Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason entered in the password for the apartment door and opened it "It's not your first time here so I don't think you need the luxurious welcome from last time. Just remember to take off your shoes please."

Samantha fake pouted as she took off her shoes "You're no fun. Just because it's my second time here doesn't mean that you shouldn't put on a show."

Jason rolled his eyes "This is my home. If you wanted a show you should have gone to a theater or something."

Samantha stuck out her tongue "Whatever. You're lucky I'm not picky." Jason laughed "That was a joke right? You not picky?"

Samantha lightly shoved him "Shut up. You should listen to your mom and be nicer to me." Jason rolled his eyes again "If I listened to everything my mom said I would have invited a hundred different girls over by now."

The two of them playfully argued as they looked for something to watch on TV. After a few minutes of browsing they settled for a Superhero movie.

While Jason was absorbed in the movie that was playing Samantha sent a text to Kyle 'Thanks Kyle. I owe you one.'

As the movie played Samantha gradually moved towards Jason closing the gap that had been between them.

Samantha's hand shyly crawled on the coach towards Jason's. Her hand paused when it was just an inch away. Just as they were about to touch Jason turned to Samantha.

Samantha was surprised "Ah!" She pulled her hand back and put it on top of her lap. Jason looked at Samantha strangely "You okay?"

Samantha enthusiastically nodded her head "Yeah! I just got a little surprised by the movie." Jason responded "Okay.... I was just going to ask if you wanted some popcorn."

Samantha nodded her head again "Sure. I would also like some water if you could grab me some." Jason agreed before heading to the kitchen.

After a few minutes Jason came back to the living room with a bowl of buttery popcorn and a glass of water.

Samantha sighed in relief after Jason sat back down in the same spot as before. Jason wanted to put the bowl of popcorn on the table but was stopped by Samantha.

She scooted a bit to widen the space between them just big enough to fit the bowl "Why don't you put it here? I don't want to reach over to the table every time I want to eat some."

Jason thought about it for a second "Alright I guess. Just make sure you don't make a mess or my parents will kill me."

With the bowl of popcorn between them and the movie playing everything was set 'Act natural. Just put your hand in the bowl for some popcorn at the same time as him.'

Samantha tried to focus her peripheral vision on the popcorn bowl while watching the movie. As soon as she saw Jason reach for some popcorn she reached down as well.

'Huh?' She was surprised to feel nothing but popcorn 'I just missed the timing. I'll get it next time.' She kept on reaching down every time she noticed Jason getting some popcorn.

Attempt after attempt she failed. All she ended up doing was eating popcorn. After the movie Jason picked up the bowl "I'm surprised we finished it. That was a pretty big bowl."

Samantha nodded but answered grumpily "I guess." Jason looked at her "You want to watch another one?"

She thought about it for a second 'Don't give up Sammy. You can do this!' She looked back at Jason "Sure and let's have another bowl of popcorn to go with the movie."

Jason went back to the kitchen and after a few minutes came back out with another bowl of freshly popped popcorn.

This time they picked a sci-fi action movie. As the movie started playing Samantha set out on her plan again.

Unfortunately for her she got the same results as last time. Every time she reached down expecting to bump into Jason's hand all she got was a handful of popcorn.

The credits started rolling and Samantha groaned 'I'm stuffed. I shouldn't have eaten so much popcorn.'

Jason looked at Samantha as she flopped onto her back "You must have been craving popcorn. This is the first time I've seen someone eat as much as me."

The two of them spent the next hour practicing their scene for their English project. Afterwards Samantha called Victor. A few minutes later they exchanged goodbyes as she left.

- - -

In the parking lot of the apartment complex. Victor stepped out and opened the door for Samantha as she approached "Hello Miss Doyle. And how was your evening?"

Samantha angrily blew a lock of her red hair out of her face "Operation popcorn was a no go Victor. We're going to have to think of something else."

Victor's brow raised just ever so slightly "Well that is surprising. This might be the first failure that I've encountered on a mission."

