Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Julius\' brother was just about to walk out to the parking lot when he was stopped by the referee from the game.

The referee ran up to him "Hey Roland!" James looked at him with a pissed expression "The fuck you want dog!?"

The referee shrank back a bit but he continued "You still owe me some money. You said 200 before the game and 200 after. I\'m here for the other 200."

Roland put his hand up which caused the referee to shrink back even more "I ain\'t givin you shit!

The deal was you help us win the game dumbfuck! Not just call a bunch of fucking fouls! You lucky I\'m in a hurry otherwise I\'d smack the fuckin moles off yo ugly ass face!"

Roland shoved the referee away before walking back toward the parking lot.

- - -

A few minutes passed by as Roland waited for his crew to show up in the parking lot. Just as he was about to call again he saw Mook carrying a bag followed by the rest of the crew. They were all carrying a baseball bat, a pipe, or something similar.

Mook walked over to Roland before putting the bag on the floor in front of him "I got the boys and the masks just like you asked Rolo.

We really gonna do this? I told you what happened last time. The dude was strapped Rolo. How the fuck are we supposed to fight someone that\'s packin?"

Roland unzipped the bag and pulled out a ski mask "He was bluffin you dumbasses! Think about the reason why we don\'t carry guns.

It\'s because if you get caught with that shit you gonna serve some real time. You think he wants to risk serving some real time over shit like this?

As soon as he takes one shot he risks the police tracing everything back to him. Not to mention if he actually kills somebody. Dude would be locked away for life.

Now you tell me if you think he would be dumb enough to do all that?" Mook couldn\'t think of any arguements to Rolands points so he just nodded his head.

Roland put the ski mask on and started passing the bag around. All of the others took a mask and put it on as well.

Just as they were about to start discussing the details of their plan they heard a set of foot steps approaching them.

Mook turned around and his body started shivering "It\'s him Rolo! It\'s the guy!" Roland turned to see Amare with his two boys at his side.

Amare laughed as he looked at the crew in front of him "Yo I like the masks but ain\'t it a lil too early for Halloween?"

Roland stared down Amare "You best get on outta here man. Unless you lookin for trouble." Amare just laughed.

"Y\'all must be a new type a stupid. Don\'t you remember what happened last time? And besides I got a little somethin for you."

Amare pulled out his phone and started playing a video. The audio was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Roland heard his voice as he argued with the referee in the hallway. Everyone silently listened to the video.

After it was done Amare laughed as he put his cellphone away. He tapped the shoulder of the guy to his side.

"Bruh Marcus is too smart sometimes. He told me that if I kept an eye on ol Roland here that I would be able to get somethin nice.

I never thought it would be this good hahaha. 200 before the game and 200 after huh? I wonder what the sports committee is gonna say after they find out?

Tustin middle school might have their season invalided. And your little bro might catch some serious heat."

After hearing Amare\'s threat Roland just laughed "You forgetting one thing man. You and yo boys is outnumbered.

It don\'t matter what kind of video you got. We just gotta beat yo ass and take your phone." Roland gestured for his guys to get ready.

They all began to brandish their baseball bats and pipes in a threatening manner. Amare started laughing even harder "Y\'all think you tough huh? That\'s cute."

He pulled out his pistol again and aimed it at Mook "I thought I warned y\'all. If you ain\'t strapped then you best stop actin like soldiers."

Roland stared down Amare "We know you bluffin dog. You don\'t wanna risk gettin locked up for life. You ain\'t gonna pull the trigger. You ain\'t gonna do shit!"

- - -

Jason and the rest of the team had just finished cleaning up and were getting changed into the clothes that they had brought when they heard the sound of gunshots being fired.

*BANG BANG*

Everyone instinctively took cover. They all hid themeselves with various thoughts racing through their minds as the sound of gunshots continued to blast through the building.

Everyone was already in high tension so they were all scared senseless when they heard the door slam open.

But after seeing that it was Coach Swendel they all let out a collective sigh of relief. Coach Swendel rushed toward them.

"Everyone get together and move to the back of the locker-room." After guiding them Coach Swendel pulled out his phone and called the police.

