Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason was sitting at one of the tables of a restaurant that just so happened to be nearby. Kyle was sitting in front of him while Samantha sat down beside him.

Jason thanked the waitress as she gave them three copies of the menu. After she left to give the three of them time to look at the menu Kyle chuckled.

"This is such a Jaya thing to do. Just casually beat a carnival game that's supposed to be impossible to win and then head over to get some food."

Samantha laughed as she nodded her head in agreement "Right? Like at first I was so impressed when we started walking away like bad asses but then this guy had to kill the mood with his stomach gurgles haha."

Jason rolled his eyes at Samantha's verbal jab before turning his attention back to the menu "Yeah yeah, say what you want. 

At least I'm not afraid to be myself. I am a simple person. I like to eat, I like to play basketball, and I like to hang out with friends."

Samantha smiled as she couldn't resist the urge to ruffle Jason's hair. As her hand was going through Jason's silky smooth black hair she chuckled.

"Hey, we weren't saying that it was a bad thing. I like that you're simple. That's way better than being one of those guys that plays too many games and you never know what they're thinking."

Kyle nodded his head before taking a sip of water from the cup in front of him "Yeah Jaya. It's actually a good thing. At least to us.

I hate being around people that I can't tell what they're thinking. You always end up overthinking everything that they do.

At least with you I know that you're doing something nice because you're a nice person. You're too open and easy to read to be the scheming type."

Jason looked at Kyle and Samantha with a confused expression "What do you mean I'm too open and easy to read?

I hardly ever have any emotion on my face. How the hell can you read me? I can be sneaky if I want to."

Samantha and Kyle both busted out in laughter. Samantha turned to Jason with a bright smile on her face.

"That's how I can tell that your not the scheming type. Sneaky people never say that they're sneaky like that haha."

Kyle added "You might have a cold face most of the time but after spending some time with you it gets pretty easy to read you."

Samantha nodded in agreement "Yeah. Whenever you get really annoyed your left eye twitches. And when something makes you happy your ears move a little."

Jason refused to accept their claims "Pft whatever. You guys are just making stuff up now." The waitress had come back but with three slices of pie in her hands.

"Are you guys ready to order? Oh and by the way here are some pies. These are all on the house.

One of our customers said that they recognized you. They said to tell Jaya that they hope you like it."

Right on cue Jason's ears moved ever so slightly after he heard the waitress say that. Samantha and Kyle both began to laugh again.

Samantha wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with her napkin "I told you man. Your ears flap a little whenever you're happy haha."

Jason simply smiled as he accepted the slice of pie from the waitress. He was pretending to not hear Samantha.

After getting the pie from the waitress all three of them gave their orders to her. She then left and went to give the order to the kitchen.

Jason looked to the side of Kyle where all five of the large prizes were sitting. All of the stuffed toys were stacked on top of each other as they took up the entire half of the booth.

Jason asked "So how are we going to walk around and see the lights if we have to carry these things?"

Samantha answered "That's easy. All of the stuffed toys have little straps on the back so that they can also double as a backpack. 

Once everyone shows up we can just have some of them help us carry them. Speaking of which where the hell are they?"

Jason was just about to pull out his phone to text the guys but his phone started ringing. It was a video call from Udonis.

Kyle and Samantha could hear Udonis' voice coming from Jason's phone after he answered the call.

"Yo Jaya! We out here in front of the Mission Inn. Where you at dog?" Jason told them the name of the restaurant and how to get there.

After a few minutes Udonis and the rest of the guys from the team showed up. Jason asked the waitress if it was okay for them to move to a bigger table.

The waitress said no problem as she prepared another table for their group. Jason and Kyle dapped up all of the guys as they took a seat at their new table.

Udonis looked at the stuffed toys and the katana at the side and asked "So what's with the stuffed toys and the sword?"

Kyle's face lit up in excitement just from thinking back to what had happened "You guys wouldn't believe it. So me, Sammy, and Jaya just got here right? Well Jason saw-"

Kyle proceeded to tell the story starting from when they had just arrived at the front of the Mission Inn and had gotten off of the bus.

After hearing about what had happened and how Samantha and Kyle had gotten the stuffed toys and the katana all of the guys sighed.

Udonis had a bored expression on his face "Yup. That sounds like Jaya alright. This guy can't go out for a second without causing a scene."

Trell nodded his head in agreement "This dude really just built like that. RIP to the dude that thought he had a chance.

I know from first hand experience how bad it can be to challenge Jaya. Especially out in public. You said that there were people recording the two of them right?

That's even worse. Broski's embarrassment is gonna live forever on the internet. That shit gon follow him around."

It was only after listening to Trell talk that Jason had realized that he was wearing a durag. Jason asked "Yo Trell. You cut your hair?"

Trell laughed before taking off his black durag. He rubbed his hair with his hand "Look pretty good huh?

I decided to cut my hair for two reasons. One was to say goodbye to the old me. I know it sounds silly as fuck but I legit almost gave Kyle the two piece plus a biscuit over us having the same hairstyle.

So now that I'm a changed person I thought it would do me some good to say goodbye to a part of me that was tying me down to the old version of myself."

Kyle joked "Well you look pretty good with the new cut." Trell smiled after hearing Kyle's compliment.

He then continued "The second reason why I cut my hair was to mark the beginning of the new me."

Everyone was looking at Trell with a questioning look on their faces. Trell smiled "I just accepted a basketball scholarship to one of the best private schools in LA.

I talked to their assistant coach for almost two hours over the phone. He was tellin me that he wanted me on his team no matter what.

He sent over the papers as soon as I told him yes. I printed the contract out from the email that he sent me.

The scholarship is for four years. Everything is guaranteed. Even if I get injured as long as I keep my grades up I can go to the school for free. Housing, food, everything is covered."

Everyone jumped to their feet to congratulate him. Everyone was hugging him and saying that he deserved it.

Kyle was the only one who had a worried look on his face "How did your mom take it?" He use to live in the same neighborhood as Trell and knew a little more about his situation at home compared to the rest of the guys.

Trell smiled but his eyes were clearly anything but happy "You ain't gotta look so sad bro. My mom popped a few pills as soon as she got home and she was out of it.

She was in a whole different universe but I managed to get her to sign the papers. Not like she gon care.

I'm pretty sure that she'll be way happier with me outta the house. She'll be able to party and do whatever else she wants to without having to worry about me after I move to McDaniel's High School."

Everyone was a little sad. They were sad that they wouldn't be able to see Trell all that much after this year and they were sad after hearing about Trell talk about his mother.

After a few moments of awkward silence Udonis slammed his hands on the table "We shouldn't be moppin around like this guys.

We should be celebrating. We about to play our third game in the state tournament after everyone had us out for the count.

After we win our next game against the school from Sacramento we get a break that should be long enough for Kyle to come back fully healed.

And I got a scholarship offer too. I'm heading out to Florida after this year. It's a relatively new sports school but they've been able to send some of their guys to major programs like UCLA and Gonzaga."

Everyone was surprised to hear Udonis announce that he had also accepted a scholarship from a top ranked program.

As everyone ate their food and drank their milkshakes they tried their best to celebrate with a festive mood.

And although everyone was smiling and laughing there was a bit of sadness in everyone's eyes as they knew that nothing would be the same after this year.