Kyle. Kyle didn\'t seem to notice it though as he continued to pretend to charge up his energy.

Jason nudged Kyle in the side with his elbow "What are you doing? Everyone\'s starting to look man."

Kyle looked at Jason "You don\'t know what this is? You don\'t watch anime? And why would you care if everyone is looking? You were the one who told me not to care what other people think."

Jason couldn\'t refute what Kyle said. He did say that. Jason shook his head "Yeah you got a point I guess. But to answer your question no I don\'t watch anime."

Kyle stopped mid sentence "But you\'re As-" He hesitated to finish. Jason jumped in "What? Asian? That don\'t mean I watch anime. You\'re black Kyle but you didn\'t play basketball until you met me. Tell me do you listen to hip-hop?"

Kyle shook his head "You got a point Jason. But you should watch anime. It\'s so good! Magic Girl Squad just came out with a new season!"

Jason smiled "Alright man. You started playing basketball because I asked you to. I can give anime a shot if you really want me to."

Kyle put one of his arms over Jason\'s shoulder and hugged him in excitement "Yes! If you really get into it I can even add you to my online group."

They were still halfway to the classroom when Jason felt something bump into his side. He turned his head and saw a familiar face "Oh. Hey Sammy."

Kyle turned and was about to say hello to Samantha but then he saw her face "Y-You know what Jason. I forgot that I had something to ask the teacher. I\'ll go on ahead." He quickly walked away.

Jason noticed that Samantha looked upset "Sup Sammy. Something wrong? You don\'t look too happy."

Samantha pouted "I don\'t look happy huh? Maybe it\'s because I was supposed to work on a project with someone but then that person ignored all of my calls and texts the whole weekend!?"

Jason smacked himself in the forehead. The entire time he was in the hospital he felt like he was forgetting something. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn\'t remember what it was.

He had forgotten about the English project that he was supposed to do with Samantha. Jason apologized "Sorry Sammy. That was completely my bad. I totally forgot about the project."

Samantha felt a little better after hearing Jason apologize but she was still upset "The project is one thing. What makes me more upset is that the friend that I was so worried about couldn\'t even take a second to text or call me.

I saw your interview on the news but after that I didn\'t hear anything else. I was worrying about if something happened when all of a sudden I see Kyle post a picture of him and the other guys with you at the hospital."

Jason stood there awkwardly scratching the back of his head "I really am sorry Sammy. I\'m not going to lie I forgot about you. And that makes me a really shitty friend. If there\'s anything I can do to make it up I\'ll try my best to fix this."

Samantha finally smiled after hearing Jason say that "You\'re the one who said it so you better not try to back out." Jason was surprised by how quickly her mood changed.

Jason nodded his head "I won\'t. Just try not to ask for anything too crazy." Samantha smiled as they made their way to class.

"I talked to Ms. Yuller while you were in the hospital. You\'re welcome by the way. She said that since you were in the hospital for most of the weekend she\'ll give us an extension on the project. We have to act out the scene on Friday."

Jason sighed in relief after hearing that they had gotten an extension on the project. He smiled "Thanks Sammy. You\'re the MVP for sure." Samantha smiled even brighter as they made their way to class.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. After school was done Jason and Kyle made their way to the gym.

Kyle asked "I thought the doctors told you not to do any exercising for ten days?" Jason nodded "Yeah they did. But I\'m not going to do any exercising."

Kyle looked even more confused "So then why are we going to the gym?" Jason patted Kyle on the back.

"Even if I can\'t exercise that doesn\'t mean that you should skip practice Kyle. Besides I just wanted to see what kind of practice the team normally does."

Jason and Kyle eventually reached the gym. But after a few minutes of watching the team practice Jason couldn\'t help but frown.

\'What the hell is this? I\'ve seen little kids practice better than this.\' Jason watched as the team casually played. Some of the kids were playing horse, some of them were bouncing the balls off the wall.

The only ones who looked like they were practicing seriously were Matt and Udonis. Matt was doing the defensive drills that Jason had showed him while Udonis was practicing his post moves.

After watching for ten minutes Jason couldn\'t take it anymore. He walked up to Coach Swendel. Coach Swendel was sleeping on the bench with his sunglasses on.

He felt someone tap on his shoulder "You guys are doing great. Keep it up." He felt the tap again "If you need some water go and help yourself."

He was comfortably resting with the clipboard in his lap. But as soon as he heard Jason\'s voice he jumped to his feet "I don\'t need any water Coach. But I do have some questions."

Coach Swendel hurriedly took of his sunglasses and picked up the clipboard from the floor "Oh hey Jason. Glad to see you out of the hospital. What can I do for you?"

Jason pointed to the team out on the court "I thought there was practice today. What are they doing?"

Coach Swendel nervously answered "This is uh... This is practice. I know it doesn\'t look like it but they are practicing."

Jason felt like like slapping himself. No wonder the team was so bad. Even if they were on the team for 2 or 3 years it wouldn\'t make a difference if this was what they did for practice.

Jason looked at Coach Swendel "You call this practice? No offense Coach but this looks like a bunch of kids at recess. The only ones I see doing anything productive are Matt and Udonis."

Coach Swendel hesitated for a second "Well you see... I tried doing actual practices when I first became the coach for the team. But they kind of took it in a bad way."

One of Jason\'s brows raised "What do you mean they took it in a bad way?" Coach Swendel scratched the back of his head "As in threatening to quit the team."

Jason massaged his temples and the sides of his head as he felt a headache flare up. He looked at the kids messing around on the court and his headache got even worse.

He swore in his head \'Fucking hell! How am I supposed to win anything with a team like this!?\'