He closed the door after Samantha got in and headed got back into the limousine. The tinted glass separating the drivers side from the back rolled down.

As they were driving Victor looked into the back using the mirror "It seems as though you are still in a good mood despite the failure Miss Doyle."

Samantha was smiling as she looked at the apartments through the window "Yeah. I guess it was still pretty fun."

- - -

Back in the apartment. A few hours after Samantha had left. The first one to get back home was Jason's father.

They both asked each other how the other's day had been. Jason decided not to tell his father that he had played today despite the doctor's orders.

Instead he mostly talked about hanging out with Samantha after school. After listening to his son's story he helplessly shook his head 'This kid is really clueless.'

After their little talk Jason told his dad goodnight. He went ahead and took a shower and got ready for bed.

Matt texted Jason asking if he could come to the school a little early because he wanted to work on his shot.

Jason asked his parents and after promising that he would only watch they agreed to give the two of them a ride to school early.

Jason and Matt walked to the gym and asked Coach Swendel to set up the gym. He happily did it seeing as how Jason was the one asking.

Jason watched from the side as Matt got a couple shots up. After carefully looking at his jumper a few times Jason spoke.

"You're elbow flares too far out Matt. Try keeping it closer inside. And your release is kinda late. You're losing some momentum that way."

As the two of them were working on Matt's jumper they heard Coach Swendel rush out of his office. They turned around and saw that he was chasing after Manny a couple of the other guys from the team.

Coach Swendel was breathing heavy and sweating as he looked at Manny "What do you mean you guys want to quit?!"

Manny and Jason locked eyes for a second before he turned back to Coach Swendel "We only joined the team so that we could hang out and have fun after school Coach. Now that we can't do that there's no point in us being on the team."

Jason walked up to them. He could feel his heart rate quickening as his face was getting hotter "What do you mean you guys are quiting!?"

Manny didn't seem fazed by Jason's yelling "You got what you wanted Jason. Now you won't see us goofing around on the court and you won't hear us bitch."

Jason felt all the blood rush to his head. He wanted to curse out Manny like the piece of shit he was. But before he could say anything he felt a throbbing pain in his head.

He clutched at his head with one hand and had to balance himself against the wall with the other just to keep himself upright.

Coach Swendel rushed to Jason "You okay!?" Manny and the rest of the boys didn't pay Jason or Coach Swendel any mind as they left the gym.

Jason was laying on the bleachers as Matt passed him a ice cold bottle of water "Here man. Try to cool off a bit."

Jason took the bottle "Thanks." He drank some of the water before blankly staring at the court in front of them.

Matt was worried after looking at Jason "It's not your fault man. I know you did what you did because you thought it was best for the team."

Jason looked down "It doesn't matter now. I messed up. Manny took all the other 8th graders with him. Udonis is the only one left. How are we supposed to play with only 8 people?"

Matt couldn't think of anything to say to cheer Jason up. He looked at his phone before turning back to Jason "We have to go now. It's almost time for 1st period."

Jason and Matt both said their goodbyes as they went to their own classes. Kyle was worried after seeing Jason be more expressionless and cold than usual.

Samantha was also worried after seeing Jason behave so detached. He simply nodded his head to everything she said. She wasn't even sure if he was listening or not.

Kyle walked alongside Jason as they made their way to their next class "Jason you okay? I already heard what happened from Matt. I don't think you did anything wrong."

Jason nodded his head "Thanks Kyle." He didn't say anything else. But as they were walking Jason all of a sudden rushed forward.

He ran to Udonis. Udonis turned around after feeling a hand on his shoulder and saw Jason. His expression became annoyed.

Udonis glared at Jason as he tried to apologize "I'm sorry Udonis. I know I fucked up." Udonis pushed Jason's hand off of him.

"I know that they weren't the best basketball players but they were my friends Jason!" After yelling he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

"I know that you were only doing what you thought was best for the team okay Jason? I'm not angry at you. I just need some time to cool down. So please don't talk to me."

Despite what he said Jason could tell that Udonis was upset because of his face and how he stormed off.