Rebound: A 2nd Chance

The cold air made their all of their breathes visible. Alex tightly clung on to his brother as they along with the rest of their group emerged from the stairs leading down to the subway.

Jasmine laughed as she looked at Alex's scared face "You ain't never been on a train before?" Alex turned to her and answered.

"I've been on a train before but I ain't ever see someone do the robot with a whole ass snake on their body. And he tried to get me to pet his snake!"

Jasmine laughed "That's New York for you. Neva know she about to throw yo way. But at least the rides ain't eva borin."

Jasmine lead the boys down the street while acting as a tour guide as she talked about different people, places, and events as they made their way through Harlem.

"Normally I would say that walkin through these parts this late at night is a bad idea. But y'all are movin through the boroughs with me so it's all good haha.

Oh! You see right there! I gots a crazy story to tell y'all. My uncle was just standin there over at 155th street when all of a sudden dude runs up on him and starts givin him the business.

When I tell you that they were throwin hands I mean THEY WAS THROWIN HANDS. So after a solid minute of beatin the shit out of each otha my uncle finally opens his mouth and tries to figure out what the fuck is goin on.

The dude tells my uncle that he got a text from his girl sayin that she leavin him for anotha dude. He then tells my uncle that what he was wearin matched the description that his chick gave him of the otha dude.

Him and my uncle eventually talk things out and they decide to let everything go since it was all just a big misunderstandin.

But that ain't the end. Dead ass I swear I ain't kiddin. Just five minutes after they was beatin the dog shit outta each otha they end up grabbin a beer.

All of a sudden the two of em turn into ride or die homies and my uncle goes with him to beat the shit outta the dude that was pipin his girl."

Rudy shivered as he rolled his eyes "That was a great story Jasmine. But how much longer until we get to the park? It's so fucking cold I feel like my hands are about to fall off."

Jasmine couldn't help but tease Rudy "You think this is cold? You should come by durin the winter. That shit is BRICK. Dead ass bro.

And don't worry. We here." Jasmine then pointed at a sign that was hanging up "Alright boys here it is. Welcome to Holcombe Rucker Park.

Are as we like to call it, The Rucker." All of the boys looked on in amazement as they took in the sight. 

The court looked like it had been freshly painted as the floor depicted a scene of LeBron, Kobe, and MJ all playing a game of pick up.

And there were bleachers on every side of the court. The surprising thing was that all of the seats were packed with spectators as they watched a game of pickup basketball.

Jasmine laughed as she looked at the boys star-struck faces "Damn y'all this zooted just from seein the place? You ain't even walk in ye- huh?"

Jasmine took another look at the boys as she rubbed her eyes to make sure that her vision wasn't playing tricks on her.

"One, two, three, four, five, are we missin somebody? Where the hell did Jaya go?" All of the boys turned their heads around after they heard Jasmine say that.

To their surprise Jasmine was right. Jason had been following them at the back of the group ever since they had gotten on the first train.

But now he was nowhere to be found. Kyle had a worried expression on his face as he began to call out "Jaya! Jaya! Where the hell did you go!"

As the oldest one in the group Jasmine tried her best to remain calm "If he could hear you yellin then we'd be able to see him Kyle. Try ringin up his burna."

Kyle's hands were shaking as he turned to Jasmine "I don't know what you're saying! Stop talking in your New York gibberish and speak in normal English!"

Danilo put his hand on Kyle's shoulder "Dude you need to calm down. I get that you're worried about Jaya but you shouldn't be yelling at Jasmine. She's just trying to help.

And besides, you know how Jaya is. The dude is a different breed compared to normal kids our age. Sometimes he be sounding hella old when he talks."

Alex nodded his head as he tried to help his brother in calming down Kyle "Yeah Kyle. You should know better than us how mature Jaya is.

And besides he's probably only been away from us for like a couple minutes. How much trouble can a kid get into with that much time?"

Jasmine added "Sorry Kyle, I forget that y'all are from Cali sometimes and this is just how I naturally talk on the daily. What I said was try to call Jaya's phone."

Kyle took a few deep breathes before pulling out his phone. He opened up his contacts where Jason's picture was the one that they had taken together back when he had convinced him to cosplay with him.

After ringing for a few seconds the call went to Jason's voicemail. Kyle angrily disconnected before trying to call again.

After four failed attempts at trying to call Jason Kyle put his phone back into his pocket. He turned to Jasmine and the boys with a worried expression on his face.

"He's not answering. I tried calling him like four times and he still hasn't answered. He only ever does that when he's napping and I don't think that he'd be napping right now!"

Jasmine put her hands on both sides of Kyle's face, which despite the serious nature of their situation looked comical because of their distinct height disparity, as she tried to comfort him.

"You doin too much right now bro. You need to relax. Panicking and losin our marbles ain't gonna help. Let's take a look around and see if we can find him. If not we'll give calling him anotha try."

And so Jasmine along with all the other boys began to look for Jason in the streets of Harlem. After fifteen minutes of searching they still had nothing to show for it.

Kyle had his head drooped low as his voice began to quiver "He's lost. Jaya is lost somewhere in the streets of New York."

Danilo patted him on the shoulder "Don't sweat it. You're stressing too much over this bro. Remember what Alex said?

At most Jason has been missing for like thirty or forty minutes. How much trouble could he have possibly gotten into in that much time?"

Kyle shook his head "You guys are only saying that because you haven't been with Jaya for long enough.

He's the kind of guy that got into a fight with our schools strongest and scariest bully on his first day of transferring.

And he got into a fight with him even though it had nothing to do with him! Jaya also became friends with a dude that pulled a gun on him before.

Not to mention all the other shit that has happened to him. Now you tell me, does that sound like a person that's good at avoiding trouble?"

All of the boys were silent as they listened to Kyle speak. After he was done they all turned around and started yelling.

"Jaya! Where you at bro Stop playing around!" "Yeah Jaya! This isn't funny!"

"Ay Jaya! Don't set off any flags while you're missing!"

"Jaya! Hurry up and come back before you make us walk some more!" 

While the boys were busy yelling their lungs out Jasmine saw some familiar faces walking down the street.

She walked up to the group of teenaged boys "Sup guys. Don't pay attention to the kids yellin over there. I just had a quick question for y'all.

Have you seen a little Asian boy by any chance? He got on a white head band and he got long ass black hair that's tied into a little manbun."

One of the guys answered "What up Jazz. You lookin for a little Asian dude? Didn't know that was yo type hahaha! Check it out guys, Jazz acting like a treesh out here."

All of the guys started to laugh after hearing their friend make a joke. Jasmine rolled her eyes "I ain't playin y'all.

Either you can answer my question seriously or I can seriously bust yo lips open right here right now."

All of the guys put their hands up as soon as they heard Jasmine say that "Ay yo calm down Jasmine.

We was just havin a little fun. God damn, that's why you still single even though you got a dump truck parked in yo garage."

Jasmine raised a fist up which caused all of the boys to jump back "Aight! Aight! We did see a Asian kid.

The deets that you gave match up with Lil China Mac. Last we seen he was hoopin over at the Rucker."

Jasmine lowered her fist as a confused expression went over her face "He's over at the Rucker?"