Coach Swendel and the kids took cover in the back of the locker-room for over an hour until two policemen came in and told them that it was now safe.

As Coach Swendel and the team walked through the parking lot to get to the bus they saw the police investigating a taped off portion of the parking lot.

Jason didn\'t see any bodies but he saw a lot of blood stains on the floor \'That doesn\'t look good. I hope I\'m wrong but something tells me that this has something to do with Marcus.\'

- - -

The next day Jason and Kyle were walking to Ms. Yuller\'s English class. Jason yawned heavily as the dark circles under his eyes made it clear that he didn\'t get much sleep.

Kyle yawned as he looked to be in the same shape as Jason. He turned to Jason "Didn\'t get much sleep huh?"

Jason shook his head "Everytime I was close to falling asleep I would hear the gunshots and be wide awake again. From the looks of it I would say that you had a rough night too."

Kyle nodded his head "I kept having nightmares about some guy breaking into the house with a gun.

I was too scared to fall asleep so I kept myself up the whole night binge watching anime. I made it through half of the first season of Puffy Puffy Magical Girl Hikari."

Jason didn\'t bother to look at Kyle "I don\'t know if I even want to ask." The two of them made it to class on time as they took their seats.

As soon as the both of them sat down in their seats they both fell asleep. Jason was in the middle of raising up a championship trophy when he was shaken awake by a gentle touch of the shoulder.

As Jason opened his eyes he was surprised to see Ms. Yuller staring at him with a kind and concerned look.

"Jason class is over. I understand that you and Kyle must have had a difficult night after experiencing something as traumatic as that.

I just want you to know that should you, Kyle, or anyone else from the team need someone to talk to that I am always available."

Jason was a little freaked out because he had only ever seen Ms. Yuller with two different expressions.

The first was her bored and tired of life face that she normally had. And the second was her crazed fanatical face that she had whenever she talked about her favorite pieces of classical literature.

Jason just nodded his head "Thanks Ms. Yuller. I\'ll make sure to keep that in mind and to let the rest of the guys know."

Ms. Yuller smiled a little more after hearing Jason say that "You and Kyle are some of my best students.

The fact that both of you manage to balance your school work along with your lives as athletes is truly commendable.

I hope you don\'t think that I\'m just another adult that is looking down on you two because you\'re kids.

I know that you two are very tough boys who can take care of themeselves. But even adults need help from others every once in a while. So please don\'t be afraid to reach out."

Jason nodded his head as he woke up Kyle and left the classroom. After they walked out they bumped into Samantha.

Samantha bumped Jason on the side as she grinned "From the look on your face I\'m guessing Ms. Yuller did her whole \'Nice teacher\' thing right?"

Jason nodded his head "Yeah. She was super nice and really caring. It was kinda weird to be honest."

Kyle yawned "I was alseep the whole time so I didn\'t catch any of that." Samantha chuckled "Of course you didn\'t see anything.

Ms. Yuller saw that the two of you were asleep but instead of calling you guys out and waking you up she told us to let you guys get some rest.

She said that you two went through a potentially life changing experience last night and that we should be caring enough to understand.

I wish she was like that when I fell asleep in class last week. She called me out in front of the whole class and woke me up by slamming her book on my desk."

Jason laughed "That\'s because you were up late trying to watch your favorite band livestream from their garage. Me and Kyle went through something a little more life altering than that."

Samantha looked to Kyle and Jason "I heard. So you two doing okay? My phone is always charged and I am always down to talk in case you guys needed someone to vent to."

Kyle shook his head as he rubbed his eyes "I think I\'ll be okay. I should be back to normal after two more seasons of Puffy Puffy Magical Girl Hikari."

Jason nodded his head in agreement "I\'m with Kyle. Not the part about the weird anime but the I\'m okay part. I should be back to normal after a few days of practice. I think I just need to sweat the stress away."

Samantha responded "Cool. Good to hear that you guys are okay. Since you guys were sleeping I\'m sure you guys didn\'t catch the part where Ms. Yuller decided to make it mandatory for the class to participate in the end of the year talent show."

Jason and Kyle both stopped in their tracks as they heard Samantha say that. They both asked in unison "End of the year talent show?"